Heroes of synagogue shooting help Trump mark National Day of Prayer

WASHINGTON — Three heroes of the Poway, California, synagogue shooting joined President Donald Trump and a large gathering of religious leaders Thursday in the Rose Garden for an emotional National Day of Prayer.

Trump invited Oscar Stewart, an Army veteran who charged at the shooter, and Jonathan Morales, an off-duty Border Patrol agent who fired at the shooter’s car, to speak about what happened.

“I should have been dead by now,” said Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, both hands bandaged from bullets that shot off his fingers. His words choked as he recalled Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, a member of Chabad of Poway who was killed in the anti-Semitic attack.

To prevent shootings and bring some good from evil, Goldstein suggested, “We need to go back to the basics and introduce a moment of silence in all public schools so that children from early childhood on could recognize that there’s more good to the world, that they are valuable, that there is accountability and every human being is created in God’s image.”

Trump nodded in approval and clapped after Goldstein’s call for a moment of silence. The president and rabbi had bonded during an extended phone call after the shooting. Goldstein closed his remarks by referring to Trump using the Yiddish term for an upright man — a “mensch par excellence.”

Trump used the occasion to tout the conscience rule issued Thursday by the Department of Health and Human Services to protect health care professionals and faith-based charities that refuse to participate in procedures that violate their religious or moral beliefs.

Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, legal adviser for The Catholic Association, said, “The administration’s new rule provides regulatory backbone to the First Amendment conscience rights of Americans working in the medical profession. … Most Americans agree medical professionals with moral objections should not be required to perform abortion.”

NARAL Pro-Choice America commented on Twitter, “A patient’s health should ALWAYS come first. This is dangerous and unconscionable.”

And the Human Rights Campaign responded, “The Trump-Pence administration’s new regulation puts LGBTQ people at greater risk of being denied necessary and appropriate health care solely based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Trump also walked through a number of issues frequently on his mind.

The president sent prayers to “the people of Venezuela in their righteous struggle for freedom.” He railed against the opioid epidemic. He contended that since his election in 2016, Americans feel more comfortable saying “Merry Christmas” again.

Once Trump referred to investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election as “witch hunts.”

Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7391. Follow @DebraJSaunders on Twitter.