Trump Lowers US Flags for Newsroom Shooting

President Trump seems to have overruled an underling and ordered American flags flown at half-staff to honor the victims of the shooting in the Capital Gazette newsroom in Maryland. Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley said on Monday that the White House rejected his original request, made through the state's congressional delegation, reports the Baltimore Sun. The president, however, ordered the flags lowered Tuesday morning at the White House and on federal property around the US.

Press chief Sarah Huckabee Sanders tells NBC Washington that Trump "asked us to reach out and verify that the mayor had made the request." Upon doing so—Sanders called Buckley herself on Monday night—"the president asked that the flags be lowered immediately." The Hill has the wording of the order, made "as a mark of solemn respect for the victims." The original decision threatened to become controversial given Trump's testy relationship with the media. (More Capital Gazette shooting stories.)