DAYTON, Ohio _ Less than a week after mass shootings in Texas and Ohio killed 31 people and reignited calls for gun law reforms, President Donald Trump on Wednesday met with patients and thanked medical staff at a Dayton hospital in what a spokeswoman for the president called powerful moments.
Trump then headed to El Paso to offer condolences to victims and thank first responders and medical personnel.
His arrival with first lady Melania Trump in Dayton was greeted by signs of the deep divisions over his response to the killings that left nine dead in Dayton, 22 dead in El Paso and many injured.
In tweets hours before his arrival, Trump complained about media coverage of his reaction to the El Paso shooting, which authorities said was carried out by a white supremacist who targeted Latinos. Trump also tweeted criticism of Democratic presidential contender and Texan Beto O'Rourke, who had objected to Trump's response to the shootings.
The tweets further fueled tensions in the two cities, where many politicians, residents and victims had called on the president to cancel his plans.
Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn Wednesday morning, Trump said he wanted to congratulate police for their work. He rebuffed a question about whether his words contributed to white nationalism and anger against minorities, saying "my rhetoric brings people together" and also that he was "concerned about the rise of any group of hate."
"I don't like it," he said. "Whether it's white supremacy, whether it's any other kind of supremacy."
The president said he would "come up with something that's going to be really good" to combat gun violence. He said he supported stronger background checks on gun buyers but that there was no "political appetite" for an assault rifle ban. Assault-rifle-style weapons were used in both shootings.
In Dayton, where Trump stopped at Miami Valley Hospital, hundreds of protesters gathered outside with signs that said "No assault weapons," "Stand up to the NRA," "We can end gun violence" and "Do something." There were similar signs downtown Dayton near the site of the shooting, an area Trump did not visit.
There were also some "Trump 2020" signs downtown and outside the hospital, where several of the wounded were treated.
Wednesday's events are the latest in a string of Trump visits to mass shooting and disaster sites despite local opposition. In November, the president visited Paradise, Calif., after devastating damage from the Camp fire and anger over his inaccurate tweets criticizing fire management in the state.
Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, a Democrat, who this week called the president "unhelpful" on gun violence, greeted Trump along with Ohio's Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown and Republican Gov. Mike DeWine on the tarmac upon the president's arrival.
For more than an hour, Trump met with staff, victims and their families at the hospital, which treated more than a dozen of the wounded _ most of whom have been released. The president and first lady were "stopping between rooms to thank the hardworking medical staff. Very powerful moments for all!" tweeted White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who said Trump told people at the hospital: "You had God watching. I want you to know we're with you all the way."
At a news conference afterward with Whaley, Brown said the president "did the right things" at the hospital. "His job in part is to comfort people. I'm glad he did it in those hospital rooms," Brown said.
Whaley said she and Brown "reiterated to the president the importance of action around these issues and guns and that the people of Dayton are waiting for action from Washington, D.C."
"A lot of time his talk can be very divisive," Whaley said, "and that is the last thing we need in Dayton."
Not long after, White House aide Dan Scavino wrote on Twitter that Whaley and Brown were "disgraceful politicians" who were "doing nothing but politicizing a mass shooting, at every turn they can."
Trump headed to Texas after his trip to Ohio. The White House did not immediately release details of his schedule.
In El Paso, Republican lawmakers who were expected to welcome Trump included Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz as well as Gov. Greg Abbott.
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat who represents El Paso, has said she will not attend Trump's visit after he refused to speak with her by phone Tuesday about her request that he retract anti-immigrant and anti-Latino statements.
Standing beside a memorial to shooting victims outside the Walmart SuperCenter late Tuesday, Escobar told CNN that she planned to attend a counterrally at a local park Wednesday afternoon "to denounce hate, reject bigotry and embrace one another."
O'Rourke also planned to attend the counterrally. He and Escobar led a similar counterrally when Trump visited El Paso in February that drew a large crowd.
While the city prepared for a presidential visit, shooting victims and relatives were still arriving Wednesday at El Paso's downtown convention center. The site has served 360 people since it opened after the shooting.
Monsignor Arturo J. Banuelas, a pastor at St. Mark's Parish in El Paso who has been meeting with families at the center since the shooting, called it "a room full of pain."
"One of the things I'm hearing is they don't want the president to come," Banuelas said. "The people here don't want him to come."
In remarks as they awaited Trump's arrival in Texas, Cornyn and Cruz said they would work with lawmakers to prevent mass shootings.
"We need to try to come up with ideas where we can identify people like this earlier," Cornyn said.
Texas lawmakers have faced criticism this week for new laws that go into effect next month that will loosen gun restrictions _ including allowing licensed owners to carry them at schools and houses of worship.
"El Paso has seen the face of evil," Cruz said. "El Paso is coming together."
