Sarah Sanders Snaps Photo Of Trump During Unannounced Trip
On Thursday afternoon, President Donald Trump took a break from the politics of Washington, D.C., to do something he saw as more important — visit wounded warriors and wish them a merry Christmas.
During his unannounced visit, Trump personally awarded one soldier — 1st Lt. Victor Prato of the 127th Airborne Engineer Battalion — the Purple Heart. Prato, 25, suffered soft tissue injuries last month as a result of IED blast that made his vehicle turn over, according to The Hill.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was particularly moved when the president presented Prato with the award, noting on Twitter that seeing the president confer this honor on an “American Hero” was “One of the most powerful moments of my life.”
“Amazed by the strength and resilience of the men and women in our Armed Forces,” Sanders wrote.
As reported by The Western Journal, Trump’s unannounced visit came without any fanfare.
“I’m heading over right now to Walter Reed Military Medical Center to say hello to some of the bravest people anywhere in the world,” the president told reporters prior to boarding Marine One.
“I’ll be coming back right after that,” he said, while noting that “we’ll be over there for a while.”
“We’re just going to wish them a merry Christmas, a happy new year and we love those people,” he concluded, before walking toward the helicopter.
Reporters barraged him with questions, but the president did not answer any of them, instead opting to wave goodbye as he walked away.
White House of Staff John Kelly, a retired Marine general, accompanied Trump to Walter Reed, according to The Hill.
News outlets were able to record some of Trump’s interactions with veterans at the hospital, but without any sound, making it difficult to hear what the president was saying.
It’s not the first time Trump has quietly — without any fanfare — honored the sacrifices made by those who serve in the United States armed forces.
In February, the president and his eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, departed the White House on Marine One. Reporters had no idea where they were going until the White House put out a news release explaining where they had gone and why.
The Trumps had traveled to Dover Air Force “for arrival of remains of a US commando” killed in Yemen during a raid on al-Quaida, according to the Independent Journal Review.
“The death,” the White House noted at the time, “occurred during the first counter-terrorism operation of the Trump presidency.”
