A "very gracious" President Donald Trump called Josh Shapiro to discuss the recent arson attack on the governor's home, Pennsylvania's chief executive said.
A man is facing charges after authorities said he broke into the Pennsylvania governor's mansion in the middle of the night April 13, set a fire that left significant damage, and forced Shapiro, his family, and guests to evacuate the building during the Jewish holiday of Passover.
Shapiro said that Trump called Saturday morning and that he was "very gracious."
"I appreciated that the president called me," Shapiro, a Democrat, told reporters Tuesday, NBC News reported. "I actually didn't take his call because it came from his cellphone and I didn't have that number in my phone, so I didn't know who it was. As soon as I heard his message, I called him right back.
"He was very gracious," added Shapiro, mentioning that Trump asked about his wife and children as they "talked for a couple minutes about what transpired at the residence."
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Shapiro said, "We spoke for quite a bit of time. I appreciated his call very much, and we agreed to stay in touch."
Shapiro said he and Trump also discussed the proposed sale of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel to Japanese company Nippon Steel, the Inquirer reported.
After the president was wounded during a July 13 assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Shapiro condemned the shooting and called the then-candidate's campaign, though he did not speak with Trump directly, NBC News reported.
Shapiro was targeted in the arson attack because of the suspect's perception of the governor's stance on Palestinians, PennLive reported.
In a warrant for suspect Cody Balmer's electronic devices obtained by the outlet, Cpl. Benjamin Forsythe of the Pennsylvania State Police says Balmer targeted the governor "based upon perceived injustices to the people of Palestine," as well as Shapiro's Jewish faith. The warrant reportedly does not indicate why Shapiro's faith is thought to be a motive.
When asked last week whether a motive in the arson attack had been identified, Trump said he had not heard about one, adding that the attacker "was not a fan of Trump."
"He's probably just a whack job. And certainly a thing like that cannot be allowed to happen," Trump said.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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