Kenosha protests: Donald Trump accused of lying for a photoshoot

The owner of a business whose century-old camera store was burned down has accused US President Donald Trump of visiting the site without permission for political gain.

Tom Gram’s camera store caught fire during violent protests and riots in Kenosha, Washington, last week after the police shooting of African-American Jacob Blake. Gram told TMJ4 that he was asked to be part of Trump’s tour for the damage in the local area, but he refused.

Instead, Trump took an opportunity to snap a photo with a former owner of the business, who sold it eight years ago. The former owner, John Rode III, praised the President of the United States when the media interviewed him outside the burned-out store.

Gram said he was surprised when Trump introduced Rode and the couple spoke to the media as if they still owned the store, which they are not. Rode still owns the site the company was on, according to records accessed by TMJ4.

“John Rode III, owner of Rode’s Camera Shop,” Trump said at the scene.

Rode said he appreciated Trump being in Kenosha, “everyone here appreciates it,” he said.

He said that once federal troops and the National Guard were called to the city “things calmed down a bit.”

Trump has been campaigning on rhetoric in recent days that the unrest in the United States is the fault of the Democratic Party and Democratic mayors and state leaders.

Trump has urged cities to allow the US to allow National Guard troops from across the country into cities to quell protests.

“A day earlier he would have saved his store,” Trump said during the meeting with Rode.

Gram said he refused to appear with the president, because “everything he does becomes a circus and I did not want to be involved in that.”

He said he believed Trump should “unite this country rather than divide it.”

“I think there are a lot of good people in this community and saying that just enforcement of the law is correct is not the message we need to hear now,” he said.