ABC’s Jonathan Karl: Covering Trump indoor rallies like ‘taking your family with you to Fallujah’

ABC News chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl is comparing covering President Trump’s indoor campaign events during the coronavirus pandemic to “taking your family with you to Fallujah.”

“This is not like embedding with the Marines in Fallujah. It is like you are taking your family with you to Fallujah,” Karl, who has reported from war zones, told the National Journal.

The comments from Karl, a former White House Correspondents’ Association president, come after the Trump campaign held an indoor campaign event in a warehouse in Nevada over the weekend, with only some of those in attendance wearing masks while social distancing guidelines were ignored, prompting criticism from the left and right.

Crowd awaits start of Trump rally inside manufacturing plant in Henderson, NV., outside Las Vegas. It’s the 1st indoor rally for Pres Trump since June 23. Only some supporters wearing masks. None are observing social distancing. Trump Campaign says all received a temp check. pic.twitter.com/rwhZmO64Sv

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) September 13, 2020

Indoor rallies are irresponsible. Covid-19 is real and this was a bad idea. https://t.co/JGto1F5suc

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 14, 2020

I genuinely didn’t know they were doing an indoor rally. This is pretty reckless. https://t.co/4NCSoVxAlN

— Sam Stein (@samstein) September 13, 2020

The Trump campaign promoted the event by mocking protests while urging supporters “to gather peacefully under the 1st Amendment” to hear the president speak.

“If you can join tens of thousands of people protesting in the streets, gamble in a casino, or burn down small businesses in riots, you can gather peacefully under the 1st Amendment to hear from the President of the United States,” the campaign said in a Sunday statement leading up to the rally.

The battle for the city of Fallujah marked the fiercest urban warfare of the Iraq War in November and December 2004. At the time, the U.S. military dubbed it “some of the heaviest urban combat U.S. Marines and soldiers have been involved in since the Battle of Huế City in Vietnam in 1968.”