President Donald Trump Tweets Condolences After Kobe Bryant Dies

News of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna’s deaths shocked Los Angeles, the United States, and the world on Sunday. A few hours after the tragedy made headlines, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to express his and First Lady Melania Trump’s condolences to Vanessa Bryant, the couple’s three remaining daughters, as well as the rest of the Bryant family.

Earlier this evening, President Trump tweeted about Kobe Bryant and his daughter’s tragic passing.

“Kobe Bryant, despite being one of the truly great basketball players of all time, was just getting started in life. He loved his family so much, and had such strong passion for the future. The loss of his beautiful daughter, Gianna, makes this moment even more devastating,” the president wrote on the popular social media platform. “Melania and I send our warmest condolences to Vanessa and the wonderful Bryant family. May God be with you all!” a second tweet continued.

In 2016, Kobe retired from the Los Angeles Lakers and was widely considered one of the best NBA players. Since his retirement, Kobe was involved in a variety of projects, which were likely what Trump alluded to in his tweet when he mentioned that the 41-year-old father of four was just getting started in life.

Among the projects that Kobe felt such a passion for after his retirement from the NBA was the children’s books, The Wizenard Series, which he wrote and the publishing company he started — Granity Studios — to publish the books. The series combines basketball and magic, and it was something the former NBA star was passionate about during his life.

Kobe also had The Mamba Academy for basketball training, and he coached his 13-year-old daughter Gianna’s AAU basketball team called The Mambas. The name of the academy and the team derive from his nickname, The Black Mamba. Kobe and his daughter were traveling by helicopter to the academy when it crashed, killing all on board.

The president sent the two tweets on Sunday evening and has not tweeted again for at least two hours. The series of two appear to be his 35th and 36th tweets/retweets of the day, which is a lower number than his recent frequency of tweeting as his impeachment trial began in the United States Senate. CNN recently reported that the president broke his previous records on the social media platform last week. On the first day of his trial, Trump sent out 142 tweets and retweets, which smashed his prior high of 123.