Benje Choucroun: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

benje choucroun sarah sanders

YouTube/The White House

A 13-year-old student journalist named Benje Coucroun stood up in a room full of the world’s most renowned reporters and asked Sarah Sanders, “At my school, we recently had a lockdown drill. One thing that affects mine and others’ mental health is the worry that we or our friends could get shot at school. Specifically, can you tell me what the administration has done and will do to prevent these senseless tragedies?” The question, which caused White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who is the mother of three children, to well up with tears, was asked during the White House press secretary’s May 30 briefing.

Sanders responded by saying, “I think as a kid, and certainly as a parent, there is nothing that could be more terrifying for a kid to go to school and not feel safe, so I’m sorry that you feel that way. This administration takes it seriously and the school safety commission that the president convened is meeting this week, again, an official meeting, to discuss the best ways forward and how we can do every single thing within our power to protect kids within our schools and to make them feel safe and to make their parents feel good about dropping them off.”

Donald Trump is due to meet with the victims of the Santa Fe High School shooting in Houston on May 31.

Here’s what you need to know:


1. Shortly After His Question Went Viral, All of the Videos Were Removed From His YouTube Channel

Choucroun is a student at Marin Country Day School where he’s listed as one of their baseball prospects. The 13-year-old reporter was also present during the White House’s Sports and Fitness Day.

He was reporting at the White House for Time for Kids magazine. In the wake of his appearance in the world’s media, all of the videos from Choucroun’s YouTube channel were removed.


2. His Dad Works With Veterans Programs in Northern California & Has Worked With John Mayer in the Past

Gerard Choucroun Facebook page

Facebook/Gerard Choucroun

Choucroun’s father is Gerard Choucroun, a director at the Northern California Institute for Research and Education’s Veterans Health and Integration Progam, according to his LinkedIn page. Gerard Choucroun is also a director of the Presido Trust, a federal agency that is overseeing a national park and U.S. Army military fort in San Francisco. That page says that Choucroun lives in Corte Madera, just north of San Francisco. In response to a May 2017 study from the University of Southern California that said many veterans in California were homeless, unemployed, depressed or suicidal, Gerard Choucroun said, “We need to be brave and face our flaws as a community. We may individually be doing an amazing job, but collectively something is missing.”

Gerard Choucroun is also a singer/songwriter who maintains a SoundCloud page and was at one time a music reviewer for the Houston Press. In June 2017, it was reported that John Mayer was working with Gerard Choucroun’s veterans charity. Gerard Choucroun said at the time, “John and his fans have funded very serious and necessary work for women vets… John is a really erudite guy. He relates well with veterans, and got interested in the mechanics of post-traumatic stress, the gaps in care for women veterans, and the overall culture of the military community.”


3. His Mother Is a Yale Graduate

Carolyn Calfee University of California San Francisco

University of California San Francisco

Choucroun’s mother is Dr. Carolyn Calfee, an associate professor at the University of California San Francisco. Dr. Calfee’s focus is on acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Dr. Calfee received her undergraduate degree from Yale University and her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Her husband also studied at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Calfee is affiliated with the UCSF Medical Center and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. In addition, Choucroun’s mother is also a member of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at UCSF.


4. Choucroun Is Being Celebrated as a Hero of Journalism on Twitter

The Twitter reaction Choucroun’s poise and confidence in asking his question has been lauded on Twitter. Here are some of the best responses:

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5. The Trump Administration Has Been Roundly Criticized for Their Response to School Shootings

Donald Trump’s ideas to help to stamp out school shootings have been roundly criticized. The New York Times reported in March 2018 that among Trump’s ideas was to repeal President Obama’s “rethink school discipline” policy. That policy sought to alleviate the suspensions and expulsions of non-white students.

More famously, Trump’s other plan was to arm teachers with guns, Trump was quoted as saying the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school shooting, “It only works when you have people very adept at using firearms, of which you have many. It would be teachers and coaches.” In reference to Coach Aaron Feis, a Parkland coach who was a licensed firearm holder, Trump said, “If the coach had a firearm in his locker when he ran at this guy – that coach was very brave, saved a lot of lives, I suspect. But if he had a firearm, he wouldn’t have had to run, he would have shot him, and that would have been the end of it. This would only obviously be for people who are very adept at handling a gun. It’s called concealed carry, where a teacher would have a concealed gun on them. They’d go for special training and they would be there and you would no longer have a gun-free zone. Gun-free zone to a maniac, because they’re all cowards, a gun-free zone is: ‘Let’s go in and let’s attack, because bullets aren’t coming back at us.'” Coach Feis died while trying to shield students from the gunfire in Parkland.