during their meeting yesterday the family says in a move right out of a reality show reveal trump dropped a rather shocking and very unwanted surprise on them. the report tonight from nbc s stephanie gosk. reporter: harry dunn s parents weren t expecting an invitation to the white house. when the grieving couple got there, another surprise was waiting. the bombshell was dropped soon after we walked in the room, anne sacoolas was in the building and was willing to meet with us. reporter: anne sacoolas, the wife of an american intelligence officer, struck their 19-year-old son, killing him on a road in the uk. according to her attorney, she left the country three weeks later, claiming diplomatic immunity. it would have been the family s first chance to confront sacoolas face to face. but no one prepared them. i offered to bring the person in question in, and they weren t ready for it. reporter: british prime minister boris johnson has called on sacoolas to return to the uk, whi
we made it very clear that that needs to be on our terms, on uk soil, when she has faced our justice system. reporter: sacoolas s lawyer says her client was driving on the wrong side of the road and had no time to react when she saw the motor bike approaching. calling the accident a tragic mistake, sacoolas wants to apologize but hasn t said if she will return to the uk. harry s parents implored the president to help them. if it was your son, you would be doing the same as us. and he actually grabbed hold of my hand a little bit tighter and he said yes, i would be. reporter: the british couple says they are still hopeful but left the white house feeling in their words a bit shocked. stephanie gosk, nbc news, new york. coming up for us after our last break, a milestone 1,000 days in the making.
offguard with president trump when he offered to have them meet with the person responsible for the crash. president trump suggested the family meet with ann sacoolas who was driving on the wrong side of the road near a british military base used by the u.s. when she hit dunn. trump told them she was in the same building but the family found the offer shocking and inappropriate. dunn s mother charlotte charles told reporters following the meeting, quote, the bombshell was dropped not soon after we walked in the room and sacoolas was in the building, and was willing to meet with us. we made it very clear as we said all along, would we still love to meet with her but it was to be on our terms and u.k. soil. dunn s parents say they had come to the white house searching for answers and want sacoolas to return to the united kingdom to face trial. a lawyer for the dunn family told sky news that the trump administration had set up the meeting to quote bring in the press corps to show it was a
first chance to confront sacoolas face-to-face, but no one prepared them. i offered to bring the person in question in, and they weren t ready for it. reporter: british prime minister boris johnson has called on sacoolas to return to the uk, which is where harry s parents say that meeting should take place. we made it very clear that that needs to be on our terms, on uk soil when she has faced our justice system. reporter: sacoolas lawyer says her client was driving on the wrong side of the road and had no time to react when she saw the motor bike approaching. calling the accident a tragic mistake, sacoolas wants to apologize, but hasn t said if she will return to the uk. harry s parents implored the president to help them. you know, if it was your son, you would be doing the same as us. and he grabbed hold of my hand a little tighter and he said yes, i would be. reporter: the british couple is still hopeful, but left the white house in their words feeling a bit shocked. s
justice system. reporter: next morning reflecting on the white house meeting, seger said the family felt ambushed and the bank of photographers yes it appeared to be a choreographed press pool. that was not something we re prepared to do. this family is still emotionally shut down and as you could all imagine that was a potentially difficult meeting. reporter: the president described the meeting differently. my meeting with the family was really it was beautiful in a certain way. they did not want to meet with the person in question. but we had a very good meeting, they re very nice people. he expressed his condolences but also empathized with the position of sacoolas. that happens in europe. you go to europe and the roads are opposite. and it is very tough if your from the united states, you do make that decision to make a right turn, where you re supposed to make a left turn, the roads are opposite. and she said that is what