OK, after posting this, I saw Ms. Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, on MSNBC. She said she had received a call from the White House, but was too involved in arrangements and activities to take it. Said she felt bad about it. She seems like a humble, thoughtful person who didn’t want to say on national teevee that she didn’t want to talk to the President. But it was pretty clear. She was spending time giving an interview with MSNBC when she could have given that time to a phone call with Trump.
So, my original point. Never seen anything like this before.