THE BEAST

ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante has slammed President Donald Trump for suggesting that the FBI was to blame for failing to stop the latest Florida mass shooting, because the agency was distracted by the Russia probe.

"Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable," Trump wrote on Twitter.

"They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign — there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!"

The FBI has said it failed to act on information about school shooter Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 people Wednesday at his former high school in Parkland. A person close to Cruz contacted the FBI's Public Access Line in early January, reporting Cruz's gun ownership, desire to kill others, erratic behavior and disturbing social media posts.

After Trump alleged in a series of tweets that the FBI missed clues from Cruz because, in his view, the agency was preoccupied with the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election campaign, Benante took to his Twitter account to respond. "Man... 17 kids died and you are making this about You?" he wrote. "I find this so horrible. How can people who support him not be upset with this as well??"

Trump and others have been criticized by survivors of last week's shooting, who rallied against the gun lobby and called for gun control, saying that the president has offered little more than thoughts and prayers.

ANTHRAX will release its long-awaited live-in-concert DVD, "Kings Among Scotland", on April 27 via Megaforce. The DVD is preceded by ANTHRAX's North American co-headline tour with KILLSWITCH ENGAGE — "KillThrax 2018" — which kicked off January 25 in Montreal.

ANTHRAX will support SLAYER on the first leg of the latter band's farewell world tour. The trek will kick off with a May 10 concert at San Diego's Valley View Casino Center, with dates running through June 20 at Austin's 360 Amphitheatre.

Man... 17 kids died and you are making this about You? I find this so horrible. How can people who support him not be upset with this as well?? https://t.co/5Xc7kKPcn4

— Charlie Benante (@skisum) February 18, 2018