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Utah boy forced to remove Ash Wednesday cross last year meets President Trump

Posted at 9:55 PM, Jan 19, 2020
and last updated 2020-01-19 23:55:31-05

BOUNTIFUL, Utah — We first told the story of William McLeod last year when his teacher told him to remove his ash cross on Ash Wednesday.

On Thursday, President Donald Trump brought McLeod to the White House as an example of his new federal guidelines on religious displays in school.

Young William McLeod was front and center at the press conference standing behind the Resolute desk right next to the president.

"We went to the West Wing and waited, and then we went into the Oval Office where I stood next to the president," McLeod told us excitedly, "and got to shake his hand three times!"

Even though FOX 13 has done multiple interviews with McLeod, he told us meeting the president made him nervous.

His trip took him around Washington seeing all the sights including the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial, Capitol Building, and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

But his favorite part?

"Meeting the president," he told us.

Through it all, he said that he was very proud of the experience and the meaning behind it.

"It means everything," he said. "I don't want anyone to feel really bad the way I did about this stuff... It hurt my feelings.