Trump White House official says Florida shooting was 'reprieve' from bad publicity

'Sadly, when the coverage dies down a little bit, we’ll be back through the chaos', the official says

President Donald Trump returns to Washington after spending the weekend in Florida (AP)

A Trump White House official reportedly said coverage of the mass shooting at a Florida high school last week has given the administration “a reprieve” from having to deal with bad publicity.

“For everyone, it was a distraction or a reprieve,” the official told the Washington Post. “A lot of people here felt like it was a reprieve from seven or eight days of just getting pummeled.”

The official said there was a similar calm in the wake of the mass shooting in Las Vegas that left 58 dead and hundreds more injured.

“But as we all know, sadly, when the coverage dies down a little bit, we’ll be back through the chaos,” the official reportedly said.

Prior to the news that a gunman had attacked Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, killing 17 people, the White House was facing intense scrutiny over its mishandling of domestic abuse allegations against former staff secretary Rob Porter – claims Mr Porter denied.

The shooting gave aides an opportunity to focus on handling a crisis that wasn’t of their own making, the Post said.

Mr Trump travelled to Florida on Friday and met with survivors of the shooting.

He then travelled to his Mar-a-Lago estate, where he spent some of the weekend ranting on Twitter about the FBI, former President Barack Obama and an investigation into alleged ties between his presidential campaign and Russia.

After he returns to Washington, the President this week is scheduled to hold a listening session with high schoolers on gun control.