Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy on Tuesday asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre whether the White House should hold back on statements following the second assassination attempt on Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Secret Service agents arrested Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, on Sunday in West Palm Beach, Florida, for pointing an AK-47-style rifle at the former president. It was the second assassination attempt on Trump in the past two months. Doocy questioned whether Trump's repeated accusations of being a “threat” to democracy were at least partly responsible for the assassination attempt.
“It's only been two days since someone allegedly tried to kill Donald Trump again, and here you are, standing at the podium in the White House briefing room, calling Trump a 'threat,'” Doocy began. “How many more assassination attempts will there be against Donald Trump before the president, the vice president and you describe Trump with something other than a 'threat'?”
“Peter, I completely disagree with the premise of this administration's question – the question that you're asking – and also the way in which you're asking it in front of the American public is very dangerous,” Jean-Pierre said. “An administration that has consistently condemned political violence, an administration whose president called the former president and thanked him for being safe, an administration that condemned the attack on Paul Pelosi on January 6th and called for de-escalating tensions after the Butler incident, now for you to make such comments in the course of your questioning… this is also very dangerous.”
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The spokesperson cited the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol as an example of the White House's condemnation of political violence, calling it “one of the darkest days in American history.” She went on to say it is unacceptable to bring “political rhetoric” into policy discussions. (Related: KJP names Peter Doocy, accuses him of political bias from the podium)
“But you're right, people watching at home might miss the part where you say 'turn the temperature down,' and they're still hearing the White House call Trump a threat, when there are mentally unstable people out there trying to kill a political candidate, Donald Trump. Aren't you concerned that people are taking that literally?” Doocy asked.
“We are giving an example, we are not just saying that,” Jean-Pierre responded. “January 6, Peter. January 6. How many times? January 6, 2021. It is true that some of your colleagues reported what happened on that day. And at the same time, we have condemned again and again political violence, political rhetoric. Again and again.”
Trump was also the victim of an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, when suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, shot Trump above his right ear from a rooftop about 130 feet away. The attack killed 50-year-old Corey Comperatore and seriously injured 74-year-old James Copenhaver and 57-year-old David Duch.
The liberal media and Democrats have repeatedly warned that Trump is a “threat to our democracy.” Jean-Pierre said as early as August 2022 that Trump is an “extremist threat to our democracy” who wants to take away people's rights, while President Joe Biden's former campaign claimed in June that Trump is an “instigator of insurrection” and is trying to incite “extremists” to try to overthrow the government.
The liberal media has likened Trump to fascist leaders Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Former Democratic Senator from Missouri, Claire McCaskill said On MSNBC on November 22nd, he said Trump was more “dangerous” than Hitler, while The Bulwark's Charlie Sykes warned that Trump would set up concentration camps if he was re-elected.
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