Peter Doocy Asks KJP Point-Blank If White House Rhetoric Is Partly Responsible For Second Trump Assassination Attempt

Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday if the White House should tone down its rhetoric following the second assassination attempt against Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Members of the Secret Service arrested 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh on Sunday in West Palm Beach, Florida, after he allegedly pointed an AK-47-style rifle at the former president, marking the second assassination attempt against Trump in the past two months. Doocy asked whether repeatedly accusing Trump of being a “threat” to democracy is at least partly responsible for the assassination attempts.

“It’s been only 2 days since somebody allegedly tried to kill Donald Trump again, and you’re here at the podium in the White House briefing room calling him a ‘threat,’” Doocy began. “How many more assassination attempts on Donald Trump until the president, the vice president and you pick a different word to describe Trump other than ‘threat?’”

“Peter, if anything from this administration, I actually completely disagree with the premise of your question, the question that you’re asking, it is also incredibly dangerous in the way that you’re asking it because the American people are watching,” Jean-Pierre said. “And to say that, to say that from an administration that has consistently condemned political violence, from an administration where the president called the former president and was thankful, grateful that he was okay. From an administration that has called out January 6, called out the attack of Paul Pelosi, called out and said we need to lower the temperature after the Butler incident, and now for you to make that kind of comment in your question … that is also incredibly dangerous.”

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The press secretary invoked the Capitol riot that occurred on Jan. 6, 2021, to exemplify how the White House condemns political violence, which she called “one of the darkest days” in American history. She further said “political rhetoric” is unacceptable to bring into discussions regarding policy.