White House officials continue to call former President Trump a “threat” to democracy, despite two assassination attempts on him.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about President Trump being called a “threat.”
“How many more assassination attempts will it take against Donald Trump before the president and vice president are comfortable describing him in words other than 'a threat'?” Doocy asked.
Jean-Pierre told Doocy he didn't agree with the premise of his question at all, and called the way he asked it “incredibly dangerous” with Americans watching.
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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre explained that other White House officials would continue to call former President Trump a threat, citing events like the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. (The White House)
She also went into defensive mode, saying the Biden administration has consistently condemned political violence.
After the shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, by suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks, with a bullet grazing Trump's ear, President Biden called Trump to say he was grateful the former president was safe, Jean-Pierre explained.
She also condemned President Trump's role in the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, condemning the attack on Representative Paul Pelosi, husband of California Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi, and defended the Biden administration for calling for a tone down in political rhetoric after the assassination attempt on President Trump in Butler.
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Former President and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is surrounded by Secret Service agents after being shot during an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)
“What I said about the president, the former president, about January 6th [a] This is the fact that you all reported. [a] “It's true, we had a former president basically saying that the election was unelected … over 60 Republican judges saying it was a correct and fair election,” Jean-Pierre said. “Over 2,000 people were told to go to the Capitol. It was one of the darkest days, one of the darkest days of our democracy.”
She went on to say it's important to have differences of opinion on policies like the economy, health care and foreign policy.
But the political rhetoric was no good, she said.
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Protesters rally at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
“You're right, people watching at home might miss the part where you say, 'Turn the temperature down.' And we have mentally unstable people trying to kill a political candidate. They're trying to kill Donald Trump,” Doocy told Jean-Pierre. “And they're still hearing the White House calling Trump a threat. Aren't you worried that people are taking that literally?”
Jean-Pierre countered that he and others use examples like Jan. 6 to back up their claims.
She noted that the events reported on January 6th actually happened and that the White House has condemned political violence “on numerous occasions.”
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President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris watched the Fourth of July fireworks from the White House's Truman Balcony in Washington, DC. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Jean-Pierre explained that people are paying attention to what the media is saying about the White House stepping up its rhetoric of political violence.
“This administration has condemned and denounced any political rhetoric and violence. That's why this president decided to run for president in 2020. That's why he decided to come back,” Jean-Pierre said of Biden.
On Monday, President Trump blamed “comments” made by Biden and Vice President Harris for the “shooting,” following the second attack since July. Trump also told Fox News Digital that the suspect was “responding” to “very inflammatory words” from Democrats.
Trump spoke to Fox News Digital on Monday, a day after he was rushed away from the Trump International golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, after Secret Service agents found a man with a gun in bushes near the course.
Democrats have repeatedly used violent rhetoric against the former president: “It's time to put Trump at the center of the target.”
Ryan Wesley Routh, the suspect in the attempted assassination of President Trump, was taken into custody in Florida on Sunday. (Martin County Sheriff's Office)
The suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, was pointing an AK-47 style rifle at Green through a chain link fence, was carrying a GoPro camera and two backpacks, and fled the scene before being stopped and arrested on Interstate 95 in Martin County.
Authorities are treating the incident as an assassination attempt on President Trump.
“He believed what Biden and Harris said and acted on it,” Trump said. “I'm being shot at for what they're saying, but I'm in a position to save our country. They're destroying our country from the inside out.”
Trump pointed to past comments by Biden and Harris in which they described him as a “threat to democracy” and told Americans they were leaders of “unity.”
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“They are the exact opposite,” Trump said. “They are people who want to destroy our country.”
“This is called the enemy from within. They are the real threat,” he added.
Fox News Digital's Brooke Singemann contributed to this report.
