Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters on Sunday blamed the political left for the shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner, calling the attack “the inevitable result of a radicalized left that has normalized political violence.”
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat, condemned the attack, saying “violence is never the answer” after a gunman charged a security checkpoint outside the ballroom Saturday night at the Washington Hilton before being taken down by Secret Service agents.
Mr. Gruters said Democrats are undermining the very agencies responsible for protecting Americans by refusing to sign off on funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Secret Service.
“Democrats can issue all the hollow calls for ’unity’ they want, but their actions tell the truth — they’ve repeatedly blocked funding for DHS and the very law enforcement agencies tasked with protecting Americans,” Mr. Gruters said. “You cannot inflame division, undermine public safety, and then pretend to stand for peace.”
“Until Democrats fully fund our security, their words are worthless,” he added.
One law enforcement officer was struck Saturday while wearing a bulletproof vest and was released from a hospital.
President Trump, first lady Melania Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance were evacuated from the event.
The suspect, identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, left a manifesto describing himself as “The Friendly Federal Assassin” and stating his intent to target members of the Trump administration, the New York Post reported. The White House said his social media accounts reflected anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric.
Mr. Trump called him a “whack job.”
Mr. Jeffries, appearing on Fox News Sunday, pushed back on attempts to assign political blame.
“Violence is never the answer, whether it is targeted at the right, the left, or the center,” Mr. Jeffries said. “We have issues that we have to work out amongst each other. That is embedded in the First Amendment, being celebrated last night, but what is also embedded in the First Amendment is the right to peacefully protest and to petition the government peacefully.”
As for the DHS funding standoff, Mr. Jeffries said he did not understand why a Senate-passed funding bill had not yet been taken up by the House.
“We have to make sure that every single Secret Service agent continues to get paid, every single TSA agent, the Coast Guard and FEMA, as well as the hardworking men and women of the Department of Homeland Security,” Mr. Jeffries said.
Secret Service agents are being paid through emergency funds drawn from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has reportedly warned lawmakers that those funds will run dry in early May, raising fears that agents and other DHS employees could soon go without paychecks.
