The White House on Wednesday condemned a man armed with a gun who was arrested for attempted murder near Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home, despite having encouraged protests near his home.
“The president condemns the actions of this individual in the strongest terms,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said to reporters aboard Air Force One as President Joe Biden travels to California.
President Biden has not personally addressed the threat to Kavanaugh’s life in a statement or in person.
Earlier Wednesday, police arrested Nicholas John Roske, who was armed with a Glock 17 handgun, for attempting to murder Kavanaugh.
“Any violence, threats of violence, or attempts to intimidate justices have no place in our society,” Jean-Pierre said. “He has said that himself and we have been forceful from the podium many times.”
The arrest affidavit noted that Roske “stated that he began thinking about how to give his life a purpose and decided that he would kill the Supreme Court Justice after finding the Justice’s Montgomery County address on the Internet.”
Leftist activists posted Kavanaugh’s home address on the Internet after a leaked draft of a majority opinion suggesting the court was preparing to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Jean-Pierre’s response ignored previous comments from the White House encouraging peaceful protests at the private homes of Supreme Court Justices.
In May, White House press secretary Jen Psaki refused to denounce protesters appearing at the homes of Supreme Court justices.
“I know that there’s an outrage right now, I guess, about protests that have been peaceful to date, and we certainly continue to encourage that outside of judges’ homes, and that’s the president’s position,” she said.
Jean-Pierre did not condemn leftist protester groups for their angry protests organized at Kavanaugh’s home.