White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told Fox News’ Peter Doocy that his question about whether the administration would stop using the word “threat” to describe former President Donald Trump was “incredibly dangerous.”
Doocy’s question came after several reporters asked Jean-Pierre to respond to Trump’s claim that the rhetoric used by the White House and Kamala Harris’s campaign had inspired the second assassination attempt Sunday.
Reporters, and Jean-Pierre, said that Trump’s claim had been made “without evidence,” even though the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, had echoed Biden and Harris’s rhetoric, including the claim that “democracy is on the ballot.”
Jean-Pierre had said that the administration denounced political violence, but that Trump was, indeed, a threat to democracy — whether because of the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021, or because of the rhetoric he typically uses.
Doocy then asked a question:
“It’s been only two 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. How many more assassination attempts on Donald Trump until the president and the vice president and you pick a word to describe Trump other than threat?”
Jean-Pierre berated Doocy, telling him that his question was “incredibly dangerous in the way that you’re asking it.”
She reiterated that, in the view of the White House, the former president was, indeed, a “threat to democracy” due to January 6th.
In a follow-up, Doocy asked about the possibility that mentally unstable people would miss her call to tone down the political rhetoric, and act on the word “threat”: “Is there no concern that people are taking that literally?
“We’re using examples. We’re not saying that, just to say it. January 6, Peter. January 6. Wait — January 6. How many times do I have to — January 6, 2021,” she said. She reiterated that the administration denounced violence.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.