WH Press Sec. Leavitt Quotes Democrats’ Violent Rhetoric

April 27th, 2026 5:12 PM

“These are Democrat elected officials calling for war against the president of the United States and his supporters,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday, quoting specific Democrat politicians’ violent rhetoric.

"The entire Democratic Party has made their pitch to voters across the country, that Donald Trump poses an existential threat to democracy, that he is a fascist, and they compare him to Hitler," Leavitt said at a press event addressing Saturday’s assassination attempt at the White House Correspondence Dinner by citing the kind of comments by Democrats she said inspires such violence.

Leavitt read inflammatory comments made by:

  • Rep. Hakeem Jeffrey
  • Gov. Josh Shapiro
  • Sen. Alex Padilla
  • Sen. Elizabeth Warren
  • Sen. Adam Schiff
  • Sen. Ed Markey
  • Gov. JB Pritzker
  • Rep. Ayanna Pressley
  • Rep. Monica McIver

“I could go on and on,” Press Sec. Leavitt said, explaining that Democrats’ barrage of hateful, violent rhetoric inspires violence:

“But again, when you have people in positions that are saying things like this every single day for years, you are inspiring violence by people who are already mentally ill. And that’s what we've seen against this president for far too long.”