The shocking news of a plot to murder a Trump Cabinet official, the Director of the Office of Budget and Management Russell Vought, was briefly reported on the NBC Nightly News. Disturbingly, the motive was downplayed.
Watch the report in its entirety as aired on the NBC Nightly News on Thursday, February 5th, 2026:
WATCH: NBC Nightly News were the only network nightly newscast to report on the arrest of a man plotting to k!11 OMB Director Russell Vought. pic.twitter.com/QKkxlfmkaQ
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) February 6, 2026
TOM LLAMAS: Now to that alarming arrest of a man accused of plotting to murder a member of President Trump's Cabinet. Let's get straight to Kelly O'Donnell who is tracking this one for us. Kelly, the suspect allegedly showed up at this top Trump official's house?
KELLY O’DONNELL: And there's camera evidence. Tom, this is another example of the high risk of threats made against public officials. The official in this case has a powerful job in the Trump Cabinet as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought. Officials say a Maryland man, 26-year-old Colin Demarco, is charged with attempted first degree murder after he allegedly was spotted on a doorbell-type camera at Vought's Northern Virginia home. Demarco was also carrying a firearm without a license and wearing a mask. According to a law enforcement source familiar with the criminal complaint, Demarco was described as being frustrated with President Trump being elected. That suspect is due in court February 23rd. Tom.
LLAMAS: Kelly O’Donnell on that breaking news tonight. Kelly, thank you.
To their credit, NBC were the only ones to report on this plot. CBS and ABC’s respective newscasts omitted the story entirely. The deranged murder plot was simply not fit to air. ABC instead went with traffic and aviation mishaps on the back end of their A-block, and CBS went with the measles.
The motive downplay, though, was just too much. Kelly O’Donnell portrayed the motive as resulting from the prospective shooter being “frustrated with President Trump being elected.” There are many people sharing those frustrations, but none of them act on them by bringing a gun to a Cabinet official’s house.
The insane details and actual motive, per CBS News:
Demarco admitted traveling to Arlington and claimed to be looking for a job, the complaint said.
Eventually, he said that he went to Vought's home because he wanted to confront him about Project 2025. He denied having a gun or any intent to harm anyone, however. He also told agents that the November 2024 election was "the lowest point in his life" and he feared "impending war and a fascist takeover," the complaint says.
Demarco also spoke of his admiration for Luigi Mangione — the man who is charged with murdering former United Health CEO Brian Thompson.
…
He also exchanged messages on the social media platform Discord in which he allegedly wrote about his desire to kill the president. One message highlighted in the complaint read: "The more Trump does shit like this, the more I wanna grab a gun and try to shoot him… I am at my wits' end and this might be the final straw. I want to get a gun, head to DC and kill him."
The report further indicates that the putative shooter was writing a manifesto, and that upon its completion he would begin shooting people.
This was clearly not someone frustrated with an election result, but a motivated leftist inspired by Luigi Mangione, and intent on emulating him. Shame on the network newscasts for continuing to downplay leftist violence or, in the case of CBS and ABC, outright hide it.
