Gavin Newsom eviscerated Katie Miller for an “absurd” rant about the gunman accused of attacking the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
Miller, the wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, went on Fox News to complain that the California governor’s rhetoric had in some way emboldened the gunman.
Miller ranted that he is one of the “worst offenders of this violent political rhetoric” as the Fox News chyron beamed the words “THE LEFT IS LIONIZING THE ASSASSINS” onto viewers’ screens.
“What an absurd statement,” Newsom reacted on X, via his press office. “Political violence is NEVER acceptable. PERIOD. What Cole Allen did was reprehensible and we’re grateful the President was uninjured.”
Allen, a 31-year-old from Torrance, California, was charged on Monday with trying to assassinate the president. He was stopped by security outside the Washington Hilton ballroom where President Donald Trump and senior administration officials were gathered with more than 2,000 journalists and guests.
“This finger pointing from people like Katie who haven’t just tolerated, but amplified, Trump’s dangerous rhetoric is offensive,” Newsom continued, throwing the spotlight back on Miller, who often peddles MAGA rhetoric.
He rolled off a laundry list of evidence on Trump’s own indiscretions. He said: “The President has openly celebrated the deaths of his political opponents, called Democrats and immigrants ‘vermin,’ ‘demonic’ and ‘evil’ ‘animals’ who are ‘poisoning the blood of our country.’ He regularly uses violent language, threatens to arrest and jail his political enemies—while describing the attempt to overthrow our democracy on January 6 as a ‘beautiful thing.’ The same folks cheering Trump’s threats don’t get to rewrite the narrative now."
Miller had claimed that rhetoric from Newsom inspired Allen. Newsom and his press office often troll Trump and his Cabinet with mocking posts.
Miller said that the “political violence and political rhetoric in this country” comes from such rhetoric, but demurred to foot any blame. Instead, she shifted it onto Newsom.
“It’s no mistake that this man hails from the state of California and that of Gavin Newsom, who is one of the worst offenders of this violent political rhetoric that we see that sparks this man’s imagination,” she told Laura Ingraham.
Melania Trump, too, tried a similar playbook on Monday, attempting to blame comedian and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel for inspiring dangerous rhetoric. He had joked just days before the shooting that the first lady had “the glow of an expectant widow.”
“His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America,” she wrote.
“People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate. A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him,” she added, calling for ABC to ax him.
“Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”
