White House says it will continue to call Trump 'threat' after Jan. 6 riot
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was pressed Tuesday about referring to former President Trump as a "threat" to democracy despite multiple attempts on his life.
White House officials continue to call former President Trump a "threat" to democracy, despite two attempted assassinations on the former president’s life.
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about Trump being referred to as a "threat."
"How many more assassination attempts on Donald Trump until the president and vice president and you pick a different word to describe Trump, other than ‘threat?’" Doocy asked.
Jean-Pierre told Doocy she completely disagreed with the premise of his question, calling the way he asked it "incredibly dangerous" because Americans are watching.
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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre explained that she and others at the White House will continue to call former President Trump a threat, backing up the term with events like the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. (White House)
She also went into defense mode, saying the Biden administration has consistently condemned political violence.
After Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at a Butler, Pennsylvania, campaign rally and grazed Trump’s ear with a bullet, President Biden called Trump to tell him he was grateful the former president was OK, Jean-Pierre explained.
She also defended the Biden administration because it has called out Trump's role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, called out the attack on Rep. Nancy Pelosi's, D-Calif., husband Paul Pelosi and asked that the temperature of political rhetoric be lowered after the assassination attempt on Trump in Butler.
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Republican presidential nominee former President Trump is surrounded by Secret Service after getting shot in an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)
"What I have said about the president, the former president, about Jan. 6 is [a] fact that you all have reported. It is [a] fact. When you have a former president who basically says that the election wasn’t the results of the election… when dozens, dozens of more than 60 Republican judges said that it was a fee and fair election," Jean-Pierre said. "You had more than 2,000 people who were told to go to the Capitol. It was one of the darkest days of our democracy, one of the darkest days."
She continued, saying it was important to have disagreements on policies surrounding things like the economy, health care and foreign policy.
But the political rhetoric, she said, was not OK.
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Protesters descend on the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
"To your point, there are people watching at home who might miss the part where you say, ‘Let’s lower the temperature,’ and… there are mentally unstable people who are attempting to kill political candidates… attempting to kill Donald Trump," Doocy told Jean-Pierre. "And they are still hearing this White House refer to him as a threat. Is there no concern that people are taking that literally?"
Jean-Pierre responded by saying she and others are using examples to back up what they are saying, like Jan. 6.
The events covered on Jan. 6 happened, she noted, and the White House has denounced political violence "over and over again."
President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris take in Fourth of July fireworks from the Truman Balcony of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Jean-Pierre explained that people are watching what the media is saying about the White House raising political violence rhetoric.
"This is an administration that has denounced and condemned any type of political rhetoric or violence. It is the reason why this president decided to run in 2020. That is why the president decided to come back," Jean-Pierre said of Biden.
On Monday, Trump said Biden's and Vice President Harris’ "rhetoric" is what is causing him to be "shot at," following the second attempt against him since July. Trump also told Fox News Digital that the suspected gunman "acted" on the "highly inflammatory language" of Democrats.
Trump spoke with Fox News Digital on Monday, a day after he was rushed off the golf course at Trump International in West Palm Beach, Florida, after Secret Service agents discovered a gunman in the bushes near the course.
Trump assassination attempt suspect Ryan Wesley Routh is taken into custody Sunday in Florida. (Martin County Sheriff's Office )
The suspected gunman, Ryan Wesley Routh, had an AK-47-style rifle pointing through a chain-link fence out toward the green, a GoPro camera and two backpacks. Routh ran from the scene, but was pulled over and arrested on Interstate 95 in Martin County.
Authorities are treating the episode as an apparent assassination attempt against Trump.
"He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it," Trump said. "Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out."
Trump pointed to Biden and Harris’ past comments casting Trump as a "threat to democracy," while telling Americans they are "unity" leaders.
"They are the opposite," Trump said. "These are people that want to destroy our country."
He added: "It is called the enemy from within. They are the real threat."
Fox News Digital's Brooke Singeman contributed to this report.
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