During an interview with ABC News on Friday, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) responded to charges from Republicans that rhetoric about 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump might have led to the assassination attempts of Trump by stating that we should “look at the identities of these two deranged individuals who carried out these attacks.” And “Donald Trump inspired an attack on the Capitol on January 6. And the Republicans might want us to stop talking about that and what that means, but it’s a fact.”
ABC Reporter Jay O’Brien asked, “Quickly, Senator, before we let you go, I do want to have you respond, some of your colleagues in Congress in the House of Representatives, specifically, have accused Democrats of perpetuating a certain rhetoric about former President Trump and saying that he’s a threat to democracy and things of that nature and accusing Democrats of creating an environment that may have led to those assassination attempts of the former President. Does Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) have a point when he says something like that?”
Kaine answered, “That’s a desperate lie to make that up. First, look at the identities of these two deranged individuals who carried out these attacks. And second, Donald Trump inspired an attack on the Capitol on January 6. And the Republicans might want us to stop talking about that and what that means, but it’s a fact. I run into people all the time on the Republican side who try to downplay that, it’s a fact. I’m really, really glad the Secret Service did — I think, in the first instance, in Pennsylvania, did not do a good job. I thought they did a marvelous job in Florida, thank God. And we need to, and Democrats are uniformly supportive, more resources for the Secret Service, and if it’s a question of not just resources, but leadership, well, we’ve got to get that right, too.”
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