White House Communications Director Steven Cheung fired back at Jimmy Kimmel's doubling down on joking about President Donald Trump's death and first lady Melania Trump's "glow of expectant widow."
"Jimmy Kimmel is a sh-- human being for: #1. Making a disgusting joke about assassinating the President," Cheung wrote Tuesday on X.
"#2. Doubling down on that joke instead of doing the decent thing by apologizing
"ABC needs to fire him immediately and he should be shunned for the rest of his life."
A former federal prosecutor said Cole Allen’s alleged manifesto could make it far harder for him to mount a “not guilty by reason of insanity” defense after prosecutors accused him of trying to assassinate the president.
“This is not a whodunit: He done it,” Cully Stimson told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" on Tuesday morning, pointing to the evidence already outlined by prosecutors.
"This is not a whodunit. This is what he done it."
Allen is currently facing three federal charges, including attempted assassination of a president, a charge that carries a potential life sentence if he is convicted.
“His manifesto, which wasn’t very long, really takes off, I think, the defense of not guilty by reason of insanity,” Stimson said.“This is willful, deliberate, thought out,” he added. “So when you're the public defender and you're dealing with a guy who's rational; he's a whack job, but he's rational: He understood the difference between right and wrong. That takes the not guilty by reason of insanity off."
Even a liberal D.C. grand jury will not take kindly to trying to kill journalists in addition to the president and his Cabinet.
"It's his decision alone to decide whether or not to plead guilty or not, but this is essentially a slow plea," Stimson said. "This guy did it.
"And so if he wants to have his trial, he's going to get his day in court. And some people are saying, 'Oh, D.C. juries are not going to convict.' I don't think in this type of case, when he could have shot and killed you, all reporters, including reporters on the left, on his way into try to kill the president."
First lady Melania Trump ’s senior advisor is demanding ABC fire Jimmy Kimmel, accusing the late-night host of using “violent rhetoric” that helps fuel a dangerous political climate.
“Jimmy Kimmel should be terminated from ABC,” Marc Beckman, a senior advisor to the first lady, told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday.
“And I think ABC needs to determine, is this the type of person and violent rhetoric that it wants to affiliate with?”
Beckman said ABC has stood by Kimmel for too long.
“ABC has been protecting Jimmy Kimmel now for a long time,” he said. “This isn't an isolated incident. It's been going on and on and on.”
Overheated political rhetoric can have real-world consequences, he continued.
“The problem … is that there are crazy people out there who are listening to this violent rhetoric,” Beckman said. “They're turning it into action.”
Democrats have helped normalize political violence, he warned.
“It’s completely normalized, and that's the problem,” he said. “It's within the entire Democrat ecosystem.”
It “needs to stop,” he added.
Melania Trump was calm and in control when shots were fired near the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, according to Beckman, saying she followed protocol and focused on safety.
“Melania was totally under control. She knew what was happening,” he said. “Believe it or not, she was not afraid.”
The first lady reacted immediately, he continued.
“She was the first one to duck,” Beckman said. “And she was telling the president, ‘Come on, let's go. Get down, get down.’”
Beckman said Trump was grateful everyone was safe, but warned that the country cannot keep accepting such moments as normal.
“This needs to stop,” he said. “We can't live this way as a society.”
{{#rendered}}Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, posted on social media what appeared to be contradictory messages about the shooting over the weekend at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
Crockett, who lost in the Democrat primary for Senate this year, has made multiple posts about the shooting since it happened, with some condemning political violence and others questioning whether assassination attempts against Trump were staged.
On her official X and Threads accounts, she said, "The political violence is unacceptable and must stop."
"I am grateful that everyone attending tonight’s WHCD is safe," the congresswoman added.
But on her Jasmine For US campaign Threads account, she posted, "Has there ever been a president have this many close 'attempts' on their life?"
"Maybe it’s lax gun laws, maybe it’s lack of mental health funding, or maybe it’s fake… who knows," the post continued.
This is an excerpt from Landon Mion's report. Get the full story here.
The Washington Hilton did not let the steak and lobster go to waste, donating the dignitary meals to "shelters for abused women and children," according to White House Correspondents Association President Weijia Jiang.
"The Hilton donated the ~2600 dinners that went unserved at WHCD," Jiang, who is CBS's senior White House correspondent, wrote Monday on X.
"They freeze dried the steak and lobster for longer shelf life before giving them to 2 shelters for abused women and children. HUGE thank you to the staff that worked through the night under terrible circumstances."
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles will meet with leaders from the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security to examine lessons from the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner attack, officials said Monday.
The White House is reviewing how best to protect President Donald Trump after Saturday’s shooting raised fresh questions about the security measures surrounding the nation’s leaders.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to detail what changes might come but vowed the administration is remaining vigilant against the "left-wing cult of hatred" aimed at the president and the Cabinet.
“These conversations will take place in private, but if adjustments need to be made to protect the president, they will be made,” Leavitt told reporters at Monday's press briefing.
{{#rendered}}The widow of Charlie Kirk is opening up with concerns about continued political violence just days after the traumatic White House Correspondents Association Dinner.
"Saturday was yet another traumatic example of the evil in our country and the continued rise in political violence," Erika Kirk wrote Monday night on X. "I’m taking time to spend with my family.
"I will be joining The Charlie Kirk Show Wednesday at 12PM ET to briefly address what took place. Enough is enough."
Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel used his opening monologue of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on Monday night to issue an non-apology of his "roast" of first lady Melania Trump, saying his joke about her being "an expectant widow" was misconstrued.
"It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he's almost 80 and she's younger than I am," Kimmel said. "It was not – by any stretch of the definition – a call to assassination."
Kimmel acknowledged being under President Donald Trump's scrutiny, this time from joking about the first lady becoming a "widow" just days before a would-be assassin was stopped by U.S. Secret Service outside the doors of the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday night.
"You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and the first lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired from your job?" Kimmel's monologue began. "We’ve all been there, right?”
Kimmel then continued to criticize the first lady, doubling down on political rhetoric after Trump warnings.
“Obviously, it was a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they’re together,” he said, adding "they know that" was not a joke about "assassination" but Trump dying of old age.
Kimmel also added he understands the "stress" of being Trump's first lady.
“But I understand that the first lady had a stressful experience over the weekend, and probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house,” he continued. “And also, I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do, and I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.
"Donald Trump is allowed to say whatever he wants to say, as are you and as am I. Because under the First Amendment, we have, as Americans, a right to free speech.”
Kimmel did apologize to the media that was impacted by the assassination attempt, though, saying he was “sorry” for everyone at the dinner.
“Just because no one got killed doesn’t mean it wasn’t traumatic and scary, and we should come together," he said. "We really should
“But, if you want us to believe that a joke I made three days before this dinner had any effect on anything that happened, well then, maybe someone should look into this psychic lady too.”
Kimmel then blamed White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in saying Trump will be roasting his media critics: "There will be shots fired."
Leavitt was referring to the nature of the WCHA Dinner, which is a "roast" of critics in a fun-loving tone.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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