New Jersey rep: Fear-mongering and assault rifles led to Trump assassination attempt
New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill linked the second Trump assassination attempt to Republican rhetoric and the "complete availability" of assault weapons.
Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., said on Monday how the second assassination attempt against former President Trump was a "confluence" of Republican "misinformation" and "fear-mongering" alongside the "complete availability of assault rifles."
Sherrill spoke to CNN’s Jim Acosta one day after Secret Service agents successfully thwarted the assassination attempt at Trump International Golf Club, opening fire on the suspect who was later taken into custody.
Although Sherrill acknowledged the Secret Service needed to do more to protect Trump, she linked the attempted assassination to the GOP.
"I think we also have to address some underlying issues that are going on here as well. This really seems to be the confluence of two very bad things going on in the Republican Party," Sherrill said.
Former President Trump faced a second assassination attempt at his golf club on Sunday. (REUTERS/Marco Bello)
She added, "On one side, the attempts to divide, to enrage the population, to put out false rumors and misinformation. We know the mayor in Springfield is begging the Republican Party to stop with the false information on immigrants. They have portions of the town on lockdown at this point, and an increase in all of the partisanship and the fear-mongering that’s going on."
"And then on the other side, we have this complete availability of assault rifles, too. It seems almost anyone who wants to have access. So how did this man, who already had some convictions for barricading himself with a weapon, have access to weapons of war that I was trained on when I was in the military?" Merrill asked.
Acosta later referenced a since-deleted post from X CEO Elon Musk asking, "Why they want to kill Donald Trump?" and remarking, "And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala." He asked Sherrill whether Musk could be in "legal jeopardy" from his post.
Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., discussed her thoughts with CNN's Jim Acosta on the second assassination attempt against Trump. (CNN screenshot)
"Well, it certainly I think opens him up to some moral jeopardy. Why is he asking that question? Is he suggesting people should take note of that and take action? I mean, right now, when we continue to see these attempts to divide people, to divide the American population, to create chaos, to sow discord, this is a very dangerous time, and we need leaders who are going to bring people together to unite us," Sherrill said. "And now as we face these perilous times, Donald Trump and the GOP and Project 2025 and J.D. Vance and now Elon Musk continue to try to sow division and wedges and hatred into the population. And I think it‘s very dangerous."
Later on in the segment, Acosta commented, "It just seems as we‘re getting closer and closer to the election, the rhetoric is getting amped up to some pretty volatile levels."
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Other media outlets have suggested Trump's rhetoric could be partially to blame for the assassination attempt against him. (AP/Jae C. Hong)
"The rhetoric is getting amped up to very volatile lead levels on one side of the aisle. That is getting amped up by the GOP Republicans, MAGA Republicans, by Donald Trump," Sherrill argued.
NBC host Lester Holt similarly remarked on Monday how the assassination attempt "comes amid increasingly fierce rhetoric on the campaign trail" from Trump.
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