Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) didn't waste any time pointing the finger after Saturday's assassination attempt on President Donald Trump — and he aimed it squarely at Trump himself.
The anti-Trump stalwart appeared on CNN's Laura Coates Live following the arrest of a man identified as carrying a pump-action shotgun, a semi-automatic handgun, and at least three knives to Washington, D.C. after traveling from California. The suspect emailed his family just before the attack, laying out his grievances against the Trump administration, and a manifesto left little ambiguity about his targets.
More charges are expected to follow.
Coates played a clip of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who called out what she described as years of escalating demonization of the president. “This political violence stems from a systemic demonization of him and his supporters by commentators, yes, by elected members of the Democrat Party, and even some in the media,” she said. “This hateful and constant and violent rhetoric directed at President Trump day after day after day for 11 years has helped to legitimize this violence and bring us to this dark moment.”
Goldman, who sits on the House Judiciary and Homeland Security committees and is a former federal prosecutor, of course, doesn’t blame his party for the shooting.
When asked about the White House's response, Goldman didn't even pause. "I mean, it's pretty rich given that Donald Trump's rhetoric led to January 6," he said. "And we know what Donald Trump's rhetoric leads to because we know many times over how his followers use violence in — when they follow him."
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Yes, he literally blamed President Trump for the assassination attempt against him. Let’s recap what happened. A man traveled across the country armed to the teeth, wrote a manifesto targeting Trump administration officials, and Goldman's primary takeaway is that Trump's rhetoric is the real problem here. The suspect's own words, apparently, are less relevant than invoking January 6. And speaking of January 6, how exactly can we trust Democrats when it comes to assessing the rhetoric of Trump or anyone, when they claim that Trump telling his supporters to march “to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard” was inciting a riot.
But I digress. After blaming Trump for the assassination attempt, Goldman had the audacity to play the “both sides” card.
“Now, that does not excuse rhetoric that would otherwise call for violence by anybody,” he continued. “The point is that we do need to dial it down on all sides.”
Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman attempts to blame President Trump for the assassination attempt on his life:
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 28, 2026
GOLDMAN: "We know what Donald Trump's rhetoric leads to." pic.twitter.com/WCw6TSptQw
As we’ve pointed out before, this is what Democrats do every time there’s left-wing violence. They try to downplay their own culpability by claiming the problem exists on “both sides.” They can never own up to the fact that they’ve been calling Trump a Nazi, a dictator, an existential threat to democracy, etc., etc., for years, and that the people carrying out all the violence we’re seeing are echoing that rhetoric, are clearly radicalized by it, and feeling morally obligated to do something about it.
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