California Gov. Gavin Newsom excoriated Katie Miller Monday for suggesting he bore some blame for the shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner.
Miller sparked the anger of the potential Democratic presidential candidate with an appearance on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle." She implied that suspected shooter Cole Allen, a Torrance, Calif., resident who has been charged with the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump, was inspired by Newsom.
"It's no mistake this man hailed from the state of California and that of Gavin Newsom, who is one of the worst offenders of this violent political rhetoric that ... sparks this man's imagination," she told host Laura Ingraham.
Newsom posted a fierce response on X, formerly Twitter.
"What an absurd statement," he wrote. "Political violence is NEVER acceptable. PERIOD. What Cole Allen did was reprehensible and we're grateful the President was uninjured. This finger pointing from people like Katie who haven't just tolerated, but amplified, Trump's dangerous rhetoric is offensive."
He added: "The President has openly celebrated the deaths of his political opponents, called Democrats and immigrants 'vermin,' 'demonic' and 'evil' 'animals' who are 'poisoning the blood of our country.' He regularly uses violent language, threatens to arrest and jail his political enemies — while describing the attempt to overthrow our democracy on January 6 as a 'beautiful thing.' The same folks cheering Trump's threats don't get to rewrite the narrative now."
Miller's lean into the White House's efforts to claim that a "left-wing cult of hatred" led to the violence on Saturday at the Washington Hilton is no surprise, given her past work in the Trump administration and her marriage to White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller. The two attended the dinner, which was cut short when the suspect sprinted through a security checkpoint in the hotel and shot a Secret Service agent in his protective vest during an alleged effort to reach the ballroom.
Newsom remains among the favorites to win the Democratic nomination in 2028, according to polls. However, he has yet to formally announce he is running.
