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‘It’s absolutely unacceptable:’ Washington officials react to Trump rally shooting

Jul 13, 2024, 6:37 PM | Updated: Jul 14, 2024, 11:32 am

Image: At left, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., speaks during a news conference on Tuesday, Jan. 9...

At left, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., speaks during a news conference on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Washington, D.C. At right, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., speaks during a nomination hearing in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023. (Photos: Mariam Zuhaib, AP)

(Photos: Mariam Zuhaib, AP)

Washington officials have reacted to a shooting that broke out at a rally for former President Donald Trump on Saturday.

According to The Associated Press, the shooting is being investigated as an assassination attempt. Trump’s ear was covered in blood and his campaign agents reported he was “fine.” A local prosecutor said the suspected gunman and at least one attendee are dead.

More details: Trump rally shootings being investigated as 鈥榓ssassination attempt鈥; One spectator and gunman dead

Senator Patty Murray

Senator Maria Cantwell

Governor Jay Inslee

Lt. Governor Denny Heck

Washington Republican Party

成人X站 Newsradio reached out to various Washington Republican leaders on Saturday.

Washington State Republican Party Chairman Jim Walsh is in Milwaukee preparing for the start of his party’s national convention on Monday.

“God’s grace and the Secret Service is an amazing branch of our government who do their jobs and boy you saw them do it today,” Walsh told 成人X站 Newsradio.

“What you’re gonna see is Trump is going to probably arrive in Milwaukee, maybe a little bandaged up but to what is likely to be a hero’s welcome when he comes onto the stage at the convention center,” he added.

Walsh is calling on everyone to dial down the incendiary rhetoric.

“Some of us have been dreading this kind of thing, this kind of violence for a while because the rhetoric of people who don’t like Trump is so intense,” Walsh said.

“But it’s not always Trump,” Walsh added. “There are intense debates around some gubernatorial campaigns, around some congressional campaigns and maybe it doesn’t reach the level of the rhetoric around Trump but we do see this overheated rhetoric, where somebody’s a terrible person.”

He says demonizing people with different beliefs can lead to violence.

“We gotta avoid that personal demonizing and not because we’re grand or we’re great gentlemen and gentlewomen, it’s because when you start slipping down that slope, you may provoke violence,” Walsh said.

“It can push unstable people over the edge,” he added.

He said it is better to debate on the merits of an argument.

Republican strategist Randy Pepple, who does not support Trump, echoed that sentiment. He brought up recent violence affecting representatives of both parties.

“Gabby Giffords saw at a town hall meeting, police shot at a baseball practice, it’s on the right it’s on the left,” Pepple told 成人X站 Newsradio.

Pepple is a never-Trumper but he said there’s no justification for political violence.

“It is deplorable but leaders have to come together and deplore and at all times, not just when it’s convenient, not just in the wake of tragedy,” Pepple said.

成人X站 Newsradio reached former Republican State senator Don Benton, who served four years in the Trump administration, at a GOP fundraiser in Southwest Washington Saturday evening.

He worried the attack was politically motivated and said he worries it will continue.

“It’s absolutely unacceptable,” Benton said. “It’s unacceptable at any level. That’s not what a free democracy, a free republic, is all about. We settle our differences at the ballot box, as long as it’s done fairly right.”

Benton said Trump showed resilience after the shooting. He added this is why he supports the former president.

“He has known for some time that his life has been threatened, obviously, but that will not keep him from reaching out to his people to the folks that love him,” Benton said. “And that’s what kind of a man he is. He put the cause and the country and the campaign in front of his own personal safety.”

Benton said Trump’s defiant reaction moments after the shooting was what he expected to see.

“That’s just the kind of person he is, he’s a fighter,” Benton said. “He doesn’t go down easy and I think all of America saw that today.”

Benton also described what people were saying.

“Thank god that he’s OK, that he got more support than ever before, people that have not been enthusiastic in the past have come up and said ‘It’s clear to me that he’s the only guy that can fix this mess the country is in,” Benton said.

Local leaders — both Republicans and Democrats — have condemned the violence. Stay with 成人X站 Newsradio for local reaction throughout the week.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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