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Just days before an apparent assassination attempt on President Donald Trump’s life, one of the Democratic Party’s leaders called for “maximum warfare” against Republicans.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., made the inflammatory remark while warning Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., against redrawing the state’s congressional map ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Jeffries said that if DeSantis attempted to counter Democratic gains in Virginia following the state’s aggressive gerrymander, Democrats would continue to ratchet up pressure on Republicans nationwide.
“We are in an era of maximum warfare. Everywhere, all the time,” Jeffries said Wednesday at a news conference.
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Three days later, a California man allegedly attempted to assassinate the president Saturday evening at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C.
Cole Allen, 31, is accused of storming a Secret Service checkpoint while armed and intending to enter the hotel ballroom to kill Trump and administration officials. The alleged assassin was armed with a shotgun, handgun and several knives and opened fire on federal agents before being subdued.
A Secret Service officer wearing a ballistic vest, whom Allen allegedly shot at close range, was released from the hospital Sunday.
The gunman allegedly prepared a manifesto before the attack that included anti-Trump and anti-Christian messages, several law enforcement officials told Fox News. He is expected to be arraigned on several federal gun charges Monday.
After the shooting, Republicans called on Democratic lawmakers to refrain from using warlike rhetoric to criticize Trump that could incite violence. The GOP made similar pleas in 2024 after two attempts on the president’s life in Butler, Pa., and at his golf club in Doral, Fla.
But top Democrats have argued that Republicans, too, have used plenty of inflammatory statements to describe their opponents.
“America will not be lectured about civility by far-right extremists in Congress,” Jeffries wrote on social media Sunday, adding that “now is a time to unify.”
A White House aide notably used the same “maximum warfare” language toward Democrats during an interview with The New York Times last year.
When asked to describe the White House’s midterms strategy, the anonymous staffer said, “Maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to Jeffries’ office before publication.
Jeffries’ defiant social media post came after he unequivocally denounced political violence during an interview with Fox News Sunday.
“It is certainly the case that violence is never the answer, whether it’s targeted at the right, the left or the center,” Jeffries told Fox News’ Shannon Bream.
When asked how leaders can combat increasing political violence, Jeffries said elected officials must “set the most appropriate example” in their rhetoric.
“Whatever your ideological perspective is, we all love America, and we all want to make sure that this country is the best that it can possibly be,” he added.
Some Democrats have issued clear appeals to the left to refrain from using violence to achieve their political aims.
“Please stop trying to murder the president,” Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., wrote on social media.
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