Democrat says Trump ‘needs to be shot’ in verbal slip

Delegate Stacey Plaskett said Sunday that former President Donald Trump “needs to be shot” before quickly correcting herself during an interview.

Ms. Plaskett, Virgin Islands Democrat, uttered the verbal gaffe on MSNBC’s “Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart” while discussing Mr. Trump’s recent indictment.

“Having Trump not only have had the codes, but now having the classified information for Americans and being able to put that out and share it in his resort with anyone and everyone who comes through, should be terrifying to all Americans,” she said. “He needs to be shot.”

She promptly said “stopped” after having said “shot.”

Conservatives were quick to call out Ms. Plaskett for stepping on the rake.

Ryan Fournier, the founder of Students for Trump, tweeted out “lock her up!” in response to the video.

Steve Guest, a former communications worker for Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, added that Ms. Plaskett’s word choice would be taken literally had she been a Republican politician.

“Imagine the outrage if a Republican said this about a Democrat,” he said.

Imagine the outrage if a Republican said this about a Democrat. https://t.co/EaW7po7xZm

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) June 18, 2023

After two days of conservative pushback — both angry and satirical — over the slip, Ms. Plaskett issued a statement saying she does not “condone political violence.”

“It is unfortunate that conservative media has taken an instance where I misspoke and misrepresented it as though I advocate for violence — I unequivocally do not,” she said Tuesday.  

“I do not advocate for anyone to shoot former President Trump. I do not encourage or condone political violence,” she said.

Ms. Plaskett is a nonvoting member of Congress who served as an impeachment manager in the case against Mr. Trump in 2021.

She was part of the House team that argued before the U.S. Senate that the former president was “singularly responsible” for the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Mr. Trump was acquitted of those charges in February 2021.