'Deeply Disturbing': Glenn Ivey Reacts To 'Surreal' Trump Assassination Attempt

3 months ago

On "Forbes Newsroom," Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-MD) reacted to the assassination attempt on former President Trump.

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Transcript

00:00Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis with Forbes breaking news. Joining me now is Congressman

00:07Glenn Ivey. Congressman, thank you so much for joining me today.

00:11Thanks for having me.

00:12I really appreciate you coming back on again. Really a sobering moment, a harrowing moment

00:18that we saw over the weekend that transcends politics. Former President Donald Trump survived

00:23an assassination attempt at a political rally on Saturday. When you saw the news, when you

00:28saw the video, what's your reaction?

00:31I mean, I was pretty shocked. I had heard about it first before I saw the video. We

00:36were not watching any television or anything at the time, but then we pulled it up immediately.

00:42And yeah, it's surreal. You know, the shot that was that close. I think it's pretty hard

00:49to believe that someone was able to get that clean of a shot at the president at a rally.

00:59And the fact that he missed, you know, thank God. But it's it was deeply disturbing at

01:06a variety of levels.

01:09I've talked to your colleagues earlier today, and they all said the same sentiment of, you

01:14know, God was there because a miracle happened. It was so close. But you bring up a question.

01:21It is hard to believe that someone was able to get that type of shot. What questions do

01:25you have for the Secret Service here?

01:27Yeah, I'm on the Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security Committee. And I assume

01:34I heard the speaker say he wanted to do a congressional investigation on that. I'm certainly

01:40on board with that effort. I think we need to make sure that we figure out exactly what

01:45went wrong on that on that day and make sure that it's not something that will, you know,

01:53be replicated in the future for sure. And in addition, we've got, you know, the Republican

01:59and the Democratic conventions. Republicans have already started there. So we need to

02:04make sure that we've redoubled the efforts to make sure that those are secure. And then

02:10the protection of of individual members. I mean, we you know, we know that Gabby Giffords

02:14was shot. Steve Scalise has been shot. Other members of Congress. There have been attempts,

02:20you know, Gretchen Whitmer. There was an attempt to, I think, abduct her and perhaps harm her

02:25as well a few years ago that was thwarted. So, you know, we know that these threats are

02:29out there and that, you know, there's these are angry times here in the United States.

02:34We need to try and make sure we do everything we can to deescalate that and and try and

02:41get back to a more civilized approach to political disagreement. We're going to have differences,

02:47but we can disagree without being disagreeable. It's no secret, really, that the political

02:53divide in this country has really reached a boiling point in recent months, weeks, years.

03:00Members of both parties from President Biden to Speaker Mike Johnson, people on down have

03:05called for unity in this moment. Some have had a different message a few hours after

03:11the shooting. Now, vice presidential pick J.D. Vance tweeted this, quote, The central

03:17premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who

03:22must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to the to President Trump's attempted

03:27assassination. What do you think of a take like that?

03:32Well, I was deeply disappointed with that, even before I knew he was going to be the

03:36the V.P. pick for the Republican ticket for a couple of reasons. One is it's exactly the

03:42opposite of what we need right now. You know, it's sort of throwing more rocks, more

03:47gasoline on the fire, so to speak. But also there's no factual basis for the statement.

03:52At the time he made the statement, I'm not even sure we knew the name of the shooter,

03:56much less, you know, whether Biden or anybody else influenced him in his decision to do

04:02this. And I know the FBI is still working on this. But as far as I know, they still

04:07haven't figured that out. And I heard that he's a registered Republican. I think he gave

04:12$15 to Act Blue, which is a Democratic, you know, portal for donations. But, you know, to

04:21say that this is Biden's fault, I think is at least at this point factually false. And

04:28again, not what we need right now. We really need to move things in a different and better

04:34direction than they are going. And J.D. Vance's comments were the wrong statement at the

04:40wrong time. You know, more broadly, some Republicans have criticized Democrats for

04:45calling Donald Trump a threat to democracy, saying that type of rhetoric is to blame for

04:51the events unfolding on Saturday. What do you make of those takes?

04:58Yeah, I mean, I think. A couple of things, one is, I don't know, you know, again, whether

05:06those kinds of comments fueled what this guy was thinking at the time he picked up the AR and went

05:12onto that roof and then took a shot at the presidential nominee. But, you know, at the end

05:19of the day, I think it's important for us to also make sure that, you know, we're going to

05:24have disagreements and they're going to be substantive. And I think, you know, I think it's

05:29OK for us to do that. You know, there's an old saying it's it's not important for us to think

05:36the same, but it is important for us to think together. And I think that that's what needs to

05:40happen in Washington. We're going to have disagreements. Democrats are still going to be

05:44Democrats. Republicans are still going to be Republicans. And rightly so. I mean, that's what

05:50this American process is supposed to be. The separation of powers, the competition of the free

05:55market of ideas are supposed to be disagreements. We just have to make sure we resolve

06:00them in the way that the framers set up. And that's through the political process. You know,

06:05it's ballots, not bullets is the way we need to go.

06:08It's really no secret that temperatures are at an all time high in this election. This what we saw

06:14Saturday was the first attempted assassination in this country of a presidential candidate since

06:181981. Regardless of party, what's your message to your constituents and Americans, both

06:25Democrats and Republicans?

06:28Yeah, I mean, it was a scary moment for a variety of reasons. And, you know, I also don't want to

06:34gloss over the fact that even though, you know, President, presidential nominee Trump did not get

06:41seriously injured. A man lost his life on Saturday and two others were seriously injured. So we want

06:47to make sure we keep that in our minds and those families in our minds and hearts as well. But, you

06:54know, I think it's important for us to make sure that we understand the magnitude of this moment.

07:00This is a pivotal election. I do think there are a lot of issues on the ballot that are going to be

07:06really important for the United States moving forward. Abortion and, you know, reproductive rights is

07:12one of those, for example. I think there are others as well, for sure. Voting rights, civil rights,

07:18criminal justice reform. I know people want to make sure that even though the economy is doing well,

07:24that they benefit as well, too. And, you know, managing the prescription drug prices. I think the

07:29cap on the cost of insulin was a big step. There's a lot of concern about the cost of gas and

07:35groceries. Inflation is turning around, but it hasn't gone far enough. Unemployment is way down. I

07:41mean, these are the kinds of issues, pocketbook issues in particular, that most voters have on their

07:46minds. And I think we have to find a way, we as Democrats in particular, to speak directly to that.

07:52And I think President Biden needs to talk to them about what he's going to do to try and make their

07:58lives better and what his vision for the country is moving forward.

08:02Congressman Glenn Ivey, I appreciate the conversation. Per usual, you're welcome back on

08:07Forbes Newsroom anytime.

08:09Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

'Deeply Disturbing': Glenn Ivey Reacts To 'Surreal' Trump Assassination Attempt

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