Here’s how Kansas City-area lawmakers responded to correspondents’ dinner shooting
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Cole Thomas Allen, 31, opened fire at the Washington Hilton and was arrested.
- Lawmakers called for prosecution, and one called for hearings on presidential security.
- The event marks the third time an alleged assassin was near the President.
Kansas and Missouri politicians continued to call for an end to political violence on Monday, after an apparent assassination attempt of President Donald Trump and other top officials at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday.
Trump and other members of his administration were rushed from the stage after 31-year-old California man Cole Thomas Allen opened fire outside the ballroom at the Washington Hilton on Saturday. A manifesto purportedly belonging to Allen contained written statements prosecutors say are critical of Trump.
Law enforcement officials arrested Allen near the screening area. One officer was struck in a bullet resistant vest and is expected to recover, and no other injuries were reported.
Following the shooting on Saturday, Kansas Senators Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran both released statements thanking law enforcement for preventing serious injuries during the event. Kansas City-area Representatives Sam Graves, who represents a swath of northern Missouri, and Mark Alford, whose district touches the metro and central Missouri, similarly both made statements about the attack.
Others were slower to make a statement. Conservative radio host Pete Mundo criticized Kansas City-area Democrats on Monday morning for not vocally responding to the attack.
“The amount of silence on this, especially from people locally in the Kansas City area is beyond disturbing,” Mundo said on his radio show on Monday morning.
Around noon Monday, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Kansas City, Missouri, Democrat, posted that he was grateful no one was harmed and condemned political violence.
“I am thankful that no one was seriously harmed at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner this weekend, and I am grateful to the law enforcement officers who prevented a tragedy,” Cleaver said. “Political violence has absolutely no place in America — and the perpetrator should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Rep. Sharice Davids, a Kansas Democrat representing part of Wyandotte County and all of Johnson, Anderson, Franklin and Miami counties, released a statement to The Star saying that political violence is occurring “far too often, and it has to stop.”
“No matter our differences, we should resolve disagreements through dialogue, not harm. I’m grateful that everyone is safe, but we can’t become desensitized or accept this as the new normal,” Davids said in a statement to The Star.
Missouri’s Republican senators also didn’t immediately condemn the attack publicly.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Missouri Republican, posted a clip on Monday afternoon of an October committee hearing where he tied prior assassination attempts on Trump to other acts of political violence perpetrated by people for allegedly left-leaning causes.
“There is something happening. Luigi Leftism is barreling toward more violence,” Schmidt said, referring to Luigi Mangione, who is accused of assassinating UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December, 2024. “It’s getting worse and must be confronted.”
Sen. Josh Hawley, on Monday afternoon, called for a hearing in the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee to address deficiencies in presidential security arrangements.
“Given these recent events, I believe it is necessary for the Committee to convene a hearing to assess the adequacy of presidential security arrangements and resources in the current threat environment,” Hawley said in a letter to chairman Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican.
A spokesperson for Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly didn’t respond to a request for comment when this article was published.
