ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel tried to defend himself on Monday after receiving “another Twitter vomit storm” over the weekend after his Friday joke about First Lady glowing like an expectant widow aged like unrefrigerated cheese after a California man tried to assassinate President Trump at Saturday’s White House Correspondents Dinner. Kimmel tried to say the joke was merely about Donald and Melania’s age differences, but that would be hard to square with Kimmel’s history of Melania jokes. Kimmel began by recapping how, since the WHCD would not feature a comedian, he did his own roast routine, “And there was no big reaction to it until this morning when I greeted the day facing yet another Twitter vomit storm. And a call to fire me from our First Lady Melania Trump saying I should be fired because of a joke I made, again, five nights ago. It was a pretend roast. I said, ‘Our First Lady Melania's here, look at her, so beautiful, Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.’”   Jimmy Kimmel says his Melania/widow joke was "obviously was a joke about their age difference. And the look of joy we see on her face every time they're together." (1/3)pic.twitter.com/RZNgAarJB2 — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) April 28, 2026   He added, “Which obviously was a joke about their age difference. And the look of joy we see on her face every time they're together. It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he's almost 80 and she's younger than I am. It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination. And they know that. I've been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence, in particular.” The second sentence is Kimmel unwittingly telling on himself. A good amount of late night’s jokes about Melania—of which Kimmel is by the leader—are based around the idea that Donald and Melania do not actually love each other and that she actually finds him repulsive. Even if one grants that Kimmel wasn’t talking about violence or assassination, it is not outrageous to say he was alluding to Trump’s death, especially given all the jokes Kimmel likes to tell about Trump’s diet. Even in that spoof WHCD routine, Kimmel gave Trump the Burger King award, a reference to both his like of fast food and alleged monarchial tendencies. From being a “very light roast,” that routine also featured gay rape jokes about FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and Senator Lindsey Graham. As it was, Kimmel continued: But I understand that the first lady had a stressful experience over the weekend. And probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house. And also I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do. And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it. Because—By the way, I also should point out Donald Trump is allowed to say what he wants to say, as you are you, as am I, as are all of us because under the First Amendment we have a right as Americans to free speech, but with that said, I am sorry that you, and the president, and everyone in that room on Saturday went through that. After defending himself, Kimmel attacked Trump for defending himself. During a mashup of clips from Trump’s recent 60 Minutes battle, Kimmel quipped, “General rule of thumb, you know an interview isn't going great when you have to say ‘I'm not a rapist’ and ‘I'm not a pedophile.’"   After defending himself, Kimmel attacks Trump for defending himself during a "60 Minutes" interview, "General rule of thumb, you know an interview isn't going great when you have to say 'I'm not a rapist' and 'I'm not a pedophile.'" (2/3) pic.twitter.com/3SqdJOz21y — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) April 28, 2026   Following another clip of Trump battling Norah O'Donnell, where he called her a “disgrace,” Kimmel retorted, “I guess the honeymoon with the press didn't last. It was fun for 11 hours.” Kimmel was supposed to have Oz Pearlman on his show on Monday after he was scheduled to perform at the WHCD, but for one reason or another, that ended up not happening, and he was replaced by Pod Save America’s Jon Lovett. Contrary to what many lefties have been saying, Lovett defended the idea of the administration sharing a few drinks with the administration, which led Kimmel to clarify, “So, you think—which is different, I think, from what a lot of people think—you think it is actually more appropriate now to be in a room for an event that supports the First Amendment with somebody who doesn't believe in the First Amendment.” Lovett insisted, “No, I wouldn't be caught dead at the dinner. But, yeah. But, it's nice to be around people in real life as opposed to just fighting on the internet.”   Later, Jon Lovett of Pod Save America told Kimmel that the WHCD "is supposed to be a chance to poke fun at people in power. That's what you were doing. That's what you were doing. You were using your First Amendment right to poke fun at people in power. And that's what that whole… pic.twitter.com/ZSUedDcgLp — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) April 28, 2026   He then lamented the ditching of the comedian by recalling Kimmel’s routine that got him in trouble, “Because ultimately it is supposed to be a chance to poke fun at people in power. That's what you were doing. That's what you were doing. You were using your First Amendment right to poke fun at people in power. And that's what that whole weekend used to be about before they changed comedian to mentalist.” On an average night, Kimmel tells between 20 and 30 jokes about conservatives. On Friday, his fake WHCD routine led him to tell 57 total jokes—the second most in any single show since NewsBusters started keeping track—and not a single one was about a Democrat because poking fun at the “people in power” really means “Republicans in power.” Here is a transcript for the April 27 show: ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live! 4/27/2026 11:37 PM ET JIMMY KIMMEL: So, on Thursday, three days before the event, in order to keep that cherished tradition alive, I did my own version of the correspondents' dinner on my show. I put on a tuxedo. We pretended we had an audience of luminaries. We used old footage of the Trumps, of Pete Hegseth, JD Vance, Kid Rock, Vanilla Ice, all the members of his cabinet. And we made it seem like they were all together in a room. We had a little roast. Again, this was Thursday. And there was no big reaction to it until this morning when I greeted the day facing yet another Twitter vomit storm. And a call to fire me from our First Lady Melania Trump saying I should be fired because of a joke I made, again, five nights ago. It was a pretend roast. I said, “Our First Lady Melania's here, look at her, so beautiful, Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.” Which obviously was a joke about their age difference. And the look of joy we see on her face every time they're together. It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he's almost 80 and she's younger than I am. It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination. And they know that. I've been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence, in particular. But I understand that the first lady had a stressful experience over the weekend. And probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house. And also I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do. And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it. Because—By the way, I also should point out Donald Trump is allowed to say what he wants to say, as you are you, as am I, as are all of us because under the First Amendment we have a right as Americans to free speech, but with that said, I am sorry that you, and the president, and everyone in that room on Saturday went through that. … KIMMEL: General rule of thumb, you know an interview isn't going great when you have to say "I'm not a rapist" and "I'm not a pedophile." DONALD TRUMP: You should be ashamed of yourself reading that because I'm not any of those things. NORAH O’DONNELL: Mr. President, these are – TRUMP: Excuse me. Excuse me. You shouldn't be reading that on 60 Minutes. You're a disgrace. But go ahead. Let's finish the interview. O’DONNELL: The other thing that he wrote – TRUMP: You're disgraceful. KIMMEL: I guess the honeymoon with the press didn't last. It was fun for 11 hours. … 12:29 AM ET KIMMEL: So, you think—which is different, I think, from what a lot of people think—you think it is actually more appropriate now to be in a room for an event that supports the First Amendment with somebody who doesn't believe in the First Amendment. JON LOVETT: No, I wouldn't be caught dead at the dinner. KIMMEL: Oh. The parties you mean. LOVETT: But, yeah. But, it's nice to be around people in real life as opposed to just fighting on the internet. KIMMEL: Yeah. LOVETT: Because ultimately it is supposed to be a chance to poke fun at people in power. That's what you were doing. That's what you were doing. You were using your First Amendment right to poke fun at people in power. And that's what that whole weekend used to be about before they changed comedian to mentalist.

On Monday’s Morning Joe on MS NOW, the show opened with a discussion on the White House Correspondents Dinner shooting, where Joe Scarborough explained how he always felt the Washington Hilton was not secure. He later flaunted his disdain for the “MAGA sphere” posts about a White House Ballroom after the shooting. Also, co-host Jonathan Lemire chose to display his dislike for the event’s place during Trump’s presidency, similar to Friday’s show before the event, as he still called the event “fraught and misguided.” Lemire said the President was “never in danger himself,” as he also pointed out the calls for a ballroom after the shooting. The show discussed the shooting for 12 minutes in the 6 AM hour, before it spent the other segments being against Trump on the Iran War, the administration’s strategy about Russia’s War on Ukraine, and a story that bashed the Supreme Court on “shadow dockets.”   On Monday's Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough called the Washington Hilton the "most unsecure place," as he then complained of "coordinated" ballroom posts from the "MAGA-sphere" after the shooting. Mika Brzezinski also said cabinet presence at the event was a Trump Admin mistake. pic.twitter.com/af34aiezIS — Nick (@nspin310) April 27, 2026   Scarborough started his discussion on the shooting and its location, as he said he knew the building was not secure: “It's never made sense to me. It's never made sense to Mika. We haven't been in, I don't know, maybe a decade. I can't remember the last time, but it seems like such an un-secure place.” He then turned to a narrative being used in conspiracies about the shooting online. Scarborough pointed to “coordinated posts” from “MAGA-sphere” X accounts that called for a White House Ballroom after the shooting: And by the way, this whole idea, and you know, of course, how crazy that like everybody in MAGA-sphere all like within three seconds started posting the same post, right? That was so coordinated about the ballroom. Scarborough opined that the accounts must have received an email from the White House press team to post about a ballroom. He also seemed worried about cabinet members being at the Washington Hilton, a place that, he says, could not be a “dumber place” to hold an event. Mika jumped in to blame the White House for the decision to allow Executive Branch attendance of the event: “I would say that's still on the Trump Administration, the White House, whatever - White House is in power to make that decision, to have that concentration of power in one place at a time of war. Five weeks after we decapitated Iran's government.”   Morning Joe's Jonathan Lemire continued his comments from Friday about the WHCD being a "highly problematic" dinner due to Trump's attendance, as he still called it "fraught and misguided this year, in particular, for the correspondents and the administration to be together." pic.twitter.com/wrfqRPZtJP — Nick (@nspin310) April 27, 2026   Lemire chimed in to discuss security and picked up on Mika’s point regarding attending the event during war. He returned to his comments from Friday, when he called the event “highly problematic” (which it turned out to be). Lemire said, “I did not go to the event this year either. I spoke on Friday. I thought it was fraught and misguided this year, in particular, for the correspondents and the administration to be together. But I have been in the past.” After Lemire’s comments, reporter Ken Dilanian, on for most of the 12-minute opening segment, gave more information on the shooter and his education, as he described his radicalization: So, it really fits the pattern of what we've seen with Luigi Mangione, accused of killing the United Health Care CEO, or Tyler Robinson, accused of killing Charlie Kirk, of the sort of people on the on the far left fringes who have become radicalized, who are living in a world of unreality, bombarded by conspiracy theories, who decide that they have to take violent action. The radicalization of left-wing voters had been on display for the past few years, amid, now, three assassination attempts on the current President. The conversation might be better served with more discussion about radicalization and security concerns, not more talk of a press relationship, “MAGA-sphere,” media “talking points,” and the “fraught” thought of a WHCD with the President’s attendance. The transcript is below. Click "expand": MS NOW’s Morning Joe April 27, 2026 6:06:00 AM Eastern (...) JOE SCARBOROUGH: Yeah. And Jonathan Lemire, I've got to say, and we've said it before, and you and I have talked about this before, Mika and I certainly have said it for years. It just seems extraordinarily stupid to use an open hotel and get State of the Union type concentration of power in the United States, especially at a time of war against a country that's been the epicenter of terrorism since 1979, and have have them walking around, going in, in and out of parties, standing, standing to, to get their their pictures taken before they go in.  It's never made sense to me. It's never made sense to Mika. We haven't been in, I don't know, maybe a decade. I can't remember the last time, but it seems like such an un-secure place. And by the way, this whole idea, and you know, of course, how crazy that like everybody in MAGA-sphere all like within three seconds started posting the same post, right? That was so coordinated about the ballroom.  This event, as Sam Stein and others said, will never be held in the white house because it is not about the White House, it is about correspondents. All that being said, it seems all these coordinated, it's remarkable how quickly they came right after. They must have received an email from the White House or from the press operation.  But I just can't think of a dumber, dumber place to have this than at the Washington Hilton. I know it's history, but history be damned when you're putting your Secretary of Defense, you're putting your FBI Director, you're putting the Secretary of the Treasury, putting the Vice President, you're putting the president putting -  MIKA BRZEZINSKI: I would say that's still on the Trump Administration, the White House, whatever - White House is in power to make that decision, to have that concentration of power in one place at a time of war. Five weeks after we decapitated Iran's government. SCARBOROUGH: Right. And it's always been that way. But just because it's always been that way doesn't mean it needs to be that way ever again. Anybody that has been there understands you aren't securing the entire hotel. You're not checking people's bags. You're not doing the basic things that would be done, like at the State of the Union address.  So, I don't know, there's so much to go here, but what is the verdict right now based on The Washington Post story and everything else about the security at this event, again, especially in light of how heinous, heinous the security was in Butler, Pennsylvania. LEMIRE: Yeah, that’s going to be one of the questions in these next few days is, should there have been more security there, especially this is the first year President Trump has decided to attend this event. We know there have been attempts on his life previously. Obviously, we're a nation at a time of of war.  I did not go to the event this year either. I spoke on Friday. I thought it was fraught and misguided this year, in particular, for the correspondents and the administration to be together. But I have been in the past.  And Ken hit on a really important point here, the hotel remains open you walk in through the main doors and like hotel guests often are lingering in the lobby or at the bar because they want to get a look at some of the reporters or dignitaries who walk in or not.  That part is still open, and the gunman had free access there, reporting that he stayed at the hotel, but the gunman was nowhere near where the president was. Trump himself was never in danger here. There were several layers of security between him and where the president was sitting. Certainly, you're right, Joe. To highlight the immediate call for the ballroom, Trump himself has said so. He said in his news conference later that night, he said again on Truth Social yesterday. This event would never have been in the ballroom.  I know they've talked about rescheduling it in the next month or so. I'm not sure that's the best idea because I think the site needs to be reevaluated. I think this can be skipped, and I wonder about the future of the event altogether. But Ken, you know, this is still a very obviously scary moment for everyone in there who did not know that there were still layers of security.  As you just said, those gunshots were loud. I know so many people in that room who were terrified. And credit to the journalists, by the way, who continue to do their jobs in that room. Credit to security personnel who did so well to get people to safety. The Secret Service and the police deserve an extraordinary amount of credit for what happened. But Ken, tell us more what we know about the suspect here. The person that Mika just identified - the police have in custody what may have motivated him? You know, what has he said or written? What can you tell us about why he did this? KEN DILANIAN: Jonathan, it's really extraordinary. This is a person who attended one of the most prestigious STEM universities in the country, the California Institute of Technology, CalTech. Got an engineering undergrad degree, got a master's in computer science, and was working, as Mika said, early on, he was working as a part-time teacher, but he described himself as a game developer. You can find video online of him touting a wheelchair invention that allowed wheelchairs to be more stable.  This was an accomplished, articulate person with a with a with a loving family, apparently, who went down a path of radicalization. And the reason we know that is he's written a thousand-word document where he describes exactly why he did this, and he describes President Trump as a and a pedophile and a rapist. He doesn't explicitly say he was targeting Donald Trump. He says he was targeting Trump Administration officials. He apologizes to his family in this post. There's some evidence that he attended or was associated with a ‘No Kings’ protest.  So, it really fits the pattern of what we've seen with Luigi Mangione, accused of killing the United Health Care CEO, or Tyler Robinson, accused of killing Charlie Kirk, of the sort of people on the on the far left fringes who have become radicalized, who are living in a world of unreality, bombarded by conspiracy theories, who decide that they have to take violent action. And it's contributing to a climate of political violence in this country that we have not seen since the 1960s. So, more questions will be asked. And, you know, the FBI is poring over this man's writings and his social media. They served a search warrant on it. They were at his house in Torrance, California, yesterday. So, a lot more investigating still being done. But that thousand-word document that's being that's been widely published. (...)

A California man, Cole Tomas Allen, decided to shoot up the White House Correspondents Dinner, and ruined all the fun where President Trump was expected to unload about an hour of mockery on the elitist media. Does anyone expect this scare to change the longstanding hostility of the press corps? NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck and associate editor Nick Fondacaro joined the show, since they worked long into the evening after the dinner on Saturday. Just minutes before the violence, CNN analyst S.E. Cupp made some unfortunate remarks: “You just heard Brian Stelter say that the Correspondents Association was trying to sort of mend some fences with a guy who wants us dead -- figuratively, figuratively. He wants journalism dead.” Scott Jennings offered a rebuttal: “He may roast the press, and they spend 24 hours a day roasting him, and they need to have a little bit of thick skin and put on their big boy pants and take it.” CNN came into the big dinner with the usual trepidation of what insults might be thrown by the president, but Brian Stelter jumped in to report happenings from the dinner. Wolf Blitzer recounted being just a few feet from the shooter. Van Jones and Scott Jennings agreed with Trump that the event should go on to show resilience, but Van Lathan and S.E. Cupp agreed “this country is sick.” Stelter came out of his reporting in the aftermath of the shooting with the usual liberal spin. His special "Reliable Sources" newsletter reliably toe-tapped the line. The headline was "An all-too-common American story." The foiled shooting at this exclusive Washington party was "extraordinary," and yet, it's the latest example of Americans have too much access to guns. Despite the clarity of "progressive" viewpoint in the shooter's manifesto, it was annoying when some reporters were still pretending the motive was unclear. Even when they described the manifesto's contents, some were reluctant to identify it as on the Left. Reporters noticed that a truce of sorts broke out between the president and the press over their shared scare, but by the time CBS reporter Norah O'Donnell bonked Trump over the head by quoting the manifesto calling him a rapist, a pedophile, and a traitor, the "truce" was over and Trump called O'Donnell "disgusting." The media love to pretend that all of the hostility and aggression is coming from the president, somehow ignoring their own hostility and aggression against Trump.  Enjoy the podcast below. The audio is here.  

It’s been 48 hours since the attempted assassination of President Trump and senior Cabinet officials at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Sadly, one network endeavors to deemphasize the words contained within the shooter’s manifesto, and hide his leanings from viewer consideration. Watch as correspondent Matt Gutman papers over all of these important insights into the shooter, reducing his statements to his mockery of the security arrangements outside the D.C. Hilton: THE FADE BEGINS: The sole mention of the WHCD shooter's writings on tonight's CBS Evening News alludes to his mockery of the security situation at the D.C. Hilton: no mention of a manifesto, or of his political leanings. MATT GUTMAN: In an email to family timed to be sent just… pic.twitter.com/FtAqGlXEa2 — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 28, 2026 MATT GUTMAN: In an email to family timed to be sent just before the incident, police say the suspect himself expressed surprise at the security footprint. He wrote "I walk in with multiple weapons and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat. The security at the event is all outside… because apparently no one thought about what happens if someone checks in the day before." Inexplicably, there isn’t even a mention of the now-public manifesto anywhere within this report. Likewise, there is no real examination of the shooter’s motive. Gutman’s report instead focuses on the timeline of the shooting, and on elements of the press conference announcing the shooter would be charged with attempted assasination of the President of the United States- a life felony.  As our own Curtis Houck noted earlier, there is an ongoing effort to obscure the shooter’s leanings and motivations as much as possible. To put a fine point on it, the effort entails obscuring any and all of the shooter’s leftist leanings and loathing of Donald Trump.  But we know that this is proof of a glaring double standard. Were the shooter counted among conservatives, that’s all we’d hear about. Many Raju would be chasing Congressional Republicans down the Senate halls for reaction. But the Kamala voter and honors stg A reasonable observer could watch this report and determine that if it weren’t for double standards, there’d be none at all.  Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report on the CBS Evening News on Monday, April 27th, 2026: TONY DOKOUPIL: And good evening. He was a star student, an award-winning teacher, and now he's charged with an attempt to assassinate the president. 31-year-old Cole Allen, according to new documents filed today in federal court, bought these weapons, a semiautomatic handgun and pump action shotgun legally as far back as 2023. But in early April, investigators say he booked a room at the Washington Hilton and made a plan to attack the dinner there on Saturday. According to his own writings, his targets included President Trump and members of the administration, and he would go through most everyone to get there. Allen has not yet entered a plea. Chief Correspondent Matt Gutman has been following the investigation from the beginning and he joins us now. Matt, what more have we learned? MATT GUTMAN: Tony, we now know that that suspect allegedly planned the attack weeks in advance and that he himself had written that he was surprised at the light security footprint at this hotel. We also spoke to a witness who saw him race past security, and she noticed that the doors to the bottom at the time were open, so she ran downstairs herself to close them.  Two days after allegedly charging towards that Washington ballroom Saturday night, Cole Allen was in a federal courtroom today facing formal Department of Justice charges of the attempted assassination of a President. JEANINE PIRRO: Make no mistake. This was an attempted assassination of the President of the United States. With the defendant making clear what his intent was- to bring down as many of the high-ranking Cabinet officials as he could. GUTMAN: President Trump has faced two previous assassination attempts, both during the 2024 campaign. Prosecutors also brought two federal gun charges against the California teacher, alleging he was armed with a 12-gauge shotgun, .38 semiautomatic handgun, and three knives. They say he raced through a magnetometer leading to a staircase descending to the packed ballroom. The suspect then appears to fall forward right at guest Erin Thieman's feet. And then immediately they were on top of (unint). ERIN THIEMAN: At that point I saw that he had his hands out in front of him on the ground and the shotgun had fallen to his side so he dropped his gun, and I deemed it safe to get the hell out of there. GUTMAN: Within seconds, you can see Secret Service agents emerging from those doors. THIEMAN: I ran downstairs.  GUTMAN: And what did you see about these doors? THIEMAN: The doors were wide open and I was very concerned because we have the line of succession for our country in the ballroom, and I didn't know what they knew. So I started shutting the ballroom doors. GUTMAN: As plates clattered and a hush silenced the 2500 guests who began ducking beneath tables, many of us began to film. It took about ten seconds for officers to reach the president. It took security teams more than 3 minutes to clear top administration officials. The president and 12 of the 18 in the top line of succession were safe. A breakneck investigation began into how the suspect got that close, revealing that Allen, a 31-year-old from near Los Angeles, booked his room at the hotel on April 6th. President Trump announced he would attend the dinner on March 2nd. Allen checked into the Washington Hilton on Friday, April 24, the day before the dinner, traveling cross country with his weapons by train, said officials. The Secret Service said its safety net worked. But top officials tonight are facing tough questions. TODD BLANCHE: Law enforcement did not fail. They did exactly what they are trained to do. This was not an accident. It was the result, as we know now, of preparation. GUTMAN: In an email to family timed to be sent just before the incident, police say the suspect himself expressed surprise at the security footprint. He wrote "I walk in with multiple weapons and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat. The security at the event is all outside… because apparently no one thought about what happens if someone checks in the day before." And Tony, the White House Correspondents' Dinner has been held at the Hilton here for decades, with largely the same security protocol. What has changed and The White House acknowledges this, is the threat environment in this country, the rise of political violence. Tony. DOKOUPIL: Yeah, we all feel it. Matt, thank you very much.  

CNN host Jake Tapper is a repeat guest on the late-night comedy shows on all the broadcast networks. These fiercely anti-Trump comedians are his pals. Last year, Tapper became especially fierce in defending Jimmy Kimmel’s vicious lie that Charlie Kirk’s killer was a Trump fan. Tapper hosted an hour-long CNN special titled No Laughing Matter: Free Speech Under Attack. Tapper falsely claimed in that special that Kimmel “wasn’t calling the shooter MAGA.” He told NBC’s Seth Meyers that Kimmel’s suspension was “pretty much the most direct infringement by the government on free speech that I've seen in my lifetime.” (That’s not counting the free speech of Charlie Kirk.) On Monday's The Lead, Tapper crusaded for Kimmel again after he was condemned by Melania Trump, followed by President Trump again calling on ABC to dump Kimmel after he created a fake Correspondents Dinner routine on  Thursday night where he said to Melania: "So beautiful, Mrs. Trump. You have a glow like an expectant widow." Tapper lamented "what was perhaps inevitable that the Trump administration would try to use Saturday’s horrific act of violence to try to clamp down on criticism and free speech." In other words, Tapper didn't object to Kimmel's joke half as much as to criticism from the Trumps. It's quite obvious that Tapper acts as a defense lawyer for Jimmy Kimmel when he makes nasty jokes about Dead Trump. His client cannot be judged for mean-spirited dumb cracks after the shooting. (How about before the shooting?) Tapper REALLY objects to anyone seeking to curb… pic.twitter.com/7BmybkKCNa — Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) April 28, 2026 TAPPER: Today, the President and the first lady, Melania Trump, citing a joke that comedian Jimmy Kimmel made last Thursday on his show, tried to connect that joke with the assassination attempt. Now, there is zero evidence — zero evidence that the would-be, alleged assassin heard the joke....is it fair to judge Jimmy Kimmel’s joke in light of what happened at the dinner two nights later?... Does anyone out there think that Karoline Leavitt had any idea what would happen? I don’t. Does anyone out there think that Jimmy Kimmel had any idea what happened? What would happen? I don’t know, do I think both, in retrospect, would choose their words differently in retrospect, given what happened on Saturday night? Of course. But this crusade against Kimmel  was predictable because the Trump administration’s attempt to use Saturday’s shooting as justification to stop all critical coverage, whether journalistic or comedic, of Donald Trump.  This entire formulation makes excuses for Kimmel and crusades against stopping "all critical coverage," including "comedic" coverage of the Trumps. It's somehow unfair to judge Kimmel after the fact. Wasn't it easy to judge Kimmel as a crude jerk before Saturday night? Is Tapper incapable of imagining that he wouldn't like a "joke" about Dead Jake Tapper and his beautiful widow?  Then Tapper lamented how Trump appointee Kari Lake attacked CNN at their table for causing the shooting with their rhetoric, and Tapper said she "trailed me for about a block I was trying to ignore her. She was saying that I was responsible for what happened. CNN’s responsible for what happened, and that unhinged rant by someone who, frankly, obviously needs help." Notice again: Tapper defensively says Kimmel might have chosen different words, but he was not guilty of an "unhinged rant" like the apparent psycho stalker Kari Lake.  Ultimately, Tapper thinks the attempted censorship is worse than the crude talk of Trump being murdered: “It is a big problem of calls for violence and dehumanization, and it’s getting worse. But it is not a problem to be wielded like a cudgel to try to stop journalism or jokes. Journalism and jokes are not calls for violence, calls for violence are calls for violence, and far too many Americans in positions of power and influence are too blasé and too glib about those who make them.” CNN’s Jake Tapper says journalists and comedians like Jimmy Kimmel are not the ones hurling incendiary rhetoric and are not irresponsible for the rise of political violence... “It is a big problem of calls for violence and dehumanization, and it’s getting worse. But it is not a… pic.twitter.com/AoWGCcZYO0 — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 27, 2026 If there is ANYONE who is too blase and glib right now about violent talk like Trump being killed, it's Jimmy Kimmel. Journalism and jokes CAN be dehumanizing. Just because the "establishment" does it doesn't make it right. CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper 04/27/26 5:41:17 p.m. 5 minutes and 17 seconds [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Breaking News; Trump Admin Labels Criticism, Jokes as Calls For Violence After Would-Be Assassin Target Admin Officials Saturday] JAKE TAPPER: Let us discuss now two important aspects of what has happened in the United States since the horrific attempted assassination on President Trump and members of the Trump administration. And let me be clear at the very outset that the violence is horrific and should be condemned by everyone. I’ll get into the responsibility that we all have to help bring down the temperature in a second. But first, let me touch on the news today and what was perhaps inevitable that the Trump administration would try to use Saturday’s horrific act of violence to try to clamp down on criticism and free speech. Today, the President and the first lady, Melania Trump, citing a joke that comedian Jimmy Kimmel made last Thursday on his show, tried to connect that joke with the assassination attempt. Now, there is zero evidence — zero evidence that the would-be, alleged assassin heard the joke. In fact, authorities say the suspect left California for Washington, D.C., by train on Tuesday, so his trip to D.C. started long before Jimmy Kimmel told this joke on Thursday night, airing this pretend correspondents dinner skit. JIMMY KIMMEL [on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, 04/23/26]: Then, of course, our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at — so beautiful Mrs. Trump. You have a glow like an expectant widow. TAPPER: Earlier today, the First Lady tweeted: “Kimmel’s...monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America...It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.” This in response to a joke she did not like. This afternoon, President Trump followed with a Truth social post that said, ‘this is something far beyond the pale. Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.’ There was more, but let us just take this moment and say, is it fair to judge Jimmy Kimmel’s joke in light of what happened at the dinner two nights later? White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Saturday, shortly before the shooting, that President Trump’s speech would be funny and there would be ‘shots fired,’ which of course would not taken literally refers to humorous insults. Does anyone out there think that Karoline Leavitt had any idea what would happen? I don’t. Does anyone out there think that Jimmy Kimmel had any idea what happened? What would happen? I don’t know, do I think both, in retrospect, would choose their words differently in retrospect, given what happened on Saturday night? Of course. But this crusade against Kimmel was predictable because the Trump administration’s attempt to use Saturday’s shooting as justification to stop all critical coverage, whether journalistic or comedic, of Donald Trump. That started even before the ballroom emptied. Because Kari Lake, the election denier who’s currently in charge of voice of America, she approached a CNN table after the shooting and blamed journalists for the attempted attack and personally insulted one of our correspondents as a “midget.” She then went outside and trailed me for about a block I was trying to ignore her. She was saying that I was responsible for what happened. CNN’s responsible for what happened, and that unhinged rant by someone who, frankly, obviously needs help, is now being matched with social media posts and more from the White House trying to use this horrific tragedy to demonize any criticism as calls for violence. And the President has been making literal calls for violence since 2015. I’m not even going to go into them. You’re familiar with them, but literal calls for violence. Now, a reminder that the President’s tone immediately after the attack on Saturday was praised by Democrats and Republicans, and it was far more conciliatory. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP [on 04/25/26]: I ask that all Americans recommit with their hearts in resolving our differences peacefully. We have to. We have to resolve our differences. TAPPER: That sentiment clearly did not last long. And let us turn now to this deranged alleged, would-be assassin whose writings clearly seem to be from someone on the left. And there is a problem with violence on the left in the United States. And there is a problem with violence on the right in the United States and to — to debate which one is worse is honestly to avoid the problem. It’s all awful. It all needs to stop now. Now, there was a time when people who tried to justify violence against anyone were considered fringe lunatics. Today, a lot of them are called influencers. Social media companies have figured out how to commodify the hate that they push. It’s pushed by these twisted algorithms too. And politicians and pundits are increasingly lending their credibility to these influencers. And those politicians and pundits are playing a role in this, too.