Fetterman says WHCA dinner shooting "not staged" as poll shows 1 in 3 Democrats think it was.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) on Monday criticized his party following a statistic that showed 1 in 3 Democrats believe the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner shooting was staged. “Assassinations + political violence are real. My party can’t be the tin foil hat brigade,” Fetterman wrote in a post on X. “I was there a table away and I promise you, this was not staged,” he added. The survey cited was from NewsGuard and found that 34 percent of Democrats and 13 percent of Republicans said they believe the WHCA dinner shooting was staged. More than half of all respondents, 56 percent, also said they believe the Washington Hilton shooting was staged while 45 percent disagree. Overall, 30 percent of respondents said they believed at least one of President Trump’s assassination attempts was staged. NewsGuard commissioned the study with YouGov and polled 1,000 Americans over the age of 18 from April 28 to May 4. The ratings company said it was so “surprised” by the survey findings that it asked YouGov to go back and recheck the data. They did so and confirmed their findings. Last month’s shooting at the WHCA dinner follows a series of politically motivated attacks and shootings including the public assassination of Charlie Kirk, the fatal shooting of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortmann (D) and an arson attempt at the Philadelphia governor’s mansion occupied by Gov. Josh Shapiro (D). Lawmakers have encouraged their colleagues to tone down the partisan political rhetoric, while also blaming their counterparts for the uptick in violent events nationwide. President Trump has asserted that the multiple assassination attempts on his life are due to the consequential decisions being made during his presidency. On Tuesday, Cole Allen, the alleged gunman in the WHCA dinner shooting pleaded not guilty to four federal charges, including attempting to assassinate Trump. Tags Charlie Kirk Cole Allen Donald Trump John Fetterman Josh Shapiro NewsGuard survey Sen. John Fetterman Trump administration Trump assassination attempt WHCA dinner shooting Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.