Video John Fetterman explains why he backs building White House ballroom after WHCA Dinner shooting Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., discusses the ramifications of WHCA Dinner shooting and White House ballroom project on 'Hannity.'
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said America needs to cool heated political rhetoric after Saturday’s shooting at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.
"We really have to just… turn that temperature down," he told "Hannity" Monday. "The president was shot in the head in my own state just back in Butler too. People seem to, they forgot that, too."
"We really got lucky because it could have been far more even catastrophic, and I'm so grateful no one was hurt."
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President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 25, 2026, following the cancellation of the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner after a possible shooting. (Getty Images)
The suspected shooter at the WHCA Dinner, Cole Allen, a computer scientist from Torrance, California, allegedly wrote in a manifesto note that his targets were Trump administration officials with the exception of FBI Director Kash Patel. According to Federal Election Commission records, Allen donated $25 to Kamala Harris during the 2024 election cycle. He faces three counts, including attempting to assassinate the President of the United States, transporting a firearm across state lines, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
Fetterman’s comments about political rhetoric come as comedian Jimmy Kimmel faces backlash after he jokingly called first lady Melania Trump an "expectant widow" days before the WHCA Dinner shooting.
"Our first lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow," Kimmel said Thursday.
Melania Trump condemned his poorly timed joke in a statement on X Monday morning.
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"His monologue about my family isn’t comedy — his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America," she said.
President Donald Trump also fired back, saying ABC should "immediately" fire Kimmel over the "despicable call to violence."
Fetterman criticized heated political rhetoric that the White House says incites violent attacks like Saturday’s shooting.
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"I've always refused to use that kind of language, and I strongly and in the strongest terms, I reject the extreme rhetoric for anyone at this point," the Pennsylvania Democrat said.
Since the shooting, Trump has reignited calls to build a ballroom at the White House to create a space for safe and secure official events.
Fetterman said the event, held at the Washington Hilton, was improperly secure, especially since the line of presidential succession was in attendance.
He told "Hannity" he is in full support of building a White House ballroom and called on his Democratic colleagues to "drop the TDS" and help the building.
President Donald Trump holds a rendering of the planned $400 million White House Ballroom extension during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 22, 2025. (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg)
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"We need to have a secure facility for events just like this," Fetterman said. "We can't ever allow to be exposed in that way to an attack. That hotel was never designed to do that in a safe way."
"Our country deserves that. And that's gonna create a venue for more secure and inclusive and really more accessible for people," he added.
Nora Moriarty is a Production Assistant at FOX News.
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