Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) sharply criticized members of his own party on Monday after polling data showed that a significant share of Democrats believe the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner 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 comments followed the release of a survey conducted by NewsGuard, which found that 34 percent of Democrats and 13 percent of Republicans said they believe the WHCA dinner shooting was staged.

The same poll indicated that 56 percent of respondents overall believe the Washington Hilton shooting was staged, while 45 percent said they do not.

In total, 30 percent of those surveyed said they believe at least one of the assassination attempts targeting President Trump was staged.

NewsGuard commissioned the poll in partnership with YouGov, surveying 1,000 Americans aged 18 and older between April 28 and May 4.

According to NewsGuard, the findings were so unexpected that the firm asked YouGov to review the data again, after which the results were reaffirmed.

The WHCA dinner shooting last month came amid a string of politically motivated violent incidents, including the public killing of Charlie Kirk, the fatal shooting of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortmann (D), and an attempted arson attack at the Pennsylvania governor’s residence where Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) lives.

In response to the rise in such incidents, lawmakers have urged a reduction in heated political rhetoric, even as both parties have continued to fault one another for the escalation in violence.

President Trump has said that repeated attempts on his life are tied to the major policy decisions being carried out during his time in office.

Meanwhile, Cole Allen, who is accused of carrying out the WHCA dinner shooting, entered a not guilty plea on Tuesday to four federal charges, including attempting to assassinate Trump.

{Matzav.com}