NBC News host Kristen Welker painted democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) over the weekend as a victim of a 2017 assassination attempt at a Republican congressional baseball practice in Virginia that was carried out by one of Sanders’ supporters.

The remarks from Welker come after a 20-year-old who had donated to far-left causes shot former President Donald Trump at a political rally in Pennsylvania during an assassination attempt on Saturday in Pennsylvania.

“You obviously have been impacted by political violence yourself,” Welker said to Sanders during the interview. “In 2017, that horrible moment when Republican Congressman Steve Scalise was shot at baseball practice, you came out and forcefully denounced what had happened upon learning that the suspected shooter had been a volunteer for your campaign.”

“How does that experience inform how you think the country can move forward right now?” she asked.

Sanders responded: “Yeah, I am familiar with political violence in all its forms. The bottom line is what we need as a nation, what a democracy is about, is not radical rhetoric. What it is about is a serious discussion of where we are as a nation and how we go forward. You know, in a certain way, Kristen, politics should be kind of boring, you know? Our healthcare system is dysfunctional. How do we fix it? Well, it’s kind of a boring discussion, but we need a healthcare system that guarantees healthcare to all people. We have massive income and wealth inequality. Well, maybe a boring discussion. Should three people own more wealth than the bottom half of American society? So I think what we have got to see is serious discussion of serious issues and not this kind of harsh rhetoric that we have heard for the last number of years.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) noted after the shooting that the gunman yelled, “This is for healthcare” as he tried to murder Republican lawmakers.

Welker received criticism for her framing of what happened online from various political commentators.

Podcast host Stephen L. Miller posted: “Kristin Welker says Bernie Sanders is a victim because it was one of his supporters who shot up the softball field.”

Media Research Center Vice President Brent Baker said Welker’s framing was “strange.”

WATCH:

I’m sure bullets “impacted” Scalise more. Strange framing from @kwelkernbc. To @SenSanders: “You, obviously, have been impacted by political violence yourself. In 2017 that horrible moment when Republican Congressman Steve Scalise was shot” by one of your supporters. #MTP pic.twitter.com/i2Cnah7XCx

— Brent Baker 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) July 14, 2024

The U.S. Secret Service disputed reports on Sunday that said the agency diverted resources away from protecting former President Donald Trump at his campaign rally to protect first lady Jill Biden, who was also in Pennsylvania at the time.

Jill Biden, who was in Pittsburgh, was not far away from Trump’s rally in Butler County, where a 20-year-old who donated to far-left causes shot the former president in an assassination attempt.

RealClearPolitics White House & National Political Correspondent Susan Crabtree reported on social media that sources told her resources were diverted away from Trump to protect the first lady.

“This is the problem that my Secret Sources have cited: Secret Services resources were diverted to Jill Biden’s event and away from Trump’s because they followed agency protocol applying to Trump as a former president, according to two sources within the Secret Service community,” she wrote. “There were also many supplemental agents from different field officers (not Trump’s regular detail) providing security at the rally because Trump’s regular detail has been overworked (some working 7 days straight), and only two counter-snipers.”

Anthony Guglielmi, Chief of Communications for the Secret Service, responded to Crabtree’s post, which garnered millions of views on X, by saying that it was false.

“Susan, this is very wrong,” he claimed. “We did not divert resources from FPOTUS Trump & protection models don’t work that way. As far as ‘field office teams’ these are the candidate nominee operations teams that are added during election years for the heavy travel tempo.”

Susan, this is very wrong. We did not divert resources from FPOTUS Trump & protection models don’t work that way. As far as “field office teams” these are the candidate nominee operations teams that are added during election years for the heavy travel tempo. https://t.co/ulf45qLAsO

— Anthony Guglielmi (@SecretSvcSpox) July 15, 2024

Former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino told Fox News on Sunday night that his sources indicated to him that there were fewer Secret Service agents at the event than are normally present.

“I’m getting from a number of sources that people are feeding to me their information — obviously because they want to fix it, they’re concerned that I think you’re going to see a lot of whistleblowers — I’m hearing that were very few, I don’t want to give an exact number, but very few actual Secret Service [agents] at that site,” he said.

He added that some security personnel at Saturday’s rally were temporary officials from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) who are not trained to carry out the same role as Secret Service agents.

“I’m also hearing that the counter sniper had a problem seeing over the elevation that’s why didn’t engage right away,” he said. “But that’s not the problem. The problem is, where the hell was the aerial visual support? Why was there no helicopter? Why was there no drone? Why was there no FLIR? Why was there no thermal? Forward looking infrared? How the hell is the crowd acting as the frickin counter surveillance?”

Former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino on what his sources are telling him:

“I”m hearing there were very few, I don’t want to give an exact number, but very few actual Secret Service [agents] at that site”, adding that many of the agents were from Homeland Security and were not… pic.twitter.com/msYRuhBEqg

— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) July 15, 2024