UnitedHealthcare terminated an employee Tuesday after she posted a TikTok video expressing sympathy for the individual who allegedly attempted to assassinate President Trump over the weekend.
The employee, identified as Alison King, uploaded a video to TikTok in which she reacted to news of the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. In the clip, King said her first thought was that the event was staged, and her second was disappointment that the shooter missed.
“You know we’re cooked as a country when my first reaction to hearing the news about Trump’s [assassination] attempt was—it was probably fake—I was like, ‘oh, that wasn’t real,’ probably fake,” King said in the video. “And the second was ‘aww, they missed? So happy they missed.’ Oh, yeah. That’s sad. That’s when you know we’re cooked.”
The video, which was reposted by the account LeftismU on X, quickly went viral, prompting UnitedHealthcare to issue a statement condemning her remarks. The company noted that its former CEO, Brian Thompson, was fatally shot in New York 18 months ago, underscoring the seriousness of the issue.
“Violence is never acceptable and any comments that suggest otherwise are in no way consistent with our mission and values,” the company wrote on X. “The person who made comments online about Saturday night’s incident at a Washington event where President Trump and many other political leaders were gathered is no longer employed by the company.”
King’s LinkedIn profile was reportedly taken down after the video gained traction. The WHCA dinner shooting has sparked a wave of online conspiracy theories, with some claiming the event was staged. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back against these narratives on Monday, emphasizing the importance of getting the facts out quickly.
“It’s very important to us that we get the truth and the facts about this case and any case out there as quickly as possible, to dispel some of that crazy nonsense that you see running rampant online,” Leavitt told reporters. She confirmed that Trump and Vice President Vance were evacuated “seconds” after shots were fired at the Washington Hilton and praised the Justice Department and FBI for their transparency.
Leavitt added, “And hopefully people will believe the truth instead of the lies and the conspiracies that so often do go crazy on social media.” The incident has also drawn reactions from other public figures. For instance, radio host Charlamagne rejected calls to soften his anti-Trump rhetoric in the wake of the shooting.
The broader political fallout from the shooting is intensifying, with Democrats seizing on the incident to bolster their midterm messaging. Meanwhile, Trump himself resumed attacks on the press just hours after the dinner. The controversy underscores the deep partisan divides that continue to shape American political discourse.
