WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump called for criminal charges of "incitement to violence" against House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in May 2026, sharing a social media post that attempted to link past comments by Jeffries to a White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting incident that prosecutors said targeted the U.S. president.

"This lunatic, Hakeem 'Low IQ' Jeffries, should be charged with INCITING VIOLENCE! The Radical Left Democrats actually want to Destroy our Country," Trump wrote. He also called Jeffries a "thug" and a "danger" to the country.

The social media post showed Jeffries standing next to a poster reading "Maximum warfare everywhere all the time" alongside a photo of the alleged press gala gunman approaching a security checkpoint. The phrase referenced remarks Jeffries made at an April 22 news conference, where he hailed a Virginia vote approving an electoral map that favors Democrats and accused Republicans of launching a gerrymandering war.

"We are in an era of maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time," Jeffries told reporters. "And we are going to keep the pressure on Republicans at every single state in the union, to ensure at the end of the day, that there is a fair, national map," he said. Jeffries was referring to a partisan fight over redistricting after Virginia voters approved an electoral map that favors Democrats.

Three days after those comments, an alleged gunman tried to run through a security checkpoint at the White House press dinner in what prosecutors say was an assassination attempt against Trump. Responding to the criticism over his April remarks, Jeffries said: "You can continue to criticise me for it. I don't give a damn about your criticism."

Trump has previously pushed for criminal charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey. Last year, he posted a message to then-Attorney General Pam Bondi urging her to pursue criminal charges against Comey and James.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of speech. Under federal law, it is a crime to "solicit, command, induce, or otherwise endeavour to persuade" people to commit crimes.

Trump faced criminal charges after his first term over allegations of attempting to overturn the 2020 election, mishandling secret government documents, and illegally paying off an adult-film actress.