Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said that he has yet to hear from Donald Trump following this past weekend’s arson attack on his official residence, though he added that other members of the president’s administration have reached out.
Speaking to ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos this week from the charred interior of the governor’s mansion, Shapiro stated that “there were clearly security failures” that allowed the suspected arsonist to easily enter the residence and set fire to multiple rooms with homemade Molotov cocktails.
Touring the damaged home with Stephanpoulos, Shapiro continued to refuse to weigh in on whether the attack should be considered a hate crime, even though the arson suspect told law enforcement that he was angry over the Gaza war and would not take part in Shapiro’s “plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people.”
“I think that’s a question for prosecutors, both the local district attorney and the Department of Justice,” the governor, who is Jewish, said when Stephanopoulos asked if he felt this was an act of domestic terrorism.
Shapiro also said he didn’t “think it was helpful for people on the outside to be weighing in with their opinions” when the anchor noted that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is calling for a federal hate crime investigation into the attack, which took place hours after the governor celebrated a Passover Seder.
Acknowledging that he wasn’t “giving the type of answer” that Stephanopoulos likely wanted, Shapiro said his refusal to outright label the arson as domestic terrorism is because he knows how important it is to “follow the law without fear or favor.”
Cody Balmer, the Pennsylvania man suspected of setting fire to the residence while Shapiro and his family were asleep, has so far been charged with attempted homicide, aggravated arson, terrorism and other crimes. The suspect’s social media presence also suggested he harbored anti-government views, which also featured negative posts about former President Joe Biden.
Nearly a week after he was rushed out of the governor’s mansion as it was set ablaze, Shapiro said that the president still has yet to contact him.
“You’ve heard from people all across Pennsylvania, all across the country. Have you heard from President Trump?” Stephanopoulos wondered.
“No, I haven’t,” Shapiro flatly replied.
At the same time, he noted that he had heard immediately from both FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, who called the attack “horrific” and that she “firmly believed” that Balmer intended to kill Shapiro. She also said this week that she’d work with local authorities to do “anything we can to help convict the person that did this and keep them behind bars, as long as possible.”
But just as he noted at a Wednesday briefing, the president has not attempted to reach out to him. Shapiro, on the other hand, immediately issued a statement after the attempt on Trump’s life at a Pennsylvania rally last year and worked closely with law enforcement, Republicans and the Trump campaign in the 24 hours after the assassination attempt.
“Thanks be to God that Governor Shapiro and his family were unharmed in this attack,” Vice President JD Vance reacted the day of the attack. “Really disgusting violence, and I hope whoever did it is brought swiftly to justice.”
The only public comments Trump has made about the arson attack, meanwhile, merely featured the president distancing himself and his political movement from Balmer.
“The attacker was not a fan of Trump, I understand — just from what I read and from what I’ve been told,” Trump told reporters earlier this week when asked if the FBI had figured out a motive behind the attack. “The attacker basically wasn’t a fan of anybody. He’s probably just a whack job. And certainly a thing like that cannot be allowed to happen.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Elsewhere in the ABC News interview, which aired Friday on Good Morning America, the governor bemoaned what he felt was the rise in politically motivated threats and violence.
“This is sadly a real part of our society today. And it needs to be universally condemned,” he declared.
“I think it’s also important to be leading in a way that brings people together and doesn’t just continually divide us,” he asserted, saying it was important to combat political violence by speaking and acting with moral clarity and trying to bring people together.
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