Republican committee chairs in both the House and the Senate summoned top administration officials to public hearings—a rarity in the past year. From the right, the National Rifle Association and other gun-rights advocates criticized comments from senior law-enforcement officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel, that blamed Pretti for carrying a firearm and said that people should not bring guns to public demonstrations. (Videos showed that officers disarmed Pretti before they fatally shot him.) Few Republican leaders rushed to defend the unnamed agent who’d killed Pretti, nor did they echo the rhetoric of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, who referred to Pretti, an ICU nurse, as a “would-be assassin.” In at least one case, the lack of comment from a top Republican was significant: House Speaker Mike Johnson—ordinarily quick to pick up talking points from the president and his top aides—has said nothing about the shooting.