A company already scarred by the murder of its own chief executive has fired an employee who publicly lamented that President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt, jolting the insurer back into the centre of America's debate over political violence.
UnitedHealthcare has dismissed a social media manager after a viral clip showed her expressing sympathy for Saturday's attempted assassination, an incident that risks thrusting America's largest health insurer into the centre of a national political violence debate for the second time, just 16 months after its CEO, Brian Thompson, was murdered. The termination, confirmed by the company on the morning of Tuesday, 28 April 2026, came within hours of the video spreading across social media platforms and drawing urgent calls for corporate accountability.
The Daily Wire confirmed that Alison King, a social media manager at the health insurance giant,was fired shortly after the company became awareof a social media video in which she mocked the Saturday night attack on the president at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, D.C.
In the video, King described her initial response to learning of the shooting in real time. She said her first reaction was to assume the incident was 'probably fake,' before adding that her second thought was, 'aww, they missed,' followed by a remark that such reactions signalled the country was 'cooked.'
King, 29, told Newsweek in a text message early Tuesday: 'I have no comment.' Her LinkedIn account had been deleted by the time journalists sought to verify her employment.
UnitedHealthcare's statement was unambiguous. A spokesperson told Fox News Digital: 'Violence is never acceptable and any comments that suggest otherwise are in no way consistent with our mission and values. 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.'
A senior UnitedHealth employee told The Daily Wire that company leadership was appalled at the statement, given the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and that the company initiated the termination process immediately upon seeing King's post.
Social media manager for@UHCis sad that the shooter missedAny comment@UHC?pic.twitter.com/qGG4iOoD72
The incident that King commented on unfolded on the evening of Saturday, 25 April 2026, at the Washington Hilton, the venue for the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.
Cole Tomas Allen, 31, an educator from Torrance, California, with an engineering degree from a prestigious university, was charged in federal court on Monday with three counts: attempting to assassinate the president, using a firearm during a crime of violence, and transporting a firearm in interstate commerce with intent to commit a felony.
Source: International Business Times UK
