Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill is facing scathing criticism from Utah Republicans after he made a provocative social media post criticizing former President Donald Trump.
“Truly, a dead body is more competent than Trump to be president,” Gill posted to X on Saturday. “It would do exponentially less harm to our democratic republic and honor our ideals more.”
Gill’s comments immediately sparked backlash from critics who viewed his words as unnecessarily inflammatory, given that Trump survived an assassination attempt seven days earlier.
“A new low for Sim following a literal assassination attempt,” Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT) responded on X. “Disgusting.”
On Monday, a top Utah Republican called on Gill to step down as district attorney.
“Utahns deserve better – [Sim Gill] needs to resign,” House Speaker Mike Schultz (R-UT) said in a statement posted to X.
“The toxic and hate-filled partisanship Sim Gill demonstrated in his post about the assassination attempt against Donald Trump, makes rational people question Sim Gill’s ability to fairly execute his duties to the people of Salt Lake County,” Schultz added.
The Democratic district attorney has courted controversy before for declining to prosecute accused rapists, refusing to enforce the state’s abortion restrictions, and pushing for progressive police reforms in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Gill has backtracked his latest blunder, telling the Salt Lake Tribune that it was not his intent to stir division.
“I could have chosen a different word,” Gill told the newspaper. “I can see why people would be offended. I regret that I offended some people and they took away something I was not implying. That was not my intent.”
“My sentiment is that anybody, even an inanimate object, would do less harm to the country,” the district attorney added.
The Utah Fraternal Order of Police has also criticized Gill’s comment, saying it “condone[d] the assassination attempt on former President Trump.”
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In a letter to Gills on Monday, the law enforcement group called on him to apologize.
“As an organization that represents over 5,200 police officers, we call upon you, at minimum, to issue a formal public apology to former President Trump for your biased and senseless statement,” the letter reads.
