A clip shows Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-MI), now a congresswoman but then a Michigan state senator, making light of the Michigan State shooter during a State Senate hearing just weeks after the tragedy, while victims remained hospitalized.
The clip, obtained exclusively by Breitbart News, captures McDonald Rivet speaking on a hot mic with state Sen. Sylvia Santana (D) during a State Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing.
“I’m telling you that he walked in … and was standing in the back and [colleague] was like, ‘Is this dude the shooter?’” McDonald Rivet said.
“[Who] was that?” Santana responded.
“The tech guy!” McDonald Rivet replied, prompting laughter.
At the time of McDonald Rivet’s remarks, four of the five surviving victims were still hospitalized.
That same day, McDonald Rivet heard testimony from students and families impacted by the shooting and publicly called for “compassion” in response to the tragedy.
The exchange occurred less than three weeks after the February 2023 shooting at Michigan State University in East Lansing. A 43-year-old gunman opened fire inside an academic building and the student union, killing three students and injuring five others before later killing himself miles away from campus in East Lansing while being confronted by police.
Hunter Lovell, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee (RNC), condemned the comments in a statement to Breitbart News.
“Kristen McDonald Rivet’s depravity is beneath anyone in public office. Her remarks are disgusting and she owes an apology to the families of those killed and the injured whose lives will never be the same,” Lovell said.
As of publication, McDonald Rivet’s office had not responded to a request for comment.
McDonald Rivet represents Michigan’s 8th Congressional District, an R+1 seat that President Donald Trump carried by roughly two percentage points in 2024. She is one of 13 House Democrats representing districts Trump won in 2024, a group Republicans have identified as a prime target ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. White House Legislative Affairs Director James Braid said in July 2025 that those Democrat-held Trump districts give Republicans a “great opportunity to defy history” in the midterms.
Federal Election Commission records cited by Breitbart News in May 2025 showed that Rep. Maxwell Frost’s (D-FL) campaign committee donated $1,000 to McDonald Rivet shortly before Frost traveled to El Salvador to advocate for the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
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