Church Leader Sparks Outrage with Trump Assassination Remark

Texas Church Leader Sparks Outrage After Saying Some Congregants Wished Trump Assassin Had Been ‘More Successful’

A Texas church attended by Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico is facing fierce backlash after one of its leaders was caught on video making a stunning claim about the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump.

Rev. Babs Miller, who serves as “Minister to the Parish” at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin, said there are still people in the congregation who apparently wish the gunman who opened fire on Trump during a 2024 campaign rally had succeeded in killing him.

“We still have people in this church who wish that the young man had not just nicked his ear, but had been more successful,” Miller said in video published by Townhall.

The explosive remark quickly drew attention because St. Andrew’s is the longtime church of Talarico, the Democratic nominee challenging Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for a U.S. Senate seat in one of the country’s closely watched midterm races. Talarico has said he has attended the church since childhood.

There is no evidence Talarico shares the views Miller attributed to unnamed congregants, and Miller did not identify the people she was referring to.

Still, the video has placed fresh scrutiny on the church as the increasingly heated Texas Senate battle enters its final stretch.

Miller was referring to Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old gunman identified by the FBI as the attacker who opened fire during Trump’s July 13, 2024 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The shooting injured Trump and other spectators and killed one rallygoer. The FBI investigated the attack as an assassination attempt and potential act of domestic terrorism.

Reaction to Miller’s comments was immediate, with critics blasting the idea that anyone inside a Christian congregation would hope for a political assassination.

One online critic called the comments “repugnant,” while another argued that wishing physical harm on someone was incompatible with Christian teachings.

Others went further, accusing the congregation of abandoning its religious principles.

The controversy comes at a critical moment for both Talarico and Paxton.

Talarico and Paxton are now their parties’ nominees in the Texas U.S. Senate race, with recent reporting describing the contest as unusually competitive for a state Republicans have dominated in recent statewide elections. National Republican groups have also begun pouring money into the race on Paxton’s behalf.

Paxton, meanwhile, enters the general election carrying controversies of his own.

The Republican attorney general was impeached by the Texas House in 2023 over allegations involving abuse of office and his relationship with donor Nate Paul. He denied wrongdoing and was later acquitted by the Texas Senate. Federal investigations connected to those allegations were ultimately closed without charges.

His personal life has also become campaign fodder after his wife, Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton, filed for divorce in 2025 and publicly cited “biblical grounds.”

As the race intensifies, both campaigns have increasingly attacked each other over character, religion and personal conduct.

But Miller’s newly surfaced comment has added another combustible issue to an already bitter Texas showdown — and is likely to keep attention focused on Talarico’s longtime church even though there is currently no evidence he was involved in or endorsed the remarks.