Gov. Josh Shapiro on antisemitism and Trump's 'sanctimonious B.S.'
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 13 June 2025
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) faced a violent attack on his home in April.
A man with a history of mental illness, 38-year-old Cody Balmer, has been charged with breaking in and setting fire to a dining room at the Governor’s Residence. The alleged arsonist said part of his motivation was Shapiro’s support for Israel. Since this incident, there have been other high-profile attacks against Jewish people in Boulder, Colorado, and Washington, D.C.
Host Colby Itkowitz speaks with Shapiro about the attack and the recent spike in antisemitic actions in the United States. She also asks him about President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard and Marines to California, and why so many people think he’s a top contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028.
Today’s show was produced by Laura Benshoff. It was edited by Reena Flores and mixed by Sam Bair, who also edited the video. Peter Stevenson and HyoJung Kim shot the video. Thanks also to Nick Baumann, Sean Sullivan and Ariel Plotnick.
Watch the full interview on YouTube. And you can subscribe to The Washington Post here.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It was two months ago today, when the home of Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro was violently attacked. |
| 0:08.7 | A man scaled offense around the governor's residence. He broke in and he set off explosives in the state dining room. |
| 0:16.3 | The extent of the damage, it was shocking. Shapiro, his wife Lori, and their children, they had |
| 0:23.5 | been asleep upstairs. A local man, 38-year-old Cody Bomber, was later arrested. He was |
| 0:30.3 | charged with attempted homicide, arson, and terrorism. Bomber said that it was Israel's |
| 0:37.2 | treatment of Palestinians that was a motivation for his |
| 0:40.1 | attack on Shapiro, who's Jewish. He said he harbored hatred for Shapiro and that he had intended |
| 0:46.1 | to kill him that night. Bomber also, he has a history of mental health issues. When I saw the |
| 0:53.7 | news of the attack on Shapiro's home, I was stunned. |
| 0:57.5 | I am from Pennsylvania. |
| 0:59.1 | I'm from a town not too far from the state capital of Harrisburg. |
| 1:02.4 | I have known and followed and covered Shapiro's career for more than a decade. |
| 1:08.5 | I am also Jewish. |
| 1:10.7 | Since the attack, there's been more high-profile violent acts of anti-Semitism in the United |
| 1:16.3 | States. |
| 1:17.5 | I knew I wanted to have this conversation with Shapiro. |
| 1:20.8 | I wanted to better understand what happened that night, but I also wanted to understand |
| 1:25.6 | how he was making sense of it. |
| 1:29.2 | And so earlier this week, |
| 1:36.0 | I went to the state capital to talk to the governor. From the newsroom of the Washington Post, |
| 1:44.1 | this is Post reports. I'm Colby Ikowitz. It's Friday, June 13th. Today, I bring you my conversation with Governor Josh Shapiro. |
| 1:46.0 | We talk about the attack on his home and the rise of anti-Semitism in America. |
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