— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) July 13, 2024
President Trump was holding a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania this afternoon when what sounded like as many as five shots rang out. Video showed Trump grabbing his right ear before Secret Service agents tackled and covered him. When he stood up as the agents began moving him off the stage, he clearly had blood coming from what appeared to be the top of his right ear.
The networks and new services haven’t yet confirmed that his was, in fact, a shooting and assassination attempt. This is a developing story and we’ll update this post as we learn more.
Here’s video of the incident.
Trump got shot in the side of the head at his rally in Pennsylvania pic.twitter.com/5xtwgRscOr
— Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) July 13, 2024
UPDATE: The Trump campaign has issued a statement indicating that President Trump “is safe” and being checked out at a local hospital.
UPDATE: CNN documents what they seem to think was a mostly peaceful assassination attempt . . .
Here’s CNN. pic.twitter.com/XnwQcWcqQe
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) July 13, 2024
And the hot takes are flowing fast . . .
If it was a crazy lefty, the media will blame the gun.
If it was a guy who voted for one Republican 30 years ago, the media will blame Republicans.— Jon Gabriel (@exjon) July 13, 2024
UPDATE: The Associated Press is reporting that Butler County district attorney Richard Goldinger has announced that the shooter is dead as is one other rally attendee.
A shooter is dead and a rally attendee was killed at a Donald Trump event in Pennsylvania, the Butler County district attorney tells AP. https://t.co/I61yG4mFhb
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 13, 2024
President Biden has issued a statement and will reportedly address the nation tonight.
BREAKING: President Biden’s statement pic.twitter.com/LjWk623uCG
— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) July 13, 2024
This is an interview with a witness reported by the BBC . . .
this BBC interview with a guy outside the security perimeter who claims he saw the shooter before he fired is absolutely wild pic.twitter.com/vJpKZTxSAe
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) July 13, 2024
— Lara Logan (@laralogan) July 13, 2024
Donald Trump has posted the following on his Truth Social account:
The head of communications for the US Secret Service has issued this statement . . .
Here is the latest information from our investigation. We are grateful to the Secret Service team and our law enforcement partners for their swift action. Our thoughts go out to the families affected by this tragedy. pic.twitter.com/E8FazqtUVZ
— Anthony Guglielmi (@SecretSvcSpox) July 14, 2024
🚨 #BREAKING: Video shows Secret Service snipers ENGAGING with the Trump Shooter
Heroes. pic.twitter.com/SZz0DmmBIx
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) July 14, 2024
As expected given the sound of the gunfire in the video of the assassination attempt, the shooter did, in fact, use a semi-automatic rifle. The AP is reporting that it was an AR-pattern rifle.
BREAKING: Law enforcement recovered an AR-style rifle at the scene of the shooting at Donald Trump’s rally, an AP source says. https://t.co/rDiWzNhDH1
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 14, 2024
While the Secret Service’s personal protection detail is being lauded for their quick action after the shooting, the question being asked is how a clear vantage such as the roof of a nearby building 130 yards away could have been left unsecured.
See it: Sniper shot at former President Donald Trump from 130 yards away on roof of manufacturing plant https://t.co/zVlGk4eOrE pic.twitter.com/R3JvfE0P57
— New York Post (@nypost) July 14, 2024
This bystander video of the shooter on the roof opening fire was just published . . .
Footage showing the Moment that the Shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks had Opened Fire on the Trump Rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania as well as him being Killed seconds later by a Secret Service Counter-Sniper. pic.twitter.com/K8gpTwgnbS
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) July 14, 2024
Well this just made things harder for the 5th column.
As many as 5 shots, and only 1 grazed him?
The only good shot a Leftist makes is point-blank to the back of the head… 😉
Update :
From TTAG :
“…former secret service agent just told cbs news that it was a sniper, ” with a high powered rifle, like a deer rifle or such “”
Who couldn’t shoot worth a shit. That identifies the politics of the shooter. A conservative would have hit the target.
That seals his election win… 😉
Close-up pics of Trump’s wounded ear, early in this video :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1UGtmVT5u4
They probably did this so the hit they’re putting out on Biden will look like a revenge shooting.
Shooter has been identified as Joseph Robinette Biden. They blamed the poor accuracy on his age-related decline.
This doesn’t sound like any sort of organized, intentional hit. Sounds like a wackjob with a pistol, who was radicalized by constant bleating of “Trump is an existential threat to the Constitution and to Democracy!!!”
With any decent rifle, the shooter wouldn’t have missed, and wouldn’t have tried firing 5 (or, as I heard reported elsewhere, as many as 9 shots). Furthermore, even if the guy’s scope was off so that the only hit he made was on the ear, any rifle would have ripped it clean off. It just doesn’t seem likely.
On the other hand, if you had a pistol shooter, the inaccuracy question resolves itself. As far as the actual injury, it looks more like the kind of thing one would expect from a ricochet, and the blood streams down his face make sense if he crouched down behind the podium like as would seem normal in such a scenario, and the blood represented two small trickle streams from the ricochet ear injury.
We’ll know more later, but that’s what it seems like now, to me.
Audio claimed to be of the the shooting :
https://www.fox9.com/news/shots-fired-trump-pennsylvania-rally
Listen to the short delay between Trump reacting, and the sound of the gunshot.
That was short range.
Was the Secret Service running the security? It usually works that a Secret Service security detail is appointed after the national convention, so that may have been Trump’s private security detail that failed to screen the attendees…
No eyes on nearby rooftops? Someone should be fired.
LE inspects the shooter’s cooling corpse :
https://x.com/Mrgunsngear/status/1812282263411003896
Shooter identified as 20 yo Thomas Matthew Crooks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2pgX3yWea8
Video claimed to be of the shooter dead on a nearby rooftop :
https://rumble.com/v56uffp-video-showing-the-trump-rally-shooter-dead-on-the-rooftop.html
Very interesting :
BREAKING: A source familiar with Trump’s security detail tells @FDRLST
that the former and future president’s detail has been asking for beefed up protection and resources for weeks, but has been rebuffed time and again by Biden’s DHS.
https://x.com/seanmdav/status/1812278386514870623
Video: Witness at Trump rally claims he saw purported shooter on nearby rooftop | CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/14/us/video/witness-at-trump-rally-claims-he-saw-purported-shooter-on-nearby-rooftop
‘I am Thomas Matthews Crooks’ Video of Trump-hater emerges
https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/i-am-thomas-matthew-crooks-video-of-trump-hating-man-surfaces-after-rally-shooting-article-111727092