Politics

Trump 'Safe' After Assassination Attempt at Pennsylvania Rally

JUL 13 2024·Updated FEB 25 2025

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The Facts

US Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said that former Pres. Donald Trump is "safe" after being evacuated from the stage at a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday following gunshots, apparently with blood on his cheek and right ear.
FOX News
The FBI has labeled the shooting an attempted assassination against the former president and identified the culprit as Thomas Matthew Crooks, though a motive has yet to be determined.
CNN
According to the Trump campaign, the presumptive Republican nominee was checked out at a local medical facility. Gunshots rang out less than 10 minutes into his speech.
The Hill
The New York Times reported, citing a gunfire acoustics expert, that eight shots were fired in two different rounds from about 400 feet from the C-SPAN microphone Trump was speaking into.
nytimes
In a post on Truth Social, Trump detailed that a bullet "pierced the upper part of [his] right ear." At least one rally attendee has been killed, and two other spectators were critically injured.
NBC
The gunman, believed to have opened fire from a manufacturing plant outside the security perimeter, was killed at the scene as the counter-sniper team returned fire from a building behind the audience stands.
New York Post

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The Spin

Republican narrative

Democrats have long been promoting the idea that America will descend into a dictatorship in the event of Donald Trump returning to the White House, so it should come as no surprise that someone decided to act on such inflammatory rhetoric. This shooting must serve as a warning for them to stop heightening tensions.

The Wall Street Journal

Democratic narrative

There must indeed be an effort to stop fueling tensions, but this applies to the GOP as much as anyone: Making unsubstantiated and outrageous claims that Joe Biden and his allies are responsible for Saturday's violence only serves to add fuel to the flame and guarantees an even more unsafe political climate in the lead up to November.

MS Now