On July 13, 2024, an apparent assassin opened fire at a Donald Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. One member of the audience was killed, two were seriously injured, and the candidate was shot in the ear. The gunman, Thomas Crooks, was killed at the scene by a member of the Secret Service.
It wasn’t long after the shooting that conspiracy theories about the incident began to emerge, mostly among Trump’s critics, who pushed a variety of unproven claims. But there were also some bizarre theories that have been peddled by fringe elements of the right, who have suggested that what transpired in Butler was part of some elaborate political plot.
As a rule, Republican officials have steered clear of such unfounded theories, which made it all the more notable when Trump himself, shortly after Fox News aired a segment about the 2024 shooting, decided to embrace a Butler-related conspiracy theory of his own. The president’s new online statement, published to his social media platform, read in its entirety:
Everybody knows the Crooked Joe Biden FBI didn’t do what they should have with respect to the Lunatic who shot me in Butler, PA. By the time I got into Office, on January 20th, most of the information was missing, altered, corrupted, or gone. New info was just found! Why wasn’t it seen long ago? This was all a Democrat Plot, to get me out of the Election, that failed. Dirty Cop Christopher Wray should pay a price for the way he handled this assassination attempt, and certainly for the things he said. GOD BLESS AMERICA — MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
Even by Trump standards, this was a deeply odd message.
For now, let’s not dwell on every granular error — Joe Biden, for example, was not corrupt, nor was former FBI Director Wray, whom Trump chose for the position — especially given the scope of the president’s other claims.
To hear Trump tell it, it’s somehow common knowledge that the FBI did not do a thorough investigation into the Butler shooting (a claim that has no basis in fact), and somehow decided to mishandle relevant information as part of its probe (another claim that has no basis in fact).
All of this set the stage for the claim that he has uncovered a failed “Democrat [sic] Plot.”
I will leave it to others to determine whether the Republican was alleging that Democrats were behind what he considers a botched investigation, or whether he believes his opponents were somehow connected to the shooting itself. Either way, this was twisted, even for him.
As for Wray, it’s particularly notable to see Trump argue in writing that his own former FBI director is “dirty” and “should pay a price” for his actions. This comes more than two years after the bureau director said during a congressional hearing that there was “some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear” — comments that appeared to infuriate Trump.
Shortly after the president’s online missive reached the public on Tuesday, incumbent FBI Director Kash Patel, a Trump loyalist, was asked during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about the Butler shooting. He referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security.
The post In major escalation, Trump pushes new conspiracy theory about Butler assassination attempt appeared first on MS NOW.
