Story perspectives

Truth Social Claims Democratic Plot After Trump Shooting

By Drooid · Sep 17, 2026, 3:04 AM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

U.S. President Donald Trump was shot in the ear at a July 13, 2024 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Secret Service sniper killed 20-year-old shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks moments after the attack.
An anonymous donor paid for Crooks’s cremation within ten days, according to Senate Judiciary documents.
President Trump claimed on Truth Social the shooting was a Democratic plot to remove him.

History

Historical Context

On March 30 1981 John Hinckley Jr. fired six shots at President Ronald Reagan outside the Washington Hilton, wounding Reagan, press secretary James Brady and three others, prompting the Secret Service to tighten protective layers. The 2024 Butler rally echoed that legacy when a Secret Service sniper killed 20-year-old shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, reinforcing the agency’s hardened response.

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Story summary

U.S. President Donald Trump was shot in the ear at a July 13, 2024 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Secret Service sniper killed 20-year-old shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks moments after the attack.
An anonymous donor paid for Crooks’s cremation within ten days, according to Senate Judiciary documents.
President Trump claimed on Truth Social the shooting was a Democratic plot to remove him.

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