Staffer dismissed after suggesting Trump gunman should have had better aim

In the aftermath of the first major assassination attempt on a sitting or former President since Reagan, a Democratic staffer has been dismissed from her post after suggesting that Trump's would-be assassin should have had better aim. The employee of Mississippi Democratic Rep. Bennie G. Thompson's staffer was sacked after posting on social media that she wished Thomas Matthew Crooks, had taken "shooting lessons".

Trump narrowly missed serious harm when a bullet grazed his right ear, fired by the suspected 20-year-old shooter during the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania . In images broadcast on every TV set in every state, Americans saw their former President emerge from a huddle of Secret Service agents, with blood falling down his face and a fist raised in the air.

Letting off a series of shots from the roof of a building 130 or so yards from where former President Trump was speaking, the suspected shooter killed a bystander and wounded two others, before being shot dead by a Secret Service sniper. In a string of posts following the shocking moment, Rep. Thompson's staffer said: "I don't condone violence but please get some shooting lessons so you don't miss next time ooops that wasn't me talking,".

READ MORE: Donald Trump rally shooting victim remembered as 'the best dad a girl could ever ask for'

Jacqueline Marsaw, field director for Congressman Thompson, lost her job over the Facebook post, where she lamented Crooks' poor marksmanship, reports the Express US .

Marsaw, 61, penned a string of controversial posts, starting with a recommendation for "shooting lessons so you don't miss next time", but later suggesting the attack was staged. Citing the rhetoric used by Trump throughout his political life, the campaigner said: "That's what your hate speech got you!"

The now-deleted posts had quickly spread across the internet, leading to Thompson announcing that the staff member responsible had been removed from her position. "I was made aware of a post made by a staff member and she is no longer in my employment," he confirmed.

Trump, who still faces around 90 civil and federal charges on a wide variety of offences, has vowed to keep campaigning. The presumptive GOP nominee has said he will still take to the stage at the Republican National Convention this week, despite the attempt on his life.

President Biden delivered a TV address from the Oval Office on Sunday calling for calm and condemning the attack, as well as the general rise in political violence of recent years. He said this violence is "not who we are as a nation. It’s not America, and we cannot allow this to happen.”