JD Vance Falsely Claims Democrats Were Behind Trump Assassination Attempt by Republican Gunman: ‘They Even Tried to Kill Him’

Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) suggested that Democrats were behind last month’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

On July 13, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired several shots at Trump as the ex-president spoke at an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump was grazed in the ear, one rally attendee was killed, and two others were wounded. Secret Service agents quickly shot Crooks to death.

While many Republicans immediately speculated the shooter was a Trump-hating liberal of some kind, Crooks turned out to be a registered Republican. He made a one-time donation of $15 on a Democratic fundraising platform. Investigators have not found any discernible political motive.

Introducing Trump at a rally in North Carolina on Wednesday, Trump’s running mate insinuated the former president was shot as part of some plot cooked up by political opponents:

Remember, eight years ago, Donald Trump had everything: fame, fortune, family, friends. He gave up the easy life so that we could get our country back. He traded everything he had for unjust persecution, for slander, and scored from the fake news all for this country, for you and me.

They couldn’t beat him politically, so they tried to bankrupt him. They failed at that, so they tried to impeach him. They failed at that, so they tried to put him in prison. And they even tried to kill him. But as sure, as sure as the American flag still waves in our beautiful sky, Donald Trump still stands ready to fight, ready to win, and ready to make America great again.

Investigators found that Crooks had searched for locations where Trump and President Joe Biden were scheduled to appear in public.

“[W]hen the F.B.I. was able to finally access Mr. Crooks’s cellphones and other electronic devices, agents could see that he had searched for images of Mr. Trump as well as President Biden, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and even F.B.I. Director Christopher A. Wray,” the New York Times reported last month. “One of Mr. Trump’s planned appearances happened to be about 50 miles from Mr. Crooks’s house in Bethel Park, Pa.”

Watch above via C-SPAN.

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