A woman who was sitting behind Donald Trump when he survived an assassination attempt is raising suspicions among many who say her behavior was strange.
Viral footage shows an unidentified woman, wearing sunglasses, a white shirt and a black hat, pulling out her phone as gunshots rang out at the Pennsylvania protest on Saturday.
He did this while everyone else, including Trump himself, was still on the ground fearing for their lives.
A post on X asking people to “pay close attention” to the woman has been viewed more than 19 million times.
The images have added to conspiracy theories shared by many following Saturday’s shooting.
Another viral post reads: “You hear gunshots and your first instinct is to very, very calmly pull out your phone and film the whole spectacle. Does this seem like normal behavior to you?”
A woman wearing a black hat who was sitting behind Donald Trump when he survived an assassination attempt is raising suspicions among many who say her behavior was strange.
Viral images show an unidentified woman, wearing sunglasses, a white shirt and a black hat, pulling out her phone as gunshots rang out at the Pennsylvania protest on Saturday.
Some X-users even theorized that the woman made a gesture with her head before the first shot rang out, with one going so far as to call the woman an “accomplice” without offering evidence.
Others, however, argued that the woman’s calm demeanor was due to mass shootings being common occurrences in the country.
One social media user said: “Are we that desensitised to gun violence in America? Look at the woman in white with the black hat right behind Trump.”
‘Instead of covering herself or, I don’t know, protecting the kid behind her, she pulls out her phone and starts recording.’
Within minutes of the shooting, the attempted assassination of former President Trump generated a vast sea of claims — some wild, some contradictory — that reflected the terrifying uncertainties of the moment as well as the febrile and polarized political climate in the United States.
The flurry of speculation and conjecture that unfolded as Americans turned to the internet for news about the shooting is the latest sign of how social media has emerged as a dominant source of information (and misinformation) for many — and a contributor to the mistrust and turbulence now driving American politics.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump gestures as he is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents as he is led off the stage.
Mentions of Trump on social media rose by as much as 17 times the average daily amount in the hours after the shooting, according to PeakMetrics, a cyber firm that tracks online narratives.
Thomas Matthew Crooks
Many of those mentions were expressions of sympathy for Trump or calls for unity, but many others made unsubstantiated and fantastical claims.
Many of the most misleading claims that emerged in the immediate aftermath of the shooting sought to blame Trump or his Democratic opponent, President Joe Biden, for the attack.
Some voices on the left were quick to proclaim that the shooting was a false flag operation masterminded by Trump, while some Trump supporters suggested that the Secret Service intentionally failed to protect Trump on orders from the White House.
The Secret Service on Sunday denied claims circulating on social media that the Trump campaign had asked for extra security ahead of Saturday’s rally and was told no.
Videos of the shooting were quickly dissected in partisan echo chambers as Trump supporters and detractors searched for evidence to back up their beliefs.
As evidence that this was an inside job, videos were presented showing Secret Service agents moving members of Trump’s audience away before the shooting. Footage of Trump’s raised fist in defiance was used to claim the opposite: that the entire event was organized by Trump.
Following the shooting that killed a bystander on Saturday, investigators were searching for clues about what may have driven 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks to carry out the shocking attack.
The FBI said it was investigating it as a possible act of domestic terrorism, but the lack of a clear ideological motive on the part of the man shot dead by the Secret Service has led to conspiracy theories flourishing.
The FBI said it believes Crooks, who had bomb-making materials in the car he drove to the rally, acted alone.
Investigators have found no threatening comments on social media accounts or ideological positions that could help explain what led him to attack Trump before the presumptive Republican presidential nominee was whisked off the stage by the Secret Service, his face smeared with blood.
Trump said on social media that the top of his right ear was pierced in the shooting, but aides said he was “in very good spirits” ahead of his arrival Sunday in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention.
Two bystanders were seriously injured, while a former fire chief in the area, Corey Comperatore, died. Pennsylvania’s governor said Comperatore, 50, died a hero after throwing himself over his family to protect them.