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Melania Trump insisted there must be more to the story of her husband’s assassination attempt as she demanded the “truth” in a new social media video promoting her memoir.
“The attempt to end my husband's life was a horrible, distressing experience,” she said in a video shared on X on Tuesday morning. “Now the silence around it feels heavy. I can’t help but wonder why didn’t law enforcement officials arrest the shooter before the speech. There is definitely more to this story, and we need to uncover the truth.”
Former President Donald Trump was grazed by a bullet that struck him in the ear during an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. One attendee was shot and killed, and two others were wounded. Trump was immediately covered by Secret Service agents who moved him to his secure vehicle, but not before the former president got to the front of the stage, stuck his fist up in the air, and urged his supporters to “fight,” which has since become a rallying cry for the MAGA faithful.
The gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired eight shots before he was shot and killed by Secret Service snipers. Bystanders spotted him before the shooting took place, and the many security failures that day ultimately led to Secret Service’s chief, Kimberly Cheatle, stepping down.
The FBI announced late last month that Crooks had a “mixture of ideologies” and that he didn’t appear to have any collaborators. Investigators think Crooks “engaged in detailed attack planning,” the head of the FBI field office in Pittsburgh, Kevin Rojek, said during an August press briefing, according to CBS News. He added that Crooks was “hyper-focused” on the rally in Butler following its announcement and “looked at it as a target of opportunity.”
One online account connected to the gunman was used to search for Trump events in Pennsylvania starting in September last year. Between April of this year and the day before the shooting, Crooks also searched for President Joe Biden’s campaign events.
The former first lady hasn’t been seen on the campaign trail and while she did attend the Republican National Convention, she didn’t make a speech, as is custom for the spouse of the nominee. Melania also stayed away from her husband’s five-week-long hush-money trial over a payment to adult actor Stormy Daniels for her silence about an alleged 2006 affair, which the former president denies. He was convicted on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, but sentencing has been delayed until after the election in November.
The former first lady’s new memoir, Melania, is set to be released on September 24.
“Writing this memoir has been a deeply personal and reflective journey for me,” she said in a video shared on September 5. “As a private person who has often been the subject of public scrutiny and misrepresentation, I feel a responsibility to clarify the facts. I believe it is important to share my perspective — the truth.”
On Sunday, she added in a subsequent video, “The 2020 election results changed our lives forever. It impacted our quality of life, cost of food, gasoline, safety, and even the geopolitical landscape.”
“America is more divided today than ever before. It has become increasingly apparent that there are significant challenges to free speech, as demonstrated by the efforts to silence my husband,” she claimed.
