‘His Ear, I Guess, Grew Back?’ Fired MSNBC Host Joy Reid Questions If Trump Was Actually Shot During ‘Alleged’ Butler Assassination Attempt

Two former MSNBC personalities are questioning whether President Trump was actually shot during the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt at Butler, Pennsylvania.While pictures and videos from the day show Mr. Trump with blood on his face after a bullet struck his ear, a fired MSNBC host, Joy Reid, sowed doubts about his injury during an interview with a fellow former MSNBC host, Katie Phang. “He’s got these magical doctors who claimed that he was shot in the ear, but his ear, I guess, grew back? He had a Duplo bandage on one minute, no bandage the next,” Ms. Reid said. “We can’t get a medical record from this alleged assassination [attempt]. He was supposedly shot. We have nothing.”Mr. Trump’s former White House doctor, Ronny Jackson, said in a memo weeks after the shooting that the then-presidential candidate experienced “significant bleeding” from the wound, which he said was about two centimeters wide and resulted in “marked swelling” of his “entire upper ear.” At the time of the memo, Mr. Jackson said that the wound was healing. The memo with the mention of the healing did not stop the two far-left commentators from spreading baseless theories about the shooting.Ms. Phang asked, “Where are the investigative records? One day, he slapped his maxi pad on his ear. The next day, the ear is totally fine.”Ms. Reid, “I remember being in mainstream media where we both used to work and saying, ‘Isn’t it odd that we’ve never asked for his medical records?’ And I got in trouble for that. Right? So you’re not allowed to say, ‘Isn’t that weird?’”“I know more about the attempted Ford assassination than I do about Donald Trump. And the Gerald Ford thing happened when I was a child. And they put out more information almost immediately,” Ms. Reid said. “We know almost immediately everything about Kennedy’s assassination. I know more about McKinley’s assassination than I do about this attempt to assassinate Trump when he was a presidential candidate.”She added, “We’re getting nothing. And the mainstream media isn’t demanding his medical records. They’re not demanding anything. They’re terrified of this man.”During the fateful July 2024 rally, a 20-year-old gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, opened fire and hit Mr. Trump’s ear. A volunteer fire chief, Corey Comperatore, was killed by the bullets while he shielded his family, and two other rally-goers were seriously injured. Secret Service snipers shot and killed Crooks moments after he opened fire from an unprotected rooftop about 157 yards away from the stage. The incident led to harsh questions for the Secret Service about the apparent security lapses at the event. Ms. Reid and Ms. Phang are not alone in expressing a belief that the government has not released enough information about the shooting. Conservatives have complained that the Secret Service, which at the time of the shooting was led by a Biden appointee, was not being forthcoming about the details of the shooting, or the gunman’s motives.During a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing days after the shooting, the then-director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, was harshly criticized by Democrats and Republicans as she failed to adequately answer their questions. Lawmakers from both parties later called for her resignation.Ms. Cheatle resigned on July 23, 2024. A scathing House report compiled by a bipartisan task force, released in December 2024, found that the “tragic and shocking events in Butler, Pennsylvania, were preventable and should not have happened.”“There was not, however, a singular moment or decision that allowed Thomas Matthew Crooks to nearly assassinate the former President,” the report states, as it says “various failures … coalesced to create an environment in which the former President — and everyone at the campaign event — were exposed to grave danger.”In July, six Secret Service personnel were suspended without pay.Ms. Reid has previously suggested that Mr. Trump was not shot. In a social media post on July 18, 2024, she said, “I have many questions!”“Like where are the medical reports? What caused Trump’s injury and what was the injury? Shrapnel? Glass? A bullet? Where were the three attendees who were shot seated or standing relative to Trump? Why was Trump allowed to stand and pose for photos, fist-pumping for nearly ten seconds while asking about his shoe when there could easily have been additional shooters?” she wrote. Her latest comments come as left-wing users on social media spread conspiracy theories that Mr. Trump had died, pointing to his empty public schedule over the Labor Day weekend and recent images of his bruised hand. After days of baseless speculation, Mr. Trump put the rumors of his death to bed as he emerged on Tuesday and took questions from the press.

‘His Ear, I Guess, Grew Back?’ Fired MSNBC Host Joy Reid Questions If Trump Was Actually Shot During ‘Alleged’ Butler Assassination Attempt

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