The swirl of conspiracy theories around the July 13 attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump has pushed many voters into believing that federal officials were part of the attempt to kill the GOP presidential nominee.
While a slight majority of all likely voters believe that gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks acted alone, 59% of Republicans told Rasmussen Reports that it is at least somewhat likely that “some federal government officials were part of a conspiracy to assassinate Trump.”
Reinforcing that finding, more Republicans, by a 49%-42% margin, believe that Crooks “had help from others.” Overall, 53% of all voters believe the shooter acted alone.
Even though the shooting happened live on several cable TV networks, the conspiracies started almost immediately. One suggested that Trump’s ear wasn’t ripped open by a bullet but by a shard of glass broken off his teleprompter. Another has suggested there was more than one shooter.
What’s more, social media platforms have censored photos and stories about the attempted killing.
The Secret Service and FBI have helped to fan the conspiracy flames with conflicting reports and a refusal to come clean on what they know.
For example, FBI Director Christopher Wray testified that the former president might have been hit by shrapnel instead of an AR-15-fired bullet in the assassination attempt.
Senator John Kennedy tells Fox News that “we’re going to have to get some new conspiracy theories” surrounding the Trump assassination attempt “because all the old ones turned out to be true.”
Today, an explosive new video revealed that a person was running on top of… pic.twitter.com/Cc38wDOwSc
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Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe referenced former President John F. Kennedy’s slaying, an assassination that still drives conspiracies. “This could have been our Texas School Book Depository. I have lost sleep over that for the last 17 days,” Rowe said this week, a reference to the Dallas building that Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy from on Nov. 22, 1963.
While Trump hasn’t talked much about the shooter, he has often accused President Joe Biden and the Justice Department of plotting to undermine his campaign with legal charges and accusations of wrongdoing.
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The poll is the latest to show a growing distrust of federal law enforcement. Another, from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, said just 3 in 10 believe the Secret Service can do its job of protecting presidential candidates.
Rasmussen found voters split 53%-44% over whether they trust the FBI’s ability to investigate the Trump shooting. On that question, 64% of Republicans said they don’t trust the FBI to do the investigation.