WARMINGTON: Melania Trump says ‘more to story’ on assassination attempt

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Published Sep 10, 2024  •  3 minute read

U.S. First Lady Melania Trump addresses the Marines Toys for Tots drive at Joint Base Base Anacostia Bolling in Washington, D.C., Dec. 8, 2020. Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM /AFP via Getty Images / Files

Being an inch away from becoming a widow, United States former first lady Melania Trump has raised questions about what was behind the assassination attempt on her husband and the handling of his security on that day. 

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Saying there is “more to the story,” Melania Trump has raised suspicion about the assassination attempt on America’s 45th president, Donald J. Trump, and is calling into question the police and the Secret Service’s handling of that dark day that almost stole her husband. 

The first lady from 2017 to 2021 took to social media in the hours before the presidential debate between Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for the Nov. 5 election, and the Democratic Party’s candidate, vice-president Kamala Harris, to express her extreme concern about what she said was really behind the shooting attempt in Butler, Pa. and the investigation that followed it. 

“There is definitely more to this story, and we need to uncover the truth,” Melania said, dressed in black in an ominous-looking video with black backlighting and a chilling music score posted to her X account.  

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Trump was shot July 13. In that time there has been little learned about the alleged shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, who was shot to death on a rooftop by a sniper on a rooftop — but not before he got off eight shots toward the stage and grandstand where Trump supporters were also struck. 

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“The attempt to end my husband’s life was a horrible, distressing experience,” said Melania. “Now, the silence around it feels heavy.” 

Trump, on stage and giving a campaign speech to a large MAGA crowd, had his right ear grazed by a shooter’s bullet. Fire captain Corey Comperatore, 50, was killed in this shooting trying to protect his family while two others were seriously wounded by gunshots. 

If the bullet aimed at Trump had have been one inch to the right, it may have hit him square in the head and very well could have been fatal. 

But while this matter is still under investigation, many questions have been raised about videos and witness accounts saying Trump supporters saw a man with a gun positioning himself on the roof without anybody stopping him. 

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is seen with blood on his face surrounded by Secret Service agents as he is taken off the stage at a campaign event at Butler Farm Show Inc. in Butler, Pa., July 13, 2024. GETTY IMAGES FILE Photo by Rebecca Droke / AFP /Getty Images

Melanie Trump in this video raises the level of anger in this matter by questioning the police and Secret Service and why it didn’t respond differently. 

“I can’t help but wonder, why didn’t law enforcement officials not arrest the shooters before the speech?” she said. 

It is an excellent question and one that needs to be answered. In the moments following the release of her video, already some news headlines featured the words “conspiracy theories” as a way of describing her messaging instead of something coming from her heart as a wife and mother. 

It’s not the first time Melania, who has just released her memoirs, has spoken on the assassination attempt. In a statement on July 14, she wrote: “when I watched that violent bullet strike my husband, Donald, I realized my life, and Barron’s life, were on the brink of devastating change.” 

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At that time she said: “I am grateful to the brave Secret Service agents and law enforcement officials who risked their own lives to protect my husband.”

In the months since this deadly incident, she has questioned why there was not swifter action to detain Crooks, which would have prevented the close call on her husband but also prevented the horrible slaying of Comperatore. 

This 2021 photo provided by Bethel Park School District shows student Thomas Matthew Crooks who graduated from Bethel Park High School with the Class of 2022, in Bethel Park, Pa. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

“To the families of the innocent victims who are now suffering from this heinous act, I humbly offer my sincerest sympathy,” she said, adding “a monster who recognized my husband as an inhuman political machine attempted to ring out Donald’s passion — his laughter, ingenuity, love of music, and inspiration.” 

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump and Melania Trump during the final day of the Republican National Convention Thursday, July 18, 2024, in Milwaukee. Photo by Paul Sancya /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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At that time, Melania summoned the human side of politics, saying “the core facets of my husband’s life — his human side — were buried below the political machine. Donald, the generous and caring man who I have been with through the best of times and the worst of times.”

She urged not to forget that “differing opinions, policy, and political games are inferior to love” and “political concepts are simple when compared to us, human beings.” 

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But this time her words were more pointed and suggest she does not feel enough was done on July 13 protect her husband and the others and not enough has happened in the investigation since. 

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