Left-wing users on the social media platform Bluesky marked the one-year anniversary of the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump by propagating conspiracy theories about the incident.
A gunman shot Trump in his right ear just six minutes into his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, with Secret Service agents moving him off the stage as blood ran down the side of his face. Yet users baselessly took to Bluesky to cast doubt on the veracity of the assassination attempt.
“[T]he sad part is that people died for this staged Trump assassination,” user Andy Behrman posted.
Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old gunman, shot Trump from the roof of a building about 400 feet away from where he was speaking. Crooks fired off multiple rounds, injuring crowd members and killing former volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore.
One year ago today, President Donald Trump faked an assassination attempt in Butler, PA.
One entire year and still ✨zero✨ information on the child “assassin” that they hired— they killed this kid for Trump’s publicity stunt.
— Bill Caine (@allchronology.com) July 14, 2025 at 7:36 AM
Another user, Bill Caine, alleged “Trump faked” the attempt on his life.
“One entire year and still ✨zero✨ information on the child ‘assassin’ that they hired— they killed this kid for Trump’s publicity stunt,” Caine added.
He also posted a picture of Trump with his ear in a bandage and a picture of Crooks with braces.
Secret Service counter snipers shot and killed Crooks on the roof he was perched on after he fired the rounds.
Moreover, another user, Craig R. Brittain, alleged the attempt was orchestrated by Elon Musk.
“One year ago: Trump and Elon Musk’s staged Butler, Pennsylvania Hoax ‘assassination.’. Elon wrote his endorsement months in advance, and finally the opportunity happened,” Brittain wrote.
“Then Elon gave the order,” he added. “Unfortunately he and Trump murdered a fireman, one of their own Stockholm Syndrome MAGA cult members.”
Musk endorsed Trump on X immediately after the shooting.
“I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery,” he wrote.
A user named Pianozzino also called the attempt “staged.”
“It’s been one year since they staged the assassination attempt of Donald Trump and killed a father in the process,” Pianozzino wrote.
Comperatore died while shielding his family during the rally shooting.
Yet another user, Lee-in-Iowa 
claimed “Trump vanished from the public eye for three days before the ‘assassination’ attempt.”
“I figure it was to practice,” she added.
Some people theorized in the wake of the attempt that Trump got struck by glass fragments rather than a bullet. However, the FBI clarified in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation a bullet hit Trump.
The New York Times’ Doug Mills also took a photograph that showed a bullet flying near Trump’s head immediately before he began bleeding.
Kimberly Cheatle, the Secret Service director during the incident, resigned ten days after the attempt.
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