Melania Trump questions US law enforcement over husband’s assassination attempt

In a short, unexpected video the former First Lady has demanded answers from authorities over her husband Donald’s near death at the hands of a would-be assassin in July, suggesting a cover up | WATCH

Melania Trump made her claims in a video on X/Twitter.

Former First Lady Melania Trump has stirred the pot of conspiracy theories around her husband Donald’s survival of an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July, demanding answers from authorities in a video posted hours before the presidential debate.

https://t.co/ZCTwZSqZNDpic.twitter.com/KKA6anTEYC

— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) September 10, 2024

The famously reticent Mrs Trump said “there is definitely more to this story and we need to uncover the truth”, prompting a fresh burst of speculation about the now deceased shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, whose background and motives largely remain a mystery almost two months on.

“I can’t help but wonder: why didn’t law enforcement officials arrest the shooter before the speech?” the 54-year-old wife of the Republican presidential candidate opined in a 30 second video posted to her social media accounts on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST).

“The attempt to end my husband’s life was a horrible, distressing experience … Now, the silence around it feels heavy,” she added, speaking in front of a dark background dressed in a black suit.

Donald Trump and Melania Trump onstage during the last day of the 2024 Republican National Convention. Picture: AFP.

Crooks, 20, was shot by secret service agents after he fired a round of bullets at the 78-year-old former president on July 13 from the top of a nearby barn roof as Mr Trump was addressing a crowd at a campaign rally. He missed and killed one spectator, wounding Mr Trump’s ear and injuring two other spectators.

The shooting sent shockwaves through US politics and triggered widespread condemnation of the US Secret Service, whose chief Kimberly Cheatle later resigned, for failing to secure the roof from which Crooks shot despite local police and spectators’ having observed Crooks’ behaving strangely with a weapon at least 30 minutes before he began firing.

Multiple ongoing investigations into the attempt to murder the 45th president, including within congress, the FBI, and the department of homeland security, have failed to quash swirling conspiracy theories on the both the right and left, alleging various Crooks was part of a ‘deep state’ plot to kill the president or alternatively a deliberately failed shooting designed to make the former president look courageous for political benefit.

Others point to the a allegedly remarkable lack of media interest in Crooks or the fact his body was cremated quickly.

“The FBI released J13 shooter Crooks’ body to be cremated only 10 days after the assassination attempt on President Trump. This is NOT standard procedure,” said Republican congressman Pat Falon said on September 6.

The gravity of the First Lady’s statement was undermined somewhat given the video appeared to be a promotion for the former First Lady’s forthcoming memoir, Melania. “Everything is just a grift with them. Every last one of them,” said former Wall Street Journal Editor Gerard Baker on social media.

The reclusive former First Lady, who has resisted campaigning for her husband as he seeks a second term, had made one earlier statement about the shooting, in the immediate aftermath.

“When I watched that violent bullet strike my husband, Donald, I realised my life, and Barron’s life, were on the brink of devastating change,” she said at the time.