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Trump says Butler assassination attempt was 'Democrat Plot' without showing evidence

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Cite

Kerr, N. (2026, September 15). Trump says Butler assassination attempt was 'Democrat Plot' without showing evidence. ABC News (US). https://abcnews.com/Politics/trump-claims-butler-assassination-attempt-democrat-plot-showing/story?id=136468084

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

ABC News (US) · collected 2026-09-15 · by Nicholas Kerr

Quick Summary

President Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday that the recent assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pennsylvania, which resulted in one death and two injuries, was part of a "Democratic Plot" aimed at removing him from the upcoming election. Despite this assertion, Trump provided no evidence to support his claim. FBI Director Kash Patel testified before a Senate committee that there were no connections found between the suspect, Thomas Matthew Crooks, and any other individuals involved in the plot. Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed the existence of new information about Crooks but did not specify what it was or how it related to Trump's allegations.
Written by AI on 2026-10-02, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump alleged that the 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, which resulted in one death and two injuries, was a "Democratic Plot." Despite these serious claims, Trump did not provide any evidence to support his accusation. During testimony, former FBI Director Christopher Wray stated that there were no connections found between the suspect and others involved. When pressed for details on new information related to the shooter's background, Attorney General Todd Blanche said only that it was recent material produced by the FBI in response to a Senate inquiry but did not elaborate further. Trump also criticized the current FBI under former President Joe Biden and suggested that Wray should face consequences for his handling of the investigation. Notably, Wray had resigned before Trump's second term began due to concerns over potential department turmoil if he were fired by Trump.

Written for “Trump Claims Democrat Plot” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Trump Claims Democrat Plot
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans strongly right and hedges 23% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
New York Post
Hedges 10 of 60 claims Outlet record 66/100
“Article A discusses details about Thomas Crooks and the assassination attempt on President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, while Article B focuses on Trump's claim that it was a 'Democrat Plot' without evidence. These are different aspects of related events.”
New York Post
Hedges 4 of 44 claims Outlet record 66/100
“While both articles discuss the assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, they describe different aspects and timelines related to the incident.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
22
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
23%
5 of 22 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans strongly right
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
70/100
ABC News (US)'s corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-15 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

ABC News (US) · 1271 article(s) · 3 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 3 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Nicholas Kerr
12 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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🔮 Critics say the ads could violate federal propaganda law.
🔮 The project will be built by Mesabi Metallics in Iowa.
🔮 It does not get to decide which programs are worth funding," she said, adding that she will "work with my colleagues to address these illegal actions."
2026-09-26 · assertive framing · White House orders over $800M in funds rescinded
🔮 The remarks came ahead of a meeting set to occur later on Tuesday between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
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🔮 Wray resigned as director before Trump was inaugurated for his second term because he feared that Trump firing him could cause turmoil within the department.
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Also by Nicholas Kerr
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 12 articles by Nicholas Kerr →

Topics

Butler Democrat FBI Pennsylvania the Department of Justice

Subjects

Trump PERSON · 13× FBI ORG · 8× Blanche PERSON · 4× Crooks PERSON · 3× Patel PERSON · 3× Butler PERSON · 2× Christopher Wray PERSON · 2× Democrat NORP · 2× Thomas Matthew Crooks PERSON · 2× Wray PERSON · 2×

Narrative

Attorney General Todd Blanche refused to offer any evidence of the alleged plot, saying only that the “new information” Trump alluded to today was produced by the FBI in response to a Senate inquiry. “It is new information about the shooter and about his background, about his history and that's stuff that we didn't know before,” Blanche said when pressed on what the information was.
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-15
🔮 Wray resigned as director before Trump was inaugurated for his second term because he feared that Trump firing him could cause turmoil within the department.

Claims (22 extracted, 5 hedged)

Trump claims Butler assassination attempt was a 'Democrat Plot' without showing evidence Patel testified the FBI had found no connections between the suspect and others. uncertain
FBI → claim → suspect
President Donald Trump alleged on Tuesday that the 2024 assassination attempt on him in Butler, Pennsylvania -- which killed one person and wounded two others -- was a "Democratic Plot" aimed at removing him from the election. asserted
which → allege → election
The president blasted the FBI under former President Joe Biden and said former FBI Director Christopher Wray, who Trump nominated during his first term, "should pay a price" for the investigation. asserted
Trump → blast → investigation
Trump lashed out at his FBI director after he testified two weeks after the shooting that it was still unclear at that point whether Trump was hit with a bullet or something else. uncertain
Trump → lash → bullet
Wray resigned as director before Trump was inaugurated for his second term because he feared that Trump firing him could cause turmoil within the department. uncertain
firing → resign → department
He did not reply immediately to ABC News' request for comment. asserted
He → reply → comment
Trump did not offer any evidence to back up his extraordinary claim of the assassination attempt being part of a broader plot. uncertain
attempt → offer → plot
He claimed that "most of the information" on the investigation was missing when he took office but new documents had recently been found, without elaborating. "Why wasn't it seen long ago?" Trump asked. asserted
Trump → claim → office
"This was all a Democrat Plot, to get me out of the Election, that failed. asserted
that → get → Election
Dirty Cop Christopher Wray should pay a price for the way he handled this assassination attempt, and certainly for the things he said," Trump posted. asserted
Trump → pay → things
Asked in a Senate Oversight Committee hearing on Tuesday what his agency had learned about suspected shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks since the shooting, FBI Director Kash Patel said that his agency looked for connections between Crooks and others, but found none. asserted
agency → ask → none
"We found no evidence that that individual was literally even speaking to any other human being other than his parents, who he resided with," Patel testified. asserted
Patel → find → who
Attorney General Todd Blanche refused to offer any evidence of the alleged plot, saying only that the “new information” Trump alluded to today was produced by the FBI in response to a Senate inquiry. “It is new information about the shooter and about his background, about his history and that's stuff that we didn't know before,” Blanche said when pressed on what the information was. asserted
information → refuse → that
Asked whether the Department of Justice would “punish” anyone after Trump saying Wray should "pay a price" for the investigation into the shooting, Blanche replied, “The Department of Justice doesn't punish,” Blanche said. asserted
Blanche → ask → Justice
I lived it. asserted
I → live → it
I mean, you have a situation where, where it's not really clear what the leadership of the FBI were doing in the weeks and months ahead of the attempted assassination to protect President Trump,” the attorney general said. asserted
general → mean → Trump
“That's the same organization that was simultaneously trying to put him in prison till he dies.” asserted
he → try → prison
Blanche said Patel "has undertaken a Herculean effort to go through all the documents and understand what was missed, if anything" and provide it to the public. asserted
what → say → public
Reports from Fox News and The New York Post on Tuesday said that they had reviewed federal documents related to the assassination attempt, which purportedly show that suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks used the alias "Bob Dole" to order suspicious packages. asserted
Crooks → say → packages
Fox and the Post also reported that Crooks' body was cremated in the wake of the shooting, a service reportedly paid for by an anonymous donor but did not report evidence of a conspiracy behind the shooting. uncertain
body → report → shooting
ABC News has not independently reviewed those documents. asserted
News → review → documents
Trump was struck in the ear by a bullet the Secret Service said came from Crooks' rifle as he fired from the roof of a nearby building at a campaign rally on July 13, 2024. asserted
he → strike → July
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