The Attempts on Trump’s Life, Why He Shut Down the Investigations & How It Altered History Forever

The attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a 2024 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, was not the lone gunman event the government claims, according to investigative journalist Ken Silva. In a gripping, meticulously documented account, Silva reveals a cascade of security failures, contradictory testimony, and deliberate obfuscation by federal agencies. The Secret Service sniper, David King, waited 23 seconds after eight shots were fired before killing the suspect, Thomas Crooks—long enough for the local cop, Aaron Zaloponi, to fire the decisive shot that stopped the attack. Yet Trump publicly praises King while ignoring Zaloponi’s heroism. Silva uncovers a toxicology report with three untested samples, a body shipped to Allegheny County instead of Butler County, and a medical examiner with dual Israeli citizenship who released the body with bullet fragments still embedded. The FBI has withheld over 75,000 documents, including surveillance footage and Crooks’ encrypted emails. Even more damning, Trump himself shut down the investigation into his own attempted murder, a move Silva calls the most shocking fact of the entire episode. The narrative suggests a deeper cover-up—possibly involving a fabricated Iranian threat used to justify deploying Secret Service snipers, who then failed to respond in time.