Democrat lawmaker fires staffer for vile post after Trump assassination attempt
A staff member of Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson is “no longer” in the congressman’s employment after allegedly posting “don’t miss next time,” after the apparent assassination attempt on former President Trump on Saturday evening.
“I was made aware of a post made by a staff member and she is no longer in my employment,” Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson said in a statement.
The post, which has since been deleted, was allegedly posted by Thompson’s now-former field director Jacqueline Marsaw. The post read, “I don’t condone violence but please get you some shooting lessons so you don’t miss next time ooops that wasn’t me talking.”
Trump had just begun speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday evening when a gunman on a nearby roof outside the venue fired multiple shots toward the stage.
LIVE UPDATES: FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP SURVIVES ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, FBI IDs SHOOTER AS THOMAS MATTHEW CROOKS
Trump was seen hitting the deck as Secret Service agents rushed the stage to surround the former president. Moments later, a bloodied Trump stood up and pumped his fist before the agents escorted him off the stage.
At least one rally attendee was killed, and two spectators were critically injured, authorities said. The man killed was identified as 50-year-old firefighter Corey Comperatore.
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There were multiple calls for Thompson to fire the staffer following the social media post.
Marsaw joined Thompson’s staff in July 2023. She is a native of Natchez, Mississippi, and an alumna of Jackson State University. She served as secretary, vice president and president of her local NAACP and as the former field director for the National Action Network.
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Thompson chairs the Homeland Security Committee. As Trump was on trial in New York City, he introduced legislation to block Secret Service protection for anyone sentenced to prison.
Would-be Trump assassin reportedly had bomb-making materials in vehicle
The man authorities say attempted to assassinate former President Trump had explosives inside his car, found parked near the Pennsylvania rally, and bomb making materials at his home, sources tell Fox News.
There were explosives, including an IED, found inside a car driven by Thomas Matthew Crooks found parked near the scene of the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, sources confirmed to Fox News.
The sources could not say how many explosives or what kind, but emphasized that more than one was found.
In Crooks’ house, law enforcement found bomb-making materials, the sources told Fox News.
WHO WAS THOMAS MATTHEW CROOKS? WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT TRUMP’S ATTEMPTED ASSASSIN
The sources could not immediately say whether the materials found at the home rose to the level of explosive devices, as well, at this stage of the investigation.
The Wall Street Journal first reported, citing people briefed on the investigation, that law enforcement discovered the car, driven by Crooks, parked near the rally.
The Journal said authorities dispatched bomb technicians after police received multiple reports of suspicious packages near where the shooter was located.
The newspaper’s sources added that investigators remained at the scene well into the night to make sure it was clear and also conducted a search of Crooks’ home and spoke with his family.
Law enforcement officials told the Associated Press that bomb-making materials were found inside Crooks’ vehicle and bomb-making materials were also found at his home. The two officials were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Investigators believe the firearm Crooks used had been purchased by Crooks’ father at least six months ago, two law enforcement officials told the AP. Federal agents were still working to understand when and how his son obtained the gun, and to gather additional information about Crooks, according to the officials.
The FBI early Sunday identified Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, “as the subject involved in the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump on July 13, in Butler, Pennsylvania.”
The bureau said the investigation remains active and ongoing and encourages anyone with information to submit photos or videos online at fbi.gov/butler or call 1-800-CALL-FBI.
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Crooks reportedly shot at Trump from a rooftop perch some 130 yards away during a rally in the small town, striking the upper part of Trump’s right ear while the former president was speaking to rallygoers. It happened ahead of the Republican National Convention, which is scheduled to kick off on Monday in Milwaukee.
An FBI official said investigators had not yet determined a motive.
Secret Service agents fatally shot Crooks. The gunman attacked from an elevated position outside the rally venue at a farm show in Butler, the agency said.
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One attendee was killed, and two spectators were critically wounded, authorities said. All were identified as men. Family members later identified Corey Comperatore as the rally goer who was killed Saturday. He reportedly was a former fire chief for Buffalo Township, and died while shielding his wife and daughters from the gunfire.
Trump rally victim is a former fire chief who shielded wife and daughters from bullets
Family members identified Corey Comperatore as the rally goer who was killed Saturday in an assassination attempt on former President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Comperatore, 50, was a former fire chief for Buffalo Township, a volunteer fire service, local news station WPXI reported. He was shot and killed when Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on Trump from a sniper’s perch some 130 yards away during the campaign event.
Two others were critically injured in the shooting, authorities said, while former president Trump’s ear was grazed in the deadly attack.
The victim’s sister, Dawn Comperatore Schafer, wrote in a Facebook post that Corey “was a hero that shielded his daughters.”
SUSPECTED TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT SHINES LIGHT ON RALLY SECURITY
“His wife and girls just lived through the unthinkable and unimaginable,” Dawn Comperatore Schafer wrote.
“My baby brother just turned 50 and had so much life left to experience. Hatred has no limits and love has no bounds. Pray for my sister-in-law, nieces, my mother, sister, me and his nieces and nephews as this feels like a terrible nightmare but we know it is our painful reality.”
The post was accompanied by a photograph of Corey celebrating his 50th birthday.
According to witnesses at the rally, one victim was shot in the head, now assumed to be Comperatore. An emergency room doctor at the rally revealed how he performed CPR on a member of the crowd, per reports.
Another family member, Allyson Comperatore, believed to be the victim’s daughter, also took to Facebook to share her loss and paid an emotional tribute.
“Yesterday time stopped. And when it started again, my family and I started living a real-life nightmare,” Allyson wrote. “He was the best dad a girl could ask for.”
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She posted several photos of him, including images of Comperatore fishing and with a birthday cake.
“The media will not tell you that he died a real-life super hero. They are not going to tell you how quickly he threw my mom and I to the ground. They are not going to tell you that he shielded my body from the bullet that came at us.”
“He loved his family. He truly loved us enough to take a bullet for us.”
A GoFundMe set up for his family has already raised nearly $80,000.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said on Sunday he spoke with the wife of Corey Comperatore, and noted he was a man of faith.
“We lost a fellow Pennsylvanian last night,” Shapiro said at a news conference. “Corey Comperatore was a girl dad. Corey was a firefighter. Corey went to church every Sunday. Corey loved his community, and most especially Corey loves his family. Corey was an avid supporter of the former president and was so excited to be there last night with him in the community.”
“I asked Corey’s wife if it would be okay for me to share that we spoke. She said yes. She also asked that I share with all of you that Corey died a hero, that Corey dove on his family to protect them,” the governor said.
“Last night at this rally, Corey was the very best of us. May his memory be a blessing.”
Shapiro concluded his remarks by noting that political disagreements “can never, ever be addressed through violence.”
“Disagreements are okay, but we need to use a peaceful political process to settle those differences,” he said.
Matt Achilles, who lived near Comperatore for four years, described Comperatore as a good neighbor and a dedicated public servant to the Tribune-Review.
“He was a good person,” Achilles said Sunday morning. “We might not have agreed on the same political views, but that didn’t stop him from being a good friend and neighbor.”
“He donated money to us when I was in the hospital and he would always come by at our yard sales. He always waved hello when I drove past his house.”
Crooks, 20, was from Bethel Park, which is a Pittsburgh suburb about an hour south from where the assassination attempt took place.
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A search by Fox News Digital revealed that Crooks would have turned 21 years old this September. He had no reported criminal or traffic citations and no reported bankruptcies, liens or foreclosures.
The FBI is investigating the shooting as an assassination attempt.
Special Ops veteran reveals Trump’s split-second decision that likely saved his life
A split-second decision could have saved former President Trump’s life during the shocking assassination attempt at his outdoor campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, according to Israeli Special Operations veteran Aaron Cohen.
Hours after the incident, Cohen told Fox News’ Trace Gallagher that, if the former president had not turned his head when the shot was fired, he would not have survived.
“God must have been watching down on the president,” he said.
“Snipers are typically trained to shoot into the cerebral cortex of the cerebellum at the top of the brain stem. It incapacitates you, it keeps your hands from moving… It’s about the distance of the shot. One hundred-thirty yards. That’s a putt. Anyone can put a two, two, three, optic on a target from that distance and hit it. It’s not a difficult shot to make…”
TRUMP SAYS HE WAS ‘SHOT WITH A BULLET’ IN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AT PENNSYLVANIA RALLY
He continued, “It’s very clear to me that had the president’s head been straight, and if that round had gone into the ear, it would have been lights out. The fact that he just happened to be turned this way with that shot coming in is what saved his life.”
Some estimate the shot that grazed the former president’s ear came within mere centimeters of being fatal.
Cohen went on to briefly mention security “failures” surrounding the incident, but he was reluctant to delve deeper into criticizing the Secret Service for somehow allowing the would-be assassin with an AR-style rifle to get close enough to injure Trump.
Some former FBI and Secret Service agents are dumbfounded by the security breakdown, however, with some alleging the shoddy effort to get Trump out of the danger zone could have created a far more disastrous outcome if multiple threats had been present.
“Having worked with the Secret Service before, as I was watching this unfold, I could not believe how long this played out before they got him off of that stage into the car, and then it took that vehicle that long to depart that area. It was a lifetime from a protection standpoint,” former FBI Special Agent Jonathan Gilliam said during a special Sunday broadcast of “Fox & Friends First.”
ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON TRUMP AT PENNSYLVANIA RALLY LEAVES 2 HURT, 2 DEAD, INCLUDING SHOOTER
“A lot of people on the news… didn’t want to be critical of the Secret Service but, as I watch this again… I’m astounded at the way things played out because it appeared as though it was being that the defense of Trump and the movements off were being made up as they went along, and that is not the way this elite service should be prepared for this and carrying out these tactics and this type of situation.”
Former Assistant FBI Director Chris Swecker, who also appeared on the channel early Sunday, sounded off on the Secret Service’s response to the assassination attempt.
“It was almost a kill shot as it was,” he told Carley Shimkus and Todd Piro.
“If there had been a second shooter, there would have been plenty of opportunity to take him out again, so this breaks every rule of the Secret Service protocol and just general executive protection in general.”
Swecker criticized security at Saturday’s event as a “breakdown from start to finish.”
SUSPECTED TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT SHINES LIGHT ON RALLY SECURITY
“The primary mission of the Secret Service is to prevent this type of action and then react as swiftly as they can to get him out of the danger zone. Neither happened here, so I don’t want to issue harsh judgments, but it was definitely a security breakdown,” he added.
Retired Secret Service Agent Jeff James was also stunned by the way everything unfolded.
He joined “Fox & Friends Weekend” on the heels of the other guests when he noted that outdoor rallies complicate security and said he would have liked to see some things done differently.
“Once they got to him, they should have grabbed him and [exited the stage]. He wanted to wait for his shoes. That’s great, but no, we’re going. If I had one criticism, that would be it. I would have liked to see him off the stage and into the armored vehicles more quickly. Once you get in those armored vehicles, and you’re locked down, you’re pretty safe, and you can get moving at a pretty high rate of speed quickly if you had to,” he said.
Authorities have identified the suspected gunman as 20-year-old Pennsylvania native Thomas Matthew Crooks, who lived approximately an hour away from the rally site in Bethel Park, according to Reuters.
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FLASHBACK: Dem said it was ‘necessary’ to strip Trump of Secret Service detail
House Democrats have introduced a bill that would strip Secret Service protection from convicted felons sentenced to prison, a move directly targeting former President Trump who is currently on criminal trial in New York City for alleged hush money payments made during the 2016 election campaign and faces several other cases which could land him behind bars.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the former chair of the now disbanded Jan. 6 congressional committee, introduced legislation that would automatically nix Secret Service protection for those who have been convicted of a federal or state felony that carries a minimum one-year prison term.
The proposed bill is provocatively called the “Denying Infinite Security and Government Resources Allocated toward Convicted and Extremely Dishonorable (DISGRACED) Former Protectees Act.
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“Unfortunately, current law doesn’t anticipate how Secret Service protection would impact the felony prison sentence of a protected – even a former President,” Thompson said in a statement.
“It is regrettable that it has come to this, but this previously unthought-of scenario could become our reality.”
A so-called “fact sheet” accompanying Thompson’s statement notes that Trump is facing an “unprecedented 91 felony charges in federal and state courts” which have “created a new exigency that Congress must address to ensure Secret Service protection does not interfere with the criminal judicial process and the administration of justice.”
The one-page document also states that the bill would apply to former President Trump should he be convicted of a felony, as well as to all Secret Service protectees convicted and sentenced under felony charges.
It notes that current law does not contemplate how Secret Service security would be administered to a protectee serving jail time and it therefore may pose logistical difficulties for both the Secret Service and prison authorities.
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The proposed bill, Thompson says, would avoid such complications with incarcerating former President Trump should he be ordered to serve jail time.
“Therefore, it is necessary for us to be prepared and update the law so the American people can be assured that protective status does not translate into special treatment – and that those who are sentenced to prison will indeed serve the time required of them,” Thompson said.
It would also address suggestions that any potential conviction of Trump would likely result in some form of home confinement rather than prison time, given his Secret Service protection.
“This bill would remove the potential for conflicting lines of authority within prisons and allow judges to weigh the sentencing of individuals without having to factor in the logistical concerns of convicts with Secret Service protection,” the document states.
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Secret Service protection is afforded to current presidents and their family members as well as former presidents and other high level officials. Protection was expanded to major party presidential nominees following the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, although his son has not been provided with Secret Service protection for his 2024 independent run.
As well as the hush money trial, Trump is charged in Georgia with trying to overturn the 2020 election in a racketeering case. He also has upcoming trials in Florida over his alleged hoarding of classified White House documents and in Washington, D.C., where he is accused of conspiring to overturn the results of his election loss.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Melania Trump gives statement after family’s life was on the ‘brink of devastating change’
Former first lady Melania Trump has released a statement following the assassination attempt on her husband, former President Trump, at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, blasting the shooter as a “monster” and calling for the country to “reunite.”
She said the gunman was “a monster who recognized my husband as an inhuman political machine” who attempted to “ring out Donald’s passion — his laughter, ingenuity, love of music, and inspiration.”
She said she looked on in horror as the shooter, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, allegedly tried to take out her husband during the event.
“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,” Trump wrote, adding that her husband is a generous and caring man.
SHOOTING AT TRUMP RALLY BEING INVESTIGATED AS ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
She paid tribute to Secret Service agents and law enforcement officials who “risked their own lives” to protect her husband, and honored the victims, including one person who was fatally struck.
“To the families of the innocent victims who are now suffering from this heinous act, I humbly offer my sincerest sympathy. Your need to summon your inner strength for such a terrible reason saddens me.”
BIDEN SPOKE WITH TRUMP FOLLOWING SHOOTING AT PENNSYLVANIA RALLY
The former first lady has stayed off the campaign trail so far this year but is expected to attend the Republican National Convention this week. Barron Trump appeared at his father’s rally in Doral, Florida, on Tuesday, where he stood for a sustained applause amid praise from his father.
Melania said in her statement that America is a unique nation and that courage and common sense must ascend and “bring us back together as one.”
“I am thinking of you, now, my fellow Americans,” she wrote.
“Dawn is here again. Let us reunite. Now.”
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She went on to say that the nation must “ascend above the hate, the vitriol, and the simple-minded ideas that ignite violence.”
“We all want a world where respect is paramount, family is first, and love transcends.”
“We can realize this world again. Each of us must demand to get it back. We must insist that respect fills the cornerstone of our relationships, again.”
“The winds of change have arrived. For those of you who cry in support, I thank you. I commend those of you who have reached out beyond the political divide – thank you for remembering that every single politician is a man or a woman with a loving family.”
A look at the history of assassination attempts on American presidents
The president of the United States is a powerful, high-profile target with enemies across a dangerous world.
The attempts to kill presidents have come not only at the point of a gun, but from poisoned packages, mail bombs, roadside explosives — even suicide attacks from the air.
Four of the 45 men to serve in the role of chief executive were assassinated in office.
FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP SURVIVES ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, FBI IDS SHOOTER AS THOMAS MATTHEW CROOKS
There have been dozens of other known attempts to take the life of an American president – a position widely recognized since World War II as the leader of the free world.
In the wake of the shocking events of Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, here is a look at 14 of the most bizarre attempts to assassinate our presidents – as well as the four times American presidents were murdered in office. The information is from the Library of Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as a variety of news and historical sources.
Assassination attempts on US presidents
2024: Donald Trump
A rooftop gunman fired several rounds at the former president during an event shown live on national television as Trump stumped on the campaign trail on Saturday, July 13, 2024.
One of the rounds grazed his ear, just inches from what could have been a fatal shot to the head. The rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, was part of Trump’s ongoing bid to regain the White House.
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The suspected gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot dead, reportedly by Secret Service snipers. Investigations are ongoing.
2016: Donald Trump
Michael Steven Sandford, a British citizen who had overstayed his tourist visa, attempted to seize the firearm of a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer at a June 18 Trump campaign rally. The man had taken shooting lessons at a gun range the day before.
Sandford was sentenced to 12 months and 1 day in prison after pleading guilty to several charges. Among those charges: illegal alien in possession of a firearm.
2013: Barack Obama
James Everett Dutschke sent letters he’d dusted with poison Ricin to then-President Obama “in what prosecutors have said was an elaborate plot to frame a rival,” according to a Politico report.
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Dutschke also sent poisoned letters to Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, and Mississippi judge Sadie Holland.
The letters to Obama and Wicker were intercepted before delivery; the letter to Holland was delivered, but the judge was unharmed.
2011: Barack Obama
Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez opened fire on the White House, claiming that Obama was “the devil” and the “anti-Christ,” according to federal authorities.
Ortega-Hernandez drove 1,800 miles from Idaho to Washington D.C., before opening fire from the passenger window of his Honda with a Romanian-made semiautomatic rifle with telescopic sight.
2006: George W. Bush
Vladimir Arutyunian interrupted a political rally in Tbilisi, Georgia, to throw a grenade toward then-President George W. Bush and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
The grenade, wrapped in cloth, landed 100 feet from the world leaders and apparently malfunctioned.
Arutyunian later said he would try to kill the president again and was sentenced to life in prison.
1996: Bill Clinton
Air Force One, carrying then-President Bill Clinton along with then-first lady Hillary Clinton, was just about to land in the Philippines when Secret Service agents discovered an explosive device on the planned motorcade route through Manila.
The agents quickly changed the route of the presidential procession, saving the president and first lady from a suspected al-Qaeda assassination attempt.
1994: Bill Clinton
Frank Eugene Corder stole a Cessna 150L single-engine prop plane on the night of Sept. 11, 1994, and the next day attempted to crash it into the White House to kill the president. Corder was killed instead when he crashed into South Lawn.
There were no other casualties. Officials said severe intoxication caused him to miss his White House target.
1981: Ronald Reagan
John Hinckley Jr. fired his .22 caliber revolver with “devastator” bullets at then-President Ronald Reagan and his security team outside the Washington Hilton Hotel on March 30, 1981, in Washington, D.C., as part of a disturbed effort to win the attention of actress Jodie Foster.
Reagan, then 70, was wounded when one of the bullets ricocheted off the limousine, striking him under the left armpit, according to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum.
Reagan underwent emergency surgery at George Washington University Hospital to remove a bullet from his chest.
Metropolitan Police Department officer Thomas Delahanty and Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy were also wounded. White House press secretary James Brady was shot in the head and severely disabled. After 12 days in the hospital, Reagan was able to return to the White House.
1975: Gerald Ford
Would-be assassin Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme aimed a .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol at the president on Sept. 5, 1975, as he greeted a crowd of people outside a Sacramento, California, hotel.
Secret Service agent Larry Buendorf quickly jammed his hand in front of the cocked hammer of the gun, preventing Fromme from firing at Ford.
The incident gained further bizarre notoriety when it was revealed that Fromme was a member of the infamous Charles Manson family.
1974: Richard Nixon
In Feb. 1974, Samuel Joseph Byck shot and killed a cop and the co-pilot as he attempted to hijack Delta Airlines Flight 523 on the ground at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.
It was part of a suspected plot to kill then-President Richard Nixon by crashing the DC-9 passenger jet into the White House.
Byck carried an incendiary device on the plane — and shot and wounded the pilot.
1947: Harry Truman
The Stern Gang, a Zionist militia in the pre-Israel Middle East, mailed several explosive devices to the White House in an attempt to kill then-President Harry Truman.
Mailroom staff discovered the explosives, which Secret Service bomb experts defused.
1912: Theodore Roosevelt
The rugged leader of the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War proved his mettle again during a campaign stop in Milwaukee while running for a third term as president.
Roosevelt was shot in the chest but went to the hospital only after delivering an 84-minute speech with a round from a .38 revolver lodged in the cavity of his chest.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, OCTOBER 14, 1912, TEDDY ROOSEVELT SHOT IN CHEST, MAKES CAMPAIGN STOP MINUTES LATER
Blood seeped from Roosevelt’s body and soaked his white shirt with a large crimson stain as he spoke.
1864: Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln was riding horseback in August from the White House to a retreat cottage three miles away when “a would-be assassin fired from near the road, shooting the stovepipe [hat] off Lincoln’s head,” according to Smithsonian Magazine.
Soldiers later found the hat on the road with a bullet hole through the crown.
1835: Andrew Jackson
Old Hickory had a near-death experience when gunman Richard Lawrence pulled a gun on the president in the Capitol Rotunda in Jan. 1835.
Lawrence aimed a derringer single-shot pistol Jackson’s heart from inches away and pulled the trigger. The cap exploded, noise and smoke filled the air, according to an official Senate.gov account — but the powder failed to ignite.
The assassinations of 4 US presidents
1963: John F. Kennedy
The president was shot dead in Dallas, Texas, on Nov. 22, 1963, an event that continues to haunt the nation. In the eyes of millions of Americans, the crime remains unsolved.
The lone suspect, Lee Harvey Oswald, was shot dead himself on live television two days later. His death helped fuel the 60 years of questions, controversy and conspiracy theories that followed.
1901: William McKinley
Leon Czolgosz shot the president twice in the stomach from point-blank range in Buffalo, New York, on Sept. 6, 1901. He died of the wounds eight days later.
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“Chief executive victim of most cowardly anarchist,” the San Francisco Call proclaimed in a boldfaced front-page headline. Witnesses beat Czolgosz nearly to death. He was convicted and executed just a month later.
Congress directed the Secret Service to protect the president following McKinley’s assassination.
1881: James Garfield
President Garfield was planning to board a train in Washington D.C. on July 2, less than four months after taking office, when he was shot twice by disgruntled campaign supporter Charles Guiteau.
The writer and lawyer said he was angered after being passed over for the post of ambassador to France.
Garfield suffered in pain for 79 days before succumbing to his wounds. Guiteau was found guilty and hanged in 1882.
1865: Abraham Lincoln
John Wilkes Booth, a celebrity stage actor, shot Lincoln in the back of the head from point-blank range on April 14, 1865, as the president watched a play on the balcony of Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.
The assassination came just days after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his forces — effectively ending the Civil War in triumph for Lincoln and Union forces.
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Booth, a “vigorous supporter of the southern cause,” according to Britannica, then became the subject of a frantic manhunt. He was shot dead on April 26, 1865.