{"id":2581041,"date":"2026-03-17T18:38:56","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T22:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-assassination-attempt-theories-are-vulgar-salena-zito\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T18:40:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T22:40:22","slug":"trump-assassination-attempt-theories-are-vulgar-salena-zito","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-assassination-attempt-theories-are-vulgar-salena-zito\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump assassination attempt theories are &#8216;vulgar&#8217;: Salena Zito"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-assassination-attempt-theories-are-vulgar-salena-zito%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2581041&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>An article in the Washington Examiner focuses on Salena Zito\u2019s condemnation of conspiracy theories surrounding Donald Trump\u2019s assassination attempt.She calls the online rumors crude and vulgar, arguing they distort the reality of the July 2024 Butler, Pennsylvania rally, were Corey Comperatore was killed shielding his family and where shell-shock reactions where evident. Zito, who wrote a book about the incident and it&#8217;s political aftermath, says there is no handbook for handling an active shooter and warns that misinformation harms public understanding. The piece also <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >covers related online reactions<\/a> and official pushback, including Hannah Cox deleting a tweet about the case\u2019s \u201coddities\u201d and White House communications refuting staged-theory claims, along with references to other Washington Examiner coverage.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Trump staging assassination attempt theories don&rsquo;t factor &lsquo;shell shock&rsquo;: Salena Zito<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2535186\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><em>Washington Examiner<\/em> columnist <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/author\/salena-zito\/\">Salena Zito<\/a> harshly condemned conspiracy theories surrounding President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4493531\/trump-former-president-praise-iran-strikes\/\">Donald Trump&rsquo;s<\/a> assassination attempt as &ldquo;crude&rdquo; and &ldquo;vulgar&rdquo; on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Several accounts on X recently questioned the validity of <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/columnists\/3469454\/trump-assassination-attempt-butler-one-year-anniversary-few-answers\/\">Trump&rsquo;s first assassination attempt in July 2024<\/a>, including the initial reaction of the rally audience behind the then-presidential candidate. Zito said these rumors are &ldquo;cut and paste&rdquo; by people online, and the speculation within these statements &ldquo;penetrates into the psyche.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/4493955\/legacy-media-reflexively-oppose-anything-good-trump-us-joe-concha\/\">Legacy media will &#8216;reflexively&#8217; oppose anything good for Trump or US: Joe Concha<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/4493279\/jimmy-kimmel-calls-us-ridiculous-country-different-mr-t\/\">Jimmy Kimmel calls US &#8216;ridiculous country&#8217; with &#8216;a different Mr. T&#8217; in charge<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/4493234\/white-house-ufc-event-logistics-fighter-michael-chandler\/\">White House UFC event logistics &#8216;going to be a lot,&#8217; fighter Michael Chandler warns<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>&ldquo;But it is crude, it&rsquo;s vulgar, it&rsquo;s insulting someone&rsquo;s husband, father, and son [who] died that day, right in front of me!&rdquo; Zito said on the <em>Hugh Hewitt Show<\/em>. &ldquo;And I saw two men gravely injured, and those bullets went right over my head. And it&rsquo;s like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/strong-turnout-in-frances-high-stakes-elections-as-support-for-the-far-right-grows-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Strong turnout in France\u2019s high-stakes elections as support for the far right grows - Washington Examiner\">people don&#038;rsquo<\/a>;t understand the shell shock, right? People just stood there because you can&rsquo;t believe it&rsquo;s real.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>    <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4iOMIX3qFMQ?si=M-iOG0FPqnq_XJ7a&amp;start=3917\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>    <\/p>\n<p>Zito added she is unaware there is &ldquo;a handbook&rdquo; on how to behave during an active shooting, and anyone who doesn&rsquo;t follow it is &ldquo;a liar.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief who attended the rally in Butler, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/pennsylvania\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"629\">Pennsylvania<\/a>, was killed while shielding his family from oncoming gunfire. Zito said earlier this month that Trump is still <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/4477971\/trump-still-hit-hard-butler-rally-death-us-conflict-iran-salena-zito\/\">hit &ldquo;very hard&rdquo; by Comperatore&rsquo;s death<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Zito published a book last year, <em>Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America&rsquo;s Heartland<\/em>, recounting her experience witnessing the attempt on Trump&rsquo;s life last year. The book also details the second rally Trump held in Butler, a month before the 2024 presidential election.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents at a campaign rally, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo\/Evan Vucci, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4493893\/trump-iran-war-us-leverage-china-taiwan\/\"><strong>TRUMP&rsquo;S IRAN WAR COULD GIVE US LEVERAGE OVER CHINA AND TAIWAN<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I&rsquo;ve chosen to remove a tweet I made pointing to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bob-menendez-trial-exposes-weird-quirks-held-by-new-jersey-senator\/\" title=\"Bob Menendez trial reveals unusual habits of New Jersey senator\">oddities surrounding<\/a> the circumstances of the attempted Trump assassination.<\/p>\n<p>I think I, like millions of Americans, are deeply unsatisfied with the information we&rsquo;ve received around that event. The investigations were stonewalled,&hellip;<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Hannah Cox (@HannahDCox) <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HannahDCox\/status\/2033666511601057797?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 16, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Political commentator and BASEDPolitics President Hannah Cox said on Monday she deleted her post on X highlighting the &ldquo;oddities&rdquo; of Trump&rsquo;s assassination attempt. She said she took it down &ldquo;because it was made flippantly&rdquo; and didn&rsquo;t &ldquo;fully convey my stance&rdquo; on it.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">As always, Brick Suit is correct. For those of us who were there with POTUS at Butler, anyone saying it was staged truly needs to have their heads checked out because they have no sense of reality. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/OCgczGkYnT\">https:\/\/t.co\/OCgczGkYnT<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/StevenCheung47\/status\/2033533674205937819?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 16, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung also rebutted speculations on Trump&rsquo;s assassination attempt, saying on X that anyone who thinks it was staged &ldquo;truly needs to have their heads checked out.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Zito condemns Trump assassination theories as crude<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2632,"featured_media":2581042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AP25193701977965-e1773774373433.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[76009,73071,76011,3634,76010],"class_list":["post-2581041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-assassination-theories","tag-media-analysis-2","tag-salena-zito-2","tag-trump","tag-vulgar-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AP25193701977965-e1773774373433.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2581041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2632"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2581041"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2581041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2581045,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2581041\/revisions\/2581045"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2581042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2581041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2581041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2581041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}