It was one year ago Sunday that there was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump near Butler, Pa.
Trump at the time was the former president of the United States and the Republican presidential nominee. He was speaking at an outdoor rally when his right ear was apparently grazed by a bullet, and he temporarily ducked to the ground. The Secret Service quickly helped him to his feet, and once back upright, he pumped his fist to the crowd before being rushed to a car.
It’s possible the moment had a profound effect on the election. We don’t have any way to measure how the moment changed the course of history, the country or the world that day. What we do know, though, is that things did, indeed, change.
It’s also hard to quantify what actually happened. The details are sparse.
Here’s what we do know: The would-be assassin, a 20-year-old man, was shot and killed at the scene by a Secret Service agent. This week, following an investigation, the Secret Service suspended six agents for various lengths up to six weeks.
What we don’t know, however, are the shooter’s motivations or how the day’s events unfolded.
Matt Quinn, Secret Service deputy director, told CBS News, “We are laser-focused on fixing the root cause of the problem.
Quinn added, “We aren't going to fire our way out of this. We're going to focus on the root cause and fix the deficiencies that put us in that situation. The Secret Service is totally accountable for Butler. Butler was an operational failure and we are focused today on ensuring that it never happens again.”
And the media continues to pursue the story.
Last month, The New York Times’ Steve Eder and Tawnell D. Hobbs produced this interesting piece: “The Quiet Unraveling of the Man Who Almost Killed Trump.” It’s a penetrating look at the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks.
There’s more.
On Sunday, NewsNation will air a special, “The Plot to Kill Trump: One Year Later” at 9 p.m. Eastern. Hosted by senior national correspondent Brian Entin, the one-hour show will feature a live discussion with a Congressional Task Force Member and an interview with an eyewitness. The segment will cover the news of the Secret Service suspensions, too.
Meanwhile, Pittsburgh’s CBS affiliate, KDKA, is launching a new documentary series called “KDKA Originals.” The first of the series entitled “In the Crosshairs: The Attempted Assassination of Donald Trump,” aired Thursday night.It is being streamed on CBS News Pittsburgh. It’s worth noting Butler is just outside Pittsburgh.
By the way, I want to pause right here to applaud local stations like KDKA for still making a commitment to produce deep-dive news stories like this. Julie Eisenman, president and general manager of KDKA, said in a statement, “KDKA Originals represents a strategic expansion of the station's content offerings, allowing for deeper exploration of complex stories that extend beyond the constraints of traditional newscasts. We will provide nuance and detail to certain stories that simply can't be told in a few minutes.”
KDKA was on the scene covering Trump’s speech last July. Shawn Hoder, vice president of news at KDKA, said in that statement, “Our team witnessed and documented one of the most unforgettable events in recent U.S. history. This documentary provides a comprehensive, firsthand narrative of how the day unfolded — what our journalists saw, how they responded, and what happened in the critical moments after the shots were fired.”
It should not be forgotten that while Trump’s ear was grazed by a bullet, one man was killed and two others were badly injured in the shooting. Corey Comperatore, a local firefighter, was shot and killed, presumably by Crooks.
Sol McCormick, a reporter at the local paper, the Butler Eagle, profiled Comperatore’s family in “Corey Comperatore’s family tells of their year of grief.”
Comperatore’s eldest daughter, Kaylee Comperatore, told McCormick, “Everything I knew for the 24 years of my life got taken away in an instant. It’s been very hard trying to pick up the pieces and accept that my life will never be normal again.”
Comperatore’s widow, Helen, told McCormick, “I had to learn how to live without my best friend. We haven’t been apart in 34 years; (the future’s) a long time to go without your mate. I had to try to figure out how to be a single parent.”
The two men injured in the shooting were David Dutch and Jim Copenhaver.
Dutch, 58, told KDKA, “It felt like somebody punched me right in the gut.”
Copenhaver, 75, was shot once in his triceps and once in his midsection. He walks now with a cane, as one of the bullets is lodged near his spine. He told KDKA, “I was standing up looking at the Jumbotron behind me, and next thing I know my sleeve has been yanked. I could see a portion of it going by pretty fast, and I heard 'pew.' I heard it, and I didn't realize at the time that I had gotten shot. But I turned around, and that's when I got the second shot. So, the second shot didn't hit bone. Mine went into all soft material. It was like a jolt. I didn't knock me over, but I didn't want to stand anymore.”
Again, strong work by KDKA to tell the story of what happened that day from a national and local perspective.
