GOP congressional candidate pushes two-shooter Trump assassination attempt conspiracy

A Republican running for New Jersey’s 5th Congressional District seat held by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) pushed a conspiracy theory in a fundraising email that there were two shooters at the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

The candidate, Mary Jo Guinchard, also alleged that the Secret Service had let the attack go forward on purpose, the New Jersey Globe reported.

Only one shooter has been identified, Thomas Matthew Crooks, in the FBI’s investigation.

Guinchard also promised to reform the Secret Service’s “apparent DEI mentality” in a continuance of Republican attacks against the agency for its failures during the assassination attempt. Some have targeted the presence of females on Trump’s Secret Service staff as a shortcoming of the unit, noting one was not tall enough to shield the former president from gunfire.

But Guinchard is unlikely to win against Gottheimer. The Cook Political Report rates the Democrat’s seat as “solid Democrat.” New Jersey is largely a blue state and has three GOP members of the House in 12 seats.

Second-shooter theories are not unprecedented in assassination attempts.

“It’s not shocking that people are talking about second shooters,” Joseph Uscinski, a University of Miami political science professor who studies conspiracy theories, told NBC News. “There’s really nothing new under the sun.”

It’s widely known that people theorized about a second shooter participating in former President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. The theory appears to play off that one.

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“I have seen some pretty interesting video on the internet by experts that certainly calls into question what the FBI is telling us about a single shooter,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said on Fox News. “I don’t know, but we can’t trust the FBI and the Secret Service to do an honest and open and transparent investigation. That’s just a very sad fact. So we have got to rely on other sources, independent, to really find out what the truth of the matter was.”

Crooks was shot dead by law enforcement after taking shots at Trump, whose ear was grazed by the would-be assassin’s bullet. No evidence has pointed to there being a second shooter.