Written by Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An adviser to a major Democratic donor apologized on Sunday for suggesting that the shooting of former Republican President Donald Trump may have been staged.
Dmitri Melhorn, a Democratic strategist, is an adviser to billionaire Reid Hoffman, co-founder of social media platform LinkedIn, and a major donor to mostly Democratic candidates.
Why is this important?
Top leaders in both parties, including Republican Trump and Democratic President Joe Biden, have appealed to the deeply divided country to come together and remain calm after the shooting of the former president.
Trump, who is running against Biden for president, was shot Saturday at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. He has since said he is fine, but the shooting left his face bloodied after his right ear was struck. One rally attendee was killed in the shooting, two others were wounded and the suspect died. The FBI said it is investigating the shooting as an assassination attempt.
The shooting sparked a wave of unfounded conspiracy theories online, with some suggesting it was the work of a shadowy anti-Trump “deep state” and others suggesting it may have been staged to drum up sympathy.
Key Quotes
“There is a possibility that this ‘shooting’ was encouraged and perhaps staged so that Trump could get the photos and benefit from the backlash,” Melhorn said in an email to some journalists and sympathetic supporters, Semaphore reported.
Mehlhorn apologized on Sunday.
“Last night, I sent an email that I now regret,” Melhorn said. “I drafted and sent it without consulting my team. I apologized directly to them. I also want to publicly apologize, without reservation, for allowing my words to distract from last night’s central truth: political violence took the life of another innocent American.”
“We must unite in condemning such violence in all circumstances, without reservation. Any other topic is just a distraction.”