Trump ‘doesn’t mind’ about ‘fake news’ being shot - campaign claims he was ‘looking out for their welfare’

Donald Trump, who has already faced condemnation in recent days for imagining Kamala Harris supporter and staunch critic Liz Cheney being shot at “with nine barrels”, has now turned his attention to journalists, saying an assassin would have to “shoot through the fake news” to harm him and he ‘doesn’t mind that’.

Speaking in Pennsylvania – one of seven ‘swing states’ expected to decide the election – on Sunday, the Republican presidential candidate was talking about the protective glass placed on stage in front of his lectern for his own protection.

“I have this piece of glass here, but all we have really over here is the fake news, right?

“And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news, and I don’t mind that so much,” he said.

Trump has faced two attempts on his life while on the campaign trail – the first being in Butler (also in Pennsylvania) on 13 July, when a split-second action by the former president saved his life and saw a bullet graze his right ear.

The suspected gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was shot dead by Secret Service agents, while one rally attendee was killed and two others were injured.

As officials swarmed the president, Trump was pictured raising a fist to the crowd, calling on them to “fight”, in images which soon went viral on social media.

A second assassination attempt came on 15 September, when a Secret Service agent spotted the barrel of an assault rifle poking out through the bushes near Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course and opened fire, prompting alleged gunman Ryan Routh to flee.

The 58-year-old was later arrested and has since been charged with attempting to assassinate the former president.

Trump’s latest talk of violence on the campaign trail has sparked fresh outrage on social media:

The Republican’s presidential campaign has since responded to this with a statement from communications director Steven Cheung, who claimed Trump was “actually looking out for their welfare, far more than his own”.

Yes, he actually said that.

His statement reads: “President Trump was brilliantly talking about the two assassination attempts on his own life, including one that came within 1/4 of an inch from killing him, something that the Media constantly talks and jokes about.

“The President’s statement about protective glass placement has nothing to do with the Media being harmed, or anything else. It was about threats against him that were spurred on by dangerous rhetoric from Democrats.

“In fact, President Trump was stating that the Media was in danger, in that they were protecting him and, therefore, were in great danger themselves, and should have had a glass protective shield, also. There can be no other interpretation of what was said.”

As mentioned above, Trump’s latest comments come just days after he fantasised about Cheney – the ex-Wyoming representative who served as the vice chair of the committee investigating the January 6 insurrection – being shot at during a conversation with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in Arizona.

Those remarks are now under investigation by the state’s attorney general, Democrat Kris Mayes, who told local news outlet 12News: “I have already asked my criminal division chief to start looking at that statement, analysing it for whether it qualifies as a death threat under Arizona’s laws.

“It’s deeply troubling. It’s the kind of thing that riles people up, and that makes our situation in Arizona and other states more dangerous.”

Cheney herself has branded Trump “unstable” in response to the comments.

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