An iconic photo of secret service agents pulling Donald Trump to safety has been doctored. In the original, the agents weren’t smiling.
MARY ALEXANDER • 21 July 2024
On the evening of 13 July 2024 former US president Donald Trump was holding a rally in the state of Pennsylvania when a would-be assassin opened fire with a semiautomatic rifle. A bullet clipped Trump’s ear.
He was quickly bundled to the floor and whisked off stage by secret service agents, but not before rising to pump his fist and shout “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
Five days later, Trump formally accepted his nomination as the Republican Party’s candidate in the US presidential election, set for November. He’ll likely be up against current vice president Kamala Harris of the Democratic Party, after president Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
The shooting has polarised conversations on social and other media about US voters’ choices in November. Some analysts say it has improved Trump’s chances. Others point to history: previous attempts to assassinate US presidential candidates have had little impact on the final outcome.
And as with most major news events, false information soon followed.
One is an image of Trump seconds after the shooting, his fist raised and blood on his face with the US flag behind him, being held by secret service agents. But the agents seem to be smiling.
The secret service is a US federal government law enforcement agency. One of its duties is to protect current and past presidents.
The image has been circulating on social media in South Africa and elsewhere with claims that the assassination attempt was staged to boost Trump’s campaign.* These include:
- “Even the Secret Service is laughing at what a big joke it was […]”
- “So if it was really an attempt & not staged why are the secret service guys smiling & why did they allow him to pop his head up.”
- “The Secret Service smiling and hiding in the midst of an assassination attempt??? Yeah, it was staged.”
- “The secret service allows a shooter climb a tree get on a whit roof from 150yards out ya that doesn’t happen , And why are the smiling and laughing ? I don’t buy it ???”
But were the agents really smiling?
‘The thing about photography …’
The image has been altered in a particularly bumbling attempt at disinformation, as the original photo has become globally famous in the days since the shooting. It’s been published in news reports across the world. It’s even available as desktop wallpaper.
In the original, the secret service agents are definitely not smiling.
The photo was shot by Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Evan Vucci of the Associated Press.
In several interviews since the photo was published, Vucci has described the split-second moments when he snapped the pic and several others like it.
“I heard the shots. So I ran to the stage as the Secret Service agents were starting to cover president Trump up. They were coming up on the stage from all different directions, and they were going on top of him. I went to the front side of the stage and I started photographing everything I could,” he told the UK Guardian.
He added: “The thing about photography is two people can see the exact same image and have a completely different reaction.”
* Some Facebook and Instagram users may have deleted their posts after Meta’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Program rated their claims as untrue.
Report published by Africa Check on 13 August 2024