DISINFO: Trump shot because he wants talks with Putin on Ukraine
SUMMARY
President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated because he abolished slavery. President John Kennedy was assassinated because he resolved the Cuban Missile Crisis. Presidential candidate Donald Trump was shot almost immediately after he announced that he intends to end the conflict in Ukraine and wants to do so by holding talks with Putin.
RESPONSE
Conspiracy theory trying to relate two unrelated events without any evidence. This claim was made in the context of an assassination attempt on US presidential candidate Donald Trump on 14 July 2024.
It is true that Donald Trump has repeatedly said that he will end the Ukraine war in 24 hours after he becomes president. The manipulative part of the disinformation message is in hinting that Trump was shot because he had said he wanted talks with Putin on Ukraine. This claim is baseless. Trump’s image as an enemy of Ukraine, shown in some pro-Kremlin outlets, is incorrect because it was during his presidency that Ukraine received Javelin anti-tank missiles and other military equipment.
Any relation between the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, and Ukraine is ungrounded and unsubstantiated. The FBI said it believes that Crooks acted alone and was not involved in a larger plot.
Moreover, there is no similarity between the assassination of Lincoln and Kennedy and the assassination attempt on Trump.
Russia launched an unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The EU, the US and NATO condemn in the strongest possible terms this act of aggression.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that The Hill: No matter whoever wins the US election, Ukraine will have to capitulate, that Kyiv is cannon fodder for US interests, that The West is tired and Ukraine is being prepared for defeat.