A wild conspiracy theory about the woman who acted strangely behind Donald Trump when he was shot has been condemned.
The woman raised suspicions with her bizarrely relaxed behavior after she didn’t bat an eyelid and even picked up her phone last week when shots rang out at a rally in Pennsylvania.
Images of the moment led to much speculation.
Since then, a strange conspiracy theory has emerged alleging that the woman was FBI Assistant Director Janeen DiGuiseppi, and that she directed the sniper who nearly killed Trump.
They also claimed that the woman they identified as DiGuiseppi nodded before gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire.
But both conservatives and liberals have since condemned the theory.
“If you believe the FBI assistant director sat in the front row at a Trump rally to give ‘instructions’ to the shooter, you are an absolute idiot. A real idiot,” a Red State journalist known only as Bonchie wrote on X.
A woman in a black hat who sat behind Donald Trump as he survived an assassination attempt raised suspicions among many, who found her behavior strange
Several X users pointed to a perceived resemblance to FBI Assistant Director Janeen DiGuiseppi as evidence for the false claim
Footage has gone viral showing the unidentified woman — wearing sunglasses, a white shirt and a black hat — pulling out her phone as shots are heard at the protest in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
She did this while everyone – including Trump – bowed to the ground in fear for their lives.
Shayan Sardarizadeh, a misinformation specialist at the BBC, has also called on X, formerly known as Twitter, to debunk the claims.
“A new conspiracy theory, now viewed millions of times, baselessly claims that a female supporter seen behind Trump when he was shot is Assistant Director of the FBI’s Office of Insider Threats Janeen DiGuiseppi, who helped the shooter,” he said. “Those are two different women.”
Others claimed the woman’s calm demeanor was due to the many mass shootings taking place in America.
The attempted assassination of the former president prompted a flurry of claims, some of them outlandish. These claims reflect the terrifying uncertainties surrounding the attack and the heated, polarized political climate in America.
Footage of her pulling out her phone to record led to unfounded speculation that she was an FBI agent who coordinated the shooting
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump gestures as he is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents as he is escorted off the stage
According to PeakMetrics, a cyber company that tracks online stories, Trump was mentioned on social media 17 times more often than average in the hours after the shooting.
Many of those mentions were expressions of sympathy for Trump or calls for unity. But many others made unsubstantiated, fanciful claims.
Many of the more misleading claims attempted to blame Trump or his Democratic opponent, President Joe Biden, for the attack.
Some on the left were quick to call the shooting a “false flag” attack staged by Trump. Some Trump supporters, on the other hand, alleged that the Secret Service had deliberately failed to protect Trump, acting on orders from the White House.
The Secret Service on Sunday pushed back against claims on social media that Trump’s campaign had asked for increased security ahead of Saturday’s rally, prompting a no.
After the shooting that left a bystander dead on Saturday, detectives were searching for clues about what motivated Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, to carry out the shocking attack.
The FBI said it was investigating it as a possible act of domestic terrorism, but the lack of a clear ideological motive in the man shot dead by the Secret Service has led to many conspiracy theories.
The FBI suspects that Crooks, who had bomb-making materials in the car he drove to the meeting, acted alone.
Thomas Matthew Crooks has been identified by the FBI as the shooter in the attempted assassination of Donald Trump
Investigators found no threatening social media comments or ideological views that could explain why he targeted Trump before the Secret Service put the presumptive Republican presidential nominee onstage in blood.
Trump said on social media that the upper part of his right ear was pierced in the shooting, but advisers said he was in “great spirits” ahead of his arrival Sunday in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention.
Two bystanders were seriously injured, while a former fire chief from the area, Corey Comperatore, was killed. The Pennsylvania governor said Comperatore, 50, died a hero by diving on his family to protect them.
DailyMail.com has contacted the FBI for comment.
