Woman behind Trump during assassination attempt misidentified as FBI operative
- Published on July 19, 2024 at 23:07
- 4 min read
- By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
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"BREAKING NEWS: The woman in this video behind Donald Trump, where many viewers accused of 'giving the shooter instructions' has allegedly been identified as FBI assistant director Janeen Diguiseppi," says a July 17 post on X.
The post compares images of DiGuiseppi to blurry footage of a woman wearing sunglasses and a black hat at Trump's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
It comes from a QAnon-promoting social media user who uses the pseudonym "Dom Lucre." The account has previously spread misinformation and was once banned from X for posting child exploitation images.
Similar posts from other conspiratorial accounts rocketed across X and other platforms nearly a week after a gunman opened fire at Trump's campaign event, killing one attendee and critically injuring two others. The Republican presidential nominee said on Truth Social that he was "shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear" (archived here).
"She knew!!" says one X post naming DiGuiseppi, who was promoted in 2023 after previously heading the FBI's field office in Albany, New York.
Another post calls her a "co-conspirator."
The FBI identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania as the gunman in the shooting, which is the subject of several independent reviews (archived here).
Investigators have determined he acted alone, although they have not been able to pinpoint any strong ideological or political leanings.
The woman in the video spreading online is also "not AD DiGuiseppi," the FBI told AFP on July 19.
"The allegations circulating on social media about an FBI executive and the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania are categorically false. To be clear, the person depicted is not her and she did not attend the rally."
The FBI said such falsehoods targeting its personnel are "reprehensible and irresponsible" and that they "often lead to threats against them and their families."
DiGuiseppi was not in Pennsylvania at the time, the agency added, though it did not elaborate on her whereabouts.
AFP could not identify the woman in the video spreading online, whose hat appears to say: "Jesus is my savior Trump is my president."
Unverified posts have labeled her suspicious or accused her of tipping off the shooter because the graphic footage of the attack shows she was filming as Secret Service agents swarmed Trump and rushed him off the stage.
But videos and photos from the rally indicate she and DiGuiseppi have different facial features, including mismatched jawlines and ear shapes (archived here, here, here and here).
The FBI has previously been the target of conspiracy theories falsely blaming the agency for events such as the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
AFP has debunked other misinformation about the Trump rally shooting here.
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