Google has severely throttled users’ ability to search for the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump less than three weeks after he avoided certain death by less than an inch. In doing so, Google joins what appears to be a trend to suppress information about the attack.
Trump narrowly survived the July 13 assassination attempt during a Butler, Pennsylvania, rally when he cocked his head to the right to look at a graph showing illegal immigration under his administration. A bullet struck his ear. Fifty-year-old Corey Comperatore was fatally shot after shielding his wife and daughter from gunfire, and two additional rallygoers were severely injured.
But Google users might not know that because Google has suppressed autocomplete search attempts.
A cursory search of “assassination attempt on t —” produces two top autocomplete hits: “assassination attempt on Truman” and “assassination attempt on the pope.” A broader search of “assassination attempt on” produces 10 autocomplete hits — none of which relates to Trump’s assassination attempt.
A Google spokesperson told Fox Business that “the autocomplete feature is ‘just a tool to help people save time …’”
“Following this terrible act, people turned to Google to find high quality information — we connected them with helpful results, and will continue to do so,” the spokesperson said, according to Fox Business. Google is reportedly working on improving the system.
But as Federalist CEO and co-founder Sean Davis said in a post on X, the left, which has questioned whether Trump was really shot, is “trying to make sure no one can see the evidence, at which point they’ll go back to claiming it never happened.”
The online outlet Mother Jones questioned whether Trump was “actually hit by a bullet” and said it was “unclear.” Mother Jones’ Mark Follman tacitly admitted the only reason that question was worth posing is because the left is upset that Trump’s survival and strength in the immediate aftermath of the assassination attempt were politically advantageous.
MSNBC’s Michael Steele questioned whether Trump was struck by a bullet or “actually shards of glass from the teleprompter itself.”
Of course none of these questions is surprising given that FBI Director Christopher Wray — who has, according to my colleague Joy Pullman, “refused to provide Congress information about the bureau’s activities during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot” — said during a congressional hearing that “there’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear.”
The FBI later determined Trump was struck by a bullet — though the FBI’s confirmation was not necessary given the ample video and photographic evidence showing just the same.
But such photographic evidence was also the target of the left’s ire, with a photo editor and photographer “from a major news outlet,” as described by Axios, saying the “amount that publications have been using Evan’s photo is kind of free P.R. for Trump in a way, and its [sic] dangerous for media organizations to keep sharing that photo despite how good it is.”
The unidentified source said that “no one was talking about how these photos could impact public perception in the rush to get it out.”
With less than 100 days until Election Day, many on the left are trying to memory-hole Trump’s assassination attempt because they fear it could be politically advantageous to the former president.