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Former US President Donald Trump was shot at on July 13, during his campaign rally in Pennsylvania. No major injuries happened to him and he is said to be fine.
In this context, many social media users are sharing an image in which Trump’s bodyguards are seen smiling while whisking him away to safety after the shots were heard.
Many people are sharing the image with a caption claiming that the bodyguards were also smiling about the incident. They also hinted that the attack on Trump was planned.
A social media user shared the image with the caption, “Trump/his associates spew violent rhetoric 24/7.He instantly incorporated this into his sick reality show script Everyone here seems to be having a good time smiling&laughing for the cameras, indifferent to equally vulnerable audience members on stage behind him w/no protection. (sic)”
SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The viral image was edited to add fake smiles.
On doing a Google reverse image search, we found a similar image uploaded by ABP News on July 14, 2024. The image was shared with the caption, “Former US President Donald Trump was rushed off stage after gunshots erupted at a rally in Pennsylvania.”
Business Standard had also published a similar image on July 14, 2024.
On comparing the images shared by the news outlets and the viral image, we found that both images are the same except for the ‘smiling’ security guards.
The video of the shots fired at the rally was also published by NBC News YouTube channel. This also shows the guards not smiling as they take Trump to safety.
Although the news outlets couldn’t determine the source of the image yet, the image of Trump shared by them is the original image that has been edited to make it look like the security guards are smiling.
Hence, we can ascertain that the viral claim is false. In the original image, the Secret Service members were not smiling.
