Weapons & Guns

Ex-UFC star and former American sniper Tim Kennedy says many people need to answer for the disaster that was the Trump shooting ... and he thinks folks need to lose their jobs.

Tim -- who was once a U.S. Army Special Forces sniper -- tells TMZ he believes the training of those immediately around Trump during the Pennsylvania rally Saturday was most definitely not up to par for protecting him against the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks.

He says the site survey team was supposed to identify any locations that could pose a threat to Trump, which he believes they utterly failed to do ... and now, he thinks key people at the Secret Service and beyond should have to pay for it with their careers.

Thomas Matthew Crooks -- the shooter who tried and failed to take out Donald Trump -- clearly had a raunchy, sophomoric sense of humor ... as seen in new video obtained by TMZ.

In the clip we got from a former pal of Crooks, you can see him joking about being endowed with 10 inches, and also claiming he's a 6'4" student at Stanford. In reality, Crooks was just a 10th grader when this was shot, and we're told he was making funny videos with classmates while they were all in a computer tech class.

His buddy tells us the video was shot in Feb. 2020 at Steel Center Career and Technical Education in Jefferson Hills, PA -- which provides career and technical education to students attending several public school districts in PA. We have reached out to the school to confirm Crooks' enrollment ... but haven't heard back.

The 20-year-old who tried killing Donald Trump is said to have been a black sheep and a loner who would get bullied in school -- and now, we have video showing exactly that.

Thomas Matthew Crooks was filmed on camera a few years ago while he was in high school -- and the footage, which has surfaced online, shows him being hassled in class by another student. TMC is sitting at his desk ... and you can see somebody yanking on his pant leg.

The person who's tugging at his pants seems to be trying to straight up pull him out of his seat -- and although it looks playful in nature ... you can even hear someone off-camera saying "stop" repeatedly.

12:24 PM PT -- DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas just announced that after speaking with President Biden, the Secret Service would be assigning a detail to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ... so Donald Trump's plea worked!

11:59 AM PT -- RFK Jr. just took to X to comment on Trump's remarks saying, "It is a hopeful sign for our country when a political opponent calls for one's protection. Maybe our country can unite after all."

Donald Trump is now echoing what Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been calling for throughout his entire campaign -- saying the presidential candidate needs Secret Service protection ASAP.

Donald Trump said he thought a Vice Presidential running mate is only useful if something bad should happen to POTUS ... this just a few hours before the assassination attempt, and a couple days before he ultimately landed on a name.

The Republican candidate seems to have unintentionally foreshadowed what was about to happen when FOX News' Harris Faulkner pressed him about not having a VP picked yet in an interview that was filmed just before Trump's remarks at the Butler, PA rally.

He told her he didn’t want to belittle the sidekick role -- pointing out people in his orbit were touting the importance of Veep -- but in his POV, VPs are really only needed if something bad were to happen to the actual president ... and he noted this a couple different times.

Jack Black's Tenacious D bandmate Kyle Gass had one wish for his birthday -- and it's being called a disgusting sentiment after someone tried killing Donald Trump.

Gass was performing alongside JB in Sydney, Australia over the weekend -- and when Jack asked him what his birthday wish was onstage ... KG said, "Don’t miss Trump next time" -- a clear reference to Thomas Matthew Crooks firing a shot at DT over the weekend.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Jack wasn't aware Kyle would say this, and that he doesn't condone violence.

Forbes pulled an article suggesting Black voters might relate to Donald Trump and feel more likely to vote for him after the assassination attempt ... probably for good reason.

The piece was titled "Will Surviving Gunfire Be Donald Trump's Next Appeal To Black Voters?" -- and it was written by USC professor and DEI expert Shaun Harper ... who himself is Black, and was more so posing this premise as a hypothetical rather than a statement of fact.

Still ... his argument that Trump may try to use this moment -- which he hasn't yet -- as a way to appeal to Black voters was met with a lot of pushback ... with many calling it racist.

A bullet whizzing just past Donald Trump's head was caught in a photo during Saturday's assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania campaign rally ... and it barely missed him.

NYT photog Doug Mills took an incredible photograph -- showing the bullet hurtling through the air above Trump’s shoulder, dangerously close to him ... and from his POV, it's likely the bullet that nicked him in the ear. However, that's not quite confirmed yet.

Doug told "CBS Mornings" he thought the defining shot of the whole thing was Trump defiantly raising his fist as he was escorted offstage. But when he looked back at his photos, he realized he had a golden nugget -- a pic of the bullet that probably left Trump bloodied.

Jason Aldean sent Donald Trump a shout-out this weekend on the heels of the assassination attempt -- paying tribute with a song ... take a guess on which one.

The country singer was performing in Nashville Saturday -- hours after Thomas Matthew Crooks fired upon the ex-Prez -- and he addressed it to the crowd ... saying he was aware of what happened near Pittsburgh, with the audience roaring in response.

Jason didn't say much else afterward other than to note that DT was a friend of his -- and that the next song was dedicated to him ... and yes, he played "Try That in a Small Town."

Donald Trump is alive today thanks to an immigration chart that was his focus of attention as shots rang out ... so says the 45th President.

Trump made the claim to his former White House physician, Ronny Jackson, during a phone conversation ... hours after 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks shot him in the ear at a Pennsylvania campaign rally Saturday, according to the New York Times.

Jackson, now a Texas congressman, told the NYT Trump believes his life was spared after he turned sideways to refer to immigration statistics from the chart displayed on a screen while onstage in a field in Butler, PA.

Would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks was rejected from a high school rifle club, in part because he was a bad shot.

The 20-year-old, who was taken down by snipers Saturday after wounding former President Trump, killing one person in the crowd and injuring 2 others ... tried to get in the rifle club, according to Frederick Mach, who currently heads the team and spoke with the NY Post.

Another member of the team when Crooks tried out, Jameson Myers, told the Post something was off with him ... something that just didn't sit right. He reportedly had odd interactions with the students and coaches.

50 Cent seems impressed Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt -- something he's personally familiar with ... which he highlighted with a Photoshop job and a song.

The rapper was performing this weekend in Boston -- right on the heels of the assassination attempt -- and he did one of his most famous tracks, 'Many Men,' for the audience ... which featured a custom album cover of his "Get Rich or Die Tryin" project.

Instead of the usual shirtless Fiddy on the front that we've all seen and known -- it was Trump's face that was superimposed over 50's body ... a deliberate move, no doubt.

The Trump rally shooter was laid out on his belly, took aim and fired shots into the crowd before he got met with incoming bullets that killed him ... and TMZ has it all on video.

We've obtained an incredible clip that shows the moment the gunman opened fire at the Butler, PA rally Saturday -- and you can see the guy looking through either a scope or iron sights on a roof ... with people watching down below and freaking out, their panic palpable.

The guy has longer brown hair, and he seems to be wearing a grey shirt/khaki pants -- and as you can see, he's carefully trying pinpoint a target from afar before pulling the trigger.

President Joe Biden's asking Americans not to jump to conclusions about the man who shot Donald Trump ... urging people not to make assumptions about his affiliations.

POTUS addressed reporters Sunday morning ... confirming he did speak with the former president by phone Saturday night following the shooting -- and he's keeping Trump and his family in his prayers.

As for the shooter ... Biden points out the public knows his name, but not his motives -- and, he's cautioning people to avoid speculating on who the shooter may be aligned with politically.

Cody Johnson's got a message for his fans in the aftermath of the attempt on former President Donald Trump's life ... solve your problems with a ballot, not a bullet.

The country singer took the stage at Windy City Smokeout in Chicago Saturday ... just minutes after Trump was shot onstage during his Butler, Pennsylvania rally.

Video circulating on social media shows Johnson delivering his impassioned speech ... saying he thinks it's despicable any American would believe trying to kill a political candidate would solve anything.

1:21 PM PT -- Authorities have released the names of two other people who were shot but are in stable condition ... David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74.

Officials in Pennsylvania have just identified the person killed during the attempt on former President Donald Trump's life.

Governor Josh Shapiro spoke just moments ago in a news conference with reporters ... and, he revealed Corey Comperatore as the attendee who was killed by the sniper who shot Trump.

The governor says Comperatore -- a husband, father-of-two and firefighter -- was shot ... adding Corey's wife told him he was shot protecting members of his family from the gunfire.