WASHINGTON (July 15, 2024) -- Former President Donald Trump escaped an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. A gunman, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired multiple shots, one skimming Trump's ear. Trump was swiftly protected by Secret Service agents and raised his fist to supporters before being escorted away.
The incident, which resulted in one attendee's death and two injuries, is being investigated as an assassination attempt, marking the first such event involving a U.S. president since 1981.
Faculty experts at the George Washington University are available to provide context, commentary and analysis on this matter. If you would like to speak to an expert, please contact the GW Media Relations Team at [email protected].
Politics
Peter Loge is the director of GW’s School of Media and Public Affairs. He has nearly 30 years of experience in politics and communications, having served as a deputy to the chief of staff for Sen. Edward Kennedy during the 1995 shutdown, a VP at the US Institute of Peace in 2013, and held senior positions for three members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Loge currently leads the Project on Ethics in Political Communication at the School of Media and Public Affairs and continues to advise advocates and organizations.
Casey Burgat is the director of the Legislative Affairs program at the Graduate School of Political Management and host of its Mastering the Room podcast. Prior to joining GSPM, Burgat was a Senior Governance Fellow at the R Street Institute where his research focused on issues of congressional capacity and reform. Burgat co-authored Congress Explained: Representation and Lawmaking in the First Branch, a textbook on all things Congress.
Matt Dallek, a professor at GW’s Graduate School of Political Management, is a political historian with expertise in the intersection of social crises and political transformation, the evolution of the modern conservative movement, and liberalism and its critics. Along with four co-authored books, Dallek is the author of Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right, which explores the history and influence of America’s right-wing activism.
Michael Miller is a professor of political science. His research focus is on democratization and the causes and consequences of autocratic elections. Miller has done some work on the effects of assassinations, but his relevant expertise relates to democratic backsliding and political violence.
Steven Livingston is the founding director of the GW Institute for Data, Democracy, and Politics and a professor of media and public affairs. Livingston's research and teaching focus on media/information technology and political theory. He is particularly interested in the role of information technologies and media on democracy.
Political Extremism
Jon Lewis, research fellow at the GW Program on Extremism, studies domestic violent extremism and homegrown violent extremism, with a specialization in the evolution of white supremacist and anti-government movements in the United States and federal responses to the threat. Lewis is the co-author of two major Program reports on the events of January 6th, as well as numerous long form publications on the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers and their role in the events of January 6th In addition, Lewis manages the Program's Capitol Hill Siege database, which is a public tracker for all federal cases stemming from J6 participation.
Andrew Thompson is an assistant professor of political science at George Washington University. His research studies how racial demographic changes alter political perceptions and democratic commitments. Further, he explores how racial demographic changes motivate stronger support for anti-democratic practices among the American public. His areas of expertise include political violence, American politics, political psychology, public opinion and race and politics.
Mis & Disinformation
Neil Johnson, professor of physics, leads a new initiative in Complexity and Data Science which combines cross-disciplinary fundamental research with data science to attack complex real-world problems. He is an expert on how misinformation and hate speech spreads online and effective mitigation strategies. Johnson also published new research this spring on bad-actor AI online activity in 2024. He is not only tracking the misinformation spreading online in the wake of Saturday’s shooting, but also taking a close look at the online communities across social media platforms.
Ethan Porter is an Associate Professor of Media and Public Affairs and of Political Science at George Washington University. He holds appointments in the School of Media and Public Affairs and the Political Science Department and is the Cluster Lead of the Misinformation/Disinformation Lab at GW's Institute for Data, Democracy and Politics. His research has appeared or is forthcoming in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Politics, British Journal of Political Science, Political Behavior, Political Communication and other journals.
Medical - Trauma
Babak Sarani is the founder and chief of the Center for Trauma and Critical Care at GW Hospital and a professor of surgery and emergency medicine at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
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