CNN halts for Trump assassination statement as son speaks out

CNN was halted for an urgent update on the attempted assassination of US president Donald Trump back in July 2024, when the then-presumptive Republican nominee was shot in the ear while at a rally in Pennsylvania. Anchor Michael Smerconish welcomed Trump's son Eric onto the show to discuss his new book.

Smerconish kicked things off by saying: "Come on, I want to get to the book. Can you see my copy, all marked up with my Sharpie? Can you see that?" before reading aloud, "This is the part of the book that I find so intriguing. Headline - everything hidden will be revealed. You say this, 'A 20-year-old armed with multiple cell phones attempted to kill my father, the father of the greatest political movement in American history, from an unmanned, unprotected rooftop. I remain totally unsatisfied.' What are you telling us?"

Eric replied: "I am totally unsatisfied. I am totally unsatisfied. You had a person with a modern rifle, a scope rifle at 130 yards who shot at the former Commander in Chief of the United States, a guy who is going to be by all accounts at that point, the future Commander in Chief, and then they tried to kill my father eight weeks later at his golf course that I am on every single day. I am totally unsatisfied that we have one photo of that shooter.

"The guy looks like he was 14 years old in the picture. We know nothing about him. I am totally unsatisfied with the result and I think a lot of America is unsatisfied with it and I think we better get to the bottom of it-"

He was cut off by the host, who quizzed him: "Are you telling me there's a conspiracy here, that Eric Trump believes resulted in the assassination attempt?"

Eric then responded: "Listen, I think they did everything they could to take my father off that stage. They tried to bankrupt him, they tried to impeach him, they tried to take him off the ballots, they tried to silence our votes, they leaked our tax returns, they raided his home.

"Yes, do I think they tried to do exactly to my father what they did to Charlie Kirk, where they shot a good friend of mine in the neck and I see my buddy bleeding to death?

"Yes, I think they tried to kill my father because they did not want his voice on that stage, and they do not want my voice or Charlie's voice on that stage. That breaks my heart to say and we better get to the bottom of who this guy was because we know nothing about him."