Former MSNBC host Joy Reid has reignited conspiracy theories about the July 13, 2024 assassination attempt against President Donald Trump during his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Reid, whose show “The ReidOut” was recently canceled by the network, appeared on former colleague Katie Phang’s YouTube channel on September 3, 2025, where she questioned the extent of Trump’s injuries and referred to the incident as an “alleged” assassination attempt.
During the interview, Reid suggested that Trump’s medical treatment following the shooting was suspicious. She remarked that Trump had “magical doctors who claimed that he was shot in the ear, but his ear, I guess, grew back.” Reid noted that Trump wore a bandage one day and had no bandage the next, expressing frustration that no medical records from the incident have been made public.
Phang joined in the speculation, questioning the availability of investigative records and making disparaging comments about Trump’s bandage. She asked where the official documentation was and suggested Trump had applied a makeshift bandage to his ear, claiming his ear appeared completely normal the following day.
Reid indicated she faced professional consequences for questioning Trump’s injuries in mainstream media, stating she “got in trouble” for asking about the oddity of never requesting his medical records. She expressed that journalists were “not allowed to even say, ‘Isn’t that weird?'” regarding the lack of documentation surrounding the incident.
The former MSNBC host compared her knowledge of the Trump assassination attempt unfavorably to historical political violence. Reid claimed she knew more about past assassination attempts against former presidents Gerald Ford and William McKinley than about the recent incident involving Trump. She suggested that previous assassination attempts received more immediate and thorough documentation from authorities.
Reid’s comments represent a continuation of conspiracy theories she first promoted in the immediate aftermath of the Butler shooting. On July 18, 2024, just days after the incident, Reid posted multiple questions on social media platform Threads, asking for medical reports and questioning whether Trump was struck by a bullet, glass, or shrapnel. She also questioned why Trump was permitted to stand and pose for photographs for nearly ten seconds while requesting his shoe, suggesting there could have been additional shooters present.
The assassination attempt occurred when 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire from an unprotected rooftop approximately 157 yards from the stage where Trump was speaking. The gunman struck Trump’s ear, killed volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore who was shielding his family, and seriously injured two other rally attendees. Secret Service snipers eliminated Crooks moments after he began firing.
Trump’s former White House physician, Ronny Jackson, released a medical memo weeks after the shooting detailing Trump’s injuries. Jackson’s documentation described significant bleeding from a wound approximately two centimeters wide that resulted in marked swelling of Trump’s entire upper ear. The physician noted that the wound was healing at the time of his assessment.
The incident prompted extensive criticism of Secret Service security protocols and led to the resignation of then-director Kimberly Cheatle on July 23, 2024. A bipartisan House task force released a comprehensive report in December 2024 concluding that the events in Butler were “preventable and should not have happened.” The report identified various security failures that created an environment exposing Trump and all attendees to grave danger, though it found no singular decision was responsible for the security breach.
Reid’s recent appearance on Phang’s YouTube channel comes after MSNBC canceled “The ReidOut” in February 2025. The network terminated Reid’s primetime show as part of broader programming changes, with staff members learning of the cancellation through media reports rather than direct communication from network executives. Reid had been among MSNBC’s most prominent hosts and vocal critics of Trump throughout his political career.
The conspiracy theories promoted by Reid and Phang have drawn criticism from conservative commentators and Trump supporters. Fox News host Greg Gutfeld described Reid’s ideas as “bizarre” during a September 4, 2025 broadcast discussing her latest comments about the assassination attempt. Trump himself responded to news of Reid’s show cancellation by calling her a “mentally obnoxious racist” and suggesting she should have been “canned” much earlier.
Reid’s questioning of the assassination attempt details reflects broader skepticism she has expressed about Trump-related incidents throughout her media career. In July 2024, during MSNBC’s Republican National Convention coverage, she compared Trump’s survival of the assassination attempt to President Joe Biden’s recovery from COVID-19, suggesting both represented attempts to project strength despite the politicians’ advanced ages. She also described Trump’s photo opportunity after the shooting as occurring during an “active shooter situation.”
