Social media post misleadingly presents old news as a recent attempt to assassinate Donald Trump

Former President Donald Trump is again running for the nation’s highest office, but there’s no evidence he survived a recent assassination attempt, despite a social media post suggesting otherwise.

The Facebook video, shared July 27, begins with a narrator saying, "This is a breaking news alert," and the caption reads: "Update on Donald Trump ‘assassination attempt’ in Reno." 

In the footage, a man identifying himself as Gary Franchi with the Next News Network said he was providing "an update on the Donald Trump assassination attempt."

"New details have come to light as the dust has settled, revealing a very very tense election cycle," Franchi said. 

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

(Screenshot from Facebook.)

But the video is not "breaking news." It was originally posted Nov. 6, 2016, by the Next News Network, a conservative YouTube channel.

In the video, Franchi says the incident "started with this man," named Austyn Crites. That name and the location mentioned in the caption — Reno, Nevada — helped us identify the incident in question. 

During a Nov. 5, 2016, campaign rally, Trump, then a presidential candidate, was rushed off the stage by the Secret Service. A few minutes later, he returned to the stage and resumed his speech.

It wasn’t immediately clear what happened, but Trump’s campaign and his son Donald Trump Jr. suggested that the candidate had survived an "assassination attempt." The claims continued even after the Secret Service released a statement that did not support the assertion.

Featured Fact-check

Threads posts

stated on October 20, 2024 in a Threads post

Former President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social and addressed claims of his “incontinence,” saying, “I don’t poop myself.”

"Immediately in front of the stage, an unidentified individual shouted ‘gun,’" the Secret Service said in a statement a few hours after the incident. "Upon a thorough search of the subject and the surrounding area, no weapon was found."

In the days afterward, additional details painted a different picture. 

"At one point during the rally, Austyn Crites, a registered Republican who is supporting Hillary Clinton, made his way towards the front of the crowd," read a CNN report. "He then silently held up a sign that read, ‘Republicans against Trump.’ A scuffle broke out as Trump supporters began pummeling him and attempted to rip the sign away." 

In the scuffle, someone shouted "gun!" Secret Service rushed Trump offstage as a result, according to news reports.  

Nevertheless, claims that Trump survived an assassination attempt in Reno persisted.

We rate the claim that there was a recent attempt to assassinate Trump in Reno, Nevada, False.