Ex GOP leader says US hasn’t seen an assassination attempt since the 60s (apparently forgetting the 1981 try on Reagan)

Katie Hawkinson

Former GOP leader Kevin McCarthy incorrectly claimed there had not been an assassination attempt on a president since the 1960s as he spoke at the Republican National Convention.

The former Speaker of the House was discussing the attempted assassination against Donald Trump when as he spoke to reporters at the RNC when he made the blunder.

“We just had an assassination attempt, we haven’t seen something like this on a president since the ‘60s,” McCarthy told reporters at the RNC on Tuesday.

McCarthy – who resigned from Congress in December after he was ousted as speaker – appears to be referring to John F Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963. His brother, Robert F Kennedy, was also killed in 1968 as he was campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination.

However, another president was famously shot nearly twenty years later.

John Hinckley Jr shot President Ronald Reagan in Washington, DC on March 30, 1981. Hinckley also injured three others, including Reagan’s press secretary James Brady who was partially paralyzed.

Kevin McCarthy, pictured, shakes hands with a delegate at the Republican National Convention on Monday. The former speaker falsely claimed there has not been an attempted presidential assassination since the 1960s during a speech on Tuesday (AP)
Kevin McCarthy, pictured, shakes hands with a delegate at the Republican National Convention on Monday. The former speaker falsely claimed there has not been an attempted presidential assassination since the 1960s during a speech on Tuesday (AP)

It appears that McCarthy either forgot about the shooting of the Republican president through much of the 1980s or intentionally left Reagan off. The Independent has reached out to his camp for clarification on the gaffe.

But, that wasn’t the only attempt he forgot.

In 1972, Democratic presidential candidate and Alabama governor George Wallace was also shot during a campaign event in Maryland. Wallace was left permanently paralyzed from the waist down. His attacker, Arthur Bremer, was convicted and held in prison until his release in 2007.

Ronald Reagan, pictured, raises his arm as he was shot in Washington, DC in 1981. (1981 AP)
Ronald Reagan, pictured, raises his arm as he was shot in Washington, DC in 1981. (1981 AP)

President Gerald Ford also faced two assassination attempts in 1975 but was not injured in either incident.

McCarthy’s claim comes on the second full day of the RNC in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Donald Trump was named the official GOP nominee on the first full day of the convention. The former president also named his running mate in Ohio senator JD Vance. Trump is expected to give a speech on Thursday evening, the final day of the convention.

The former president also made a surprise appearance on Monday night, arriving at the convention with a bandaged ear. The crowd met him with a deafening roar and chants of “USA” as he paraded through the venue.

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