A CNN panel descended into chaos when a liberal pundit cast doubt on whether President Donald Trump was shot during the July 2024 assassination attempt. Touré stunned his co-panelists with a comment that prompted gasps and immediate demands for an on-air correction during a segment about the president’s health. ‘He supposedly got shot in the ear,’ the podcaster said, referencing the incident in Butler, Pennsylvania last year. ‘We never heard from his doctors about that.’
The remark triggered an explosive exchange as CNN NewsNight anchor Abby Phillip struggled to maintain order. Touré got an instant rebuke from conservative CNN commentator Scott Jennings, who sounded off in disbelief. ‘Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Did you say supposedly?’ Jennings snapped, turning to Phillip looking for her to intervene. ‘Abby, Abby…’ Phillip, who had already been attempting to corral a loud round of crosstalk between guests, tried to bring the panel under control. ‘If y’all stop screaming at the table, maybe I can actually respond,’ she said firmly.
But by then the on-air brawl was in full flow. ‘Supposedly. That’s where we’re at now,’ added conservative radio host Ben Ferguson, shaking his head. ‘Touré, he was shot in the ear.’ As voices clashed across the table, Jennings pushed back: ‘He had blood on his face! Where did it come from?’ he demanded. ‘I went to the Republican National Commission — he had a bandage on his ear.’
But Touré doubled down, challenging the panel and White House for not providing more transparency. ‘But did we hear from the doctors?’ he pressed. ‘Wouldn’t we always hear from his doctors when he gets shot?’ Phillip interjected again, trying to steer the segment back to its original focus on Trump’s visible hand injuries and his doctor’s recent note. ‘This is not really what we’re talking about,’ she said. ‘He is fine. It’s just a function, frankly, of being an older person.’
Phillip eventually cut through the noise. ‘He was shot in the ear,’ she said, firmly. ‘We saw the blood. We saw the bandage.’ Touré’s eyebrow-raising comments came just over a year since 20-year-old Michael Thomas Crooks fired eight shots from a rooftop at Trump during a campaign stop in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing a rally-goer, injuring two others, and grazing Trump’s right ear in what law enforcement later admitted was a catastrophic breakdown in security.
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), a former White House physician, said Trump’s wound came ‘less than a quarter of an inch from entering his head,’ and that it resulted in ‘significant bleeding and marked swelling.’ Photos of the aftermath showed the then-former president’s bloodied face and bandaged ear, images that instantly became symbolic of what his supporters call his political resilience — and what his critics feared would reshape the race.
The Secret Service response, however, was widely condemned, and multiple federal investigations later confirmed there were glaring lapses in planning, communication, and threat assessment. Investigations found that the rooftop from which Crooks fired, just 135 meters from the rally stage, was known to pose a risk. But plans to obstruct the view with farm equipment were never executed, and no agents were posted to the vantage point. Worse still, local law enforcement and Secret Service personnel were operating from two separate command posts, with communication described as a ‘chaotic mixture’ of text messages, phone calls, radio chatter, and emails.
Despite repeated requests for additional manpower in the days leading up to the rally, the Secret Service was stretched thin. A Senate report released this month declared: ‘There were multiple, unacceptable failures in the planning and execution of the July 13 Butler rally.’ Crooks was ultimately killed by a Secret Service countersniper moments after his rampage began. He left behind no manifesto and little trace of motive, and authorities believe he acted alone. The attack nevertheless prompted the swift resignation of Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle and spurred urgent reforms. That context made Touré’s use of the word ‘supposedly’ all the more jarring — not just to his co-panelists, but to viewers still reeling from a shooting that nearly changed the course of US history.
