Bill Ackman tweets then deletes wild claim about Trump assassination attempt

Billionaire Bill Ackman has tweeted a wild claim on X about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, which he then deleted less than 10 minutes later.

The investor shared a video arguing the narrative of Thomas Matthew Crooks being a 'lone gunman' is '100 percent provably false.'

The clip was created by Dr Chris Martenson, an economist who suggests the shooting was an inside job by the so-called 'Deep State'.

Martenson analyzed audio from the rally to suggest that a second shooter was operating alongside Crooks to assassinate Trump. The second shooter, he claims, was around 100ft away from Crooks' rooftop location.

He presented audio clips which he claims show that in addition to the shots fired by Crooks and that fired by the sniper who killed Crooks, there were other shots with a distinct audio signature, indicating a third shooter.

Bill Ackman, who came out and endorsed Trump following the shooting, reposted the claim that the shooter may have not acted alone. He then quickly deleted the tweet

Billionaire Bill Ackman tweeted a wild claim on X about the attempted assassination on Donald Trump , which he then deleted less than 10 minutes later

The clip claimed that audio signatures captured at the rally suggested there was a second shooter who fired from about 100 feet away from Crook's rooftop location 

Ackman retweeted the clip, saying it 'makes a highly credible case that there were at least two shooters/assassins who attempted to kill' Donald Trump. 

The billionaire hedged his wild theory with the comment: 'I have no expertise in this field. None. I welcome further analysis and rebuttal.'   

He removed the post and moments later, he quickly shared another that included 'an extremely impressive rebuttal to the multiple shooter theory.'

Despite swiftly removing the conspiratorial tweet from his X account, many of Ackman's followers saw it and commented. 

One person wrote: 'Bill ackman deleted the multiple shooter theory tweet, who got to you ackman?!?!' 

While another said: 'In the least surprising thing ever Bill Ackman, having found out about politics 2 months ago, has blown right past ousting a Harvard prez over DEI panic to pushing a Trump “second shooter” theory based on a video posted by Benny Johnson.' 

Martenson, who created the video which Ackman reposted, holds a PhD and defended his theory of a second shooter on X by saying: 'I am a gun nerd. 

'I reload, have spent many hours at the range, gotten lots of gun training, and shot well over 250,000 rounds from pistols and many different caliber rifles over the course of the past 40 years. And I have common sense, which is the key.' 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and law enforcement have not made any mention of a second shooter since the assassination attempt on Saturday, July 13

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and law enforcement have not made any mention of a second shooter since the assassination attempt on Saturday, July 13.

But a CNN article published on July 15 reported there were as many as three weapons fired at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The report was included as hard evidence in a lengthy 32-minute video shared by Chris Maternson, an economist with a PhD from Duke University, who is '100 percent' sure Crook did not act alone.

'[CNN] said that the first three shots were consistent with weapon A and the next five consistent with alleged weapon B and the final acoustic impulse emitted by a third possible weapon C I believe that's true, and weapon C is the sniper taking out Crooks,' Maternson said in the video.

'This was confirmed per an audio analysis by Cataline Gregor, director of the National Center for Media Forensics at the University of Colorado in Denver and Cole Whitecotton, a senior professional research associate at Media Forensic.'

He removed the post and moments later, he quickly shared another that included 'an extremely impressive rebuttal to the multiple shooter theory'

The evidence, according to an economist, was that forensics experts identified three weapons during the event and at least two shots featured audio signatures not consistent with the other six

To argue his case, Maternson pulled audio signatures from two videos captured as eight bullets flew toward Trump and the crowd sitting behind the former president.

He lined up the explosion of the bullets leaving the weapon and their arrival. 

The analysis showed that shot one echoed off from the stage, which was consistent with the bullet that hit Trump in the ear.

'Shot two same thing, [it] lines up perfectly - it's got an echo,' Maternson said.

But shot three took .03 seconds longer to reach the podium where Trump stood, he claimed. 

'That .03 second implies that shots one and two were fired by Crooks but someone about 78 to 100 feet further away took shot three.

The video claimed that shots one, two, four and five were definitely from Thomas Matthew Crooks (pictured) - but three and six came from an unknown shooter

'Then shots four and five line up perfectly, but shot six is off the mark again by the same amount 

'Shots four and five line up perfectly, but six is off by the same mark.'

Maternson argued that shots one, two, four and five were definitely taken by Crooks, due to featuring the same 'snaps' captured by the microphone closest to the podium. 

'The lone shooter theory is 100 percent false,' he continued.

'This tells us it was a full on operation.' 

Donald Trump was shot in Pennsylvania last Saturday evening by Thomas Matthew Crooks, a registered Republican who had also previously donated to Joe Biden.

The GOP candidate was hit in the ear as he turned his head to speak to the crowds. Chaos ensued after the shots rang out, and one person in the crowd was killed.

The ordeal has rocked the political landscape - where tensions were already heightened ahead of the presidential election in November. 

Just days after nearly being assassinated, Trump was formally nominated by the Republican Party, during the RNC in Wisconsin, to stand for the faction in the election later this year. 

While Trump recovered from being shot in the ear, fears have mounted inside the Democratic Party - with many calling out for Joe Biden to step down amid his ailing health. This week, while fighting to prove he is fit enough to run for a second term, it was announced that the President tested positive for Covid.