The Poynter Institute Menu Donate State Editions * California * Florida * Iowa * Michigan * New Hampshire * New York * North Carolina * Pennsylvania * Texas * West Virginia * Wisconsin Issues * All Issues * Online hoaxes * Coronavirus * Health Care * Immigration * Extremism * Taxes * Marijuana * Environment * Crime * Guns * Foreign Policy * LGBTQ+ People * Joe Biden * Kamala Harris * Donald Trump * Mitch McConnell * Hakeem Jeffries * Ron DeSantis Media * PunditFact * Tucker Carlson * Sean Hannity * Rachel Maddow * Bloggers * PolitiFact Videos Campaigns * 2024 Elections Truth-o-Meter * True * Mostly True * Half True * Mostly False * False * Pants on Fire Promises * Biden Promise Tracker * Trump-O-Meter * Obameter * Latest Promises About Us * Our Process * Our Staff * En Español * Who pays for PolitiFact? * Advertise with Us * Suggest a Fact-check * Corrections and Updates * Newsletters Donate #### Follow us The Facts Newsletter Sign up English Español ### Get PolitiFact in your inbox. * Weekly Email Newsletter * Daily Email Newsletter Your Email Address Sign Up ![](\\" logo-black-01/b6cedac93f6e57c68ecc025e5ec29d57.jpg\\") ![](\\" logo-black-01/438dbf066033f99de07598cbcc77ddcb.jpg\\") Threads posts stated on July 14, 2024 in Threads posts: Photo shows Secret Service agents smiling while escorting Donald Trump offstage after assassination attempt. ![\\"true\\"](\\" ![\\"pants- fire\\"](\\" * National * Facebook Fact-checks * Threads posts ![\\"Loreben](\\" By Loreben Tuquero July 15, 2024 # Image that appears to show Secret Service agents smiling while escorting Trump offstage was altered #### If Your Time is short * The photo was altered. In the original photo, taken by Associated Press photojournalist Evan Vucci, the Secret Service agents weren’t smiling. See the sources for this fact-check After shots rang out at a July 13 Pennsylvania rally and former President Donald Trump ducked for cover, Secret Service agents sprang into action, shielding Trump and escorting him offstage. Now, social media users are sharing an image that appears to show the Secret Service agents smiling as they did so. \"Why are the secret service smiling? STAGED,\" the caption on a July 14 Threads post read. Another caption on a post sharing the same image read, \"Why are the (Secret Service) smiling? Why is the flag so close to the stage when it wasn\'t there before the shooting?\" ![](\\" (Screenshot from Threads) These posts were 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, Instagram and Threads.) The photo shared in these posts has been altered. #### Featured Fact-check ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on August 13, 2024 in an Instagram post Videos of media talking about Tim Walz as a \"happy warrior\" are proof of government propaganda legalized by Barack Obama. ![\\"true\\"](\\" false/33efdb6633e5e2fdc2d4e2f63383a1e0.jpg.\\") ![\\"false\\"](\\" false.jpg\\") By Jeff Cercone • August 15, 2024 Photos of Trump as he was walked offstage have gained millions of social media views. The photo that was altered was taken by Associated Press photojournalist Evan Vucci. In the original photo, published July 13, the Secret Service agents weren’t smiling. ![](\\" U.S. Secret Service agents surround former President Donald Trump on July 13, 2024, at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa. (AP) The agents also weren’t smiling in Vucci’s other photos while Trump was being moved offstage. The shooter, whom the FBI identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, killed one person and injured two others at the rally. Trump said a bullet pierced part of his right ear. Crooks was shot and killed by Secret Service agents. As the FBI investigates the shooting as an assassination attempt, PolitiFact has debunked other inaccurate claims about the incident, including one that said Trump staged the shooting. We rate the claim that a photo shows Secret Service agents smiling as they escorted Trump offstage after an assassination attempt Pants on Fire! #### Read About Our Process The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter ### Our Sources Threads post (archived), July 14, 2024 Threads post (archived), July 14, 2024 Associated Press photo, July 13, 2024 X post by The Associated Press, July 13, 2024 X post by The Associated Press, July 13, 2024 Associated Press photo, July 14, 2024 Associated Press photo, July 13, 2024 Associated Press photo, July 13, 2024 FBI statement, Update on the FBI Investigation of the Attempted Assassination of Former President Donald Trump, July 14, 2024 PolitiFact, When Donald Trump was shot, the internet unleashed wild conspiracy theories, July 15, 2024 PolitiFact, Donald Trump shooter was not identified as 32-year-old California resident ‘Hank Pecker’, July 14, 2024 PolitiFact, No, this photo is not of Trump rally shooting suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks, July 14, 2024 PolitiFact, ‘Mark Violets’ of antifa didn’t shoot Donald Trump. Social media users wrongly blamed a blogger., July 14, 2024 PolitiFact, Claims that the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump was staged are baseless, July 14, 2024 ## Browse the Truth-O-Meter ### More by Loreben Tuquero ![](\\" black/4590875651af69b2c789ceab409664dd.jpg\\") ![](\\" black/72988380e8c8bd188dc360d11552e4a0.jpg\\") X posts stated on September 4, 2024 in an X post: “BREAKING: Apalachee High School shooter has been identified as non-binary trans girl Samantha Hyde.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Loreben Tuquero • September 5, 2024 ![](\\" black/4590875651af69b2c789ceab409664dd.jpg\\") ![](\\" black/72988380e8c8bd188dc360d11552e4a0.jpg\\") X posts stated on September 3, 2024 in a video posted on X: On June 7, 2011, Kamala Harris was involved in a San Francisco hit-and-run crash that injured a woman named Alicia Brown. ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Madison Czopek • September 5, 2024 ![](\\" logo-black-01/b6cedac93f6e57c68ecc025e5ec29d57.jpg\\") ![](\\" logo-black-01/438dbf066033f99de07598cbcc77ddcb.jpg\\") Threads posts stated on September 1, 2024 in a Threads post: “Melania Trump just filed for divorce MINUTES ago in Palm Beach.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Loreben Tuquero • September 4, 2024 ![](\\" black/4590875651af69b2c789ceab409664dd.jpg\\") ![](\\" black/72988380e8c8bd188dc360d11552e4a0.jpg\\") X posts stated on August 29, 2024 in X posts: President Joe Biden “did a campaign ad at the graves in Arlington in 2020.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Loreben Tuquero • August 30, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on August 25, 2024 in a Facebook post: Image shows Fox Business graphic titled “Tim Walz’s Communist Agenda.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Loreben Tuquero • August 30, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" JD Vance stated on August 7, 2024 in a campaign event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin: Minnesota Gov. 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By Loreben Tuquero • July 16, 2024 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on July 14, 2024 in Instagram posts: The shooter who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump was “Maxwell Yearick.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Loreben Tuquero • July 16, 2024 ### Image that appears to show Secret Service agents smiling while escorting Trump offstage was altered * ![](\\" ![](\\" Instagram posts stated on September 5, 2024 in a post: Video shows Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz dancing to Beyoncé in a cowboy hat and crop top. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Sara Swann • September 6, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" X posts stated on September 3, 2024 in X posts: A group of 32 armed Venezuelans took over an apartment building in Chicago. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Sofia Ahmed • September 6, 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![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Sofia Ahmed • September 5, 2024 Load more ### Support independent fact-checking. 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Photo shows Secret Service agents smiling while escorting Donald Trump offstage after assassination attempt