Trump shooting may be staged, says adviser to Democratic donor, then apologises

An adviser to a Democratic mega-donor apologised on Sunday for suggesting the possibility of Republican former President Donald Trump's shooting being staged.

Democratic strategist Dmitri Mehlhorn is an adviser to billionaire Reid Hoffman who is a co-founder of social media platform LinkedIn and a major donor to mostly Democratic candidates.

Top leaders in both the Republican and Democratic Parties, including Republican Trump and Democratic US President Joe Biden, have appealed to the much-divided country to unite and maintain calm after the former president's shooting.

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Trump, who is running for president against Biden, was shot on Saturday at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. He has since said he was doing well but the shooting left his face streaked with blood after his right ear was hit. A rally attendee was killed in the shooting, two others were wounded and the suspect was dead. The FBI said it was probing the shooting as an assassination attempt.

The shooting led to a wave of baseless conspiracy theories online with some suggesting it was carried out by a shadowy "deep state" against Trump while others suggesting it could have been staged for sympathy.

News website Semafor reported that Mehlhorn, in an email to some sympathetic journalists and supporters, said there was a possibility "that this 'shooting' was encouraged and maybe even staged so Trump could get the photos and benefit from the backlash."

Mehlhorn apologised on Sunday.

"Last night, I sent an email I now regret. I drafted and sent it without consulting my team. I have apologised to them directly. I also want to apologise publicly, without reservation, for allowing my words to distract from last night's central fact: political violence took yet another innocent American life," Mehlhorn said.

"We must unite in condemnation of such violence in every instance, without reservation. Any other topic is a distraction."