A wild eyed Scott MacFarlane told Chuck Todd in a recent podcast that he took trauma leave from work as a CBS News reporter after being diagnosed with PTSD in the wake of the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024.
When the shooting started, a stunned looking MacFarlane ducked under a press riser for cover.
But it was not the bullets flying that wounded Trump and two supporters while killing supporter Corey Comperatore that traumatized MacFarlane. No, it was Trump supporters who came up to the press pen afterward who blamed the media for inspiring the shooting. MacFarlane says he feared for his life from Trump supporters if Trump had been killed.
Trump was wounded by a bullet that miraculously only grazed his ear as he turned his head, also unwittingly saving MacFarlane.
This writer covered the Butler rally from outside the press pen that day and can attest that some Trump supporters blamed the media, but MacFarlane’s fears and trauma are ridiculous. (More observations after the Chuck Todd interview comments.)
Video clip posted by the Daily Caller’s Jason Cohen shows an agitated MacFarlane reliving his trauma, “For those of us there, it was such a horror because you saw an emerging America. I got diagnosed with PTSD within 48 hours. I got put on trauma leave. Not because, I think, of the shooting, but because you could — you saw it in the eyes, the reaction of the people. They were coming for us! If he didn’t jump up with his fist, they were going to come kill us!”
Chuck Todd agreed, “I know.”
NEW: CBS News correspondent Scott MacFarlane tells Chuck Todd he got “PTSD” after Trump assassination attempt — *NOT* from the shooting, but because the crowd blamed the media
“For those of us there, it was such a horror.”
“I got diagnosed with PTSD within 48 hours. I got… pic.twitter.com/JYeA7FZ90G
— Jason Cohen (@JasonJournoDC) July 16, 2025
More from the Daily Caller (excerpt):
“Many of us on press row, as we talked about this on our text chains for weeks after, were quite confident we’d be dead if he didn’t get back up,” he said. “There was a subset — not everybody — there’s dozens of people in the crowd who started coming for us, saying, ‘You did this. This is your fault. You caused this. You killed him.’ And they’re going to beat us with their hands.”
“I mean, they were going to — they were going to kill us. And respectfully, the Secret Service had bigger issues than protecting us. When he jumped up triumphantly, it saved us,” he added. “But that’s the thing. I can’t eliminate from my mind’s eye the look in their faces. That’s what America is right now. It’s not rational. It’s an irrational thought to think the media shot somebody from atop a building.”
Chuck Todd, who was on a plane to the RNC convention in Milwaukee with other reporters and politicos when the shooting happened, agreed with MacFarlane on his fear of being attacked by Trump supporters. These two self-absorbed reporters glossed over that Trump was shot, two of his supporters were grievously wounded and one killed.
This writer was outside the press pen when the shooting happened (BTW, no one threatened or attacked me):
Raw video right after shots fired at President Trump at Butler, PA rally. I was taking photos and switched to video. I heard several shots but saw hydraulics on speaker column on right fail, dropping the column down while gushing fluid. Crowd reaction to Trump fist raise in video pic.twitter.com/hwFP47frg7
— Kristinn Taylor (@KristinnFR) July 14, 2024
In video posted by his CBS colleague Olivia Rinaldi that covers the same time frame as my video above, MacFarlane can be seen inside the press pen taking cover under a media riser (28 second mark):
The moment press took the ground as shots rang out at Trump’s rally in Butler, PA. pic.twitter.com/VMP5kKQ0hv
— Olivia Rinaldi (@olivialarinaldi) July 14, 2024
MacFarlane and Todd apparently do not appreciate that for ten years President Trump and his supporters have been and still are the target of violence by liberals.
Butler was not the first assassination attempt on Trump at a rally. In 2016, a man at a Las Vegas rally unsuccessfully tried to grab a police officer’s gun to shoot Trump with.
MacFarlane has been a reporter for several decades. He made his career covering the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, with his local J6 reporting for the DC NBC affiliate WRC-TV leading to his being tapped by CBS to be a network correspondent.
I have been covering Trump rallies since 2015. I have never witnessed a reporter being attacked at a Trump rally–even the ones. I have seen Trump supporters give their opinion to reporters, sometimes by yelling at them or waving signs, sometimes by cursing and giving them the finger. Even when they are outside of the press pen, I have not seen reporters attacked. (On J6, some press equipment on the Capitol lawn was destroyed by rioters.)
With regard to the Butler rally, the press pen was protected by at least two armed agents with Homeland Security who were inside the pen. This was a first at a Trump rally that I have seen. Usually either private security or local law enforcement works the outside of the pen. On occasion a Secret Service agent might step inside the pen for a few minutes, but not stay like the HSI agents did.
A local Pittsburgh KDKA-TV news cameraman also spoke about Trump supporters razzing the media at Butler. He did not say he or others were traumatized, rather he said he understood their anger. Contrary to MacFarlane’s claim, in the video (cued to 9:10), Uniformed Division Secret Service officers can be seen in front of the press pen protecting reporters after the shooting.
Complete Chuck Todd podcast interview with MacFarlane:
Serious question for CBS News: How can you have Scott MacFarlane report on President Trump and his supporters if he falsely believes they are homicidal maniacs?
The post “They Were Going to Come Kill Us!”: CBS Reporter Scott MacFarlane Says He Got PTSD From Trump Supporters Blaming Reporters for Trump Assassination Attempt at Butler Rally appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.