Joe Rogan Refutes Trump Assassination Attempt ‘Setup' Claims
Joe Rogan refuted claims that the 2024 assassination attempt on President Donald Trump was a “setup” during the latest episode of his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, saying that anyone who believes so “doesn’t know anything about guns.”
The United States has seen a rise in political violence, including the 2024 attempt on Trump’s life at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania and the recent shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner, as well as the assassinations of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and Democratic lawmaker Melissa Hortman last year. Each shooting drew a wave of unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that took off online.
Joe Rogan Pushes Back on ‘Set Up' Claims
During an interview with Republican Representative Tim Burchett of Tennessee, posted on Thursday, Rogan argued that the 2024 assassination attempt couldn’t have been faked due to the skill needed by the shooter.
“There's a lot of people running around out there saying that that first Trump assassination was a setup and it was a hoax, and that Trump did it to get people to be more sympathetic to him. Anybody who says that doesn't know anything about guns,” Rogan said.
"There is not a person on earth that could nick your ear at 140 yards reliably," he said. "Not only that, but miss other shots first, kill someone behind you, shoot another person as well, and just nick his ear. And just by the grace of God, by just sheer luck, he turns his head at the right time, and he catches his ear?"
On July 13, 2024, gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire during a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing Trump’s ear and killing one other rallygoer, Corey Comperatore. The shooting marked a massive escalation in political violence in the U.S. and drew widespread calls for politicians to turn down the rhetorical temperature.
Crooks was killed by a Secret Service countersniper. But investigations raised questions about how Crooks was able to position himself with a clear line of sight toward Trump. Rogan called it a “tremendous failure of security” during his conversation with Burchett.
Rogan Rebuke Follows Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls for Answers
In April, former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican who was once a close Trump ally, shared a post on X saying there are still questions about the assassination attempt.
"I'm not calling the Butler assassination a hoax. But there are a lot of questions that deserve public answers. I'm asking why won't Trump release the information about Matthew Crooks? Did he actually act alone? If not, who is behind him and who helped him? Why the cover up??" she wrote on April 19.
Comperatore's "wife and daughters deserve to know why Corey, a true American patriot and hero was murdered in Butler," she wrote.
Her series of posts drew criticism from far-right activist and independent journalist Laura Loomer, a close Trump ally and supporter. Loomer lashed out at Greene and Buckley Carlson, the son of conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, accusing the latter of “joining MTG in pushing the deranged conspiracy theory that President Trump staged his attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania.”
White House Correspondents’ Dinner Shooting: The Latest
The shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last month was the latest attempt on Trump’s life. The suspected shooter, Cole Allen, faces charges of attempting to assassinate the president in addition to gun charges.
Allen, a 31-year-old teacher from California, allegedly breached security and opened fire on April 25, forcing the Secret Service to remove Trump and members of his Cabinet from the event, which Trump was attending for the first time as president alongside first lady Melania Trump.
In a court document filed on Thursday, attorneys for Allen requested that U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche disqualify themselves from prosecuting the case, arguing that their presence at the scene could make them partial to the outcome and create conflicts of interest.
Allen has yet to enter a plea regarding his charges. An arraignment is scheduled for May 11.
Is Joe Rogan a Trump Supporter?
Rogan has a mixed political record. His podcast is among the most popular, giving him a powerful platform for political allies to reach his listeners during appearances on the show.
In 2020, Rogan endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary and later said during a podcast that he would rather vote for Trump than President Joe Biden. Some people took this to mean that he voted for Trump, but in 2022, Rogan confirmed that he didn’t vote for either Trump or Biden.
“I voted Libertarian,” Rogan said at the time. “I voted Jo Jorgensen. I knew she didn’t have a shot. Legalizing drugs. I knew California was going to Biden no matter what and I couldn’t. I was looking at the whole thing like ‘what is this?'”
Rogan also said in 2022 that he didn’t want to have Trump on the podcast and that he turned down a number of opportunities to interview the former president. He said he didn’t want to “help” him and called him an “existential threat to democracy.”
Trump later appeared on his podcast in October 2024 ahead of the election.
In 2024, Rogan said that current Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.was the only presidential candidate that made “sense” to him, but later clarified he was not endorsing him.
Rogan has been critical of both Democrats and Republicans over the years. In July 2022, he called himself a “bleeding heart liberal” when it comes to social issues and criticized Republicans for their stances on same-sex marriage and abortion. But he has criticized Democrats for their policies toward crime and gender-affirming care for children, describing himself as being in the middle politically.
He has hosted both Democrats, such as Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, and Republicans on his show in recent years.
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This story was originally published May 8, 2026 at 12:45 PM.