Washington Post takes heat for story fretting pro-Trump billionaires shaped 'shooting narrative'
The Washington Post took heat from pro-Trump billionaires who took issue with a report claiming they had shaped "the narrative" on Trump's near-assassination.
The Washington Post is taking heat for a story that said "pro-Trump billionaires have helped shape shooting narrative," following the attempted assassination of former President Trump.
"The right-leaning business community on X, including Elon Musk and hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, used their megaphones to endorse Trump and fuel storylines about Saturday’s attack," the Washington Post report said.
Trump was nearly assassinated on Saturday after a bullet grazed his ear during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The WaPo story also named David Sacks and Shaun Maguire, venture capitalists, who slammed the report on social media.
"I’m not sure what ‘narratives’ they’re referring to, but I know what I saw, and I know what the crowd in Butler witnessed live," Craft Ventures executive Sacks wrote in a lengthy X post.
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"This is not a ‘narrative.’ It is the truth. Trump stood defiant in the face of an assassin’s bullet. There is no way to fake courage like that," he added.
Sequoia founder Shaun Maguire also criticized the report with, "AKA ‘Elon, Sacks, Ackman etc are combating our lies with the truth and we don’t like it. Please stop.'"
Musk responded to Sacks' post as well.
"ONE HUNDRED PERCENT," he wrote, agreeing with Sacks' criticisms.
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The Washington Post did not respond to a request for comment.
Sacks, a prominent Silicon Valley Trump supporter, will be speaking at the Republican National Convention this week. He held a fundraiser for the former president at his home last month.
Trump has also received support and endorsements from Musk and other mega-wealthy Americans after his Manhattan criminal trial where he was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.
"I just donated $300k to Trump. I’m prepared to lose friends," Maguire wrote on X in May.
Musk also signaled his support for Trump at the time and gave his full endorsement Saturday after the attempt on the former president's life.
"I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery," Musk wrote on X.