Tiny rainforest lizards leap into water and don’t come up when expected. Scientists now know why
FBI agents have boarded vessel managed by company whose other cargo ship collapsed Baltimore bridge
Newsom signs bill to regulate social media use among children
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy will visit a Pennsylvania ammunition factory to thank workers
For a week, New York will be center of money-focused fight to slow climate change
Hundreds of parachutists drop over Dutch heath to commemorate World War II operation
Giant sinkholes in a South Dakota neighborhood make families fear for their safety
Lizard on track halts Formula 1 practice in Singapore
Lando Norris beats Max Verstappen for pole position at F1's Singapore Grand Prix
How the indictment against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs parallels the R. Kelly case – with one key difference
By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An adviser to a Democratic mega-donor apologized 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.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
Top leaders in both the Republican and Democratic Parties, including Republican Trump and Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden, have appealed to the much-divided country to unite and maintain calm after the former president's shooting.
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.
KEY QUOTES
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 apologized on Sunday.
"Last night, I sent an email I now regret. I drafted and sent it without consulting my team. I have apologized to them directly. I also want to apologize 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."
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
