During his trip through South Carolina, the former US president was filmed at a gun store in Summerville. His spokesman Steven Cheung announced that he had purchased a Glock semi-automatic pistol before retracting his statements.
“Are they selling well?” Donald Trump appeared in a gun store during a trip to the US state of South Carolina. During this visit to the Palmettop State Armory, the former US president strolled through the firearms aisles and then chatted with other people about a pistol brandished by one of them.
“I want to buy one, I want to buy one,” declares Donald Trump in a video posted by his 2024 presidential election spokesman Steven Cheung on the social network X, formerly Twitter. “President Trump bought a Glock (a brand of pistol) in South Carolina!” even the Republican candidate’s advisor wrote on X.
Former US President Donald Trump in a gun shop in South Carolina (USA) on September 25, 2023. – Steven Cheung –
His campaign spokesman backed out
Just a few minutes after the scene was published, the video and text have now been removed from the social network, but not from the publications in which they were mentioned. According to several American media outlets, this is a completely voluntary deletion of content.
“Trump spokesman Steven Cheung clarifies to CNN that Trump did not actually purchase a gun during his visit to the South Carolina gun store,” he wrote
CNN reporter Alayna Treene on X.
Prohibited by federal law for an accused person
Purchasing or selling a firearm while committing a crime is a federal crime in the United States, according to US news site The Hill, which reported the story. However, that law was declared unconstitutional by a federal judge in Texas in September 2022, citing a Supreme Court ruling striking down a gun ban in New York state.
Trump currently faces 91 counts in four counts against him to which he has pleaded not guilty: the National Archives affair, the Stormy Daniels affair, Georgia election interference and the January 2021 Capitol attack case .
This trip by Donald Trump to South Carolina comes a few months before the 2024 Republican primaries and while the former president remains the favorite against Ron DeSantis, according to American polls.
Hugues Garnier journalist BFMTV