From trained assassins to rally stage rushers, here's every known attempt on Trump's life since 2016

Another assassination attempt targeting Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner adds to a mounting list of threats since he entered politics, a total that has hit double digits.

Just days before the most recent assassination attempt, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said Democrats are in an "era of maximum warfare," prompting criticism from Republicans that the political rhetoric is pushing citizens to commit political violence. 

Since the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, calls from politicians and activists on both sides to "lower the temperature" have grown into an ongoing national conversation.

Ever since Trump first entered the political sphere in 2015, prominent public figures have referred to him as a "fascist," and a "Nazi," and he's been likened to Adolf Hitler. Comparisons to Trump and members of his administration to Nazi Germany have only grown since he took office in January 2025. 

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Many of Trump's attempted attackers or assassins have pointed to their belief that Trump was a "White supremacist" and a "bully," as the rationale for their planned attacks.

"President Trump remains completely undeterred despite the multiple attempts on his life by cowardly individuals," White House spokeswoman Allison Schuster said. 

"The president will not allow deranged lunatics to change the fabric of this country and dictate the American way of life. President Trump and the entire administration will continue to stand strong and fight for the American people."

Here is a timeline of all the known attacks on President Donald Trump's life:

During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump held a rally at Wright State University. A 22-year-old protester named Thomas DiMassimo jumped a security barrier and attempted to charge the stage, but he was stopped by Secret Service. DiMassimo claimed he wanted to "bully the bully" and was going to make "some remarks" to Trump and his followers. He was charged with a misdemeanor and was sentenced to a year of probation.

Michael Steven Sandford, a British national, attempted to grab a police officer's gun while in attendance at Trump's rally in Las Vegas. Sandford, who is diagnosed with autism, told an arresting officer that he intended to "shoot and kill Trump." He was sentenced to 12 months and a day in U.S. federal prison, and he was deported back to the United Kingdom after he completed his sentence.

During President Trump's visit to the Andeavor Mandan Refinery where he delivered a speech on tax reform, Gregory Lee Leingang attempted to drive a stolen forklift into the presidential motorcade. He intended to "flip" Trump's limousine and kill him, but the forklift got stuck. Leingang was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

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During Trump's visit to the Philippines for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' ASEAN 50 Summit, ISIS operatives planned to kill the president, having released several videos threatening Trump's life. One of the videos included a picture of Trump with several bullet holes. Just 20 minutes before Trump's plane landed, Secret Service agents tracked down and apprehended one of the ISIS operatives, who was parked a mile away from Trump's hotel.

A Canadian woman mailed to the White House and eight Texas state law enforcement officials a slew of threatening letters and homemade ricin, a deadly toxin. Pascale Cecile Veronique Ferrier, 55, called in the letters for Trump to end his presidential candidacy and made calls on Twitter that "someone please shoot 'Trump in the face.'" Border Patrol agents stopped Ferrier at the Peace Bridge Border Crossing in Buffalo, N.Y., Sept. 20, 2020. She was in possession of a loaded gun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. She was sentenced to over 21 years in prison.

Asif Raza Merchant, a Pakistani national and a trained operative of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was sent by the terrorist force to plan and execute political assassinations with intended targets including President Donald Trump, former President Joe Biden and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, according to the Eastern District of New York. 

Merchant arrived in the United States in April 2024 and met with a purported hitmen in June, but in reality they were undercover U.S. law enforcement officers. Merchant was convicted in March 2026 but has not yet been sentenced.

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Positioned roughly 150 yards atop a building outside the security perimeter at Trump's Butler rally, Thomas Matthew Crooks fired approximately eight shots from his AR-15 rifle, hitting Trump in the ear and killing an attendee, Corey Comperatore, 50. It was the closest attempt on Trump's life. Crooks, 20, was killed by a member of the Secret Service counter sniper team. Little is known about Crooks, who acted alone with no criminal history. The attempted assassination has intensified scrutiny over the Secret Service.

A little more than two months after Butler, a Secret Service agent found Ryan Wesley Routh hiding in a bush near a fence surrounding Trump's West Palm Beach golf course after noticing the barrel of a rifle poking out. Routh fled and was later apprehended. Routh was sentenced to life in prison in February after being convicted for his assassination attempt on Trump. In a letter outlining his reasoning for assassinating Trump, Routh accused the president of being a threat to democracy and accused Trump of being a "pedophile" and a "rapist."

Austin Tucker Martin, a 21-year-old from North Carolina, breached Mar-a-Lago's perimeter carrying a gas can and shotgun. Secret Service agents confronted Martin, ordering him to lay down his weapons, but he refused. Martin was fatally shot by the Secret Service agents. At the time of the incident, Trump was at the White House. Martin's motive remains unknown.

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The most recent alleged attempted assassin, Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old school teacher from California, rushed through the lobby doors leading to the Washington Hilton Hotel ballroom, where the dinner was held. He fired several shots before Secret Service agents tackled him to the ground, stopping Allen from breaching the ballroom. 

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said that, based on the evidence collected, which includes a manifesto, investigators suspect that Allen sought to kill as many high-ranking Cabinet officials as possible, including President Donald Trump.