JFK assassination: ‘Magic bullet’ theory cast into doubt by ex-Secret Service agent
The ‘magic bullet’ theory that describes how a single bullet killed John F Kennedy and injured another has been cast into doubt by an ex-Secret Service agent.
Paul Landis, now 88, was in close-proximity to the then president on 22 November 1963, as the motorcade, also carrying First Lady Jackie Kennedy, and Texas Governor John Connally Jr and his wife drove through Dealy Plaza in Dallas.
A series of gunshots were then fired and Mr Kennedy was hit in the head and neck, while the Texas governor was hit in the back.
For decades, and after the Warren Commission government inquiry into the incident, it was decided one of the bullets struck the president from behind before exiting from the front of his throat and hitting Mr Connally Jr.
This became known as the ‘magic bullet theory’.
Pic: AP
One of the reasons why the commission reached these results was due to a bullet found on Mr Connally Jr’s stretcher when he arrived at Parkland Memorial Hospital after the shooting.
The conclusion, that a single bullet could cause so much damage and lead to the conviction of Lee Harvey Oswald, has caused decades of speculation among conspiracy theorists for 60 years.
The limousine carrying the wounded president races toward the hospital. Pic: AP
Mr Landis’ account now challenges the Warren Commission, as he claims it was him who had found a bullet lodged in the back of the seat of the presidential limousine where Mr Kennedy was sitting.
Read more:
Biden orders release of JFK assassination archives
JFK files say CIA link to Oswald ‘unfounded’
He spotted the bullet after the motorcade arrived at the hospital, and put it on the stretcher carrying the president. He now guesses Mr Kennedy and Mr Connally Jr’s stretchers somehow collided, meaning the bullet was shaken from one to the other.
“It was a piece of evidence, that I realised right away. Very important. And I didn’t want it to disappear or get lost,” he told The New York Times.
His account is detailed in his upcoming memoir, The Final Witness, but Mr Landis has been reluctant to speculate on the larger implications his memories might have.
In an interview with The NY Times, he said: “At this point, I’m beginning to doubt myself. Now I begin to wonder,” not confirming, if he believes there was more than one bullet or gunman.
Lee Harvey Oswald. Pic: AP
Mr Landis theorises that the bullet which struck Mr Kennedy in the back, for some reason, fell out before the president’s body was removed from the limousine and did not penetrate deeply enough to also hit Mr Connally Jr.
James Robenalt, a Cleveland lawyer and author of several books of history, has deeply researched the assassination and helped Mr Landis process his memories.
“If the bullet we know as the magic or pristine bullet stopped in President Kennedy’s back, it means that the central thesis of the Warren Report, the single-bullet theory, is wrong,” he told The NY Times.
He added that if Mr Connally Jr was hit by a separate bullet, then it seemed possible it was not from Oswald, who he argued could not have reloaded a gun that fast.
Mr Landis’ revelations have prompted even more questions rather than answering them.
Firstly, the account in the memoir differs from two written statements he filed a week after the assassination, in which he said he only heard two gunshots, not three The NY Times reported.
The Kennedy family at the president’s funeral in Washington. Pic: AP
Secondly, he did not mention going into the room where Mr Kennedy was taken at the hospital, writing that he “remained outside by the door” when the first lady went in.
Mr Landis said he did not realise his memory differed from his original account until 2014, but that he did not come forward as he said he thought he made a mistake putting the bullet on the stretcher.
“I was afraid. I started to think, did I do something wrong? There was a fear that I might have done something wrong and I shouldn’t talk about it,” he said.
Fears of a US-EU trade war have been reignited after Europe refused to back down in the face of fresh threats from Donald Trump.
The word tariff has dominated much of the US president’s second term, and he has repeatedly and freely threatened countries with them.
Money blog: Trump sends message to UK on energy bills
This included the so-called “liberation day” last month, where he unleashed tariffs on many of his trade partners.
On Friday, after a period of relative calm which has included striking a deal with the UK, he threatened to impose a 50% tariff on the EU after claiming trade talks with Brussels were “going nowhere”.
The US president has repeatedly taken issue with the EU, going as far as to claim it was created to rip the US off.
However, in the face of the latest hostile rhetoric from Mr Trump’s social media account, the European Commission – which oversees trade for the 27-country bloc – has refused to back down.
EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said: “EU-US trade is unmatched and must be guided by mutual respect, not threats.
“We stand ready to defend our interests.”
Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday
Fellow EU leaders and ministers have also held the line after Mr Trump’s comments.
Polish deputy economy minister Michal Baranowski said the tariffs appeared to be a negotiating ploy, with Dutch deputy prime minister Dick Schoof said tariffs “can go up and down”.
French trade minister Laurent Saint-Martin said the latest threats did nothing to help trade talks.
He stressed “de-escalation” was one of the EU’s main aims but warned: “We are ready to respond.”
Mr Sefcovic spoke with US trade representative Jamieson Greer and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick after Mr Trump’s comments.
Mr Trump has previously backed down on a tit-for-tat trade war with China, which saw tariffs soar above 100%.
Read more:
Trump accepts $400m plane from Qatar
Judge blocks Trump’s Harvard foreign student ban
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
US and China end trade war
Sticking points
Talks between the US and EU have stumbled.
In the past week, Washington sent a list of demands to Brussels – including adopting US food safety standards and removing national digital services taxes, people familiar with the talks told Reuters news agency.
In response, the EU reportedly offered a mutually beneficial deal that could include the bloc potentially buying more liquefied natural gas and soybeans from the US, as well as cooperation on issues such as steel overcapacity, which both sides blame on China.
Stocks tumble as Trump grumbles
Major stock indices tumbled after Mr Trump’s comments, which came as he also threatened to slap US tech giant Apple with a 25% tariff.
The president is adamant that he wants the company’s iPhones to be built in America.
The vast majority of its phones are made in China, and the company has also shifted some production to India.
Shares of Apple ended 3% lower and the dollar sank 1% versus the Japanese yen and the euro rose 0.8% against the dollar.
In the dozens of framed images and newspaper clippings covering the walls of his office in downtown New York City, Al Sharpton is pictured alongside presidents and leading protests.
He has spent decades campaigning and is perhaps the most famous civil rights activist in the US today.
Many of those clippings on the wall relate to one moment in May 2020 – the murder of George Floyd.
George Floyd was killed while under arrest in Minneapolis in May 2020
Speaking to Sky News ahead of the five-year anniversary of that moment, Mr Sharpton remembered the combination of “humiliation and deep anger” he felt seeing the footage of Mr Floyd’s death that swept the world.
“The more I watched, the more angry I felt,” he said.
Mr Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer.
Mr Floyd had been arrested after a store clerk reported he had made a purchase using counterfeit money.
Chauvin knelt on Mr Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes, while he was handcuffed and lying face down in the street.
Chauvin pressed his knee on Mr Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, as the victim repeatedly said ‘I can’t breathe’. Pic: AP
‘A seismic moment’
For Mr Sharpton, who has marched with countless other families, this felt different because it was “graphic and unnecessary”.
“What kind of person would hear somebody begging for their life and ignore them?” he said.
“I had no idea this would become a seismic moment,” he continued.
“I think people would accuse civil rights leaders, activists like me of being opportunistic, but we don’t know if one call from the next one is going to be big, all we know is we have to answer to the call.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Has US changed five years after George Floyd’s death?
Trump ‘pouring salt on the wounds’
Mr Floyd’s death took place during Donald Trump’s first term in the White House.
During Trump’s second term, his administration has moved to repeal federal oversight plans for the Minneapolis Police Department – a move originally supported by Joe Biden’s administration.
Mr Sharpton believes Mr Trump and the Department of Justice have purposely timed this for the 5th Anniversary of Mr Floyd’s Death.
“It’s pouring salt on the wounds of those that were killed, and those that fought,” he said.
“I think Donald Trump and his administration is actively trying to reverse and revoke changes and progress made with policing based on the movement we created after George Floyd’s death, worldwide.”
Read more from Sky News:
‘Grandpa robbers’ guilty over Kim Kardashian heist
Train station stabbing in Germany
The murder of George Floyd sparked Black Lives Matter protests around the world
Mr Sharpton still supports George Floyd’s family and will be with them this weekend in Houston, Texas, where many of them will mark the anniversary.
He said the legacy of Mr Floyd’s death is still being written.
Evoking the civil rights movement of the 1960s he said: “The challenge is we must turn those moments into permanent movements, it took nine years from 1955 to 1964 for Dr [Martin Luther] King in that movement to get a Civil Rights Act after Rosa Parks sat in the front of a bus in Montgomery.
“We’re five years out of George Floyd, we’ve got to change the laws.
“We can do it in under nine years, but we can’t do it if we take our eye off the prize.”
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway