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.
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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.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
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