YEAR IN REVIEW: July-September 2024

Assassination Attempt; Olympic Controversy; and Sean Combs' Indictment

JULY

The Big Story

Just minutes into a campaign rally on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, a 19-year-old fires into the crowd, wounding DONALD TRUMP in the ear, injuring two attendees, and murdering a third, COREY COMPERATORE.

Trump’s survival was nothing short of miraculous. Had he moved his head a mere inch one direction or another, he would have been killed instantly by the bullet.

Secret Service agents spotted the shooter and killed him within seconds, but the security and operational lapses that led up to the shooting forced the resignation of Director Kimberly Cheatle. So many questions from the day remain unanswered. Meanwhile, internet dorks speculated that Trump wasn’t grazed by a bullet but was actually hit with a piece of shrapnel. (Even so: a man was killed).

Just a week later, Trump formally accepted the Republican nomination in Milwaukee and paid tribute to Comperatore.

The attack marked a major inflection point in the presidential race. Just two weeks before, President JOE BIDEN imploded on the debate stage, sending the Democrat Party into a short-lived civil war, as outside factions continued to turn the screws to the incumbent president to try to oust him from the race. ELON MUSK publicly endorsed Trump after the assassination and would eventually spend $250 MILLION of his fortune to aid Trump’s election efforts.

The day after Trump’s acceptance of the nomination, Biden announced he was dropping out of the race and endorsed KAMALA HARRIS.

Worth Remembering:

• Hurricane Beryl becomes the earliest Category 4 on record in the Atlantic Ocean, and the third-earliest major hurricane (Cat 3 or higher).

• Renovations on a portion of Auschwitz reveal more than 30 handmade chess pieces hidden under floorboards.

• ELTON JOHN says his touring days are over.

• After two decades in the ring, JOHN CENA announces his retirement from the WWE.

• Actor JAY JOHNSTON pleads guilty for his role in the January 6 protests at the Capitol.

• PRINCESS ANNE recovers at home after an unspecified incident in which she injured her head.

• Four-year-old Lydia Pearson becomes the youngest person to scale 48 mountains in her home state of New Hampshire.

• Jury selection begins in ALEC BALDWIN’s manslaughter trial. He faced up to 18 months in prison for the fatal shooting of “Rust” cinematographer HALYNA HUTCHINS. But by month’s end, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismisses the involuntary manslaughter charges against the actor over non-disclosure of evidence by the prosecution.

• DISNEY announces a sequel to 2006’s “The Devil Wears Prada.” The original grossed over $326 million at the global box office.

• KIM KARDASHIAN and MARIAH CAREY team up to help each other find love.

• JENNIFER LOPEZ and BEN AFFLECK list their Beverly Hills mansion for $68 million. They purchased the pad less than a year earlier for around $60 million.

• DONNA KELCE -- mom of TRAVIS and JASON -- announces her small screen debut in the Hallmark Christmas movie, “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story,” along with other Chiefs players.

• TENACIOUS D faces backlash after band member KYLE GLASS says his birthday wish is “Don’t miss Trump next time,” referring to the assassination attempt days earlier.

• KING CHARLES sends DONALD TRUMP a private letter after the former president survived an assassination attempt.

• ADELE announces plans to take a break from music after she wraps her “Weekends with Adele” Vegas residency.

• JOHN DEERE announces intentions to scale back DEI programs.

• MISSY ELLIOTT’s song “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” makes history when NASA transmits it from Earth to Venus (her favorite planet).

• BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN reaches billionaire status.

• The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile tips over on a Chicago-area highway during the lunchtime rush.

• SNOOP DOGG is announced as one of the Olympic torch bearers.

• CAITLYN JENNER slams the Olympic’s opening ceremony theatrics on X, calling the use of drag queens and LGBT activists to recreate da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” a “disgusting display of mockery.”

• “Deadpool & Wolverine” sets a new record for the biggest R-rated opening weekend with a global debut of $444 million.

RIP: Reyes Moronta (31); Jacoby Jones (40); Benji Gregory (46); Erica Ash (46); Esta Terblanche (51); Shannen Doherty (53); Doug Creek (55); Evan Wright (59); Joe Bryant (69); Sheila Jackson Lee (74); Shelley Duvall (75); Joe Bonsall (76); Richard Simmons (76); Pat Colbert (77); Lou Dobbs (78); Whitney Rydbeck (79); Martin Mull (80); Renauld White (80); Roberto “Loli” Linguanotto (81); Carol A. Bongiovi (83); Orlando Cepeda (86); Duke Fakir (88); James Inofe (89); James B. Sikking (90); Joe Engle (91); Francine Pascal (92); Edna O’Brien (93); Bob Newhart (94); Joan Benedict (96); Dr. Ruth Westheimer (96)

HITCHED: Christian McCaffrey & Olivia Culpo; Olivia Munn & John Mulaney; Eddie Murphy & Paige Butcher; Jana Kramer & Allan Russell; Anant Ambani & Radhika Merchant; John Schneider & Dee Dee Sorvino; Saoirse Ronan & Jack Lowden

BABY NEWS: Vanessa Hudgens & Cole Tucker, no details; Peta Murgatroyd & Maksim Chmerkovskiy, son (Milan);

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