CBS News reporter says he got 'PTSD' from Trump assassination attempt because of crowd anger at media

CBS News Capitol Hill correspondent Scott MacFarlane told podcaster Chuck Todd on Wednesday about how traumatized he was by Trump rallygoers blaming the media for the assassination attempt against President Donald Trump in 2024.

Americans reeled in shock from the attempt on Trump’s life during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, but MacFarlane said he had personal trauma from the crowd’s immediate rage in response.

"For those of us there, it was such a horror because you saw an emerging America," MacFarlane told Todd on his podcast. "And it wasn't the shooting, Chuck. This was – I got diagnosed with PTSD within 48 hours. I got put on trauma leave, not because, I think, of the shooting, but because you saw it in the eyes, the reaction of the people."

 "They were coming for us," he said in the clip flagged by The Daily Caller. "If [Trump] didn't jump up with his fist, they were going to come kill us!"

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CBS News Capitol Hill correspondent Scott MacFarlane told podcaster Chuck Todd about his ongoing trauma from seeing the crowd's rage on the day of the Trump rally shooting. ("The Chuck ToddCast")

"I know," Todd agreed.

Later in the discussion, MacFarlane added that, "Many of us on press row, as we talked about this on our text chains for weeks after, were quite confident we'd be dead if he didn't get back up."

While it wasn’t everyone in the crowd, MacFarlane claimed that dozens of people turned on them and said, "’You did this. This is your fault. You caused this. You killed him,’ and they were going to beat us with their hands. I mean, they were going to kill us. And respectfully, the Secret Service had bigger issues [than] protecting us. When he jumped up triumphantly, it saved us."

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BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA - July 13: Then-presidential candidate Donald Trump raises his arm with blood on his face during a campaign rally for former President Donald Trump at Butler Farm Show Inc. on Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pa.  ( Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Nonetheless, he said, "I can't eliminate from my mind's eye the look in their faces. That's what America is right now. It's not rational. It's an irrational thought to think the media shot somebody from the top of a building, but the lack of rationality is what connects January 6 to this."

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"How do we pull out of this as a country is the defining question of our time," he said.