Trump spokesperson reverses, says ex-president didn’t buy Glock at South Carolina gun store

A campaign spokesperson for Donald Trump on Monday clarified that the ex-president did not purchase a Glock firearm after initially tweeting that he had during a visit to a gun store in South Carolina.

Trump’s visit to the store came ahead of remarks he was set to deliver in Summerville, S.C., on Monday afternoon. Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung initially wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the former president had purchased a Glock firearm.

Cheung also posted a video of Trump at the firearm store. In it, the former president points to a firearm and says, “I want to buy one.” Cheung’s video and a separate post by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) showed Trump posing with the gun.

Among those with Trump at the store included Greene and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson (R), whose endorsement, along with 12 others, were touted by the Trump campaign earlier on Monday.

But CNN reporter Alayna Treene later said the news outlet had confirmed Trump hadn’t bought the firearm.

“Trump spokesman Steven Cheung clarifies to CNN that Trump did not actually purchase a gun while visiting the armory in South Carolina,” Treene wrote on X.

Never Back Down, the super PAC supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, immediately hit back at Trump’s visit to the state and released an ad targeting the former president over his position on the Second Amendment and gun rights.

“Trump promised NRA members he’d have their back. But when Second Amendment rights came under attack, Trump abandoned us and stood with liberal Democrats,” a narrator says in the ad from Never Back Down.

Trump’s visit to the state comes as the former president looks to shore up support as the frontrunner in the 2024 GOP primary. His rivals, including DeSantis, have struggled to narrow the gap in polling against Trump.

In South Carolina, the former president has enjoyed the support from prominent Republicans in the state, including Gov. Henry McMaster, Lt. Gov. Pam Evette, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and three House Republicans, among others.

That support is notable given that two South Carolinians — former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) — are also running for president but do not enjoy the kind of support from statewide elected officials in South Carolina that Trump has been able to galvanize.

Polling, too, shows the prominent South Carolinians trailing Trump in the state. A Monmouth University-Washington Post poll released earlier this month found Trump receiving 46 percent of likely Republican primary voters in the Palmetto State while Haley received 18 percent and Scott received 10 percent.

Updated: 3:42 p.m. ET

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