Donald Trump claims ‘troubled’ Alec Baldwin intentionally shot Halyna Hutchins

Former US President Donald Trump on Friday made disputatious remarks against Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin, whom he labelled a ‘nutjob’, alleging that the latter might have “purposely shot” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the sets of 'Rust', earlier last month. Speaking on Christ Stigall's radio show, the former president opined, Alec Baldwin had “something to do with it [the incident].

“How do you take a gun, whether it's loaded or not loaded, how do you take a gun, point it at somebody that's not even in the movie, and just point it at this person and pull the trigger, and now she's dead,” Trump asked.

The actor was on a movie set near Santa Fe, New Mexico when he was handed a prop gun that the law enforcement authorities later found was loaded with a live round of ammunition. He ended up fatally shooting cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured one other writer-director, Joel Souza. 

Making damning allegations against Baldwin, Trump said that the actor might have loaded the firearm, considering how he handled it. "Even if it was loaded, and, you know, that's a weird thing, maybe he loaded it," Trump said, dismissing that the shooting may have been an accident.

"Who would put a gun, 'Here, Alec, here's your gun,' 'Oh, good,' lift it up, point it at a person, and pull the trigger, and, 'Oh, man, a bullet came out,' she's dead. So there's something wrong with him, he's a sick guy,” the former US President, who often lands in a pool of controversy with his stark remarks, said.

Trump also went on to point out Baldwin’s alleged behaviour with the reporters as he said that the star often “gets into fistfights” with reporters. “I mean, everything he does, he’s a volatile guy,” Trump claimed, adding that he had observed Baldwin for several years. 

'So this was a cinematographer, not even like an actress,' Trump points out

Continuing his tirade and suspicion against Baldwin, Trump questioned why Baldwin aimed a gun at a person when the scene being rehearsed required him to shoot a gun at the camera for the effect. “If they handed me a gun, I would never point it at somebody and shoot it, you know. I don’t care about checking the gun. They hand you a gun you’re not going to point it at somebody,” Trump told Stigall. Furthermore, he cast doubt on Baldwin’s motive, stressing that Hutchins “was really a cinematographer, so it’s not even like an actress that’s on set with you.” He then went on to add, “so this was a cinematographer, that means he took the gun and pointed it at a cinematographer, pulled the trigger and she was dead.” 

Baldwin and Trump have long had a contentious relationship after the actor imitated the former president on the popular show Saturday Night Live. “He did, I thought, a poor job of imitating me,” Trump said. He continued, “Alec Baldwin was terrible at imitating me and by the way, if I thought he was good and I didn’t like his politics or I didn’t like him, I would have said he was good but he was terrible. I don’t actually know him, but I’ve watched him over the years because of the fact that he did this so much on Saturday Night Live.” Trump derided the actor for mimicking him at NBC late-night during the 2016 presidential campaign.