Donald Trump's son accuses Google of covering up ex-President's shooting
Trump Jr indicated the Google search results amounted to election interference
Reuters
Donald Trump's son, Donald Jr, has blasted Google for attempting to "interfere" in the upcoming presidential election by allegedly covering up his father's shooting.
In the wake of the assassination attempt which left the 45th President with a bleeding ear, Google results for "assassination attempt on..." had returned suggested search terms like "...Ronald Reagan" and "...Vladimir Lenin" - but not Donald Trump.
Even when users had searched for "Assassination attempt on Trum...", Google would suggest "Assassination attempt on Truman" - the country's 33rd President.
The tech oddity had sparked a wide-ranging backlash from Trump supporters - though Google's own rules detail how the tech giant tries to curb search terms related to political violence in an attempt to discourage incitement.
Trump Jr said the tech oddity was "despicable"
Reuters
But Donald Trump Jr reacted with fury to the recommended searches on social media.
He wrote: "Big Tech is trying to interfere in the election AGAIN to help Kamala Harris. We all know this is intentional election interference from Google. Truly despicable."
Meanwhile long-time Trump ally, Senator Ted Cruz, wrote: "This…is…insane. Google is engaged in active election interference. They are gas-lighting the American people and trying to erase the attempted assassination of Trump."
Even Tesla and X owner Elon Musk chimed in, writing: "Wow, Google has a search ban on President Donald Trump! Election interference?"
MORE ON THE RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE:
Donald Trump Jr reacted with fury to the recommended searches
Reuters
By Tuesday, Google appears to have fixed the issue, with a spokesman saying: "Our systems have protections against autocomplete predictions associated with political violence, which were working as intended prior to this horrific event occurring.
"We're working on improvements to ensure our systems are more up to date."
Trump Jr's scathing online attack on Google and Kamala Harris comes at a nervy time for the Republican ticket.
Polling released today by Reuters and Ipsos has placed the likely Democratic nominee, Vice-President Kamala Harris, at a slim singular percentage point ahead of Donald Trump.
Trump is hot on Harris's heels in the polls
Reuters
The three-day poll, completed on Sunday, handed Harris a 43 per cent vote share among registered voters - with Trump hot on her heels at 42 per cent.
It's a narrowing of the polls since last week - when in the immediate aftermath of Joe Biden's much-speculated drop-out of the race, Harris led 44 per cent to Trump's 42.
But the most recent poll showed registered voters in the US preferred Trump's approach to the economy, immigration and crime, while viewing Harris as having the better plan on healthcare.
And while Harris is set to announce her VP pick as soon as Monday, multiple sources familiar with her planning have said, Donald Trump Jr took to social media to praise his father's choice for second-in-command, JD Vance, saying he "destroys Kamala's anti-American energy".