The Magic Bullet: Major Issues With New Claims by JFK Secret Service Agent
Is this a red herring to throw off the JFK assassination research community?
Former Secret Service agent Paul Landis, who had been part of John F. Kennedy's security detail revealed explosive new claims this week regarding the ever-perplexing “magic bullet” that wounded Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally prior to the president's fatal shot. The “single-bullet theory” remains arguably the biggest point of contention among JFK researchers to this day.
In Landis’ new account, he claims that when Kennedy’s limousine arrived at the hospital and JFK and Governor Connally were rushed inside, he went to grab Mrs. Kennedy’s belongings from the vehicle and noticed bullet fragments in a pool of blood. He then inspected the back seat where Kennedy once sat erect before he was fatally struck in Dealey Plaza and detected a solid, nearly pristine bullet wedged in a crevice on top of the back seat. Caught up in the panic and urgency of the situation, he grabbed the bullet and slipped it in his pocket. He then went in the hospital and was shoved among others inside Trauma Room 1 where doctors were working on treating Kennedy. His first instinct was to give the bullet to a supervisor, but the moment got the best of him and made a split-section decision to drop the bullet next to Kennedy’s body on the stretcher. He assumed that doctors would “just figure it out”.
Landis never told a soul about having found a bullet in the limo, nor did he tell anyone about subsequently dropping it on Kennedy’s stretcher, despite being interviewed by authorities about his experience immediately afterwards. He held onto this colossal secret for the next several decades, saying that the entire situation was so traumatic for him that he never wanted to even think about it. He had a change of heart, however, after having read a copy of Six Seconds in Dallas (a fantastic book on the JFK assassination, I might add, but also will end up being an interesting irony in his story), and decided to come forward with this bombshell new claim in a book set to be released next month.
I’ve seen a number of JFK assassination aficionados fist pumping over the latest allegations, as this new claim completely eradicates the idea that the “magic bullet” that allegedly struck JFK in the back would go on to cause damage to Connally in various locations and then astoundingly exit his thigh. If there were a bullet found behind JFK’s back on top of his seat, then that means there was a separate bullet (or multiple) that hit Connally to cause all of his wounds.
While, admittedly, at first blush I felt a similar sense of vindication when I read Landis’ account the other day, as I myself have never believed the official story of JFK’s death my entire life. But after a second or third read-through, it became quite apparent that his claims didn’t make any sense at all, especially when you compare it to a number of other testimonies in this case. And quite interestingly, even though Landis is being paraded around as the thorn in the “magic bullet” theory’s side, he himself still believes the official story of Oswald being the lone gunman…(I can see my fellow JFK assassination research buffs rolling their eyes now).
The first issue with Landis’ story pertains to the claim of dropping the bullet onto Kennedy’s stretcher inside the trauma room, where he had been pushed inside among other medical personnel. The official story, as told in the Warren Commission Report, is that they found the bullet on Connally’s stretcher, which was the genesis of the single-bullet theory. The fatal bullet that blew off part of Kennedy’s head was allegedly found in his skull during the autopsy at Bethesda. So the only other bullet that was allegedly found must have come out of Connally’s thigh (discovered later on the stretcher).
So how does Landis account for the bullet ending up on Connally’s stretcher when he placed it on JFK’s? Well, he says that the two stretchers must have banged into one another causing the bullet to bounce up from one stretcher to the other. From a very rudimentary physics perspective, that scenario would be highly unlikely considering a bullet has a low center of gravity and if the two stretchers collided, the bullet initially in a stationary position would likely roll off the stretcher and onto the floor (especially considering the wide gaps in between the table portion of the stretcher and the bumper). It’s hard to imagine the bullet flying up into the air and landing onto an adjacent stretcher.
But even more dubious is the claim when comparing it to what the senior engineer at the hospital said regarding discovering the bullet. And this is especially interesting because we see where the Warren Commission skews the testimony to fit the notion that only Kennedy’s stretcher could be eliminated as the source of the bullet.
Hospital engineer Tomlinson described in his own words in a recorded interview decades ago that he had just come off the elevator near the trauma rooms when he noticed a stretcher in the corner. He then pushed the stretcher against the wall (as it was blocking the men’s room) and a bullet rolled out and immediately he notified his supervisor. What’s significant here is that he distinguishes in this interview that the stretcher where the bullet was found was unrelated to the assassination, meaning neither Kennedy’s nor Connally’s stretcher had the bullet on it.
This is also where we see the irony of Landis stating that it was the book Six Seconds in Dallas that prompted him to want to come forward with his story. In this well-detailed book, author Thompson has an entire section on the stretcher fiasco and makes a concerted effort to point out how and why the bullet couldn’t have been found in either Connally’s nor JFK’s stretcher. The Warren Commission also makes an adamant insistence that there’s no possible way for the bullet to be on JFK’s stretcher, but that is because they absolutely could not allow that consideration, as they needed that bullet to come out of Connally and Connally alone. If there were multiple bullets piercing Kennedy and Connally that were found, then there’s no way for it to be the lone gunman Oswald, taking into account the rifle he allegedly used and the timestamps of the bullets being heard and seen striking them.
It is also important to note here that there was never any moment where JFK and Connally’s stretchers could have collided. Connally was the first to be placed on a gurney from the limo and Kennedy immediately afterwards. Both were rushed into the hospital, one behind the other, and into separate rooms (JFK in Trauma Room 1 and the Dallas Governor into Trauma Room 2). Attempts to save Kennedy’s life ended just before 1pm when he was pronounced dead and they waited for the casket to arrive. At around the same time, Connally was taken from Trauma Room 2 (on the stretcher he came in on) up to the 2nd floor to the operating room. It was there where he was transferred to the exam table and his original stretcher was taken to the hallway, after being torn down. Kennedy’s stretcher, however, remained in his room until Kennedy and his coffin left with him in it, after 2pm, where it was then fully stripped of all sheets and any remaining equipment (per the testimony of both nurses and the hospital manager) and pushed into Trauma Room 2.
Tomlinson, however, found the nearly unmarred bullet at 1:45pm on the stretcher in the hallway and noted that there were two bloodied rolled up sheets and equipment on it, ruling out both JFK and Connally’s stretcher as being the one with the bullet on it.
Moving forward, we are now faced with another major flaw in Landis’ allegations, or at least in the spin the media is trying to do on the story (whether out of pure negligence or with a deliberate intent). In an interview just a few nights ago with CNN, Landis went on camera to recount his story but this time the tale shifted from placing the bullet onto Kennedy’s stretcher to placing it on the stainless steel exam table. What???
Secret Service agent who witnessed JFK assassination speaks to Tapper
In this video clip, CNN anchor Tapper tries to clarify with Landis that the bullet was placed on an exam table as opposed to the gurney that which Kennedy originally was wheeled in on. Landis does not refute this clarification, raising a huge red flag for me.
Why is this distinction so important? Well, among the testimonies of just about every single doctor and nurse and other hospital staff, President Kennedy was never removed from his stretcher and onto another surface until he was placed in the coffin. In fact, this couldn’t even be slightly plausible because patients remain on their gurneys in the trauma center until they are moved to the operating room on another floor, per standard operations at Parkland Hospital. That is where the exam table is and where patients are moved onto for surgery. But President Kennedy was never taken to the operating room.
In looking into the testimonies of the various doctors and nurses who were there that day to delve deeper into this discrepancy, I came across an account of a supposed Parkland doctor (a junior resident at the time) named Joe Goldstrich who makes a very interesting claim himself. And interestingly, I only found his testimony in a few small news articles, not anywhere in any official report. In fact, I couldn’t find one doctor or nurse who mentioned him in the Warren Report. But Dr. Goldstrich claims he was there that day at Parkland Hospital and was one of the first to be in the room with President Kennedy. In addition to mistaking the time that the presidential motorcade arrived at the hospital, saying it was at “12pm noon” when he was eating lunch (30 minutes before JFK was even shot), he says that he helped remove JFK’s clothing (despite not being mentioned by any of the nurses or doctors who actually did remove the clothing), and helped transfer his body to the exam table from the stretcher.
So here we have another account of JFK being moved from the stretcher to an exam table, but every other testimony given completely contradicts this notion and would be entirely impossible if JFK never left Trauma Room 1.
This brings us to another intriguing report of a nurse who was allegedly working at the hospital the day JFK and Connally were brought in who also gives me strong Goldstrich vibes with her discrepant testimonies.
Phyllis Hall says that she was in the entry hallway of the hospital when the stretchers of Connally and JFK burst through the doors, both passing her by. The problem with Hall’s story is that she changes it entirely between two different interviews she gave to the media. In one publication, she is quoted as seeing a bullet laying on the stretcher that was holding Kennedy (near his ear and shoulder area), but then in another article she says she saw the bullet actually lodged into Kennedy’s head (near his ear). On the latter account, one might wonder if this was the fatal bullet that struck Kennedy last, but that bullet was allegedly found during his autopsy and no other medical personnel noticed it during the time they were trying to save his life. In both accounts she gives, it seems interesting the parallel to Landis’s claims where neither she nor Landis decide to tell anyone about seeing the bullet until years later.
Another issue with her testimony is that she noticed an odd detail when Kennedy was wheeled in, noting that he had nice slacks on, but that he wasn’t wearing any shoes. The doctors and nurses, however, who removed Kennedy’s clothing made no mention of Kennedy being shoeless and, in fact, in Dr. Crenshaw’s book Trauma Room One, he specifically writes about having taken Kennedy’s shoes off while in the trauma room (after being wheeled in). Now going back to Landis’ testimony on CNN the other night - where did he say he placed the bullet exactly on “the exam table”? Well, right next to Kennedy’s shoes, as he was lying there!
JFK shooting witness: nurse recalls day President Kennedy was shot in Dallas
I find myself unintentionally leaving the best point for last, one that really takes the cake in this entire mystery bullet debacle. While Landis’ fantastical claims seem to have sent a shockwave throughout the “conspiracy theory” world (and I must note that I wince at myself using that pejorative), he is actually not the first to even come up with this exact same story! No, my friends, there’s another secret service agent who literally made the same exact allegation a decade ago, yet somehow fell down the memory hole.
Secret Service agent Sam Kinney was the driver of the follow-up car right behind Kennedy’s and told his neighbor several years ago that he was cleaning out JFK’s limo at the hospital when he found a bullet in the back seat. He then slipped it in his pocket and went in the hospital and placed it on a stretcher.
JFK Secret Service Agent Sam Kinney's Neighbor's (Gary Loucks) Revelations
Are you even kidding me right now???
The neighbor says that Kinney told him to hang onto this secret until he died. This neighbor then decided that on the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination, back in 2013, that he would then tell the whole world. Well isn’t that also interesting because Landis’ book is coming out right on the eve of the 60th anniversary of JFK’s assassination this November, almost as if they’re repackaging a previous red herring to sell to the JFK research crowd once again at the perfect jubilee moment.
So the question then is why is this refurbished, deeply-flawed theory coming out now?
And I want to make an important note that my cynicism of Landis’ claims (and others mentioned here) is not because I believe in the Oswald lone gunman theory. In fact, there is almost no theory that I deem more impossible than the idea of Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone that day - even if at all. I think he was a patsy through and through and I find it an insult to my intelligence for anyone to try to convince me otherwise.
We may never know the real truth about how many bullets there really were, or who really fired them (and don’t even get me started on the “Jackie did it!” theory, my goodness), or who even planted them on the stretchers, if at all. There’s also interesting accounts of Jack Ruby being spotted at the hospital that day (was he the real bullet planter?), or was it simply a black ops agent who did it and Ruby is the cover “conspiracy theory” story for it?
We also have accounts of an FBI agent and a CIA agent being in the hospital at the time JFK was being treated, both of whom were deemed suspicious and some have postulated were a distraction for the bullet to be planted.
In closing, one thing that I believe many of my readers will understand is that when it comes to psychological operations committed by the government, one of the most effective weapons is to insert fake stories (be it blatant or slightly flawed) to misguide people from ever discovering the truth. The JFK assassination might be one of the most widely debated “conspiracy theories” of all time with literally thousands (yes, thousands) of books written on the subject - and that is by no mistake. There is no better way to get people chasing each other down the wrong rabbit hole than by injecting fake and/or flawed stories into a research community, especially ones loaded with material striking our confirmation bias chord that is found in all of us - and perhaps our greatest weakness when it comes to discernment. People simply want to hear what they want to hear - and “they” know it.
I think it was the driver, have you seen the footage of him leaning over? There’s some channels that slow down him down and he points the gun behind him.