Death of a President(2006)

This 2006 film is a fictional 2008 television documentary about the assassination of President Bush.

On October 19, 2007, President George W. Bush travels to Chicago to give a speech about the economy and North Korea.  Outside of the hotel he is speaking at, there is a huge anti-war demonstration going on.  After his speech, the President is outside of the hotel shaking hands with supporters when someone fires two shots into his chest.  The bullets were fired from a building across the street from the hotel.  He is shoved inside his limo by Secret Service and rushed to a local hospital, where he dies on the operating room table a few hours later.  Vice President Dick Cheney, who was in an undisclosed location while the President was in surgery, is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States.

Hours after the shooting, the Chicago Police and the FBI have several people in custody.  They include Casey Claybon (Neko Parham), an Iraq War veteran who was seen near the hotel shortly after the shots were fired, and Jamal Abu Zikri (Malik Bader), a Syrian National seen leaving the building where the bullets were fired from.  They are also looking for another person seen leaving the building moments after the shooting.  During the investigation, the FBI learns that Zikri is a former member of the Syrian Army, and was recently in Afghanistan as an Al Qaeda trainee.  Zikri claims that he was duped into joining Al Qaeda, and faked an injury in order to leave.  If he attempted to escape, they would have killed him.  He had no intention of ever carrying out an Al Qaeda attack, especially on President Bush.  Also during the investigation, a partial fingerprint is found in the room where the shots were fired.  The print was not a complete match to Zikri, though.  With only a partial fingerprint and an admission of Al Qaeda participation, the Justice Department, under pressure from the White House to find the killer, decides to arrest Zikri for the assassination and releases all the other suspects, including Claybon.  Several months later, Zikri is convicted of the assassination and given the death penalty.  His lawyer claims that Zikri could never receive a fair trial in the US, especially after word of his Al Qaeda involvement became public.

The story flashes back to the day after the assassination, where the body of Al Claybon, Casey’s father, is found in his car, apparently the victim of a suicide.  Now back in the present day, Casey is at his parents’ house going through his father’s things when he finds a detailed map of the streets of Chicago, and an itinerary of the President’s schedule the day of the assassination.  The itinerary is not supposed to be available to the public.  Casey knew that his father blamed the President for the death of David Claybon, Casey’s brother, who was also in the Army and killed in Iraq, and somehow wanted revenge.  Casey even told the FBI and later the media that he believed that his father was the killer.  However, the allegations were quickly forgotten once Zikri was indicted for the assassination.  The discovery of the map and itinerary confirms that Al Claybon was the assassin of President Bush.  A later FBI investigation confirms that Al was the unidentified person seen leaving the building shortly after the shots were fired, but they never find out how he got a copy of the President’s itinerary.

Despite the discovery of Al Claybon as the real assassin of President Bush, Jamal Abu Zikri has not been allowed to appeal his case, and remains on death row.