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Former President Donald Trump was wounded Saturday in an assassination attempt when a gunman opened fire on him at a rally about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh. On Saturday night, the crusader said Trump had been examined at a local medical center and was doing well.
One user at the rally was killed and two others were wounded before Secret Service agents killed the shooter. The former president shared an update on Truth Social on Sunday morning, sending love to the sick and their families.
This is what we know:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is now investigating Saturday’s shooting at former President Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania and is relying on the public’s recommendation.
The Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are also in the investigation.
The suspected shooter, known to the FBI as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was killed at the scene by Secret Service agents.
At a news conference around midnight, FBI Special Agent Kevin Rojek said investigators knew the motive for the shooting.
Investigators will need to know whether Crooks acted or worked with others, and where and how he received the gun used in the shooting. They will most probably communicate to other folks Crooks has been in touch with recently and review his social media, telephone records and internet seek history.
There are also questions about how the shooting that injured Trump, the former president and presumptive Republican nominee, could have occurred in the first place. William Ralph Basham, Jr. , former director of the Secret Service, told NPR that the fact that This occurred due to a failure of the agency, which is a component of the National Security Decomposition.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Saturday night that such violence was an attack on American democracy and that the Justice Department would use all available resources to help investigate.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told NBC’s Today show that he texted former President Donald Trump “immediately” after reports of a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday night.
“My God, I saved him, and word is that that bullet came within a millimeter of causing real, permanent damage or probably taking his life,” Johnson said. “Obviously we cannot continue like this as a society. »
Johnson said he won briefings with authorities and spoke Saturday night with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, noting that he asked him “some pointed questions related to security and what happened there. “
Johnson, in particular, said he asked Mayorkas if drones were being used near the rally and that Mayorkas said he “didn’t know when I asked him that question. “
Hours after the attack, Johnson announced that Congress would conduct a full investigation into the shooting when lawmakers returned from recess on Monday, July 22.
“In the meantime, we want to tone it down. We want to lower the temperature in this country,” he said. “We want leaders of all parties on both sides to speak this out and make sure this happens so that we can move forward and our relaxed society that we are all fortunate to have. “»
The Secret Service denies allegations that it rejected a request for more coverage for former President Trump. In a message posted on X (formerly Twitter), Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi called the claim through a House Republican lawmaker “absolutely false. “
The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability has already announced its goal of investigating the attempted assassination of the former president. “There are many questions, and Americans have no easy answers,” the panel’s chairman, Rep. James R. , wrote Saturday. Comer (R-Ky. ), in a statement. Comer said he contacted the Secret Service for information and asked Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify before the committee.
The attack on Trump, the former president and presumptive Republican nominee, constitutes one of the most serious acts of political violence involving high-profile political figures in recent memory.
Leah Rigueur, a historian at Johns Hopkins University, called the occasion “a moment with quick parallels to a broader culture of American political violence. “
Rigor said it is reminiscent of the shootings of Congresswomen Gabby Giffords and Steve Scalise, the foiled kidnapping attempt on Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other events.
Rigueur sees the attack as part of a trend toward expanding threats for about 15 years and called the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U. S. Capitol “a warning of the willingness of ordinary Americans to resort to to extremism in intensely intense political moments.
Lindsay Chervinsky, a presidential historian and Making of the Presidency, said it reminds her of the 1960s, a time of “racial tensions, economic challenges, unpopular wars, intraparty divisions and sectoral realignments. “
Chervinsky expressed considerations about an “escalation of violent rhetoric among his followers” and a greater feeling of “persecution. ”
Yale historian Joanne Freeman said there is still much to know about the attack, but said the violent rhetoric “helps normalize this type of act. “
Trump’s crusade says security is heightened around the Republican National Convention site in Milwaukee as Republicans from across the country have begun arriving in the city. The RNC, which is already a high-security event, attracts visitors from across the country to sign up for procedures to officially nominate former President Donald Trump as the GOP’s presidential nominee.
Saturday’s shooting did not deter others like Cooper Walden, who came from Illinois. He temporarily found out about the assassination attempt through social media. “I think there will be other people who will feel that way, just, you know, just to When you see someone you’re attacking like that, you know, it really hits you,” Walden explained.
Walden is a delegate, but he’s one of thousands expected in Milwaukee for this week’s conference.
Trump promised on Truth Social Sunday morning that he would be in Wisconsin for the RNC.
The occasion begins on Monday.
The former president commented publicly on the shooting for the first time since with a note in Truth Social:
Trump showed he will speak at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. His speech is scheduled for Thursday, the last day of the four-day event.
“Right now, it is more vital than ever that we stand together across countries and show our true character as Americans by staying strong and determined and not allowing evil to win,” he said. “I love our country, I love you. ” “Everyone, and I can’t wait to speak to our wonderful country this week from Wisconsin. “
Trump also thanked his supporters for their minds and prayers, writing that “only God is the one who prevented the unthinkable from happening. “
He offered his prayers to the wounded and his condolences to the relatives of the “citizen who killed so horribly. “
The United States Secret Service said two other people were seriously injured and killed, all adult men.
Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old known to the FBI as the shooter at former President Donald Trump’s political rally on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Crooks, a registered Republican who donated $15 through ActBlue, the Democrats’ allied organization, in 2021. That’s according to Pennsylvania voter registration and FEC data.
The criminals were shot dead by Secret Service agents after their attack last night.
BERLIN – European leaders join presidents and ministers from around the world in denouncing the political violence following the shooting that wounded former President Trump in Pennsylvania last night.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the attack on Trump, calling it despicable. In his article X, Scholz wished Trump a speedy recovery and warned that “such acts of violence threaten democracy. “
Also writing in X, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban sent Trump his “thoughts and prayers” in what he considers “these dark hours. ”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she hoped “dialogue can triumph over hatred and violence” in the coming months of the election campaign, while British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke “appalled by the shocking scenes” of the demonstration.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was deeply shocked, a sentiment shared by European Union foreign policy leader Josep Borrell, who called the shooting “unacceptable. “
Organizers of the largest planned protest against the Republican National Convention say their plans have been replaced in light of the shooting at the Trump campaign event in Pennsylvania.
“We are in our security plan,” Omar Flores, spokesman for the Coalition for the March in the RNC, said Saturday night.
He highlighted the group’s experience in organizing protests without injuries or violence, but noted that there would be “teams of commissioners and specialized doctors capable of guaranteeing our safety. “
Between 2,500 and 5,000 more people are expected at this demonstration and march on the first day of the RNC.
The hotly contested direction of the march was recently agreed upon Friday with the city of Milwaukee, which is hosting the conference, to allow protesters to be within sight and hearing of RNC delegates at Fiserv Forum Stadium, but not within the security perimeter of the conference. place.
Democratic volunteers were supposed to knock on doors and run a campaign for President Biden today, but a campaign official said the in-person campaign is on hold for now. This follows an earlier announcement by the Biden campaign that they were rushing to remove all TV classified ads and other messaging in light of the attack on Trump. It’s unclear how long the crusade will suspend operations, given that the Republican National Convention begins Monday in Milwaukee and Trump’s crusade has already issued an appeal for funds in the wake of the shooting.
New York City will beef up police patrols at Trump Tower and other locations on Saturday after US Secret Service agents carried a bloodied Donald Trump off the level after gunshots were heard at a rally for his presidential crusade in Pennsylvania.
Deputy Mayor Fabien Lévy announced the reinforcement of the police presence on Saturday night, stating that the increase in police resources is due to an “excess of caution” and is not related to an express threat. There is no known connection between the demonstration incident in Pennsylvania and New York City, he posted on the social network X.
Keep reading at gothamist.com
Elected officials, as analyzed by the Brennan Center for Justice public policy organization, have experienced higher turnover rates due to an increased number of threats against elected officials. These threats have a significant effect on the public that those officials also seek to serve, according to the Brennan Center.
As NPR political correspondent Sue Davis tells host Scott Detrow, the prevalence of threats and violence “underscores a political truth that Americans are in many ways ready to accept. “
Former Congresswoman Gabthrough Giffords, herself a survivor of political violence, responded to what happened at Trump’s rally by saying, “Political violence is terrifying. I know. “
“I have former President Trump and all those affected by today’s indefensible act of violence at my center,” he said. “Political violence is un-American and is never acceptable, ever. “
Originally at 7:40 p. m. ET Saturday night
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N. Y. , and Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N. Y. , denounced the violence at the rally.
“Political violence of any kind is never acceptable,” Jeffries said in a social media post.
Schumer said in a statement that he was “horrified by what happened at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania and relieved that former President Trump is safe. ” He repeated that “political violence has no place in our country. “
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also denounced the violence as a “peaceful demonstration. ”
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also issued a statement: “I thank God that former President Trump is safe. As we are briefed on more main points about this horrific incident, let us pray that everyone present at the former president’s rally will be unharmed.
Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders called the violence “unacceptable. ”
“I wish Donald Trump, and whoever could have possibly been injured, a speedy recovery,” he said on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Originally at 7:27 p. m. ET Saturday night
The US Secret Service is investigating how a man armed with an AR-style rifle was able to get close enough to shoot and wound former President Donald Trump at a rally Saturday in Pennsylvania, a monumental failure in one of the agency’s main responsibilities. .
For more information, head over to the full ➡️ story
BUTLER, Pa. — Former President Donald Trump was the target of an assassination attempt Saturday when a gunman opened fire on him at a rally about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh.
One user was killed in the shooting and two were seriously wounded, the U. S. Secret Service said. All were adult men, law enforcement said at a news conference. The gunman was shot dead through the secret services.
Trump ran off the level and the rally ended shortly after.
Early Sunday, the FBI identified the subject of the shooting as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, about 40 miles south of Butler.
“It will be some time before we can give a definitive answer” if this is a lone gunman, Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said at a new press convention Saturday night.
The former president, speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, said in a message posted on his social media site that he knew something was wrong.
He wrote his quote: “I heard a whistle, gunshots and felt the bullet tearing the skin. “
For more information, head over to the full ➡️ story