(telegraph.co.uk July 14, 2024)
Donald Trump has said “God alone” saved his life from an assassination attempt, as he called Americans to unite against political violence.
The former president struck a statesmanlike tone after narrowly escaping death when 20-year-old registered Republican, Thomas Matthew Crooks, opened fire at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania.
One attendee at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania where the gun attack took place was killed and two more were hospitalised, investigators said on Sunday.
Sending his “love” to victims of the shooting on Saturday, Trump said he was praying for the wounded and called on Americans to remain “resilient” in the face of “wickedness”.
The presumptive Republican nominee thanked his security team for protecting him after a bullet “ripped through” his ear, causing a minor injury. Imagery of the attack showed that the rounds missed Trump’s head by mere inches.
The incident cast a dark shadow over the presidential election race, as politicians on both sides called for an end to toxic political discourse.
Trump called for the country to reject political division, even as his own allies blamed Joe Biden for the attack.
“Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers yesterday, as it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening,” he said.
“We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our faith and defiant in the face of wickedness.”
He added: “In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand united, and show our true character as Americans, remaining strong and determined, and not allowing evil to win.”
Melania, his wife, said she had realised her life was “on the brink of devastating change” as the “violent bullet” sped towards her husband. She called for an end to “the hate, the vitriol, and the simple-minded ideas that ignite violence”.
Strategists said Trump’s unity message would likely help him win over swing voters in the coming weeks ahead of November’s presidential election. Some moderates have grave concerns about voting for Mr Biden after a series of public gaffes but believed Trump was too divisive.
Crooks, a registered Republican voter who also donated to a progressive political group in 2021, used his father’s AR15-style rifle to carry out the attack from a nearby rooftop.
Investigators have not speculated publicly on his motive. The dietary aid worker at a Pennsylvania nursing home was killed by US Secret Service snipers seconds after opening fire.
Police also named Corey Comperatore, 50, as the rally attendee who was killed by a bullet intended for Trump. Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania governor, said he was a “hero” who died shielding his wife and daughters from the attack.
One of the daughters, Allyson, wrote online: “He truly loved us enough to take a real bullet for us.”
The other victims, 57-year-old David Dutch and 74-year-old James Copenhaver are in a stable condition.
The Trump campaign launched a crowd-funder for Mr Comperatore’s family, which has already raised more than $1 million (£787,000).
FBI investigators and a bomb squad searched Crooks’s family home on Sunday and found bomb-making equipment. Explosive materials were also discovered in his car at the rally, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Amid calls for unity, the attempt on Trump’s life also led to accusations by some of his supporters that Democrats had encouraged violence against him.
Don Jr, the Republican nominee’s eldest son, tweeted that liberal media outlets and rival politicians had radicalised his father’s opponents by portraying him as “literally Hitler”.
JD Vance, the favourite to be Trump’s running mate, said Mr Biden had portrayed him as an “authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs”, claiming that his rhetoric “led directly to president Trump’s attempted assassination”.
Several Republicans said Mr Biden’s reported call for his party to “put Trump in a bullseye” on a call with donors last week had encouraged Crooks to carry out the attack.
Chris LaCivita, the Trump campaign’s co-chairman, said Mr Biden should be “held accountable” for “disgusting remarks”.
One Democratic representative, issued a veiled criticism of the Biden campaign, arguing that the election should not be “misleadingly portrayed as a no-holds-barred struggle between democracy or authoritarianism”.
The same argument was made by the Russian government, which said it did not think the attack “was organised by the current authorities” but said the “atmosphere around candidate Trump…provoked what America is confronting today”.
On Sunday night, Mr Biden repeated his own call for unity, and confirmed he had ordered a “thorough and swift” investigation of the attack.
“There is no place in America for this kind of violence, or any kind of violence for that matter,” he said. “We must unite as one nation to demonstrate who we are.”
The Biden-Harris campaign has suspended its communications and advert campaigns, many of which had depicted Trump as “unhinged” and “extreme”.
Some Republicans, including Mr Trump Jr, criticised Bennie Thompson, a Democratic representative who had previously proposed legislation to remove the Secret Service protection of convicted felons. If the bill had succeeded, then “my dad would be dead right now,” Mr Trump Jr said.
One of Mr Thompson’s staff members was sacked in the hours following the shooting, after she said online that Trump’s opponents should “get shooting lessons so you don’t miss next time”.
Mr Biden said he had a “short but good conversation” with Trump, and that he was “sincerely grateful he is doing well”. Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, called him to offer condolences, and Boris Johnson described his escape as a “miracle”.
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader who is a friend of the former president, said he would fly to the US to support him after the attack.
Comparing the shooting to incidents during the UK election campaign, when he was doused with a milkshake and pelted with rocks, he issued a call in an article for The Telegraph for Left-wing commentators to “realise that their language has an impact”.
“It has become commonplace amongst the media elite to view Trump as an authoritarian fascist,” he said.
“I implore all of those on the Left to think very carefully about how they seek to play politics. Next time, it could be very, very different.”
Saturday’s shooting, which is the first assassination attempt to wound a US president since 1981, has raised questions about the Secret Service security measures at Trump events.
The Trump campaign said it had hired private armed security to protect him, and advised staff to avoid campaign buildings while their safety is assessed.
Mr Biden, who was due to speak again from the Oval Office on Sunday evening, said he had ordered a full security review into measures at the Republican National Convention, which begins on Monday in Wisconsin.
The convention’s organisers are working with the Secret Service and 40 law enforcement agencies to keep delegates, other attendees and members of the media safe.
Trump said he would still speak at the convention, where he is also expected to reveal his choice of running mate.
He said he was planning to delay his arrival, but decided he “cannot allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling, or anything else”.
In an apparent olive branch to one of his fiercest critics, it was revealed that Trump has invited Nikki Haley to speak to delegates.
Ms Haley was Trump’s main opponent during the Republican primary this year, and argued he was unsuitable to be president. Dozens more senior Republican figures will speak at the four-day event.
Invanka Trump, the former president’s daughter and former White House aide, said she believed her deceased mother Ivana “was watching over Dad last night during the attempt on his life”.
Melania has largely stayed out of the spotlight during the 2024 presidential campaign but called on her husband’s opponents to remember that “every single politician is a man or a woman with a loving family”.
Bookmakers on Sunday slashed odds on Trump winning November’s presidential election, amid speculation that his brush with death would lead to an increase in public support.
Some analysts pointed to an eight-point poll bounce experienced by Ronald Reagan after he was shot in March 1981.
Others suggested that a Democrat coup against Mr Biden is now unlikely to succeed, leaving him as the party’s nominee. Trump allies have suggested they think they would be more likely to beat Mr Biden than Kamala Harris, his vice president.
After concerns about Trump’s security team at the rally, two congressmen proposed a law that would give presidential candidates enhanced Secret Service protection.
Ritchie Torres and Mike Lawler called the assassination attempt a “dark moment in our nation’s history” and called for “more protection” for top presidential candidates.
If successful, the law would also give protection to Robert F Kennedy Jr, who is running as an independent presidential candidate and has long complained he does not receive federal security assistance.
Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, has said he will hold congressional hearings to investigate the level of security at Trump’s events.
They will include evidence sessions with Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the Secret Service, and other officials from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2024/07/13/donald-trump-speech-shooting-latest-news/
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