“Right now, it’s more important than ever that we stand together, and show our true character as Americans, and stand strong and determined, and not allow evil to triumph,” Donald Trump said after escaping an assassination attempt on Saturday.
The essential
- Donald Trump was shot in a shooting on Saturday as he opened a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in a turning point in the campaign for the US presidential election in November.
- Hit in the right ear, the former American president was immediately tackled to the ground. Evacuated with a bloodied face, he delivered a reassuring message about his state of health while questioning his safety.
- A suspect killed in the shootout has been identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, from Pennsylvania. The FBI has called it an “attempted assassination.” One victim, Corey Comperatore, who was at the rally, was killed and several others were injured.
- More accustomed to shock speeches and frontal attacks on Democrats, Donald Trump delivered a message of appeasement and national unity on his Truth Social network: “Right now, it is more important than ever to stand united, and show our true character as Americans, to remain strong and determined, and not allow evil to triumph.”
- This Monday, Donald Trump is attending the Republican Party convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Republicans are to officially nominate him as their presidential candidate to face Joe Biden. Entire areas of the city center are fenced off with large metal fences and patrolled by Secret Service agents. Donald Trump has already arrived on site, but his schedule will remain secret.
Live
09:36 – Thomas Crooks was a member of a shooting club
According to several American media outlets, including ABC News, the shooter was a member of a shooting club, the Clairton Sportsman’s Club, south of Pittsburgh. “The club was unable to comment further on this case in light of ongoing law enforcement investigations,” the club explained in a press release. Elements that could explain Thomas Crooks’ knowledge of precision shooting.
09:20 – Trump changes his speech, a radical shift to “unite the country”
This Thursday, Donald Trump should officially be sworn in as the Republican candidate for the next presidential election against Democrat Joe Biden. A day that is already on the mind of the former President of the United States, despite the turmoil caused by the recent assassination attempt. In the columns of the New York Post, he indicates that he “prepared a very tough speech, a very good speech, on the corrupt, horrible administration, but I threw it away”. In preparation, a new speech to “try to unite our country”, even if Trump perceives “people” as “very divided”. For her part, his wife Melania Trump published a letter in which she invited Americans to stand up after the attack suffered by her husband: “Let’s come together. Now”. What will inspire Donald Trump for his speech?
09:02 – “The Border Patrol Saved My Life”
According to information from New York TimesDonald Trump reportedly spoke with Ronny Jackson, former White House physician, about the events and a detail that may have saved his life. “That chart I was looking at saved my life. If I hadn’t turned my head to look at it, that bullet would have hit me right in the head.” That chart is a screen on which a curve of illegal entries into the United States was displayed when the shooter fired, one of the pillars of the American billionaire’s historic campaign. Indeed, on the video of the attack, Trump turns his head slightly to the right, “the border patrol saved my life,” Trump explains.
08:50 – Trump’s doctor calls it a “miracle”
Still in the context of the interview granted to the New York Post, Donald Trump discussed his chances with the doctor at the hospital where he was treated: “The doctor at the hospital said he had never seen anything like it, he called it a miracle,” said the former President of the United States on the plane taking him to Milwaukee.
08:47 – After the explosives, a second “suspicious device” found at the shooter’s home
While the shooter’s motive remains unknown, the FBI said Sunday that Thomas Matthew Crooks used a weapon – a semi-automatic rifle – that he had purchased legally. “We are investigating this attempted assassination but are also considering it a potential act of domestic terrorism,” said agent Bobby Wells. During a search of the shooter’s home, a second “suspicious device” was found, after the first explosive devices were found in his car.
08:37 – Shooter killed by bullet “between the eyes” according to Trump
In the interview given to the New York PostDonald Trump claims that the author of the attack, Thomas Matthew Crooks was “shot with a single bullet between the eyes (…) they did a fantastic job, it’s surreal for all of us” he also declared to congratulate the intervention of the Secret Service during this historic event.
08:31 – The Republican convention will take place this Monday, Trump already there
This Monday, the Republican Party convention is being held where Donald Trump is to be officially sworn in as presidential candidate against Joe Biden. An event that is taking place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the former head of state is already there but his schedule will be kept secret. An event inevitably disrupted by the assassination attempt targeting the American billionaire. The service responsible for the protection of high-ranking officials has already declared itself “totally ready” for this event. Several areas of the city are completely fenced off for the event.
08:25 – Biden calls on Americans to “lower the temperature”
On Sunday, US President Joe Biden spoke after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. He called on Americans to “lower the temperature”. Politics is not “a deadly battlefield” and “violence must not become something normal”, he solemnly stated. From the Oval Office, the head of state also recalled that if the “stakes are high”, “passions are fiery”, “however strong they may be, our convictions must never descend into violence. There is no place in America for this kind of violence”.
08:22 – “I should be dead” Trump’s words about the miracle
“I shouldn’t be here, I should be dead,” Donald Trump said in an interview with the New York Post on his plane to Milwaukee, for the Republican Party convention that is being held this Monday and in which he is expected to be invested by his bet for the next presidential election. About the attack, he evokes a “very surreal experience” and believes that “a lot of people say it’s the most iconic photo they’ve ever seen. They’re right, I’m not dead. Usually, you have to die to have an iconic photo.” He also evokes the miracle of still being alive, “by luck or by God, a lot of people say it’s thanks to God that I’m still here,” he concludes.
Former US President Donald Trump, aged 78, escaped an assassination attempt this Saturday, July 13, during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Around 6 p.m. local time (midnight Paris time), the Republican candidate, who had just begun his speech with one of his usual tirades on migrants, accusing Joe Biden of having allowed them to enter the country en masse, suddenly held his right ear as shown in television images. He then ducked behind his lectern and was immediately pinned to the ground by Secret Service agents. The audience cried out in terror, and spectators threw themselves to the ground. After a few moments, Donald Trump stood up, his hair disheveled and without his red cap, surrounded by the agents. “Let me get my shoes,” he was heard telling them before he was evacuated.
At a press conference Saturday night, the FBI confirmed that the shooting was an “attempted assassination.” The shooter and a bystander were killed and two bystanders were seriously injured, all adult men, according to police.
With a bloody ear and blood on his face, Donald Trump was quickly escorted from the stage to his car, raising his fist in the air several times in defiance, to the cheers of his supporters. “I was hit by a bullet that pierced the top of my right ear,” Donald Trump later claimed on his Truth Social platform. “I knew right away that something was wrong because I heard a whistling sound, gunshots, and I immediately felt the bullet tear the skin,” he detailed. “It is unbelievable that such an act could take place in our country,” Donald Trump also declared in the hours that followed, with one of his associates pointing to the Democratic “rhetoric.”
The former president was seen getting off his plane unassisted, hours after escaping the assassination attempt, according to a video posted on social media by his deputy communications director. Donald Trump, who has been undergoing hospital tests as a precaution, plans to attend the Republican convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Monday, which is expected to culminate in his inauguration as the Republican candidate for the US presidential election in November.
Unverified images show the body of the alleged assailant lying on the sloping roof of a low-rise building from where he fired, causing terror and panic among onlookers. The FBI identified the shooter as “Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania,” according to a statement cited by NBC and CBS. Multiple witnesses said they saw the shooter before the shooting and alerted Butler police, who said they “responded to a number of reports of suspicious activity,” without elaborating.
The US Secret Service confirmed in a statement that the suspected shooter “fired several shots toward the scene from an elevated position outside the rally” before being “neutralized” by agents.
The campaign for the US presidential election in November has been thrown into disarray, with the assassination attempt rekindling political tensions and conspiracy theories on social media. The rally in Butler, Pennsylvania (northeast), was the last before the Republican convention that begins Monday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the end of which Donald Trump is to be officially nominated as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate.
Democratic President Joe Biden, who faces Donald Trump, said he was relieved to hear that his opponent was apparently in good health, while condemning “such violence.” Biden spoke with Trump, the White House said. He cut short a stay at his Delaware beach house to return to Washington.