Addressing the nation from the Oval Office on Sunday night, President Biden said the assassination attempt on former President Trump calls for Americans to “take a step back” and “de-escalate political tensions.”
“My fellow Americans, I want to speak to you tonight about the need to ease political tensions,” the president said. “Although we may differ, we are not enemies. We are neighbors, friends, colleagues, citizens, and above all, fellow Americans. We must come together.”
Biden said the assassination attempt on former President Trump “calls for all of us to take a step back and look at where we are.”
Biden added, “Politics should never be a literal battlefield. A killing field.”
Biden vows Secret Service will provide ‘all resources’ to ensure Trump’s ‘continued security’
Former President Trump was hit by multiple shots fired toward the stage from an elevated location near the outdoor venue where he was speaking. Rally On Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, a bullet pierced the top of the former president’s right ear before he was escorted off stage.
Trump claims he was ‘shot by a bullet’ in assassination attempt at Pennsylvania rally
The attempted assassin was identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper shortly after the shots were fired.
However, Crooks killed one spectator, former Buffalo Township, Pennsylvania fire chief Corey Comperatore, who was fatally wounded while trying to shield his wife and daughters from the bullets.
Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump is assisted by security guards after shots rang out during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, USA, on July 13, 2024. (Reuters/Brendan McDiarmid)
Two other people were seriously injured in the attack, authorities said.
The FBI is investigating the shooting as an assassination attempt.
Speaking earlier on Sunday, Biden said he had spoken with Trump on Saturday night. “I’m really grateful that Mr. Trump is in good health and recovering. We had a short but good conversation,” Biden said.
Speaking from the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Biden vowed to ensure the U.S. Secret Service has “all the resources, capabilities and safeguards it needs to ensure its continued security.”
Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Live updates on deadly shooting at Trump rally
“I have directed the Director of the Secret Service to review all security measures for the Republican National Convention, which is scheduled to begin tomorrow,” Biden said.
Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump reacts as multiple gunshots ring out during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, USA, July 13, 2024. (Reuters/Brendan McDiarmid)
“I am conducting an independent investigation into the security of yesterday’s rally to assess exactly what happened, and I will share the findings of that independent investigation with the American people,” Biden said.
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The Biden campaign announced Saturday night that it was halting all campaign advertising targeting Trump and suspending all external communications. The campaign is in the midst of a $50 million advertising offensive this month that has seen it run ads in every key battleground state.
