Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday speculated that he was shot because opponents called him a “threat to democracy,” as FBI agents continue to investigate the motive for the near-assassination more than two weeks ago.
“They’re saying I’m not a Democrat. I’m not a Democrat. I’m a threat to democracy. That’s just a quick statement, and it means nothing to them to say that,” Trump said on the radio show “Sid and Friends in the Morning.”
“Maybe that’s why I got shot. Who knows. Rhetorically, it’s a terrible thing to say about someone like me, but they say it all the time,” he added.
The FBI has yet to determine the motive behind 20-year-old gunman Thomas Crooks’ shooting of President Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
Authorities said their investigation had revealed that Crooks was trying to determine how far Lee Harvey Oswald was from President John F. Kennedy at the time of the assassination and that he may have made “anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant” posts online.
Crooks opened fire on Trump from a nearby rooftop midway through the rally, striking him in the ear and killing firefighter Corey Comperatore.
The gunman was shot dead by the Secret Service after shooting the former president.
Later, in a radio interview, Trump said Democrats were the real “threat” to democracy because after Biden stops campaigning, DNC delegates, not voters, will choose the party’s nominee.
“In fact, they are the threat. Joe Biden is incompetent and they gave his 14 million votes to someone else instead of through the primary system,” Trump said.
The Republican candidate said Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden has endorsed as his successor, is “far more incompetent” and “extreme” than the current president.
He also claimed that Harris “doesn’t like Israel” and “doesn’t like Jews,” as evidenced by her cold comments about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Obtained from NY Post
Harris has used her experience as a prosecutor in San Francisco to make “prosecuting” Trump’s policies and past actions a pillar of her campaign.
