Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, said the U.S. “needs to de-escalate” following the attempted assassination of President Trump at a rally on Saturday.
The senator, in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday morning, called the shooting a “dark day” and a “tragedy.”
Fetterman said Congress may need to investigate whether anything went wrong from a security perspective during Trump’s rally on Saturday.
“It’s impossible to imagine something like this could ever happen again,” Fetterman said, “but we have to ease up on this issue. This will be the biggest election of our lifetimes, and it’s going to be a struggle for many months to come.”
He added: “I’m not making this about politics.”
Former President Trump survives assassination attempt; FBI identifies perpetrator as Thomas Matthew Crooks
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) leaves an intelligence briefing on an unknown aerial object shot down by the U.S. military this weekend, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 14, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
The Democratic senator said she was in the area of an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday evening when the attack occurred, to attend a vigil for a slain transgender teenager.
Americans fear an increase in political violence these days According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll: and tIn a May survey, two in three respondents said they were concerned about the possibility of violence after the election.
Security stepped up at Republican National Convention following assassination attempt on President Trump
Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump waves as he is led off the stage surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean J. Puskar)
Supporters of former U.S. president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump cheer as the American flag is untied before the president speaks during a campaign event at the Butler Farm Show Co. in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. Donald Trump was nearly assassinated by a gunman at a campaign rally on Saturday, hitting him in the ear, a chaotic and shocking incident that is likely to stomp fears of instability ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)
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Fetterman said he was thankful that President Trump has made a full recovery and that he was thinking of the rally attendees who died and praying for the safety of the two who were seriously injured.
“Last night, I was driving home from northwestern Pennsylvania … I was so sad,” he said. “I can’t believe our country is in this place.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
