Former President Donald Trump briefly called for unity on social media platforms on Sunday, moments after President Biden addressed the nation about the assassination attempt on his Republican rival.
“Let’s unite America!” Trump, 78, wrote on Truth Social.
The presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee’s message echoed comments from Biden at the White House, where he urged Americans to “come together as one nation.”
Biden, 81, said he was “grateful” that Trump was in “good spirits” after a gunman identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire from a rooftop near his Pennsylvania rally on Saturday, sending a bullet through the top of his right ear.
“An assassination attempt goes against every ideal we stand for as a nation,” Biden told reporters.
“This is not like our country. This is not like America. And we cannot allow this to happen,” he said. “Unity is the hardest goal to achieve, but nothing is more important right now.”
The president called for a “thorough and swift” independent investigation into how such an attack could have happened and urged the public not to speculate about the shooter’s motives.
Trump also said he had instructed the Secret Service to provide all “resources” to his predecessor to oversee security for the Republican National Convention, which begins in Milwaukee on Monday and which Trump is due to attend.
Biden said he had a “brief but meaningful conversation” with Trump in the aftermath of the afternoon attack at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The president also made brief comments a few hours after the shooting, condemning it as “sick.”
Read the latest Washington Post article about the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
Check out The Post’s live blog for the latest updates on the assassination attempt on President Trump.
Biden was scheduled to deliver a primetime formal address to the nation from the Oval Office at 8 p.m. on Sunday.
“I’ll speak more about this tonight from the Oval Office, and at greater length,” Biden said. “We have to come together as one country. We have to come together as one country to show who we are.”
Secret Service agents shot and killed Crooks in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, leaving rally attendee and former fire chief Corey Comperatore dead and two other men seriously injured.
With post wire
