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Trump rally shooting: what we know about the suspected gunman
The early portrait that has emerged of the 20-year-old Pennsylvania man who authorities say tried to assassinate Donald Trump at a campaign rally in the state on Saturday before secret service agents shot him to death is a complicated and so far sparse one.Thomas Matthew Crooks resided in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, a predominantly white, generally affluent suburb of Pittsburgh. Public records show he shared a home with parents who were licensed behavioral care counselors. Those same records contain no mention of any criminal or traffic citations – as well as any financial problems such as foreclosures.Actions that Crooks took late in his time as a student at Bethel Park high school offered virtually no hint of his political leanings. He was a junior at the school, and it was the first day of Joe Biden’s presidency, when Crooks donated $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project, a political action committee aligned with the president’s Democratic party. Public records show his father is a registered Republican and his mother a registered Democrat.Yet eight months later, early in his senior year, Crooks registered to vote as a member of the Republican party, led by Trump since 2016. And he had left his affiliation unchanged when he voted in the November 2022 midterm elections, which took place months after he graduated from Bethel Park high, where he was among a group of students to receive a $500 National Math and Science Initiative “star award”.A former classmate of Crooks’ said he had not shown any particular interest in politics in high school, but they would discuss computers and games. “He was super smart. That’s what really kind of threw me off was, this was, like, a really, really smart kid, like he excelled,” the classmate told Reuters. “Nothing crazy ever came up in any conversation.”Another young man who described himself as a former schoolmate of Crooks at Bethel Park high school spoke with reporters Sunday, recalling how his ex-companion “was bullied almost every day” on campus.The man told NBC News and other outlets that Crooks’ penchant for wearing “hunting” and “military” clothes – and eating alone at lunch – drew derision from his peers, who considered him a “loner” and an “outcast”.“You know how kids are these days – they’re going to see someone like that and they’re going to target him because they think it’s funny or whatever,” the man said to journalists.While the man made clear he wasn’t saying any of those experiences fueled Saturday’s assassination attempt, he added: “It’s honestly kind of sad … He was bullied so much.”ABC News reported that two former classmates of Crooks told the outlet that he was rejected from their school’s rifle club because he wasn’t a very skilled shot. School officials had not immediately confirmed those recollections.Crooks reportedly had an account on Discord, an online chat app that began as a space for gamers but gained notoriety in part because the white supremacist who fatally shot 10 people at grocery in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo posted on the platform about his plans to attack the store.Discord told the gaming news outlet Kotaku that the account that appeared to be linked to Crooks “was rarely utilized”.“We have no evidence that it was used to plan this incident or discuss his political views,” said the company’s statement to Kotaku. In addition to pledging to cooperate with law enforcement, the statement continued: “Discord strongly condemns violence of any kind, including political violence.”Crooks thrust himself into the center of the political world on Saturday when he went about an hour north of Bethel Park and got atop the roof of a bottle manufacturing plant in Butler county, Pennsylvania. Nearby, the former US president was speaking at a supporters’ rally as he pursues a return to the White House in November.Multiple people who were listening to Trump’s speech outside the rally venue said they spotted Crooks as he brought an AR-style rifle to the plant rooftop and took aim in the direction of the former president. But they said officers did not immediately react to their warnings – assertions that prompted the local district attorney, Richard Goldinger, to tell CNN that it was urgent for investigators to figure out how Crooks “would’ve gotten to the location where he was”.Crooks ultimately managed to fire several shots toward the stage where Trump was speaking, which was less than 500ft away (152.4 meters) away. One spectator was killed, and two others were critically wounded. Trump reported that a bullet “pierced the upper part” of his right ear, which was visibly bloodied – but he was otherwise “fine”, he said after Secret Service agents whisked him away from the scene.Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Secret Service said, agents returned fire at Crooks and killed him.View image in fullscreenABC News cited multiple law enforcement sources who told the outlet that the rifle the gunman fired on Saturday had been purchased legally by the suspect’s father, Matthew Crooks. Investigators arrived at that conclusion after the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms conducted an urgent trace on the weapon, according to the network.Separately, the Associated Press reported that authorities had discovered bomb-making materials in Crooks’ home and car, which was parked near the site of Saturday’s Trump rally.The Wall Street Journal added that police received multiple reports of suspicious packages near where Crooks was, prompting officials to dispatch bomb technicians.Graphic pictures of the scene circulating on social media showed Crooks had been clad in a T-shirt branded with the name of a YouTube channel dedicated to providing content on guns and demolition.Late Saturday, the channel’s host reposted a picture on Instagram of law enforcement officers standing over Crooks’ body – with part of the T-shirt’s wording visible – and wrote: “What the hell”.The FBI identified Crooks as Trump’s would-be assassin late on Saturday. On Sunday, the bureau said all available information suggested Crooks “acted alone” and there were no immediate “public safety concerns” about a larger plot.The FBI said it had not yet uncovered a motive for the apparent assassination attempt, or whether Crooks adhered to any specific ideologies. Crooks’ social media profile does not contain threatening language, authorities said on Sunday. Investigators have not found evidence of mental health issues.FBI officials told the AP that Crooks’ family was cooperating with their investigation – part of which also hoped to determine how he took the rifle he fired Saturday.Bethel Park skilled nursing and rehabilitation center, where Crooks was employed as a dietary aide, said it was “shocked and saddened” to hear he was responsible for Saturday’s shooting.“His background check was clean,” said a statement from the facility, which also condemned “all acts of violence”. More
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Trump rally shooting: Biden says ‘there is no place in America for this kind of violence’; attendee who was killed is identified – latest updates
Donald Trump has published his second statement on Truth Social since the Pennsylvania shooting on Saturday. In it, the former Republican president said he looks forward to speaking from Wisconsin where the Republican national convention (RNC) will be held this week.Trump wrote:
Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers yesterday, as it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening.
We will fear not, but instead remain resilient in our faith and defiant in the face of wickedness. Our love goes out to the other victims and their families.
We pray for the recovery of those who were wounded, and hold in our hearts the memory of the citizen who was so horribly killed.
In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand united, and show our true character as Americans, remaining strong and determined, and not allowing evil to win.
I truly love our country, and love you all, and look forward to speaking to our great nation this week from Wisconsin. DJT
The Republicans’ convention will take place from July 15-18 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with the Fiserv Forum, home of the Milwaukee Bucks, earmarked to be the main venue.Wisconsin is one of a handful of battleground states likely to determine this year’s presidential race. It was one of the so-called “blue wall” states that Democrats once relied on, but Trump narrowly won in 2016, paving the way for his victory. Biden flipped the state back in 2020, and both campaigns are targeting it heavily this year.It’s time to be “a little less partisan,” swing state Democratic congressman saysGreg Landsman, a Democratic congressman running in a competitive, Democratic-leaning district in Ohio, has released a long statement on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, calling for bipartisan cooperation and less partisanship in the days to come.“We need to lean on one another, and to show more grace and kindness. We need to talk about what we believe in and do so with the greatest amount of thoughtfulness and care,” he wrote, citing scripture and calling for a change in tone across the country.Just a few days ago, Landsman was making headlines for raising questions about whether Joe Biden should continue as the Democratic nominee for president, saying “it’s becoming increasingly likely that this may be just too high of a hill for him to climb” and that Biden needed to be able to make a clear case against Trump.It’s not yet fully clear how the Democratic congressional candidates’ views on Biden staying in the race will change as the country reacts to an attempted Trump assassination.In Fox News call, Trump reportedly praises Biden for check-in call, describes shootingIn what was described as a 15-minute phone call with Fox News’ Brett Baier, Donald Trump reportedly “praised president Biden for the phone call” he made to Trump and called it a “good conversation,” Baier said.The former president is en route to Milwaukee, Baier said.Trump told Baier that he had just turned his head to the side to look at an infographic on immigration statistics when he described feeling something like “the biggest mosquito of his lifetime” or “bumblebee that sort of feels like in his ear,” Baier said. Then Trump described looking at his hand and seeing blood, and going down.Trump said that when he his raised fist to the crowd, he had actually wanted to go back and say a few words to his supporters, but the secret service was hurrying him offstage.Rally shooting suspect’s family is cooperating with the investigation, FBI saysAn FBI official tells the Associated Press that the suspected shooter’s family is cooperating with federal investigators.Relatives of Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, have not returned multiple messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.The suspect’s father, Matthew Crooks, previously told CNN in a phone call late Saturday night that he was trying to understand “what the hell is going on” and would “wait until I talk to law enforcement” before speaking further.The FBI said it believes the AR-style rifle the Trump rally shooter used was legally purchased by the suspect’s father, the Associated Press reported previously, and that it was not clear how the suspect had obtained the weapon.“These are facts that we’ll flesh out as we conduct interviews,” Kevin Rojek, an FBI special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh Field Office, told reporters, the Associated Press reported.Joe Biden offers condolences to family of Trump supporter killed at campaign rally “He was a father protecting his family from the bullets being fired,” Joe Biden wrote on his official presidential account, in a tribute to 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, who attended the rally with his family.Read more about tributes to Comperatore, who has been described by family members as a “hero” who died shielding his daughters from gunfire.“What my precious girls had to witness is unforgivable,” his wife, Helen Comperatore, wrote on Facebook.Biden will travel to Las Vegas on Monday for NAACP civil rights addressThe White House has confirmed that Joe Biden will travel to Las Vegas, Nevada tomorrow.The NAACP, a more than century-old civil rights group that advocates for the rights of Black Americans, previously announced that Biden would serve as a keynote speaker for its 115th national convention.Attorney general calls attack on Trump “ an attack on our democracy itself”In a press call with reporters, attorney general Merrick Garland said he was “grateful that former President Trump is safe following yesterday’s horrific assassination attempt,” and said that “the violence that we saw yesterday is an attack on our democracy itself.”More details continue to emerge on the 20-year-old suspect in the rally shooting, Thomas Matthew Crooks, though what has been made public so far still leaves more questions than answers. Read the full story on what we know so far about the young suspect, who was a registered Republican, but had also made a $15 donation to the Progressive Turnout Project in 2021.The FBI says they believe the “AR-style rifle the Trump rally shooter used was legally purchased by the gunman’s father,” the Associated Press reports. “Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh Field Office, told reporters that authorities don’t yet know how the shooter gained access to the weapon, and whether he took it without his father’s knowledge.”
FBI officials “have not yet identified an ideology” for the suspect, “but they are combing through his social media feeds and the shooter’s weapons. So far, they have not found any threatening writing or social media posts,” the Associated Press reports. They currently believe he acted alone.
Discord, the online platform, told reporters that: “We have identified an account that appears to be linked to the suspect; it was rarely utilized and we have found no evidence that it was used to plan this incident or discuss his political views,” the company said in a statement, according to Reuters.
The suspect also had no documentary history of mental health issues, the FBI said, according to the Washington Post.
The Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center has said in statements to media outlets that the suspect was a dietary aide at the facility. “We are shocked and saddened to learn of his involvement as Thomas Matthew Crooks performed his job without concern and his background check was clean,” the administrator told CNN.
A high school classmate of Crooks described him as “quiet,” “nice,” and good at math, the Washington Post reported. She said that while he did sometimes wear hunting or camouflage outfits to school, that was typical for the area, and that he was not one of the kids at the school who were perceived as violent.
The Guardian’s Ramon Antonio Vargas has previously reported that the suspect lived in “Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, a predominantly white, generally affluent suburb of Pittsburgh. Public records show he shared a home with parents who were licensed behavioral care counselors. Those same records contain no mention of any criminal or traffic citations – as well as any financial problems such as foreclosures.”Two classmates of shooting suspect tell ABC News he was rejected from rifle clubABC News is reporting that two former school classmates say the suspected shooter in the Trump campaign attack, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was rejected from his high school’s rifle club for not being a very good shot.Two students told ABC News that Crooks was a “bad shot”, with one adding that he wasn’t the right “fit”.“On the first day of preseason, he basically couldn’t even hit the target,” classmate Jameson Myers told ABC News.It’s worth noting that these comments were not immediately confirmed by the school rifle team’s coach, who declined to comment, and a spokesman for the school district did not immediately respond to a request for comment, ABC News reported.Pennsylvania state police release names of two men injured in Trump rally shootingThe names of two injured men who were shot in the Trump campaign rally attack were made public by state police. They are:57-year-old David Dutch, of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, who is currently listed in stable condition.
74-year-old James Copenhaver, of Moon Township, Pennsylvania. He is also listed in stable condition.
Officials previously released the name of Corey Comperatore, 50, of Sarver, Pennsylvania, who was shot and killed in the attack. The Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro, called Comperatore a “hero” and said he was a former fire chief who “dove on his family to protect them last night at this rally” and was killed while protecting them.Associated Press: Local officer encountered gunman just before he shot towards Trump at rallyThis is Lois Beckett, picking up our live news coverage. Amid intense questions over security outside the rally, the Associated Press is reporting that two law enforcement sources say that a local police officer encountered the suspected shooter before he opened fire:
Not long before shots rang out, rallygoers noticed a man climbing to the roof of a nearby building and warned local police, according to two law enforcement officials.
One local police officer climbed to the roof and encountered Thomas Matthew Crooks, who pointed his rifle at the officer. The officer retreated down the ladder, and Crooks quickly took a shot toward Trump, and that’s when Secret Service snipers shot him, said the officials, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
The Washington Post, citing an interview with the Butler county sheriff, Michael T Slupe, reports: “Just before the gunman opened fire, he faced a municipal police officer who wasn’t able to neutralize him.”Here’s a look at where things stand:Donald Trump will continue with his schedule and fly to Milwaukee, Wisconsin today, at 3.30pm ahead of the Republican national convention. In a post on Truth Social on Sunday afternoon, Trump wrote: “Based on yesterday’s terrible events, I was going to delay my trip to Wisconsin, and The Republican National Convention, by two days, but have just decided that I cannot allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling, or anything else.”
Joe Biden said that he had spoken with Donald Trump following the assassination attempt on the ex-president. “We had a short but good conversation. Jill and I are keeping him and his family in our prayers. We also extend our deepest condolences to the family of the victim who was killed. He was a father, he was protecting his family from the bullets that were being fired,” Biden added.
“There is no place in America for this kind of violence, or any violence,” said Biden. The president is to address the nation tonight at 8pm from the Oval Office, the White House confirmed.
Joe Biden is rescheduling his trip to Texas following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, according to White House pool reports. The trip was originally planned for Monday 15 July. Biden was expected to deliver a keynote address at the Lyndon B Johnson library in Austin to mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act.
Pennsylvania’s governor, Josh Shapiro, said that the victim – Corey Comperatore, a 50-year old former fire chief – who was killed in yesterday’s Donald Trump rally shooting “died a hero”. “We lost a fellow Pennsylvanian last night. Corey Comperatore,” said Shapiro, adding: “Corey was a girl dad. Corey was a firefighter. Corey went to church every Sunday. Corey loved his community. And most especially, Corey loved his family.”
Bomb-making materials were discovered in the home of the suspect involved in yesterday’s shooting, according to law enforcement officials speaking anonymously to the Associated Press. Bomb-making materials were also reportedly found in the suspect’s car near the rally site.
Mark Green, the Republican chairman of the House committee on homeland security, has issued a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, demanding the secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, turn over the security plans of yesterday’s event site. In the letter, Green wrote: “The seriousness of this security failure and chilling moment in our nation’s history cannot be understated.”
Melania Trump has issued a statement calling for political unity after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump yesterday in Butler, Pennsylvania. In her statement released on Sunday, she wrote: “America, the fabric of our gentle nation is tattered, but our courage and common sense must ascend and bring us back together as one.” She went on to call the suspect a “monster” who saw her husband as an “inhuman political machine”.
Authorities handling security at the rally at the Butler Park Showgrounds in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, have dismissed claims that Donald Trump was denied a request for additional security. The US Secret Service has called the claim “absolutely false”.
The US House speaker, Mike Johnson, has said “we shouldn’t be targeting people” as he urged Americans to treat one another with dignity and respect in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump. He said there has been no figure in modern American history – besides perhaps Abraham Lincoln – who has been so “vilified” by the media and the legal system as he says Trump has.
Donald Trump will continue with his schedule and fly to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, today at 3.30pm ahead of the Republican national convention.In a post on Truth Social on Sunday afternoon, Trump wrote:
Based on yesterday’s terrible events, I was going to delay my trip to Wisconsin, and The Republican National Convention, by two days, but have just decided that I cannot allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling, or anything else. Therefore, I will be leaving for Milwaukee, as scheduled, at 3:30 P.M. TODAY. Thank you!
As the US comes to grips with Donald Trump’s assassination attempt, Jonathan Freedland and Sidney Blumenthal discuss what this tragedy means for the former president’s image with less than five months until the election:Joe Biden will address the nation from the Oval Office at 8pm tonight, the White House confirms.Biden’s remarks will follow the assassination attempt on Donald Trump yesterday during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.In a brief address on Sunday afternoon from the Roosevelt Room, Biden condemned the attack, saying, “There is no place in America for this kind of violence.”“Mr Trump, as a former president and nominee of the Republican party, already received a heightened level of security and I’ve been consistent in my direction of the Secret Service to provide him with every resource, capability and protective measure necessary to ensure his continued safety,” Joe Biden said.“Second, I’ve directed the head of the Secret Service to review all security measures for … the Republican national convention, which is scheduled to start tomorrow.“And third, I’ve directed an independent review of national security at yesterday’s rally to assess exactly what happened, and we’ll share the results of that independent review with the American people as well,” Biden said.“We don’t yet have any information about the motive of the shooter. We know who he is. I urge everyone, everyone, please don’t make assumptions about his motives or his affiliations,” said Joe Biden.“Let the FBI do their job, and their partner agencies do their job. I’ve instructed that this investigation be thorough and swift, and the investigators will have every resource they need to get this done,” he added.“There is no place in America for this kind of violence, or any violence,” said Joe Biden.“For that matter, an assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for as a nation, everything. It’s not who we are as a nation. It’s not America, and we cannot allow this to happen. Unity is the most elusive goal of all, but nothing is more important than that,” he added.Joe Biden said that he had spoken with Donald Trump following the assassination attempt on the ex-president.“We had a short but good conversation. Jill and I are keeping him and his family in our prayers. We also extend our deepest condolences to the family of the victim who was killed. He was a father, he was protecting his family from the bullets that were being fired,” Biden added. More - in US Politics
Trump to keep schedule for Republican convention after rally shooting
Donald Trump huddled with his senior advisers at his Bedminster club in New Jersey a day after surviving what federal investigators called an assassination attempt, preparing for the Republican national convention, which kicks off on Monday.Trump was keeping the same schedule as originally planned, according to sources familiar with the situation. His next public appearance is tentatively set for Tuesday at the convention though the sources cautioned that could change.The assassination attempt has raised the stakes and the national significance of the convention, where Trump is set to deliver a speech and watch the announcement of his running mater in perhaps one of the most politically charged elections in the nation’s history.Trump spoke to Joe Biden on Sunday in a phone call described by one of the sources as “brief and very respectful”, but otherwise stuck with his schedule of meetings and convention planning in part to stave off the shock that came with the shooting.The shooter, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, used an AK-style semi-automatic rifle to fire multiple rounds at Trump roughly 10 minutes into his campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Crooks was shot dead by US secret service counter-snipers at the rally.The assassination investigation is being led by the FBI and the ATF. Federal investigators executed a number of search warrants on Sunday to try and establish motive for the shooting, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the matter.Trump was rushed off stage after the shooting and treated at a local medical facility for injuries to his right ear. He then travelled to Bedminster on his plane and landed shortly after midnight, one of the sources said.The number of staffers with Trump at the rally was limited, with some of his advance staff already in Milwaukee for the convention. The staffers with Trump included his campaign chief Susie Wiles, his spokesperson Steven Cheung and deputy communications director Margo Martin.From Bedminster, Trump said in a Truth Social post he intended to travel to the convention, as planned, on Sunday afternoon.“Based on yesterday’s terrible events, I was going to delay my trip to Wisconsin, and The Republican National Convention, by two days, but have just decided that I cannot allow a ‘shooter,’ or a potential assassin, to force change to scheduling, or anything else,” Trump wrote.In an earlier internal memo to staffers, reviewed by the Guardian, the Trump campaign’s leadership said that their plans for the convention also remained unchanged.“In moments of tragedy and horror, we must be resolute in our mission to re-elect President Trump. It is our fervent hope that this horrendous act will bring our team, and indeed the nation together in unity and we must renew our commitment to safety and peace for our country.”“The RNC Convention will continue as planned in Milwaukee, where we will nominate our President to be the brave and fearless nominee of the our Party. We appreciate your dedication and perseverance and are thankful for each and every one of you,” it read. More
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Biden says he spoke with Trump after rally shooting: ‘No place in America for this kind of violence’
Joe Biden said that that there was “no place in America” for the sort of political violence that saw a gunman open fire on Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania and plunge America’s already fractious election campaign into new levels of fears over political unrest.“There is no place in America for this kind of violence or any violence for that matter. An assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for as a nation,” Biden said. “Unity is the most elusive goal of all, but nothing is more important than that right now. Unity. We’ll debate and disagree, that’s not going to change, but we’re not going to lose sight of who we are as Americans.”Biden delivered the remarks at a White House press conference and described how he spoke with his bitter political rival who survived the assassination attempt with a head injury. One rally goer was also killed and two others injured.“Last night I spoke with Donald Trump,” said Biden, who noted the conversation was brief. “Jill and I are keeping him and his family in our prayers.”He also mentioned the victim who was killed in the shooting, 50-year-old Corey Comperatore.Biden continued that he has supported providing Trump’s campaign with the necessary secret service and security resources and directed the head of the US Secret Service to review all security measures for this week’s Republican National Convention in Milkwaukee, Wisconsin. The convention will nominate Trump as Biden’s opponent in November’s presidential election.Biden has been in the midst of pushing back against calls to step aside as the Democratic nominee by some Democratic elected officials and wealthy campaign donors, including actor George Clooney, following his poor performance during the first presidential election debate against Trump. More
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Pennsylvania town reckons with Trump rally shooting: ‘The rhetoric has to stop’
Amid tight security and blocked-off roads, the small town of Butler, Pennsylvania, was attempting to come to terms with becoming the site of a major attempted US political assassination on Sunday.Many went to church to make sense of events. At one, Father Kevin Fazio called on the congregation packed into pews to “pray for our nation”, but most of his flock seemed subdued by the violence that had come to town.Less than a quarter of a mile away, the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds remains a crime scene, the gantries that hang massive stars and stripes and concert-sized speakers over Donald Trump’s rallies still erect, and the roof of AGR Industries, from where a gunman took aim at the former president, was clearly visible.Many inhabitants of Butler said they were deeply shaken. A farming town 20 miles north of Pittsburgh is typical of rural Trump country. Farms are being sold off for new housing developments, but the roads into town are still dotted with farm stands and signs urging Christian values: “In a world where you can be anything – be kind,” read one.But Butler is now a marker of America’s periodic turns to political violence.Trump’s rallies have long been carnivals, part politics and an expression of shared rightwing values and entertainment. That changed on Saturday evening, when shots rang out. The former US president reached to his ear, ducked behind the podium and was engulfed by a scrum of Secret Service agents, only to emerge seconds later, bloodied, with his fist in the air and mouthing: “Fight! Fight!”View image in fullscreenOutside a Sunoco gas station near the fairgrounds, an older man come for coffee and a breakfast sandwich and said he believed his son-in-law Greg Smith – the man who described seeing the shooter doing a bear-crawl along the rooftop, rifle in hand, to the BBC – had saved Trump’s life.“He was yelling at the shooter, causing him to fire sooner and miss his mark while the police were doing nothing,” he said, recounting his experience as a deer hunter, where presence of mind was required to aim and fire accurately.Another man at the store, who had been at the rally, said it was not the shooting itself that caused panic in the crowds, as many believed the gunshots were merely fire-crackers going off. But panic began to take hold when a section of the crowd, unaware of the shooting, pushed back on those at the front trying to flee.“People were falling on top of each other,” he said. “The elders who fell couldn’t get up, the kids were screaming. My family is all shook up.”Another man, Randy, said but it was a blessing that a summer heatwave had many kept people away from the fair and there hadn’t been a stampede. But the political temperature in the country, he said, had made it almost inevitable that “you’re going to get a crazy doing something crazy”.“The rhetoric in this country is sad, it’s terrible. It has to stop,” he said.The Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, travelled to Butler to express condolences for the family of Corey Comperatore, former fire-chief a nearby township, who was killed in the shooting as he tried to protect his daughters from the gunfire.Shapiro called on Americans to “be firm” and to “advocate for” their beliefs but peacefully. “Every day when I’m out in Pennsylvania, I see the best of Pennsylvanians,” he said. “Those who love their neighbors even if they have differences.”Richard Goldinger, district attorney of Butler county, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that “it’s embarrassing that this would happen here. This hasn’t happened in more than 40 years – to have an attempt on a president’s life.”View image in fullscreenOthers pointed to the security failings ahead of Trump’s appearance on stage. Evan, a young man who said he was not a Trump supporter, said security at the fairgrounds had been talked about in the town for days before the event – particularly the vulnerability of the surrounding buildings.“The Secret Service dropped the ball big time,” he said.Bobbie Barbary, passing though from South Bend, Indiana, had another perspective: “America has a disease – resentment, hatred and racism,” he said.Butler may mark an end to the freewheeling Trump roadshow and his campaign rallies will need to be reined in for his safety and that of others. But that’s not how it looked 12 hours earlier, when the Butler Eagle newspaper predicted Trump’s campaign stop was “an opportunity to put a small town on the map in a contentious presidential election”.By coming to Butler, the paper said, the rally – two days before the Republican convention kicks off in Milwaukee – would be a return to a different, older style of campaigning of going to where the voters are, in this case a farm show, that focused on increasing support among undecided people that Trump needs to carry the state in November.But for some in the wake of the shooting, Saturday’s events were now a sign that some aspects of modern American political life were better kept at a distance. The suspected shooter, from an affluent neighborhood just 30 miles (48km) away, had brought not only a rifle to kill Trump but explosives too were found in his car and his home.Yet an exact motive remains a mystery. Crooks was both a registered Republican and a very minor donor to a progressive cause. His social media footprint was negligible and betrayed little of his beliefs.“It’s America,” said a checkout worker at the town farmers’ market. “All kinds of crazy people out there.” More
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The attempted assassination of Donald Trump – Politics Weekly America
On Saturday night in London, word came through that Donald Trump had been injured during one of his rallies in Pennsylvania. A shooter, who killed another person and seriously injured others, was killed by Secret Service agents.
As the US comes to grips with what just happened, Jonathan Freedland presents as special edition of Politics Weekly America. He hears from former Bill Clinton advisor, Sidney Blumenthal on what this tragedy means for Donald Trump with less than five months until the electionHow to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know More
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Will Trump call for healing – or rub salt in wounds – in wake of rally shooting?
It will be the new must-have for every Donald Trump acolyte. The indelible image of the former US president, ear bloodied and fist raised as Secret Service agents try to rush him away from a would-be assassin’s bullets, has already been turned into a $35 T-shirt with a simple legend: “Fight! Fight! Fight!”The words are taken from Trump’s entreaty as he was bundled off stage in the aftermath of the shooting which left one man dead at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. His supporters responded with chants of “USA! USA!” and by angrily turning on the media, pointing fingers of blame at journalists.In an instant the 2024 presidential election, just 115 days away, and the future of America itself had been transformed. A polarised nation faces the threat of deepening political violence and hostility towards the press. In a country awash with guns, some feared that Saturday could mark the first shots in a second US civil war.Trump, ever the showman, who said on social media he felt the bullet “ripping through” his skin, was hailed by his base as a fighter, martyr and messiah. The viral photograph of his defiance is being used to project the 78-year-old as a tower of strength in contrast to Biden, 81, whose weak debate performance led to calls from his own party to exit the race for the White House.The political benefits were immediate. Billionaires Elon Musk and Bill Ackman threw their weight behind Trump. Jake Paul, a YouTube personality, tweeted: “If it isn’t apparent enough who God wants to win. When you try and kill God’s angels and saviors of the world it just makes them bigger.”Trump’s campaign also seized on the opportunity to fuel the convicted criminal’s narrative of persecution, sending out a fundraising text message that said: “They’re not after me, they’re after you.”Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist, told the Reuters news agency: “The attempted assassination creates sympathy for Trump. It also confirms the idea to voters that something is fundamentally wrong in this nation, which is an idea that drives support for him.”The attack is likely to boost Trump’s appearances in Milwaukee this week at the Republican national convention as he accepts his party’s presidential nomination, fortifying the sense of grievance his supporters already feel toward the nation’s political elites.View image in fullscreenTrump’s speech on Thursday night could be a critical turning point, a prime time television opportunity to call for unity and healing – or to sow division and rub salt in wounds. Ian Bremmer, a political scientist and president of the Eurasia Group, told CNN he is not optimistic, noting that Trump’s “initial reaction when he stood back up – and it was incredible powerful imagery that we’re going to see for months now – was fight, fight, fight. That’s his instinct.”Bremmer added: “Every sinew of this man is he is going to fight against his enemies and yes, his enemy is the dead man, the 20-year-old that tried to assassinate him. But I think that Trump believes that his enemy is Joe Biden, his enemy are the members of the press, some of whom have been calling him Hitler, his enemy are people on the other side of the political spectrum that want to destroy him.”The motivation of the gunman is not yet known. The suspect, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was a registered Republican, according to state voter records. He previously made a $15 donation to a political action committee that raises money for left-leaning and Democratic politicians.His assault came within the context of the biggest and most sustained increase in US political violence since the 1970s. Of 14 fatal political attacks since supporters of Trump stormed the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, in which the perpetrator or suspect had a clear partisan leaning, 13 were rightwing assailants. One was on the left.Members of Congress have been targeted: US Capitol police opened 8,008 threat assessment cases in 2023 – an increase of more than 500 from the previous year. A recent PBS NewsHour/ NPR/ Marist opinion poll found that one in five adults believes that Americans may have to resort to violence to get their own country back on track.Political leaders sought to douse the flames over the weekend. Biden, putting his campaign on pause, said such violence has no place in America and phoned his opponent, whom he referred to as “Donald” – a marked shift from the palpable rancour between the men at their first debate in Atlanta. Trump used social media to call for Americans to “stand United” and show their “True Character”.View image in fullscreenAnd Republican Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House of Representatives, told the NBC network’s Today show: “We’ve got to turn the rhetoric down. We’ve got to turn the temperature down in this country. We need leaders of all parties, on both sides, to call that out and make sure that happens so that we can go forward.”But Trump has regularly used violent, degrading and even apocalyptic language with his followers, warning of a “bloodbath” if he is not elected and saying immigrants in the US illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country”. In the wake of the shooting, his advisers and allies flipped the script on Biden, suggesting that it was the demonisation of the Republican candidate that led to the assassination attempt.JD Vance, an Ohio senator widely tipped to be named as Trump’s running mate at this week’s convention, posted on X: “Today is not just some isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina posted a similar message, while Mike Collins, a Republican congressman from Georgia, tweeted: “The Republican District Attorney in Butler County, PA, should immediately file charges against Joseph R Biden for inciting an assassination.”Chris LaCivita, the co-manager of Trump’s campaign, said on X that “for years and even today, leftist activists, Democrat donors and now even Joe Biden have made disgusting remarks and descriptions of shooting Donald Trump … it’s high time they be held accountable for it … the best way is through the ballot box.”LaCivita was apparently referring to recent remarks by Biden made in the context of asking his supporters to focus on beating Trump rather than his own performance. “So, we’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye,” said Biden, who has always condemned any political violence.Some compared America to a tinderbox. With disinformation and conspiracy theories swirling on social media, the mood was very different from past national traumas such as the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001.Bremmer told CNN: “The response here needs to be like 9/11. It needs to be something where everyone comes together and says, this does not stand, we are all Americans together. I fear it’s going to be a lot more like January 6, where there will be a large number of people that will weaponise what just happened and we will continue to tribalise as a country and people won’t accept that the people on the other side of the aisle are Americans just like they are.” More
