Washington: Donald Trump, the former American president and the frontrunner in the upcoming US presidential election, survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday evening eastern time – an incident set to have a massive impact in the race for the White House.
The Secret Service killed the shooter, later identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year old Pennsylvania local. While US law enforcement did not offer any details on the motivation behind the shooting till the time of going to print, Crooks was a registered Republican and had also made a donation to a progressive political group in January 2021. He used an AR-15-type semi-automatic rifle that his father had reportedly purchased six months ago and also had explosives in his car.
One other participant at the rally, Corey Comperatore, a firefighter, died, and two others were critically injured in the multiple shots that Crooks fired, before Secret Service snipers shot him back, killing him instantly atop a roof of a building in clear line of sight.
The incident, now being investigated as “attempted assassination”, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) taking the lead, left the country in shock. President Joe Biden condemned the attack as “sick” and said there was no space for political violence.
Trump, who is leading in polls at the moment, was addressing supporters in Butler county in the swing state, two days before the Republican National Convention is set to nominate him as the party’s presidential candidate. Live footage captured a series of shots as Trump was speaking at 6.11pm eastern time (around 3.40am in India). He ducked under the podium and took cover. Within seconds, US Secret Service (USSS) agents covered Trump — one agent, according to a transcript, said “Get down, get down..” — even as shots continued.
When agents confirmed with their team that the “shooter was down”, they helped Trump up. Trump, according to the transcript, repeatedly asked for his shoes – “Let me get my shoes on” — even as agents told him they had got him. He then asked them to wait, pumped his fist into the air, with the American flag in the background, gave a determined look to the crowd and said, “Fight, fight, fight.” As Trump was being escorted out, his ear was bleeding and there was blood on his face.
In a statement late on Saturday night, posted on Truth Social, Trump thanked USSS and law enforcement for their “rapid response”. “It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country… I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
Trump went to a local medical facility and then flew to his residence in New Jersey for the night. On Sunday, he thanked everyone for their prayers and thoughts, credited God for “preventing the unthinkable”, and promised to remain resilient and defiant and not fearful. “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,” Trump said, declaring that he would speak at the party convention in Milwaukee this week. The party will officially nominate Trump as the candidate on Thursday.
Biden, who is also Trump’s key rival in the presidential poll as the presumptive Democratic nominee, was briefed on the situation soon after the shooting. The President said in a statement that he was grateful that Trump was safe and doing well. “There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it.”
Later, Biden told reporters, “It’s sick. It’s sick. It’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country. We cannot allow for this to be happening. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this.” He said that the bottom line was Trump was at a rally he should have been allowed to conduct peacefully, and this was the kind of political violence that was “unheard of” in America. Asked if this was an assassination attempt, Biden said he didn’t know enough, and while he had an opinion, he didn’t have facts. Biden also spoke to Trump, though neither side offered details of the conversation.
On Sunday, the White House said that law enforcement officials briefed Biden and vice president Kamala Harris on the incident in the situation room. Biden was also expected to address the nation later on Sunday afternoon local time.
In a statement, the Secret Service said that at approximately 6.15pm on Saturday evening, “a suspected shooter fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue”. Secret Service personnel then “neutralised the shooter, who is now deceased”. The statement added that USSS had “quickly responded with protective measures”. Later, FBI said that it had assumed the role of the lead federal law enforcement agency in the investigation of the “incident” involving Trump.
While the shooting drew almost universal condemnation from across America’s political spectrum, Republicans accused Democrats of creating a climate that had led to the violence.
House speaker Mike Johnson told a Sunday news show, “There’s no figure in American history, at least in the modern era, maybe since Lincoln, who has been so vilified and really persecuted by the media, Hollywood elites, political figures, you know, even the legal system.” He claimed that when the message went out that Trump was a threat to democracy and the republic would end, it heated up the environment. The Speaker referred to a recent statement by Biden — where the President had told supporters it was time to put Trump in the “bullseye” — as language that should be called out.
The House Oversight Committee has also convened a Congressional hearing and called the head of Secret Service for an explanation on July 22. The Secret Service rebutted reports that it hadn’t beefed up Trump’s security and said that it had in fact “added protective resources and technology and capabilities as a part of the increased campaign travel tempo”.
The shooting is sure to affect the political landscape four months before the presidential election where Trump is leading in polls.
Trump is attempting a rare return to the White House for a non-consecutive term. He did not accept the legitimacy of the 2020 election, which was followed by a mob attacking the US Capitol to block the certification of the results in a display of political violence. Trump is also a convicted felon who also faces multiple criminal charges that he rejects.
But he swept the Republican primaries and is running a campaign against the Biden administration’s approach to immigration (while promising to deport all illegal immigrants), economy and foreign policy. Biden, whose age-related vulnerabilities came into sharp focus during a debate on June 27, is facing a huge internal backlash within Democratic Party with growing calls that he drop out of the race. Recent polls have shown Trump increasing his lead over Biden, including in critical swing states.
The shooting is a defining moment in an already unprecedented election and brings political extremism, violence, and the widespread availability of deadly weapons, centre-stage in the world’s oldest democracy.