Law enforcement officials are investigating what they suspect may be an actual attempt to murder Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday.
A Secret Service spokesman said on X, “Former President [was] A dozen shots were fired, and agents protecting Trump jumped on him in the ensuing panic.
Trump himself said in a statement that he was “in good condition” and was being checked at a medical facility.
District Attorney Richard Goldringer told NBC News that the suspected shooter and a spectator were both dead after Saturday’s violence. Goldlinger said a third person – also a spectator – was seriously injured.
The former president’s spokesman added that Trump thanked “law enforcement and first responders for their swift action during this heinous act.”
NBC News’ film captured more than a dozen shots, later apparently from agents protecting the president.
Only a voice was heard saying: “Get down, get down, get down!” The gunfire continued, screams came from the crowd, and agents arrived and pressed themselves on Trump.
News from the Internet captured the agent’s voice: “The shooter is down. The shooter is down. Are we easy to move? We know it, we know it.”
As agents tried to remove Trump from the rally stage, he said: “Let me get my shoes. Let me get my shoes.” Agents can be heard telling the former president: “I got you. Hold on, wait a minute. Your head is bleeding.” Yes. We have to move.
Trump responded, “Wait, wait, wait.” He then pumped his fist and chanted, “Fight, fight, fight.”
The crowd at the rally responded: “America! America! America!
Uniformed armed forces arrived soon after, with some spectators shouting abuse at the media.
Agents then removed Trump from sight.
The video showed blood on Trump’s ears. According to Reuters, there were also snipers on the roof near the stage where Trump was standing.
NBC News quoted two senior law enforcement officials as saying that investigators are increasingly concerned that the shooting at Trump’s rally “may have been a serious attempt on his life.”
Joe Biden said Saturday that he had been briefed on the shooting.
“I’m glad to hear he’s safe and doing well,” the president said of Trump. “As we await further information, my prayers are with him and his family and all who attended the rally.”
Biden added that he and first lady Jill Biden were “grateful to the Secret Service for getting him to safety.”
“America will not tolerate this kind of violence,” Biden said. “We must unite as a nation to condemn this behavior.”
One rally participant who identified himself to CBS News as an emergency room doctor recalled walking toward a voice saying, “He’s been shot.” A rally participant whose shirt was stained with blood said he saw a man shot in the head. The man who was shot was spun around and ended up “stuck between benches.”
He said he attempted CPR on the injured man as he was being flown to a medical helicopter.
Scenes from the rally prompted widespread reactions, including support for Trump from Republicans like former President George W. Bush and other Republicans. this U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and J.D. Vance of Ohio.
Former first lady Laura Bush “I’m grateful that President Trump is unharmed after this cowardly attack on his life,” Bush said. “We commend Secret Service personnel for their quick response.”
“Prayers for President Trump and all those who attended the rally in Pennsylvania today,” Rubio said on X on Saturday.
Vance posted on X: “Everyone joins me in praying for our President Trump and everyone who attended the rally. I hope everyone is okay.
Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, also prayed to Trump.
“I appreciate law enforcement’s decisive response,” Jeffries wrote on X. Political violence of any kind is unacceptable.
Former Democratic President Barack Obama said in a separate statement: “There is absolutely no place for political violence in our democracy. Although we don’t yet know what exactly happened, we should all breathe a sigh of relief because former President Trump Trump was not seriously harmed and is using this moment to recommit himself to civility and respect in our politics. Michelle and I wish him a speedy recovery.
Trump adviser and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon spoke to The Guardian in June about his concerns about the Republican candidate being assassinated ahead of the November election.
“That’s my biggest concern,” Bannon said before he was sentenced to four months in prison for defying a congressional subpoena. “Assassinations must be a priority, and I believe the women in charge of that part of the Secret Service are not doing their job.”
“I’m not happy with what happened in Milwaukee,” he added, referring to the Republican National Convention, which is set to begin Monday. But he added, “His detachment is great.”
Bannon believes that Trump is being portrayed as the new Julius Caesar everywhere, from a theater production in New York to an essay by renowned scholar Robert Kagan, paving the way for a would-be assassin to emulate Brutus. the way. He said Abraham Lincoln received similar treatment after the Civil War.
“Remember John Wilkes Booth. In the Southern press, especially the Richmond newspapers, Caesarism, Lincoln was Caesar, Lincoln was taking liberties. You fought in the war, but even if you lost the war , he will also take away all your freedom and enslave you.
