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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Helen Sullivan (now); Lois Beckett, Maya Yang, Yohannes Lowe and Fran Lawther (earlier)

Biden gives Oval Office address after assassination attempt – as it happened

Assassination Thomas Matthew Crooks Donald Trump Pennsylvania

This live coverage of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump is ending now. You can read all of our coverage of this story here.

The attack, which is being investigated as an attempted assassination and a potential act of domestic terrorism, left Trump injured at the ear, but it killed a spectator, identified as a former fire chief, and critically injured two others.

“We cannot, we must not go down this road in America,” Biden added, citing a rising tide of political violence that included the assault on the US Capitol, the attack on the husband of the former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, and a kidnapping plot against Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan.

Biden also praised Corey Comperatore, the 50-year-old former fire chief who was killed as he dove to shield his wife and daughter. Comperatore, Biden said, was a “hero” and extended his “deepest condolences” to his family.

Investigators were still searching for the motive of the 20-year-old suspect, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.

More than 24 hours after the attack, the investigation into how Crooks managed to open fire, reportedly using a AR-15 bought legally by his father, at the rally remained fluid. Investigators have seized several of Crooks’s devices and are starting to piece together his communications before the event. Authorities said they had discovered potential explosive devices in Crooks’s car.

Joe Biden on Sunday forcefully condemned political violence and appealed to a nation still reeling from the attempted assassination of Donald Trump to reject “extremism and fury”.

In a primetime address from the Oval Office, Biden said Americans must strive for “national unity,” warning that the political rhetoric in the US had gotten “too heated” as passions rise in the final months before the November presidential election.

“There is no place in America for this kind of violence – for any violence. Ever. Period. No exception,” the president said. “We can’t allow this violence to be normalized.”

Biden’s plea for Americans to “cool it down” came as Trump said that he would use his speech at the Republican national convention to bring “the whole country, even the whole world, together.”

“The speech will be a lot different than it would’ve been two days ago,” Trump told the Washington Examiner, adding that the reality of what had happened was “just setting in,”.

Biden ordered an independent review into how a gunman was able to get on to a roof overlooking a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, and fire multiple shots at the former president from an “elevated position” outside of the venue. The FBI warned on Sunday that online threats of political violence, already heightened, had spiked since the shooting.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has spoken with Trump.

“The Prime Minister condemned yesterday’s appalling assassination attempt and reiterated there’s no place for political violence. The Prime Minister wished the former President well and offered condolences to the shooting victims and to the family of Corey Comperatore,” Trudeau’s office said in a statement.

Trump could use his appearance at the RNC to announce who he has chosen as his pick for vice president.

Here is what the three most likely candidates have said in response to the shooting:

Florida Senator Marco Rubio said, “God protected Donald Trump”:

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgam said, “We all know President Trump is stronger than his enemies. Today he showed it.”

Senator for Ohio, JD Vance, said: “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.” There is no evidence that what Vance said is true.

Each candidate also said they were praying for Trump or asked people to pray with them.

Reuters has spoken to people who knew the alleged shooter:

The early details that have emerged about Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was shot dead by law enforcement, show a young man working an entry-level job near his hometown in Pennsylvania, where he graduated from high school in 2022 with a reputation as a bright but quiet classmate. His high school counsellor described him as “respectful” and said he never knew Crooks to be political.

The FBI said on Sunday that Crooks’ social media profile does not contain threatening language, nor have they found any history of mental health issues. They said he acted alone and have not identified a motive.

What is unique about Crooks - when compared to other recent shooters who opened fire at schools, churches, malls and parades - is that he came within inches of killing a presidential candidate.

On Saturday afternoon, Crooks slipped onto a rooftop location 150 yards (140 meters) from the stage where Trump was speaking in Butler, Pennsylvania. He then began firing an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle, purchased by his father, officials said.

…

A resident of Bethel Park, about an hour away from where the shooting occurred, Crooks was a registered Republican who would have been eligible to cast his first presidential vote in the 5 November election in which Trump is challenging President Joe Biden. Public records show his father is a registered Republican and his mother a registered Democrat, and that as a 17-year-old Crooks made a $15 donation to a Democratic Party cause.

Crooks was employed as a dietary aide at a nursing home at the time of the shooting, the home’s administrator said in a statement.

Two years ago, Crooks graduated from the local high school, where he showed no particular interest in politics, according to one classmate who asked not to be identified. Crooks’ interests centered on building computers and playing games, the classmate said in an interview.

“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 said.

“Nothing crazy ever came up in any conversation.”

Jim Knapp, who retired from his job as the school counselor at Bethel Park High School in 2022, said Crooks had always been “quiet as a churchmouse,” “respectful” and kept to himself, although he did have a few friends.

He added that he couldn’t recall Crooks ever being disciplined in school.
“Anybody could snap, anybody could have issues,” he said. “Something triggered that young man and drove him to drive up to Butler yesterday and do what he did.”

Summary

Here are the key developments from the last few hours:

  • The suspected shooter in the assasination attempt on Donald Trump is dead. He was named as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.

  • Trump was injured in the shooting, and two other rally attendees were also shot and survived. One man, Corey Comperatore, 50, died in the shooting, and has been hailed as a hero from trying to protect his daughters from the bullets.

  • Details from the suspected shooter’s former high school classmates, the nursing home where he worked, and others, mostly described him as smart and quiet, with a clean record, someone who wore camouflage and other hunting clothes to class, but lived in an area where that did stand out. Early details shed little light on why Crooks might have wanted to carry out an attack on Trump or his supporters.

  • Public records showed he was a registered Republican, though he had once donated $15 to a progressive PAC.

  • Early attempts to identify social media posts or other writings that would explain the shooting were not successful. FBI officials said on Sunday afternoon that they did not “currently have an identified motive” and that “at present, we have not identified an ideology associated with the subject.”

  • Law enforcement officials identified the gun used in the attack as an AR-style rifle that was legally purchased by the shooter’s father. His family has not spoken publicly, but is cooperating with the investigation, officials said.

  • Donald Trump and Joe Biden spoke on the phone after the assault, and both of them have said the conversation was a good one and spoke respectfully of each other.

  • Trump arrived in Milwaukee on Sunday night for the Republican National Convention this week, which the candidate pledged would continue as scheduled.

  • Joe Biden gave an address to the nation, calling for unity and a rejection of political violence. His campaign was reportedly planning to tone down verbal attacks and television attack ads against Trump in the wake of the shooting, while still continuing to tout Biden’s political message about why voters should elect him in November.

  • Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley will speak Tuesday at the Republican National Convention. Haley was President Donald Trump’s last major challenger in this year’s GOP primary. Haley, who was also elected twice as South Carolina governor, was added to the schedule after she was initially not among the list of speakers, according to Haley spokesperson Chaney Denton.

  • Trump had CT scan after assassination attempt - reports. CNN and the ABC reported that Trump underwent a precautionary CT scan after he was grazed by a bullet at a rally on Saturday. The ABC cited unnamed sources who said the scan came back clear.

  • Democrat Senator Cory Booker is speaking on CNN now, he says that conversations about getting Biden to stand aside are still going on. Biden needs to, “Unify the party,” he says. He says he will position himself to best “support whoever our nominee is” at the Democratic convention.

  • Trump gave an interview, his first since the shooting, to the conservative newspaper the Washington Examiner, saying that he has rewritten his RNC speech. “The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger,” he said, and that it “would’ve been one of the most incredible speeches”. Its focus was Biden’s policies while in office, Trump said. “This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together. The speech will be a lot different, a lot different than it would’ve been two days ago,” he said. He also said that the reason he wasn’t killed was that he looked away from the crowd and to a screen with speech notes. “I rarely look away from the crowd. Had I not done that in that moment, well, we would not be talking today, would we?”

  • FBI officials said on Sunday they were assessing the shooting as a possible domestic terrorism attack and assassination attempt.

Updated

Nikki Haley to speak at RNC

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley will speak Tuesday at the Republican National Convention. Haley was President Donald Trump’s last major challenger in this year’s GOP primary.

Haley, who was also elected twice as South Carolina governor, was added to the schedule after she was initially not among the list of speakers, according to Haley spokesperson Chaney Denton. The schedule change was confirmed by a Republican official who is familiar with the convention plans but was not authorised to speak publicly.

Denton had said last week that the former South Carolina governor was not invited to the convention, but Haley had instructed her delegates to vote for Trump and issued a public call for party unity.

During the primary, Haley accused Trump of causing chaos and disregarding the importance of US alliances abroad. She did not endorse him when she dropped out in early March, instead waiting more than two months before she said she planned to vote for him.

Trump, in turn, repeatedly mocked her with the nickname “Birdbrain,” though he curtailed his criticism after securing enough delegates in March to become the presumptive Republican nominee.

Updated

Trump had CT scan after assassination attempt - reports

CNN and the ABC are reporting that Trump underwent a precautionary CT scan after he was grazed by a bullet at a rally on Saturday.

The ABC cites unnamed sources who said the scan came back clear.

For Trump, the gain is greater. What happened on Saturday turned the old maxim – what does not kill him makes stronger – literal. The circus master’s presence of mind, raising a fist and shouting “Fight!” to his supporters, produced a photograph for the ages and guaranteed his status as both messiah and martyr.

This week the spotlight will turn firmly back in Trump’s direction. Come Thursday, instead of the august setting of the Oval Office, there will be the kitsch theatrics of a primetime speech at the Republican convention.

Trump could do something truly historic by echoing Biden’s address, insisting that violence has no place in politics, accepting that his own narrow escape is a cathartic moment and now America must pull back from the brink. The rest of the election campaign could be one of decency and grace.

Commentators would gush that Trump had become “presidential” and of course it wouldn’t last. Biden might have the bully pulpit but Trump remains the bully to beat.

Analysis: The failed assassination has strengthened the hand of both presidential candidates

Biden, embracing his role as repairer of the breach, made a plea: “In America, we resolve our differences at the ballot box – you know that’s how we do it, at the ballot box, not with bullets. The power to change American should should always rest in the hands of the people, not in the hands of a would-be assassin.”

Biden nodded towards a return to politics as usual soon, noting that the Republican convention starts on Monday and highlighting his own campaign efforts.

But some of the old glitches did not disappear. While Biden showed his generous spirit by saying he had called his opponent and prayed for him, he referred to “former Trump” instead of “former President Trump”.

The cold, dispassionate reality is that the failed assassination of Trump has strengthened the hand of both presidential candidates. Biden had been desperate to change the post-debate narrative and that happened in a way he would not have wished.

Democrats have privately admitted that this is not the time to mount a challenge to his leadership, when they are concerned about the safety of their staff. But in the mind of the electorate, the perception of Biden as doddery and declining is likely to persist.

Analysis: Biden embraces role as healer – but Trump remains king of the spectacle

Donald Trump has the stagecraft but Joe Biden still commands the biggest stage.

A day after the former US president displayed his preternatural genius for spectacle – forcing the Secret Service to pause so he could show bloody defiance after a near-death experience – the spotlight turned back to his beleaguered election opponent.

On Sunday, Biden delivered an Oval Office address for only the third time in his presidency, having previously done so when a deal was reached to avoid a breach of the debt ceiling and to comment on the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

The set piece allowed him to demonstrate the power of incumbency, sending a message to Democratic rebels who want the 81-year-old to step aside amid concerns he lacks the mental agility to beat Trump.

The familiar trappings of the Resolute Desk against a backdrop of family photos, window, flags and curtains also sought to project the image of Biden as president rather than candidate, an elder statesman rising above the fray to call for national unity after a traumatic moment.

It was a solemn duty that came with relative ease to a man who, during 36 years in the Senate, made bipartisanship a cornerstone of his political identity.

CNN is now speaking to Phillip Mudd, a former CIA official working in counterterrorism.

He is asked about a law enforcement’s decision to drop back down from the roof after seeing the gunman

He says his first questions were what the protocols were and were they adhered to.

If the protocols included monitoring surrounding buildings, “Why would you not have had that building under observation,” he says?

If that was not the protocol, why would that be the decision?

In other words, is it a failure of protocol or a failure to observe protocol.

Speaking on CNN now, reporter Brian Todd says a witness saw the shooter moving “from roof to roof to roof” before finally taking the position from which he fired at Trump.

Here is the video of Biden’s speech earlier on Sunday evening:

Zito is asked on CNN whether she thinks this will result in Trump dropping his rhetoric of retribution.

She says she believes that it will be important to him to unify people.

Salina Zito, the Washington Examiner reporter who spoke to Trump, is on CNN now. She was at the rally.

She says she was a few feet away from Trump with her daughter, who is a photographer, when the shots were fired.

“When you watch him a a rally, he always looks forward, always looks forward, never looks to his left or his right. He was looking at a chart, and he never does charts,” she says.

She repeats the assertion in her article that this is what stopped Trump from being fatally injured by the bullet.

The message seems to be that Trump does not rely on notes while making speeches.

Zito says Trump was in a “good mood” and “incredibly upbeat”.

A witness recounts the moments during and after Donald Trump’s rally shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania:

Cory Booker: conversations about whether Biden should stand aside are ongoing

Democrat Senator Cory Booker is speaking on CNN now, he says that conversations about getting Biden to stand aside are still going on.

Biden needs to, “Unify the party,” he says.

He says he will position himself to best “support whoever our nominee is” at the Democratic convention.

Updated

Trump gives first interview following shooting, says he has rewritten RNC speech

Trump has given an interview to the conservative newspaper the Washington Examiner, saying that he has rewritten his RNC speech.

“The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger,” he said, and that it “would’ve been one of the most incredible speeches”. Its focus was Biden’s policies while in office, Trump said.

“Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now,” he told the Examiner.

He described it as a “chance to bring the country together”.

“This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together. The speech will be a lot different, a lot different than it would’ve been two days ago,” he said.

He also said that the reason he wasn’t killed was that he looked away from the crowd and to a screen with speech notes.

“I rarely look away from the crowd. Had I not done that in that moment, well, we would not be talking today, would we?”

Updated

The shooting at the campaign rally has raised the stakes and the significance of Trump’s appearance at the Republican national convention starting Monday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he will formally accept the GOP nomination for president and will unveil his running-mate.

It also cast the 2024 presidential race into uncertainty. The campaigns for both Trump and Joe Biden pulled back on political functions over the weekend, as they moved to grapple with the immediate fallout of the situation.

Trump huddled huddled with senior advisers at his Bedminster club in New Jersey, keeping to his planned schedule as he prepared for the Republican convention, according to sources close to the former president. Trump’s next appearance is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday in Milwaukee, where he arrived on Sunday evening.

“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.

Meanwhile, Axios reporter Sophie Cai has described the angry reactions to media following the shooting. Trump supporters shouted at journalists, she says, with one saying, “You’re next! Your time is coming”:

When the shots began I was standing next to my former Axios colleague Alayna Treene, who’s now with CNN. Her security guard forced her down and then ushered her into a space below the media riser.

A few moments later I did the same as the security guard positioned his body over hers, much as Secret Service agents were doing with Trump on the stage. That’s when it hit me that we were in danger.

Less than 90 seconds later, we peeked through the riser and emerged to face the anger of Trump supporters, who were turning on the media.

“Fake news! This is your fault!” they yelled. “You’re next! Your time is coming.”

A few tried to break into the media area but were stopped by security guards.

Analysis: Secret service under scrutiny

The assassination attempt placed the secret service under intense scrutiny, with lawmakers from both parties moving to open investigations into the security arrangements and calling for the agency’s director, Kimberly Cheatle, to account for the decisions.

At issue remains how a single man with a semi-automatic rifle managed to access a roof 140 yards away from the stage where Trump was speaking at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The House homeland security committee ordered the secret service’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, to produce documents and communications related to the security apparatus for the rally and whether any requests for more resources had been rebuffed.

Authorities attempt to determine motive as suspect’s devices seized

FBI officials said on Sunday they were assessing the shooting of Donald Trump at a campaign rally on Saturday as a possible domestic terrorism attack and assassination attempt, as federal investigators executed a flurry of warrants in trying to determine a motive.

The officials said there was no evidence that the 20-year-old suspected gunman, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was operating as part of a larger group. But his reasons for scaling the roof of a building overlooking the rally to shoot at Trump remained unclear.

By Sunday evening, dozens of federal investigators with the FBI, the ATF and all three US attorney’s offices in Pennsylvania were involved in an expanding investigation that had seized several of Crooks’ devices and started to piece together some of his communications before the rally.

The other major development was the discovery of potential explosive devices in Crooks’ car. Former prosecutors suggested that those could indicate Crooks expected to survive the shooting.

The devices and the AR-15-style rifle, which officials said was bought legally, were sent to the bureau’s lab in Quantico, Virginia. Crooks’ relatives were cooperating, officials also said.

But the investigation remains fluid and data from Crooks’ devices have not yet been fully extracted, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Texas US Representative Ronny Jackson said in a statement Sunday that his nephew was injured but “thankfully his injury was not serious.”

“My family was sitting in the front, near where the President was speaking,” Jackson said. “They heard shots ringing out — my nephew then realized he had blood on his neck and something had grazed and cut his neck. He was treated by the providers in the medical tent.”

Here is the press pool report following Biden’s address, from Time magazine’s Senior White House correspondent Brian Bennet.

Biden spoke while key advisors sat off camera nearby. When he finished speaking, according to the report, he asked “Who’s that guy outside the window,” appearing to refer to one of the news photographers stationed outside.

Here is a photo from that address that appears to have been taken through the window:

President Biden sat at the Resolute Desk for the address. He spoke for just over 6 minutes. Furniture had been removed from the office to fit television cameras and lights for the live address.

Several advisors were seated along the interior wall of the Oval Office to watch his address. Next to the door was Homeland Security Advisor Dr. Liz Sherwood-Randall, then Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, an empty chair, then [senior advisor] Anita Dunn, then advisor Michael C. Donilon.

During the speech, Anita Dunn was following along with the transcript, nestled into a large green notebook, occasionally mouthing key lines.

The White House allowed some news photographers to take photos of Biden during his speech from outside the windows going out to the Rose Garden. After he finished speaking, Biden looked over to his right and said, “Who’s that guy outside the window?” He had likely seen one of the news photographers.

Updated

More responses are coming in to the death of Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief, who was killed after diving in front of his family to protect them. At least one person who knew him has been motivated by the attack to vote for Trump.

“He’s a literal hero. He shoved his family out of the way, and he got killed for them,” Mike Morehouse, who lived next to Comperatore for the last eight years, told AP. “He’s a hero that I was happy to have as a neighbor.”

Randy Reamer, president of the Buffalo Township volunteer fire company, called Comperatore “a stand-up guy” and “a true brother of the fire service.” He said Comperatore served as chief of the company for about three years but was also a life member, meaning he had served for more than 20 years.

“Just a great all-around guy, always willing to help someone out,” Reamer said of Comperatore. “He definitely stood up for what he believed in, never backed down to anyone. … He was a really good guy.”

A GoFundMe launched to support Comperatore’s family had already surpassed more than $696,000 in donations as of Sunday.

Morehouse says he plans on casting a ballot for the first time in his life come November and he plans on checking Trump’s name.

“As soon as I heard what happened and then learned that it was to Corey, I went upstairs as soon as I got home and I registered to vote,” Morehouse said. “This is the first time I’ve ever voted and I think it will be in his memory.”

The Associated Press has spoken to Sean Westwood, a political scientist who directs the Polarization Research Lab at Dartmouth College, about the impact of violence and violent rhetoric on voters.

Surveys find that Americans overwhelmingly reject violence as a way to settle political differences, Westwood told AP, but overheated rhetoric from candidates and social media can motivate a small minority of people to act.

Westwood said he worries that Saturday’s shooting could spur others to consider violence as a tactic.

“There is a real risk that this spirals,” he said.

“Even if someone doesn’t personally support violence, if they think the other side does, and they witness an attempted political assassination, there is a real risk that this could lead to escalation.”

Hello, this is Helen Sullivan taking over the Guardian’s live coverage of of the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Trump. I’ll be with you for the next while. You can send questions or comments to helen.sullivan[at]theguardian.com.

Evening summary: what we know – and still don't know

A day after Donald Trump survived a shooting attack at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, there is still much that remains unknown about the attempted assassination, and how it will change an already unprecedented presidential race.

Our live coverage is continuing, but here are some key highlights:

What we know so far:

  • The suspected shooter, named as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, is dead.

  • Trump was injured in the shooting, and two other rally attendees were also shot and survived. One man, Corey Comperatore, 50, died in the shooting, and has been hailed as a hero from trying to protect his daughters from the bullets.

  • Details from the suspected shooter’s former high school classmates, the nursing home where he worked, and others mostly described him as smart and quiet, with a clean record, someone who wore camouflage and other hunting clothes to class, but lived in an area where that did not stand out. Early details shed little light on why Crooks might have wanted to carry out an attack on Trump or his supporters. Public records showed he was a registered Republican, though he had once donated $15 to a progressive Pac.

  • Early attempts to identify social media posts or other writings that would explain the shooting were not successful. FBI officials said on Sunday afternoon that they did not “currently have an identified motive” and that “at present, we have not identified an ideology associated with the subject”.

  • Law enforcement officials identified the gun used in the attack as an AR-style rifle that was legally purchased by the shooter’s father. His family has not spoken publicly but is cooperating with the investigation, officials said.

  • Donald Trump and Joe Biden spoke on the phone after the assault, and both of them have said the conversation was a good one and spoke respectfully of each other.

  • Trump arrived in Milwaukee on Sunday night for the Republican national convention this week, which the candidate pledged would continue as scheduled.

  • Joe Biden gave an address to the nation, calling for unity and a rejection of political violence. His campaign was reportedly planning to tone down verbal attacks and television attack ads against Trump in the wake of the shooting, while still continuing to tout Biden’s political message about why voters should elect him in November.

What we still don’t know:

  • The suspected shooter’s motivation for the attack.

  • What went wrong in the security for the event that allowed the suspect to apparently access a rooftop close enough to the rally stage to give him a clear shot at Trump. The actions of Secret Service officials and local law enforcement are currently under intense scrutiny.

  • How the attack on Trump will affect, or whether it might simply end, Democrats’ heated debate over whether Joe Biden should withdraw from the 2024 presidential race to allow a younger Democrat to take place.

  • How the attack, as well as Trump’s defiant response to being shot, at will resonate with voters in November, particularly in Pennsylvania, a key swing state in the presidential race and the location of the shooting.

Updated

Biden puts Trump assassination attempt in context of other political violence

In his speech condemning political violence and asking Americans to “cool it down,” Biden also mentioned high-profile acts of political violence that targeted Democrats and Trump’s opponents, including the 6 January insurrection at the Capitol in 2021, and the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband at their home in San Francisco in 2022.

Republicans quickly meme video of Biden calling the ballot box the ‘battle box’

In his speech calling for unity after a shooting targeting Donald Trump, Joe Biden invoked the value of democracy as a peaceful way to contest power.

“To call for action at the ballot box, no violence on our streets, that’s how democracy should work,” Biden said. A few seconds later, he misspoke, twice calling the ballot box “the battle box”.

“In America, we resolve our difference at the battle box, that’s how we do it, at the battle box, not with bullets. The power to change America should always rest in the hands of the people, not in the hands of a would-be assassin.”

Republican strategists and other online commenters were quick to criticize the slip and also meme the idea of heading to the “battle box” in November.

Updated

Key event

In heart of speech, Biden warns against making politics a ‘killing field’

“Politics must never be a literal battlefield or, god forbid, a literal killing field,” Biden emphasized in his speech.

“Here in America, we need to get out of our silos, where we only listen to those with whom we agree,” Biden said.

“Nothing is more important for us now than standing together,” Biden said. “We can do this.”

From the beginning, American democracy “gave reason and balance a chance to prevail over brute force. That’s the America we must be.”

Updated

Biden on suspect: ‘We do not know the motive of the shooter yet’

“We don’t know his opinions or affiliations. We don’t know if he had help or support or communicated with anyone else,” Joe Biden said.

Updated

Biden’s unity remarks are brief

Joe Biden’s address to the nation, calling for unity, are brief, lasting less than 10 minutes.

The shooting “calls on all of us to take a step back”, Biden said, praising the courage of the 50-year-old killed shielding his family from bullets and asking Americans to hold them in their prayers.

“We stand for an America of decency and grace ... politics must never be a killing field,” he said.

Updated

As expected, Biden is calling for unity in his remarks

“Here in America, our unity is the most illusive of goals right now,” Biden says.

“In American democracy, arguments are made in good faith,” he says. “We owe that to ourselves. We owe that to our children and our grandchildren.”

Updated

Ballot box or the battle box?

“Action at our ballot box. No violence on our streets,” Joe Biden says, then seems to call the ballot box the “battle box” several times after that.

Updated

‘Cool it down,’ Biden says

“The political rhetoric has gotten really heated. It’s time to cool it down,” Joe Biden says in his speech to the nation.

Joe Biden expected to address the nation shortly

The president’s remarks in response to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump are scheduled to begin shortly, at 8 pm EST. You can watch them online here.

Wisconsin governor asks to reconsider widened no-gun zone around RNC: AP

Wisconsin governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, is asking officials to revisit a prior decision that allows people to bring guns within blocks of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee after an assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, a person familiar with the matter told the Associated Press on Sunday.

Evers believes additional steps need to be taken to keep the convention’s attendees, law enforcement and the local community safe, the person said. The person could not discuss details of the request publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, a Wisconsin paper, reports that “the move is unlikely to succeed.”

Will the attack on Trump end Democrats' calls for Biden to withdraw from the race?

As an assassination attempt against Donald Trump has upended what was already a historically chaotic US presidential race, Democrats are now reconsidering last week’s calls for Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race to allow a younger Democrat to run in his place.

From Reuters:

Biden campaign officials said they expect that the assassination attempt will lower the pressure from congressional Democrats for Biden, 81, to step aside in the race amid concerns about his fitness for office. Some Democrats in the House of Representatives and Senate have publicly called upon Biden to drop out in the aftermath of his shaky performance in a June debate against Trump.

“It’s over,” one White House source told Reuters about the attempt to push Biden out of the 2024 race. That may be overly optimistic, other Democratic sources said. The current wave of calls is over but is expected to resume once Biden inevitably stumbles again, they said.

From NBC News:

“The presidential contest ended last night,” one veteran Democratic consultant, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to give a candid assessment of his own party’s standing less than four months before the election, told NBC News.

“Now it’s time to focus on keeping the Senate and trying to pick up the House,” he said.

Updated

Staff member of Democratic representative no longer employed after social post

The Democratic congressman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi says one of his staff members is no longer employed after he learned of a post she made about Trump on social media, the Associated Press reports:

Screenshots of her apparent Facebook post, which was related to the attempted assassination of Trump, circulated on social media after the shooting. The screenshots showed a post in which the staffer appeared to say she does not condone violence but suggested the shooter should get “shooting lessons” and should not have missed. The AP was not able to view the user’s private Facebook profile to identify whether the post was still up.

Updated

Biden campaign to pause verbal attacks on Trump after assassination attempt: reports

In his speech to the nation at 8pm ET tonight, Joe Biden is expected to “stress a message of unity while pointing out his belief that Trump’s agenda is bad for the country”, Reuters reports, citing a briefing from a Biden campaign official.

Reuters also reports that Biden’s re-election campaign “quickly upended its strategy” and is “calling off verbal attacks on the former president to focus instead on a message of unity”.

“Within hours of Saturday’s shooting, Biden’s campaign was pulling down television ads and suspending other political communications, including those that had highlighted Trump’s May felony conviction in New York state court relating to hush money paid to a porn star to avert a sex scandal before the 2016 US election,” the news service reported.

Updated

Secret Service says it is ‘fully prepared’ for RNC

The US Secret Service said it was “fully prepared” for the upcoming Republican National Convention, and that it had “a comprehensive security plan in place”.

The Associated Press reports that Audrey Gibson-Cicchino, the agency’s coordinator for the convention, said at a press briefing Sunday that the apparent assassination attempt against Trump had not moved the secret service to make changes to its RNC security pan.

“We are ready to go,” Gibson-Cicchino said.

Updated

FBI: no clear motive for shooting so far

Nearly 24 hours after what FBI officials called an assassination attempt at a Donald Trump campaign rally in Pennsylvania, law enforcement officials said they had not yet identified a motive for the attack.

Authorities named the suspected gunman as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, and said he is believed to have acted alone.

“At present, we have not identified an ideology associated with the subject, but I want to remind everyone that we’re still very early in this investigation,” FBI special agent in charge Kevin Rojek told reporters in a Sunday briefing, according to ABC News.

The FBI did not “currently have an identified motive, although our investigators are working tirelessly to attempt to identify what that motive was,” he said.

Public records show that Crooks was a registered Republican, who in 2021 had donated $15 to a progressive Super Pac. The FBI said they believe the AR-style rifle the shooter used was legally purchased by the gunman’s father.

The FBI is combing through the suspect’s social media feeds but so far has not found any threatening writing or social media posts, officials said. At least one social media platform popular with gamers, Discord, said the suspect had an account but was not particularly active, and had not discussed his political beliefs or plans for an attack.

The suspect’s employer, the Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, said in a statement that he “performed his job without concern and his background check was clean”.

The FBI said it was investigating the Trump rally shooting as a potential act of domestic terrorism, defined as an action inside the US that is intended to intimidate or coerce civilians or influence government policy, the Associated Press reported.

The absence of a clear ideological motive added to the deepening questions about the shooting, the Associated Press reported, denying the public any swift or tidy conclusions about the shocking attack.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting

Updated

It’s time to be “a little less partisan,” swing state Democratic congressman says

Greg 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 shooting

In 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.

Updated

Rally shooting suspect’s family is cooperating with the investigation, FBI says

An 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 address

The 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.

Updated

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.”

Updated

New details on shooting suspect from his employer, classmates, and the FBI

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 club

ABC 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.

Updated

Pennsylvania state police release names of two men injured in Trump rally shooting

The 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.

Updated

Associated Press: Local officer encountered gunman just before he shot towards Trump at rally

This 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.”

Updated

Interim summary

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.

Updated

Trump to attend RNC: 'I cannot allow a shooter ... to force change to scheduling'

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!

Updated

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:

Biden to address nation from Oval Office tonight at 8pm

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.”

Updated

“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.

Updated

“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.

Biden says: 'There is no place in America for this kind of violence'

“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.

Updated

Biden on call with Trump: 'We had a short but good conversation'

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.

Updated

Joe Biden is set to deliver his remarks shortly.

Here is the live feed:

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, July 15. Biden was set to deliver a keynote address at the Lyndon B Johnson library in Austin to mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act.

Pennsylvania governor on victim killed in Trump rally shooting: 'Corey died a hero'

Pennsylvania’s governor Josh Shapiro said that the victim, 50-year old former fire chief Corey Comperatore, 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: “I just spoke to Corey’s wife and Corey’s two daughters. 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.”

“Corey was an avid supporter of the former president and was so excited to be there last night with him in the community,” Shapiro continued, saying: “Corey dove on his family to protect them last night at this rally. Corey was the very best of us. May his memory be a blessing.”

Shapiro said that flags would be flown at half-staff throughout Pennsylvania to honor Comperatore.

Updated

The 20-year old suspect involved in yesterday’s shooting at Donald Trump’s rally was reportedly bullied relentlessly, the local Pennsylvania outlet KDKA reports.

According to the KDKA reporter Meghan Schiller, who spoke to one of the suspect’s classmates, the suspect wore “hunting” outfits often in class.

Updated

Joe Biden is to deliver remarks from the Roosevelt Room at 1.30pm ET following Donald Trump’s assassination attempt on Saturday evening.

We will bring you the latest updates.

Updated

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are receiving an updated briefing on the Donald Trump assassination investigation in the White House situation room, per the pool.

The investigation is being led by the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, per people familiar with the situation.

The briefing is being provided by law enforcement and national security officials:

  • Attorney general Merrick Garland

  • Department of Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas

  • FBI director Chris Wray

  • National security adviser Jake Sullivan

  • Homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall

  • US Secret Service director Kim Cheatle

Updated

Trump rally victim identified as former fire chief

The man who was killed in yesterday’s assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania has been identified as 50-year old Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief, according to local outlets.

In a Facebook post, Dawn Comperatore Schafer wrote:

“The PA Trump Rally claimed the life of my brother, Corey Comperatore. The hatred for one man took the life of the one man we loved the most. He was a hero that shielded his daughters. His wife and girls just lived through the unthinkable and unimaginable.

My baby brother just turned 50 and had so much life left to experience. Hatred has no limits and love has no bounds. Pray for my sister-in-law, nieces, my mother, sister, me and his nieces and nephews as this feels like a terrible nightmare but we know it is our painful reality.”

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports Comperatore’s wife, Helen Comperatore, writing on Facebook:

“Yesterday, what turned out to be such an exciting day for my husband especially, turned into a nightmare for our family… What my precious girls had to witness is unforgivable. What I had to was…He died the hero he always was.”

A GoFundMe page set up for the Comperatore family has raised over $27,530 as of Sunday noon.

Bomb-making materials found in suspect's home - Associated Press

Bomb-making materials were discovered in the home of the suspect involved in yesterday’s Donald Trump rally 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.

Law enforcement officials also told the Associated Press they believe that the weapon the 20-year-old suspect used in his attempt to assassinate Trump was purchased by his father at least six months ago.

Updated

House homeland security committee demands DHS turn over documents on security plans

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 … As the US Secret Service (USSS) investigates, the committee on homeland security … is dedicated to conducting rigorous oversight to ensure that the American people receive answers and presidential candidates receive proper and adequate protection.”

According to the letter, the requested documents include:

  • Documents sufficient to show the security plan to secure the perimeter of the event site

  • All documents and communications, including but not limited to, e-mail, text messages … between or among any office within the Department of Homeland Security or the US Secret Service, and the executive office of the president, referring or relating to any potential increase or addition of protective resources to President Trump’s security detail from November 15, 2022, to the present

  • Documents sufficient to explain the US Secret Service’s rules of engagement or protocols to assess and neutralize threats towards a protectee, particularly for possible assassination attempts

  • Documents sufficient to explain the coordination between the US Secret Service, Transportation Security Administration, and state and local law enforcement to screen the July 13, 2024 presidential campaign rally attendees

  • Copies of any and all briefing materials created by the Department of Homeland Security or the US Secret Service, to include talking points used by Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas or director Kimberly Cheatle, to brief President Joe Biden about the assassination attempt on President Trump

Updated

Bernie Sanders on Trump's assasination attempt and political violence: 'What we need as a nation ... is not radical rhetoric'

In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press following Donald Trump’s assassination attempt, Bernie Sanders called for a move away from “radical rhetoric”.

Opening up his interview with calls for political unity, Sanders said:

I think in this traumatic moment it’s time for all of us to take a deep breath, remember what this country is about and what political campaigns are about, and they’re about serious discussions of serious ideas as to how we address these serious problems facing this country … If there’s any silver lining in this tragedy, it’s to figure out how we go forward peacefully, constructively and intelligently.

The Vermont senator went on to add:

The bottom line is, what we need as a nation, what a democracy, is about is not radical rhetoric. What it is about is a serious discussion of where we are as a nation and how we go forward. You know, in a certain way … politics should be kind of boring.

You know, our healthcare system is dysfunctional. How do we fix it? Well, it’s kind of a boring discussion. But we need a healthcare system that guarantees healthcare for all people. We have massive income and wealth inequality. Well, maybe a boring discussion. Should three people own more wealth than the bottom half of American society? So I think what we have got to see is serious discussion of serious issues, and not this kind of harsh rhetoric that we have heard for the last number of years.”

In response to whether the rally shooting will impact the debate surrounding Joe Biden’s fitness for the presidency, Sanders said:

No, I don’t. Look, I don’t. I mean, I think President Biden is the strongest candidate the Democrats have. I think he has a very, very effective record that he can run on.

Updated

The suspected shooter at yesterday’s rally shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, had explosive devices in his car, the Wall Street Journal reports.

According to sources familiar with the matter who spoke to the outlet, the car with the reported devices was parked near the rally where Donald Trump addressed a crowd before his assassination attempt.

The Journal further reports that police received multiple reports of suspicious packages near the shooter’s location and that bomb technicians were dispatched.

Melania Trump calls for unity following Donald Trump's assassination attempt

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.

When I watched that violent bullet strike my husband, Donald, I realized my life, and Barron’s life, were on the brink of devastating change. I am grateful to the brave secret service agents and law enforcement officials who risked their own lives to protect my husband.

To the families of the innocent victims who are now suffering from this heinous act, I humbly offer my sincerest sympathy…

A monster who recognized my husband as an inhuman political machine attempted to ring out Donald’s passion – his laughter, ingenuity, love of music, and inspiration. The core facets of my husband’s life – his human side – were buried below the political machine…

We are all humans, and fundamentally, instinctively, we want to help one another. American politics are only one vehicle that can uplift our communities. Love, compassion, kindness and empathy are necessities.

And let us remember that when the time comes to look beyond the left and the right, beyond the red and the blue, we all come from families with the passion to fight for a better life together, while we are here, in this earthly realm.”

In a post on Sunday, Ivanka Trump marked the two-year anniversary of the passing of her mother, Ivana Trump, while referring to yesterday’s shooting at her father’s rally in Pennsylvania, saying:

“I believe she was watching over dad last night during the attempt on his life. I miss her every day and pray for the safety of the family and friends she left behind.”

Here is video of House speaker Mike Johnson comparing Donald Trump with Abraham Lincoln following yesterday’s rally shooting:

“There is no figure in American history at least in the modern era - maybe since Lincoln - who’s been so vilified and really persecuted by media and Hollywood elites, political figures, even the legal system,” Johnson said on NBC’s Today show.

Updated

Republican National Committee chairman, Michael Whatley, has said that authorities are working together to ensure security at the party’s convention in Milwaukee this week after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

“We feel very comfortable that we’re working with the Secret Service, we’re working with 40 different law enforcement agencies in terms of what that security is going to look like,” Whatley told Fox News on Sunday.

Republicans are set to descend on Milwaukee between July 15-18 to formally nominate Trump at the Republican national convention.

Updated

US Secret Service push back on claim Trump was denied request for additional security

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”.

Secret Service chief of communications, Anthony Guglielmi, wrote in a post on X Sunday morning:

There’s an untrue assertion that a member of the former President’s team requested additional security resources & that those were rebuffed.

This is absolutely false. In fact, we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo.

The pushback came after Florida’s Republican representative and army veteran Mike Waltz said he had “very reliable sources” telling him there were “repeated requests” for stronger secret service protection for Trump that had been denied by the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas.

US House speaker says Trump has been most 'vilified' figure in modern America history besides Abraham Lincoln

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.

Johnson made the remarks during an interview with NBC’s Today programme in which he acknowledged the country’s “heated” political environment.

“There is no figure in American history – at least in the modern era, maybe since Lincoln – who have been so vilified, and really persecuted by media, Hollywood elites, political figures, even the legal system,” Johnson, who said he sent Trump a text after the shooting, told NBC.

“And when the message goes out constantly that the election of Donald Trump would be a threat to democracy and that the republic would end. I mean it heats up the environment. We cannot do that. It is simply not true – everyone needs to turn the rhetoric down.”

“We’re all Americans, and we have to treat one another with dignity and respect. We can have heated political discourse and debates, but it shouldn’t be personal, and we shouldn’t be targeting people,” Johnson added.

He also confirmed that he was in contact with the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, about the investigation launched into the shooting and is seeking answers over what the Secret Service saw leading up to the shooting.

Updated

Key event

CNN has spoken to Evan Vucci, the veteran Associated Press photographer, who took the photo of a bloodied Trump raising his fist in the air after he was grabbed by Secret Service agents.

Vucci told CNN: “Over my left shoulder, I heard pops, and I knew immediately what it was, and I just kind of went into work mode.”

Vucci said his experience in covering wars in Iraq and Afghanistan helped him to stay calm and focused in the moment: “That experience does help, trying to stay calm and understand you have a job to do.”

“As a still photographer, I don’t get a second chance,” Vucci said.

The Guardian’s video editors have put together this report about the shooting at Trump’s Butler rally – including a visualisation showing where the shots where fired from:

Here are some of the most striking images from last night:

Updated

Before Saturday’s attempt on Donald Trump’s life, there have been multiple assassinations of US presidents.

Abraham Lincoln was the first president to be assassinated, shot by John Wilkes Booth on 14 April 1865, as he and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, attended a special performance of the comedy Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, the AP writes.

James Garfield, the 20th president, was the second president to be assassinated, six months after taking office. He was walking through a train station in Washington on 2 July 1881, to catch a train to New England when he was shot by Charles Guiteau.

William McKinley, the 25th president, was shot after giving a speech in Buffalo, New York, on 14 September 1901. He was shaking hands with people passing through a receiving line when a man fired two shots into his chest at point-blank range. Doctors had expected McKinley to recover but gangrene then set in around the bullet wounds.

John F Kennedy was fatally shot by a hidden assassin armed with a high-powered rifle as he visited Dallas in 22 November 1963 with first lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Shots rang out as the president’s motorcade rolled through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas.

Updated

The shocking assassination attempt against Donald Trump is likely to lead to a ramping up of security across the American political landscape as the 2024 presidential election continues to play out against a backdrop of rising political violence.

In the immediate future there are set to be increased efforts to prevent any violence of disruption at the Republican convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this week which now will unfold against a backdrop of the attempt on Trump’s life.

Given the stunning lapse in security at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, which saw a single gunman repeatedly shoot at Trump from the roof of a building near to the stage from which he was speaking, the already huge effort in Milwaukee will be tightened further. A senior federal official told NBC that RNC security plans are being reexamined after the assassination attempt.

The Trump campaign’s co-managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita also sent a memo following the shooting to campaign staff confirming that the RNC convention will continue as planned, though it also asked staff to avoid campaign offices in Washington and Florida “as they’re assessed” and would be “enhancing the armed security presence with 24/7 officers on-site”.

The Wisconsin governor, Tony Evers, said on social media: “My staff and I are in contact with those coordinating security planning for the RNC and will continue to be in close communication as we learn more about this situation.”

Senior advisers for Donald Trump’s election campaign have told staff the former president is in “great spirits” and “doing well”, according to a staff memo seen by the AP.

Summary

If you’re just joining us now, it is just after 8am ET and here’s a quick recap of what happened at Donald Trump’s Pennsylvania campaign rally:

  • Donald Trump was speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when shots rang out at around 6.13pm ET. The former president was rushed off the stage by Secret Service agents and taken for a medical check-up.

  • As agents tried to move Trump off the stage at the rally, 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. Your head is bloody. We’ve got to move.” Trump replied: “Wait, wait.” He then pumped his fist, mouthed the words: “Fight, fight, fight.” And the crowd at the rally responded with cries of: “USA! USA! USA!”

  • In a statement, Trump – whose right ear could be seen covered in blood – later said he was “fine” after being “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear”. He had been taken to a hospital for evaluation and then reportedly discharged at about 10.20pm local time.

  • The FBI is looking into the Trump rally shooting as “an assassination attempt” against the former US president.

  • Trump returned to his home in New Jersey after the attempted assassination.

  • One spectator was killed and at least two others were injured according to reports on Saturday night.

  • The shooter was killed. The FBI identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the “subject involved” in what it termed an attempted assassination. Crooks was a registered Republican, according to state voter records. Officials have not publicly disclosed a possible motive.

  • Secret Service agents fatally shot Crooks, who attacked from an elevated position outside the rally venue at a farm show in Butler, the agency said. One person who attended the rally was killed and two other spectators were critically injured, the Secret Service said.

  • US President Joe Biden, who spoke to Trump after the shooting, said he was grateful to hear Trump was “safe and doing well”.

  • An attender at the rally said he saw the alleged shooter on a rooftop about “200 to 250 yards” away from where Trump was speaking to supporters yesterday. The BBC said they spoke with a witness who said they saw someone with a rifle outside the Trump rally, and tried to point him out to police, before he opened fire.

I’m Fran Lawther in New York and we will bring you the latest news as we get it.

Updated

Trump urges Americans to 'stand united' after assassination attempt

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.

Updated

The suspected attempted assassination of Donald Trump during a Republican campaign rally on Saturday in Pennsylvania immediately made headlines across the US and internationally.

In the US itself, the New York Times website led with “Trump is safe after assassination attempt at political rally”, showing footage from the rally’s live broadcast of the moment the former president was hit on stage and then bundled into a car by secret service agents.

With many members of the press in attendance, the Times, like other papers, was able to publish direct accounts of what people saw unfolding. Simon J Levien was one of them, writing that in the chaos of the aftermath, he heard a man shout: “Trump was just elected today, folks … He is a martyr.”

“Trump rally shooting investigated as assassination attempt”, ran the Washington Post’s online liveblog headline.

The blog was accompanied by a witness account from journalists who watched from the press riser at the rally. It said the former president got bored of his stump speech and veered off script before gunshots, “high-pitched pops”, burst through the air: “Trump swatted his ear, as if he heard a mosquito. Then he hunched his shoulders and ducked.”

You can read the full story by my colleague, Stephanie Convery, here:

Here is a summary of what we know so far about Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, who was named by the FBI as the “subject involved” in the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump:

  • Crooks lived about an hour away from where the shooting took place in Butler. It is not yet clear what his motivation was. He was a registered Republican, but has no known criminal record, according to a data search.

  • When Crooks was 17 he made a $15 donation to ActBlue, a political action committee that raises money for left-leaning and Democratic politicians, according to a 2021 Federal Election Commission filing. The donation was earmarked for the Progressive Turnout Project, a national group that rallies Democrats to vote, Reuters reported.

  • Crooks graduated in 2022 from Bethel Park High School, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He received a $500 “star award” from the National Math and Science Initiative, according to the newspaper.

  • Law enforcement officials said on Saturday that Crooks carried no identification to the site of the shooting and had to be identified using other methods.
    “We’re looking at photographs right now and we’re trying to run his DNA and get biometric confirmation,” Kevin Rojek, FBI special agent in charge, said during a press briefing.

  • USA Today reported that dozens of law enforcement vehicles were stationed outside a residence listed at the address on Crooks’ voter registration record. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were reportedly on the scene and a bomb squad was at the residence.

  • Crooks’ father, Matthew Crooks, 53, told CNN that he was trying to figure out what happened and would wait until he spoke to law enforcement before speaking about his son.

Updated

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has been speaking to reporters about the Trump rally shooting.

He said:

We do not believe that the attempt to eliminate and assassinate Trump was organised by the current authorities.

But the atmosphere around candidate Trump … provoked what America is confronting today.

After numerous attempts to remove candidate Trump from the political arena – using first legal tools, the courts, prosecutors, attempts to politically discredit and compromise the candidate – it was obvious to all outside observers that his life was in danger.

The Tass news agency reported that Russia’s president Vladimir Putin does not immediately plan to call Trump about the shooting.

It is 'surprising' the gunman was able to open fire on the stage before Secret Service killed him, FBI special agent says

An Associated Press analysis of more than a dozen videos and photos from the scene of the Donald Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, as well as satellite imagery of the site, shows the alleged shooter was able to get astonishingly close to the stage.

The roof where the body lay was less than 150 meters from where Trump was speaking. For reference, 150 meters is a distance at which US army recruits must hit a scaled human-sized silhouette to qualify with the M-16 rifle. The AR-15, like the shooter at the Trump rally had, is the semi-automatic civilian version of the military M-16.

Asked at a press conference whether law enforcement did not know the shooter was on the roof until he began firing, Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh Field Office, responded that “that is our assessment at this time”.

“It is surprising” that the gunman was able to open fire on the stage before the Secret Service killed him, he said.

Updated

Welcome to our coverage of the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump after the dramatic shooting in Pennsylvania on Saturday night.

In a social media post, Trump has said he is “fine” after he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.” The former president, who was attending a campaign rally at Butler Park Showgrounds, was quickly whisked from the stage by Secret Service agents. One attendee was killed and two others critically injured.

The gunman was also killed. The FBI has identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania as the “subject involved”.

The assassination attempt has raised questions over failings by security services, and the US Oversight Committee in the Republican-led House of Representatives has summoned Kimberly Cheatle, the secret service director, to testify at a hearing scheduled for 22 July.

Updated

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