Donald Trump called for national unity in the face of “evil” as the FBI investigated the motives behind his attempted assassination at a US presidential campaign rally on Saturday.
The Republican candidate was injured in what the FBI called an assassination attempt at an election rally on Saturday evening, an act of political violence that has transformed the 2024 race and threatens to further polarise the country with less than four months to go until polling day in November.
“We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness,” the former president posted on his Truth Social platform on Sunday.
“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,” he added, saying: “It was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening”.
Trump will head on Sunday afternoon to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he will be formally selected as the party’s nominee for president this week. Trump said on Truth Social that he had initially planned to delay his trip to the convention but later decided he “cannot allow” a “potential assassin to force change to scheduling, or anything else”.
In brief remarks from the White House on Sunday, US President Joe Biden called unity “the most elusive goal” for the country after the assassination attempt. “There is no place in America for this kind of violence,” he said.
The president, who received an update in the Situation Room of the White House on Sunday from homeland security and top law enforcement officials, also said that he had directed the Secret Service to review all its security measures for the RNC. There would be “an independent review” of security at the rally, which would be made public, he added.
Both Republicans and Democrats endorsed an investigation into apparent security lapses in Pennsylvania.
Speaking to NBC on Sunday, House speaker Mike Johnson said he had asked “pointed questions” to Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whose department oversees the Secret Service, about the surveillance measures put in place at the rally, including whether drones were in use. The Secret Service is responsible for protecting current and former US presidents.
“We need to know how an individual could be at that elevation that was seen by apparently bystanders on the ground,” he said. “How could that not be noticed by the Secret Service?”
“We need to know: Is this a protocol failure? Is this a resource issue? Or is this just a failure of those who were on site that day?” Mike Turner, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN.
Ruben Gallego, a candidate for the US Senate in Arizona, wrote to Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle calling on “all those responsible for the planning, approving and executing of this failed security plan to be held accountable and to testify before Congress immediately”.
John Fetterman, the Democratic senator from Pennsylvania, echoed the need for an investigation as he called for calmer rhetoric before what he said would be the biggest election “in our lifetime”.
Shots were fired towards the stage shortly after Trump began his rally from an “elevated position” outside the venue in Butler, western Pennsylvania, according to the Secret Service.
Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old former fire chief, was killed, while 57-year-old David Dutch and 74-year-old James Copenhaver were wounded, according to police. Both were in stable condition on Sunday.
After the shots, Trump crouched and was surrounded by Secret Service agents. They rushed him offstage with blood streaming down his right ear and streaked across his face. He pumped his fist in the air and shouted “fight, fight, fight!” to the crowd before being placed in his motorcade and driven away for medical attention.
The FBI identified the shooter as Thomas Crooks, a 20-year-old man from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, a town in the battleground state about 40 miles from where the rally took place.
Crooks, on the roof of a building outside the open-air venue where Trump was speaking, was killed by Secret Service agents. His motives for trying to kill the former president were not yet known, the FBI said.
State voter records showed that Crooks was a registered Republican. He also donated $15 in 2021 to the Progressive Turnout Project, a left-leaning voter mobilisation initiative, according to campaign finance records.
Instead of traditional fundraising, the Trump campaign was directing supporters to donate to victims and their families. The Biden campaign said on Saturday that it was working to pull its television advertisements from the air, and on Sunday, the White House confirmed that Biden had cancelled a trip to Texas that he had planned for Monday.