President Joe Biden appealed to Americans to cool political passions, stressing that violence should not become the norm. He noted that political discussions have become overly heated and called for a return to civility, US media reported.
Biden said from the Oval Office:
We can achieve this together.
According to media reports, this is the third time since he took office in 2021 that he has used his office for important issues. Biden stated:
Dear compatriots, I want to discuss the need to cool political passions and remind you that we can disagree without being enemies. We are neighbors, friends, colleagues, and fellow citizens. Most importantly, we are countrymen and must stand together. Consider what makes America special—we treat everyone with dignity and respect. We need to step out of our echo chambers or risk being inundated with misinformation and foreign actors’ divisive tactics. Nothing is more crucial than unity now. We can do it.
Donald Trump arrived in Milwaukee concurrently for the start of the Republican National Convention, where he is expected to be formally nominated as the party’s nominee for the White House. In his first interview since the assassination attempt, Trump mentioned that he completely rewrote his speech to focus on unity rather than criticising Joe Biden.
Killer’s classmates about Crooks: “I would have pegged him as a Republican”
Thomas Matthew Crooks, who carried out the assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a bullied loner, his former classmates said. They added that Crooks had a penchant for hunting equipment and video games.
Crooks, 20, was killed by Secret Service snipers after he opened fire on the former president. The suspect was a 2022 graduate of Bethel Park High School. Crooks’ former classmate Jason Kohler told KDKA that the suspect was subjected to “relentless” bullying. He often wore “hunting” costumes to class.
Crooks reportedly donated $15 to the liberal political action committee ActBlue in 2021, the day of Joe Biden’s inauguration. He turned 18 the following September and registered with the Republican Party, according to online state records. A former classmate of Crooks told New York Post after the shooting:
He didn’t seem like really weird or anything. I would have pegged him as a Republican.
Law enforcement officials were trying to learn more about Thomas Matthew Crooks last night to determine what prompted him to open fire at a Trump rally.
The FBI said it has not yet found any threatening letters or social media posts from Crooks, who graduated from high school two years ago and had no criminal history, according to public court documents. The FBI said the shooting is being investigated as attempted murder and an act of domestic terrorism.
FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate also said that in the wake of the shooting, “rhetoric related to threats of violence has already escalated on the Internet.”
FBI investigations, eyewitness reports
According to two law enforcement officials, shortly before the shots were fired, some rally attendees noticed a man climbing onto the roof of a nearby building and alerted local police.
One of the local police officers climbed onto the roof and confronted Crooks, who pointed a rifle at him. The officer retreated down the stairs and Crooks fired a quick shot in Trump’s direction, at which point Secret Service snipers shot him dead, officials said.
But on Saturday, Crooks somehow managed to sneak a gun onto a rooftop just 130 metres from the stage where Trump was speaking.
Both Democrats and Republicans have called on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to account for her decisions after what many experts said was the worst Secret Service failure since the 1981 assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan.
Pressure’s mounting on the FBI
The shooting raises new questions about an agency that is both revered for its role in protecting the lives of US presidents but has been under intense pressure for years amid staff shortages and repeated security lapses.
Kevin P. Rojek, the FBI special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh office, said it was “incredible” that the gunman was able to open fire on the scene before he was killed.
Secret Service spokesman Antony Guglielmi confirmed that the agency relied on local police at the Trump rally to fill much of its typical array of specialised protective units – including the heavily armed counter-assault team that covered Trump’s evacuation and the counter-sniper teams that eventually located and killed the gunman.
Two counter-assault agents were on the scene, Mr Guglielmi said, and the rest of the typical platoon was manned by at least six members of Butler County’s tactical units.
The shooting highlighted tensions over how the agency plans to provide security for major campaign-related events ahead of the election, including this week’s Republican convention.
A senior Republican involved in Trump’s campaign said there had been disagreements with the Secret Service about the convention for months, with Trump’s team believing the Secret Service was not taking threats of violent protests and demonstrations seriously enough. Some of those calls escalated into anger.
This person said the two sides had become distrustful of each other, and “there will be a demand for answers as to how the shooter could have been on the roof so close to Trump and have the ability to shoot him.”
Secret Service response to claims
The Secret Service responded to claims by some Republicans after the shooting that Trump or his security detail had asked for increased security and were denied. An agency spokesman said additional agents had been added to the security detail for Trump, Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in the past two months. Mr. Guglielmi said:
The assertion that a member of the former president’s security team requested additional security resources that the US Secret Service or the Department of Homeland Security rebuffed is absolutely false.
Focus on uniting the country after the assassination attempt
Meanwhile, Donald Trump said he rewrote his speech for the Republican National Convention to focus on uniting the country after the assassination attempt. Mr. Trump arrived in Milwaukee for the convention on Sunday night, just a day after a gunman opened fire at a campaign rally in Butler.
In his first interview since the incident, Trump told US publication The Washington Examiner that the speech he was going to give on Thursday would be “much different than it would have been two days ago.” He said:
The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger,” he told the paper. Had this not happened, this would’ve been one of the most incredible speeches. Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now. It is a chance to bring the country together. I was given that chance.
He told The Washington Examiner that if he hadn’t turned away from the crowd to look at the data screen he used in his speech, “we wouldn’t be having this conversation today.” Trump also added:
That reality is just setting in.
It was the most serious assassination attempt on a US president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was shot dead in 1981.
Very surreal experience
Former US President on Sunday said he was “supposed to be dead” and that he survived the assassination attempt only by luck or by God. Trump told the New York Post in an interview aboard his plane en route to Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention:
I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead.
He said it was a “very surreal experience”, which he recounted with a white bandage covering his right ear. Trump praised the Secret Service agents for killing the shooter. He noted:
They took him out with one shot right between the eyes. They did a fantastic job. It’s surreal for all of us.
Community leaders are backing Trump
Catholic and community leaders called for peace and unity hours after former President Donald Trump was shot by a bullet and a spectator was killed in an attempted assassination at the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
In a statement in Italian on July 14, the Holy See expressed “concern over the episode of violence that took place last night, which wounded people and democracy, causing suffering and death.” The Holy See “stands in solidarity with the American bishops’ prayer for America, for the victims and for peace in the country, that the motives of the violent perpetrators never prevail,” according to Catholic News Service.
On July 14, Trump thanked “everyone for your thoughts and prayers yesterday as only God prevented the unthinkable” on his social media platform Truth Social. He wrote:
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 County, and love you all, and look forward to speaking to our Great Nation this week from Wisconsin.
The Republican National Convention will be held from July 15-18 in Milwaukee.
On Facebook July 13, Father Kevin Fazio, pastor of All Saints Parish in Butler, a Catholic parish with five churches, one of which is located across from where the rally took place, wrote to parishioners that “We are shocked and saddened by the tragic shooting and act of violence that occurred at the Farm Show grounds on Saturday, July 13.”
Religious leaders call for “turn from the path of violence”
On X, formerly known as Twitter, Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, posted July 13, “I would like to offer prayers for President Trump and all those who were injured at the rally in Pennsylvania. We must turn from the path of violence. May the Lord bless our troubled nation.”
On the same day, Cardinal Seán O’Malley of Boston expressed regret that “today our country once again witnessed another deadly and tragic shooting,” and joined in prayers for the families of the victims and the recovery of Trump and the injured.
Meanwhile, Nicola Fratoianni, Italian politician and leader of the Italian Left party, wrote on X:
We strongly condemn what happened in Pennsylvania with the attack on #Trump: there is no place for violence. And it is time that words of hate and intolerance no longer find support.
