Joe Biden Calls for “Unity” After Trump Assassination Attempt

“From Fascism, to Hitler, to dictator,” Meuser continued, “so I can easily point that out, but I’m willing to state at the same time, we all need to take responsibility to cool things down. To say what we mean, but don’t say it mean. To not get personal. To have dialogue, rather than attacks.”

NBC’s Dasha Burns, who was reporting live from the Pennsylvania rally, shared that in the moments following the shooting, after she was reunited with her crew, “some people in the crowd started to come to the risers, they started to get heated with the press.”

“This crowd gathered near the media,” she continued, “and started blaming the press for what had just happened—some screaming at journalists and getting pretty aggressive.

Early Sunday morning, Trump released a statement on his social media platform Truth Social, thanking everyone for their thoughts and prayers, writing, “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.”

The attendee who was killed at the rally was 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, according to his sister, Dawn Comperatore Schafer, and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. “The hatred for one man took the life of the one man we all love the most,” she said in a brief interview, per reporting from the Times. “We watched him die on the news,” she said. “That’s how we found out. We saw my brother die on the news.”

Just over six minutes into his speech began, witnesses heard the sound of cracking shots, one after the other, as Trump reached for his ear and ducked behind the podium— where he was quickly surrounded by Secret Service agents. He emerged with blood on the right side of his face. Before exiting the stage, Trump raised a fist to the crowd—some of whom raised one in return—and seemed to shout the word “Fight.”

On Truth Social, Trump wrote that a bullet had “pierced the upper part of my right ear,” saying, “I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots.”

The shooting suspect, Crooks, from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was a registered Republican, his mother was a Democrat, and his father a Libertarian, according to voter-registration records and Dan Grzybek, who represents the area Crooks lived in on the county council. Crooks had used ActBlue to donate $15 to a liberal group called the Progressive Turnout Project in January 2021, according to campaign finance records.

The Times reported that the AR-type semiautomatic rifle found next to Crooks’s body was “purchased by a family member, possibly his father, according to an official briefed on the investigation.”

Appearing to graduate from high school just two years ago, Crooks reportedly has an incredibly low online social media presence, according to NBC investigative reporter Tom Winter, who also noted that other online forums, like chatrooms, were still being sifted through.

New pieces of information regarding the assassination attempt are continuing to be released as local and federal lawmakers, as well as newsrooms across the country, continue to investigate the shooting.

“Former F.B.I. officials said the bureau’s behavioral analysis unit would try to build out a profile of the gunman to understand his motivations and why he decided to carry out the attempted assassination. The F.B.I., which is running the investigation, will cast a wide net, interviewing friends and family members and scouring the internet for clues he might have left online or in a journal,” the Times’ writes.

“This remains an active and ongoing investigation,” the FBI said in a statement early Sunday.

In a statement immediately following the shooting, Biden called the violence “sick.” Later on, the two leading presidential candidates shared a reportedly “short and respectful” phone call, according to the White House.

Biden’s campaign announced that it would pause “outbound communications,” attempting to take down television ads, a campaign official said. The Democratic National Committee similarly paused both television and billboard ads against Trump.

The Republican National Convention is set to kick off Monday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and, according to Trump and his campaign, he will still be in attendance. “I truly love our Country, and love you all, and look forward to speaking to our Great Nation this week from Wisconsin,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Previously, attempts to ban firearms from the convention sites, where items like tennis balls and gas masks are prohibited, have failed due to concerns over violating state laws or riling up Trump’s base. As Axios noted last month, “Guns will be allowed within walking distance of the Republican National Convention,” but not within the event’s inner security perimeter.

When asked whether there might be changes to guns being allowed in some areas near the convention site, Chief Jeffrey Norman of the Milwaukee police said, “We’re going to see whether there are going to be the opportunities in regards to dealing with that particular challenge,” in an interview with WISN-TV.

In a joint statement released by the Trump campaign and the RNC on Saturday night after the shooting, the teams said that Trump “looks forward to joining you all in Milwaukee as we proceed with our convention to nominate him to serve as the 47th President of the United States.”