Biden addresses nation condemning violence; shooter’s motives remain unknown

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Biden addresses nation condemning violence; shooter’s motives remain unknown

President Biden condemned political violence during a primetime address from the Oval Office Sunday night, urging the public to “lower the temperature in our politics.”

“There is no place in America for this kind of violence,” Biden said.

The remarks followed a press conference at the White House earlier this afternoon, where Biden announced that he’d ordered an independent review of security at Saturday’s rally in Pennsylvania where a gunman opened fire at former President Donald Trump, injuring him and causing him to be rushed offstage.

Biden also said he’s directed the head of the Secret Service to review all security measures for this week’s Republican National Convention. He called for unity in the wake of the shooting, and urged the public not to make assumptions about the shooter’s motive or his affiliations.

Authorities identified the shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, but have yet to establish a motive for the shooting. Crooks was “neutralized” by the Secret Service, the agency said. One rallygoer, identified Sunday as 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, died following the shooting. Two other attendees were injured but in stable condition.

Trump, who was rushed to the hospital, said he was “fine” but that a bullet grazed his ear. Video during the incident showed blood flowing from around his right ear.

Trump arrived in Milwaukee Sunday ahead of the Republican National Convention, which is set to kick off there on Monday.

Live103 updates

  • FBI still investigating whether gunman acted alone

    The New York Times reported that the FBI, in a final update on Sunday, said the investigation so far indicates the shooter acted alone. However, agents will continue to work to “determine if there were any co-conspirators associated with this attack.”

    The FBI also confirmed that it found two “suspicious” devices in the gunman’s house and his car, per the Times. Both devices were “rendered safe by bomb technicians.”

  • First lady Jill Biden reportedly spoke with Melania Trump today

    A day after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, first lady Jill Biden spoke with former first lady Melania Trump Sunday afternoon, CNN reported. President Biden spoke by phone with Donald Trump on Saturday evening shortly after the shooting.

    Melania Trump released a rare statement Sunday calling on the country to “ascend above the hate.”

    “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,” she wrote in part, adding: “This morning, ascend above the hate, the vitriol, and the simple-minded ideas that ignite violence. We all want a world where respect is paramount, family is first, and love transcends. We can realize this world again. Each of us must demand to get it back. We must insist that respect fills the cornerstone of our relationships again.”

  • Pennsylvania gun club confirms suspected Trump shooter was a member

    The Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, a facility outside of Pittsburgh, Pa., confirmed that Thomas Matthew Crooks had been a member, according to the New York Times. Crooks, 20, was identified as the gunman who opened fire at a campaign rally for former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania Saturday.

    “I can confirm that Mr. Crooks was a member of Clairton Sportsmen’s Club,” the club’s legal counsel said in a statement to the Times. “Beyond that, the Club is unable to make any additional commentary in relation to this matter in light of pending law enforcement investigations. Obviously, the Club fully admonishes the senseless act of violence that occurred yesterday. The Club also offers its sincerest condolences to the Comperatore family and extends prayers to all of those injured including the former President.”

  • Trump says he plans to rewrite RNC speech following shooting

    In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Trump said he plans to rewrite the speech he will give Thursday night at the Republican National Convention in light of the shooting that took place at his campaign rally on Saturday.

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

    Earlier, NBC News reported that RNC speakers were told to leave their speeches as is.

    “The guidance has been not to change speeches,” one speaker’s aide said.

    Matt Brooks, one of the scheduled speakers, told the outlet that “it was to avoid having 100 speakers saying the same thing,” referring to the shooting.

  • More details on Biden’s Oval Office speech from the White House pool report

    More details on President Biden’s speech from Time magazine’s senior White House correspondent Brian Bennett, who is serving as the tonight’s rotating pool reporter:

    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.

    The address was televised and can be viewed online. 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 Anita Dunn, then 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.

  • RNC official: ‘I think President Trump is going to be seen in Milwaukee tomorrow night’

    David Bossie, a Republican National Committee member and the former deputy campaign manager for Trump’s 2016 campaign, told a Wisconsin ABC affiliate that audiences should expect to see Trump on stage at the RNC tomorrow night.

    “I think President Trump is going to be seen in Milwaukee tomorrow night, Monday night,” Bossie said. The former president was seen arriving in Milwaukee earlier Sunday evening.

    Whether Trump will officially announce his vice president pick on Monday, Bossie said, “The plan is, it’s imminent.”

  • Gov. Gretchen Whitmer calls Trump assassination attempt part of ‘alarming, years-long trend in our politics’

    Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who was the target of a kidnapping plot in October 2020, condemned the assassination attempt on Trump as a “disgusting act of violence” in a series of tweets Sunday night.

    “We know that even at its best, American politics is contentious,” she wrote. “We can argue but we must center our common humanity. We must. We cannot forget the values that make us strong.”

  • Watch: Biden addresses nation from Oval Office after Trump assassination attempt

  • Trump campaign email blast after Biden speech: ‘FEAR NOT!’

    Moments after President Biden’s address to the nation, former President Donald Trump’s campaign sent an email blast to supporters with a photo of a bloodied Trump holding his fist in the air following the shooting overlaid with two words: “FEAR NOT!”

    The image, taken at Saturday’s rally in Butler, Pa., by Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci, was altered to blur out the faces of the Secret Service agents surrounding Trump

    “I AM DONALD TRUMP AND I WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” read the message inside the email, which also included a link to donate to Trump’s campaign.

    (Trump campaign)(Trump campaign)

    (Trump campaign)

  • ‘We cannot allow this violence to be normalized,’ Biden says after Trump assassination attempt

    Joe Biden Joe Biden

    President Biden addressing the nation from the Oval Office on Sunday. (Erin Schaff/Pool via AP)

    While speaking from the Oval Office, Biden referred to previous instances of political violence, telling Americans that there was no place in the United States for such actions.

    He referenced the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the Capitol; the 2022 attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi; the kidnapping plot against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer; and intimidation efforts made against election officials.

    “We cannot allow this violence to be normalized,” he said.

  • Biden calls on Americans to ‘lower the temperature’

    In his opening marks from the Oval Office a day after an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, President Biden called on Americans to “lower the temperature.”

    “Political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated,” Biden said. “It’s time to cool it down. We all have a responsibility to do that.

    “Yes we have deeply felt strong disagreements,” the president continued. “The stakes in this election are enormously high. I’ve said it many times that the choice we make in this election is going to shape the future of America and the world for decades to come. I believe that with all my soul.

    “And some have a different view as to which direction we should take,” he added. “Disagreement is inevitable in American democracy. It’s part of human nature. But politics should never be a battlefield or god-forbid a killing field.”

  • Biden: ‘No place in America for this kind of violence’

    “There is no place in America for this kind of violence, ever. Period. No exceptions.” — President Biden, speaking from the Oval Office on Sunday night.

  • Democratic, Republican National Committee chairs had ‘brief call’ after Trump shooting

    A spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee told NBC News that DNC Chair Jaime Harrison and Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley had a “brief call” yesterday.

    Harrison reportedly offered “his thoughts and condolences” and reiterated the “Democratic Party’s continued opposition to any and all forms of political violence,” the spokesperson said.

  • Trump lands in Milwaukee for RNC

  • ‘Daily Show’ cancels RNC shows after assassination attempt on Trump

    The Daily Show has canceled its plans to tape this week from the Republican National Convention.

    A statement on the satirical news show’s X account said that “logistical issues and the evolving situation in Milwaukee” were cited as reasons for the decision.

    Variety reports:

    After planning to cover the event with a satirical lens in host city Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the Comedy Central mainstay canceled its plans Sunday and noted the show would hold forth instead from its usual base in New York City.

    Original plans had called for a series of tapings from the city’s Marcus Performing Arts Center, with a live broadcast on Thursday, the convention’s final night. Seats for the show’s four planned RNC tapings were sold out, according to 1iota, a web-based ticketing service that many of TV’s late-night programs utilize to bring live audiences to tapings.

  • Fox News’ Bret Baier says Trump is in ‘great spirits’ and praised Biden for phone call

    Fox News host Bret Baier said he spoke to Donald Trump during a 15-minute phone call on Sunday. He described Trump as being “in really great spirits.”

    According to Baier, Trump said the shooting felt like “the biggest mosquito of his lifetime, or a bumblebee.”

    Baier also said Trump praised President Biden for the phone call he made to him on Saturday after the attack. Trump called it a “good conversation,” and said Biden expressed condolences for Corey Comperatore, the rallygoer who died.

  • FBI investigating Trump rally shooting as potential domestic terrorism

    The FBI is investigating the assassination attempt against Donald Trump as an act of domestic terrorism, an agency official told reporters on Sunday.

    “We are investigating this as an assassination attempt,” Robert Wells, the assistant director of the Counterterrorism Division, said, adding they’re also probing the shooting as a “potential domestic terrorism act.”

    “So our counterterrorism division and our criminal divisions are working jointly together to determine the motive.”

    Domestic terrorism is defined by the FBI as acts inside the United States that are intended to intimidate or coerce civilians or influence government policy.

  • Trump heads to Milwaukee for RNC

    Former President Donald Trump is on his way to Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention, Trump aide Dan Scavino Jr. said. Trump is expected to speak to delegates on Thursday, the convention’s final day, when he will formally accept the Republican nomination.

    President Biden is also sticking to his planned programming, traveling to Las Vegas, Nev., where he is scheduled to address the NAACP conference on Tuesday and on Wednesday will attend an event for UnidosUS, the largest Latino civil rights organization in the U.S., according to the New York Times.

  • Biden extends ‘deepest condolences’ to the family of Trump rally shooting victim

    President Biden and first lady Jill Biden said they extend their “deepest condolences” to the family of Corey Comperatore, the 50-year-old father of two killed at a Trump rally near Butler, Pa., on Saturday.

    “He was a father protecting his family from the bullets being fired,” the president wrote in a post on X. “We’re also praying for the full recovery of those who were injured.”

    Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said earlier Sunday that Comperatore was at the rally with his wife and two daughters and dived to shield them when shots were fired.

    State police said in a statement that two other attendees — David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74, both of Pennsylvania — were taken to the hospital on Saturday for gunshot wounds and are now in stable condition.

    Biden had previously sent well wishes to Donald Trump soon after the attack on Saturday.

    “I’m grateful to hear that he’s safe and doing well. I’m praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally,” the president wrote at the time. “There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it.”

  • Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers requests to reconsider allowing firearms near the RNC

    Wis. Governor Tony EversWis. Governor Tony Evers

    Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

    Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has called on the Secret Service to “immediately” reconsider allowing firearms within the so-called soft perimeter — the area where demonstrations are planned — of the Republican National Convention, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

    Although guns are banned in the “hard zone” of the convention — the Fiserv Forum, where the event will be held, and the area immediately around it — Secret Service RNC coordinator Audrey Gibson-Cicchino confirmed in a Sunday press conference that guns will still be allowed in the soft perimeter.

    “The plans we have in place will continue as is, and we’re confident in those plans,” said Gibson, who said security planning for the events has been in the works for 18 months.

    Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman also expressed confidence in the current security measures, saying simply, “We got this.”

  • Pop, pop, pop, then a bloodied Trump rushed from election rally [Reuters]

  • Within minutes after Trump shooting, misinformation started flying. ‘Everyone is just speculating’ [The Associated Press]

  • Trump removed from stage by Secret Service after loud noises startles former president, crowd [USA Today]

  • Trump rushed off stage by Secret Service during Pennsylvania rally after apparent gun shots: Live updates [The Independent]

  • Trump rally erupts in gunfire, former president safe, officials say [Reuters]

  • Trump rushed off stage by Secret Service as possible shots heard at Pennsylvania rally; former president ‘fine,’ spokesperson says [ABC News]

Reference 

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