* US Republican candidate Donald Trump is seen with blood on his face surrounded by secret service agents as he is taken off the stage at a campaign event at Butler Farm Show Inc. in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. – Trump was hit in the ear in an apparent assassination attempt by a gunman at a campaign rally on Saturday, in a chaotic and shocking incident that will fuel fears of instability ahead of the 2024 US presidential election. The 78-year-old former president was rushed off stage with blood smeared across his face after the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, while the gunman and a bystander were killed and two spectators critically injured. (Photo by Rebecca DROKE / AFP) / QUALITY REPEAT
By Pathfinder Reporter
Monday July 15, 2024
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In an interview with the press, former U.S. president Donald Trump says it was either “by luck or by God’’ that he survived Saturday’s assassination attempt.
Trump survived an assassination attempt on his life on Saturday, and said in a joint interview that “I’m supposed to be dead”.
“By luck or by God, many people are saying it’s by God I’m still here.
“I’m not supposed to be here. I’m supposed to be dead,’’ Trump added, according to the tabloid New York Post.
Trump was quoted in the Washington Examiner as saying the fact that he turned to point at a poster about immigration likely saved his life.
“That reality is just setting in,” he said in the joint interview with the newspapers.
“I rarely look away from the crowd. Had I not done that in that moment, well, we will not be talking today, would we?”
“The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this. He called it a miracle,” Trump said, according to the Post.
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In another development, former President Donald Trump called for unity and resilience Sunday after an attempt on his life injected fresh uncertainty into an already tumultuous presidential campaign, while President Joe Biden implored Americans to “cool it down” in the final stretch and “resolve our differences at the ballot box.”
The opponents’ statements followed an attack that shook the firmament of the American political system, causing at least a temporary detente in a heated presidential campaign expected to resume again in earnest amid the pageantry of the upcoming Republican National Convention.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said the upper part of his right ear was pierced by a bullet. His aides said he was in “great spirits” and doing well.
He arrived in Milwaukee on Sunday evening for the convention, which begins Monday. He told the Washington Examiner that he had rewritten his speech for the event to focus more on national unity than on the policies of Biden.
A full day after the shooting, the gunman’s motive remained a mystery, with investigators saying they believe he acted alone before he was fatally shot by Secret Service agents.
Biden ordered an independent security review of the attack, which killed a bystander, critically wounded two others and prompted questions about how a gunman was able to open fire from a rooftop near a Pennsylvania campaign rally. The FBI was investigating the shooting as a potential act of domestic terrorism.
In a post Sunday on his social media site, Trump said: “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.”
In a prime-time address, Biden urged the public to recommit to civil debate. “There is no place in America for this kind of violence — for any violence. Ever. Period. No exception,” he said. “We can’t allow this violence to be normalized.”
Trump on Saturday night spoke briefly with Biden, whose Sunday night speech marked his third time addressing the shooting.
The rallygoer who was killed was Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief from the area, according to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who said Comperatore “died a hero.”
“His wife shared with me that he dove on his family to protect them,” Shapiro said. The two wounded bystanders were listed in stable condition.
FBI investigates shooting as possible domestic terrorism
The FBI identified the gunman as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the scene of the shooting.
The gunman had his father’s AR-style rifle and was perched atop a nearby roof when some rallygoers pointed him out to local law enforcement, said two law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing criminal probe.
A local law enforcement officer climbed to the roof and found Crooks, who pointed the rifle at the officer. The officer retreated down the ladder, and the gunman quickly fired toward Trump, the officials said. That’s when U.S. Secret Service gunmen shot him, the officials said.
Questions abounded about how the gunman got so close in the first place. Kevin Rojek, the agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, said “it is surprising” the gunman was able to open fire on the stage before the Secret Service killed him.
Bomb-making materials were found inside both Crooks’ vehicle and at his home, officials said. The FBI described the devices as “rudimentary.”
His motive remained unclear. Crooks wasn’t on the FBI’s radar, and he was believed to have acted alone. Investigators combed through his social media accounts but found no immediate threatening writing or posts, or communications indicating an ideological motive. His family was cooperating. Relatives didn’t return messages seeking comment from AP.
Crooks’ political leanings weren’t clear. Records show him registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania, but federal campaign finance reports also show he gave $15 to a progressive political action committee on Jan. 20, 2021, the day Biden was sworn in.
The absence of a clear ideological motive added to deepening questions about the shooting.
The U.S. Secret Service is investigating how a gunman armed with an AR-style rifle was able to get close enough to shoot and injure former President Donald Trump at a rally Saturday in Pennsylvania, a monumental failure of one of the agency’s core duties.
– AP
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