Security questioned after Trump slay try
BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA—A string of pops sent a crowd of thousands of Donald Trump supporters diving for cover as the Secret Service rushed to protect the former US president and Republican contender who was just starting his speech.
Trump cupped his right ear with his right hand, then brought his hand down to look at it before dropping to his knees behind the podium as Secret Service agents began to cover him.
A lectern emblazoned with the former president’s name was knocked sideways, and the crowd gasped as agents lifted the 78-year-old Trump back to his feet.
Applause and chanting of “USA, USA!” spread through the fairground in this city some 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Pittsburgh.
Although clearly dazed, Trump pumped his fist and waved through the linked arms of his security detail at the stunned crowd.
His face streaked with blood and his “Make America Great Again” red hat knocked off, he was led down the handful of steps from the stage to a black armored SUV.
He was also heard saying “Wait, wait,” before mouthing the words “Fight, fight, fight!”
Trump said later in a Truth Social post that he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear,” adding that “Much bleeding took place.”
“Most importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the Rally who was killed, and also to the family of another person that was badly injured. It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country,” the former US president also said.
‘Subject involved’
The Secret Service later said in a statement that one rallier was killed and two other spectators were injured.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which took the lead in looking into this incident, identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the “subject involved” in what it termed an attempted assassination.
The Secret Service in its statement said the shooter was dead. Other law enforcement officials told reporters they had not yet identified a motive for the attack.
Trump himself had noted in his post: “Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who is now dead.”
BBC interviewed a man who described himself as an eyewitness as saying that he saw a man armed with a rifle crawling up a roof near the fairground.
Ron Moose, a Trump supporter, said he heard about four shots. The FBI said it was surprising that the suspect fired multiple shots.
The shooting immediately raised questions about lapses by the Secret Service, which did not have a representative at the FBI-led briefing.
This was the first shooting of a US president or major party candidate since the 1981 attempted assassination of Republican President Ronald Reagan, although the United States has a long history of assassinations that has claimed the lives of four US presidents.
Hours after the attack, the oversight committee in the Republican-led House of Representatives summoned US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify at a hearing on July 22.
Background of suspect
Meanwhile leading Republicans and Democrats quickly condemned the attack on Trump.
“There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement. A White House official also said Biden had spoken to Trump.
The former US president was seen with blood on his right ear as he was surrounded by security agents, who hustled him off the stage as he pumped his first to the crowd.
Trump was bundled into an SUV and driven away. (Photo by Rebecca DROKE / AFP)
Vice President Kamala Harris said on X: “We are praying for him, his family, and all those who have been injured and impacted by this senseless shooting.”
But some of Trump’s Republican allies said they believed the attack was politically motivated.
Republican Sen. J.D. Vance, a possible running mate of Trump, said: “Today is not just some isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”
“For weeks Democrat leaders have been fueling ludicrous hysteria that Donald Trump winning reelection would be the end of democracy in America,” said US Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, who survived a politically motivated shooting in 2017.
“Clearly we’ve seen far left lunatics act on violent rhetoric in the past. This incendiary rhetoric must stop.”
Pennsylvania’s voter records show that Crooks was registered as a Republican.
But according to a 2021 Federal Election Commission filing, Crooks made a $15 donation when he was 17 to ActBlue, a political action committee that raises money for left-leaning and Democratic politicians.
The Nov. 5 election would have been the first time he was old enough to vote in a presidential race.
Reuters could not immediately identify social media accounts or other posts attributed to Crooks.
Bets on Trump’s victory
Trump, who served as president from 2017-2021, bested his rivals for the Republican nomination early in the campaign—unifying the party around him despite his supporters’ attack on the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
In May he was found guilty of trying to cover up hush payments to a porn star, but the other three prosecutions he faces have been ground to a halt by various factors, including a Supreme Court decision that found him to be partly immune to prosecution.
The attack is already seen as likely reshaping the presidential race, less than four months before the Nov. 5 election, when Trump faces a rematch with Biden.
Investors said Saturday’s shooting raises Trump’s odds of winning back the White House and trades betting on his victory will increase this coming week.
“From memory, Reagan went up 22 points in the polls after his assassination attempt. The election is likely to be a landslide. This probably reduces uncertainty,” said Nick Ferres, chief investment officer at Vantage Point Asset Management.
As the enormity of what had happened sunk in, tempers rose among the crowd at the Butler fairground. Some Trump supporters hurled abuse at the media, with one man telling reporters “This is what you wanted, isn’t it?”
Others berated organizers for the apparent lapse in security. A group knelt and prayed near the back of the field.
“When they got him up, I got the impression they wanted to hustle him off the stage and he wanted to stay there and raise his fist to the world,” said sales worker Blake Marnell, 59, who had been in the front row.
Marnell, who attends Trump rallies in a signature brick wall suit in reference to his border policies, said: “I never thought I would see this happen.” —REPORTS FROM AFP AND REUTERS
