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‘Everybody must condemn it’: Biden after Trump rally shooting

‘Everybody must condemn it’: Biden after Trump rally shooting
By Stephen Quillen
Published On 13 Jul 2024

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14 Jul 2024 - 11:55
 (11:55 GMT)

We will keep you updated

Thank you for following our coverage of the deadly shooting and its aftermath during Trump’s campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

Our live coverage continues here.

14 Jul 2024 - 11:50
 (11:50 GMT)

Security changes expected at Republican convention: Report

The assassination attempt on Trump is prompting officials to re-evaluate security protocol at the upcoming Republican National Convention, according to the ABC News broadcaster, citing a senior US federal official.

Trump still plans to appear at the four-day convention, starting on Monday in Milwaukee, where he will formally be crowned as the party’s nominee for the presidency.

Trump is also expected to unveil his vice presidential running mate at the event.

Preparations are under way for the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin [Brian Snyder/Reuters]
14 Jul 2024 - 11:40
 (11:40 GMT)

Trump’s daughter thanks public for ‘love and prayers’ after shooting

Ivanka Trump has thanked the public for the “love and prayers for my father and for the other victims of today’s senseless violence”.

“I am grateful to the Secret Service and all the other law enforcement officers for their quick and decisive actions today. I continue to pray for our country,” she said on X.

14 Jul 2024 - 11:30
 (11:30 GMT)

Americans shocked, nervous

By Kimberly Halkett

Reporting from the White House, in Washington, DC

Americans are still trying to come to terms with the extremely shocking news.

Some of them have never experienced anything like this – the last time was the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan in 1981.

But it’s clear that these types of incidents are happening with increasing frequency, and this is making Americans very nervous – the fact that the country is so divided.

Meanwhile, security has been heightened here but there have also been questions about how this even happened in the first place.

We know that when it comes to the Secret Service, they have what’s called a “No fail” mission, but we know that in this case it did fail. We also know that the FBI has taken the lead on this investigation.

The big story prior to this was the call for President Biden himself to potentially step down from the top of the ticket. What I can tell you is that all of that has been blunted in terms of the presidential race.

14 Jul 2024 - 11:20
 (11:20 GMT)

More international condemnation

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has added his voice to a chorus of world leaders denouncing the attempted assassination of Trump.

“We condemn this act of terror and reaffirm the positions of the State of Palestine, which has always rejected violence, terrorism, and extremism, regardless of its source,” Abbas said in a statement cited by the Palestinian Wafa news agency.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry also issued a similar statement condemning the attack and wishing the former US president a speedy recovery.

14 Jul 2024 - 11:10
 (11:10 GMT)

No plans for Putin to call Trump: Kremlin

A spokesman for the Kremlin has commented on the shooting at the Trump rally.

“We do not believe that the attempt to eliminate and assassinate Trump was organised by the current authorities,” Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“But the atmosphere around candidate Trump … provoked what America is confronting today,” he argued.

“After numerous attempts to remove candidate Trump from the political arena – using first legal tools, the courts, prosecutors, attempts to politically discredit and compromise the candidate – it was obvious to all outside observers that his life was in danger.”

Peskov also said there were no plans for Russian President Vladimir Putin to call Trump in light of the incident.

Putin, left, and Trump during a bilateral meeting at the G20 leaders’ summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 28, 2019 [File: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters]
14 Jul 2024 - 11:00
 (11:00 GMT)

Editor’s Choice: What to read and watch right now

Since the shooting at Trump’s Pennsylvania really, we’ve published several pieces of content – here are a few highlights:

  • Timeline: Assassination attempts against US presidents, candidates
  • In pictures: Photos capture shooting at Trump rally in Pennsylvania
  • Global reaction: World leaders express solidarity with Trump
  • Video: Front-row witness describes the scene
  • Suspected shooter: Who is Thomas Matthew Crooks?

And, you can find more here.

14 Jul 2024 - 10:50
 (10:50 GMT)

What we know about suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks

As we’ve been reporting, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks has been named as the suspect in Trump’s assassination attempt.

Crooks, from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was shot dead by the Secret Service seconds after he allegedly fired at Trump, hitting him in the ear.

Read more about the suspect here.

Police snipers return fire after shots were fired while Trump was speaking at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania [Gene Puskar/AP]
14 Jul 2024 - 10:40
 (10:40 GMT)
Analysis

Secret Service ‘didn’t do a very good job’ before Trump’s rally

Bob Ayers, a former CIA officer and international security analyst, has told Al Jazeera from Taunton in the UK that the US Secret Service unit, dubbed the advance party, responsible for securing the area before Trump’s arrival to the Pennsylvania rally, “didn’t do a very good job”.

“If you listen to people the FBI and the Security Service talking, you will hear them praising the people on scene … but you won’t hear many comments about the advance party,” he said.

Ayers said, “There should not have been any possibility for a person armed with a rifle to climb right up a building and shoot at the [former] president.”

14 Jul 2024 - 10:30
 (10:30 GMT)

If you’re just joining us

It’s been about 12 hours since a gunman attempted to assassinate former US President Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

  • A gunman on a rooftop outside the rally venue fired multiple shots towards the stage as Trump was speaking, hitting him in the ear.
  • The former president, who was shielded and rushed off stage by the Secret Service before being taken to a nearby hospital, is “doing well” and has suffered no major injury, according to his campaign team.
  • One person who attended the rally was killed and two other spectators were critically wounded.
  • The suspected attacker has been named as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, from the Pennsylvania town of Bethel Park. He was shot dead by the Secret Service.
  • Federal law enforcement agents, including bomb squad members, have swarmed his home, according to local media reports.
  • Lawmakers have expressed alarm at potential security lapses leading up to the shooting. The US House of Representatives plans to investigate the incident, Speaker Mike Johnson says.
  • Biden, who was in Delaware, gave remarks condemning the shooting, which he called “sick”. He will head back to Washington, DC ahead of schedule.

    Trump surrounded by Secret Service agents after the shooting [Brendan McDermid/Reuters]

14 Jul 2024 - 10:15
 (10:15 GMT)

German leader Scholz condemns ‘despicable’ attack on Trump

Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also described the assassination attempt that killed one spectator as a threat to democracy.

“The attack on US presidential candidate Donald Trump is despicable. I wish him a speedy recovery. My thoughts are also with the people who were affected by the attack. Such acts of violence threaten democracy,” he said on X.

14 Jul 2024 - 10:00
 (10:00 GMT)

Trump supporters find solace by gathering around Trump Tower in NYC: Report

Even hours after the attack on the former president during a Pennsylvania rally, two dozen Trump supporters remained outside the Manhattan building, “seeking solace among the shaken”, according to The New York Times (NYT) newspaper.

Christine Randall, 59, who had been watching the rally at home in Manhattan when the shots rang out, headed to the Trump Tower right away.

“I really thought maybe he was dead. I started crying,” she told the NYT. “When he stood up, I was so happy.”

The publication described those gathered at the building with a wall of police officers guarding the tower’s entrance trading stories about where they were at the moment of the incident and snapped pictures of each other’s Trump-red gear and trimmings.

“I’m going to be here all night,” Lynda Andrews, 51, told the NYT, wearing a Trump hat and a sparkling red top and holding a US flag.

People stand outside of Trump Tower in New York [Pamela Smith/AP Photo]
14 Jul 2024 - 09:45
 (09:45 GMT)

Video shows suspected attacker lying on roof: Report

A video posted by US tabloid TMZ appears to show the suspected attacker at Trump’s rally laying on a rooftop with a rifle before shots ring out.

The man, who appears to have long brown hair, is not shown firing in the published footage. But a quick succession of gunshots is heard, followed by screams from people off-camera.

“He’s turning this way, be careful guys,” a man is heard saying.

“Somebody got shot,” another voice says. “He’s right there, laying down.”

Earlier, the US Secret Service confirmed that its personnel had shot dead the suspected attacker, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks.

14 Jul 2024 - 09:30
 (09:30 GMT)

Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur endorses Trump after attack

Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur and Tron founder Justin Sun has endorsed Trump in the US presidential race.

He said on X after the assassination attempt on the former president that Trump “is a better choice for the crypto industry and can ensure fairer treatment”.

14 Jul 2024 - 09:20
 (09:20 GMT)

Federal agents swarm home of suspected shooter

More information is emerging about the suspect in Trump’s assassination attempt, identified by the FBI as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.

Crooks, a registered Republican who once made a small donation to a left-wing group, lived about an hour away from where the shooting took place in Butler, Pennsylvania. He graduated in 2022 from Bethel Park High School, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

USA Today reported that dozens of law enforcement vehicles were posted at a residence listed as Crooks’s address on his voter registration record, with agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and a bomb squad on the scene.

Crooks’s father, Matthew Crooks, 53, told CNN he was trying to make sense of what happened and would wait until he spoke to law enforcement before commenting on his son.

The FBI has said it was working to determine a motive for the attack.

14 Jul 2024 - 09:10
 (09:10 GMT)

NATO chief condemns attack on Trump

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has said he is “shocked” by the assassination attempt, stressing that “NATO Allies stand together to defend our freedom & values”.

“I am shocked by the attempted assassination on former President Trump. I wish him a speedy recovery and my thoughts are with those affected,” Stoltenberg said on X.

“I condemn this attack. Political violence has no place in our democracies,” he added.

14 Jul 2024 - 09:00
 (09:00 GMT)

Timeline: Assassination attempts against US presidents, candidates

Four US presidents and one candidate have been assassinated since the founding of the US.

Read more here.

14 Jul 2024 - 08:50
 (08:50 GMT)

FBI agents ‘shocked’ rooftop ‘with clear line of sight’ not secured: Report

Two former FBI agents have spoken to CNN about security conditions at Trump’s rally, where a man on a nearby rooftop fired shots at the former president.

They expressed alarm that a vantage point so close to Trump – about 120-150 metres away – had not been secured.

“That building … is the closest building with a clear line of sight to where the stage was. I’m shocked that they didn’t have somebody on that roof,” former FBI field agent Bobby Chacon told CNN.

Steve Moore, a retired FBI agent and countersniper, said botched “planning or execution” may have left the roof unmonitored.

“They could have planned for that roof and maybe something happened in the planning or in the execution of the plan where it was left unguarded,” Moore told the US network, adding that there would likely be “drastic changes” to security protocol going forward.

“The Secret Service has to be right every single time, every single rally of every single candidate of every single month, every single year, they’ve got to be perfect,” Moore said.

14 Jul 2024 - 08:40
 (08:40 GMT)

China’s Xi expresses ‘compassion and sympathy’ to Trump

Chinese Foreign Ministry has said in a statement that Beijing is concerned about the attack and President Xi Jinping extended his regards to Trump.

“China is closely following the situation surrounding the shooting of former President Donald Trump,” the statement added.

14 Jul 2024 - 08:30
 (08:30 GMT)
Analysis

Assassination attempt to play into Trump’s ‘hero narrative’

The image of Trump bloodied and raising a fist after escaping an assassination attempt will become iconic for the American right, boosting his hero status to them, said Stephan Zunes, a professor of politics at the University of San Francisco.

It will also play into the “victim narrative that has been very strong for [Trump] and his movement”, Zunes told Al Jazeera.

Trump, as a “professional showman”, is sure to capitalise on the imagery “in whatever way he can”, Zunes added.

Trump is surrounded by US Secret Service agents after being shot at, at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania [Evan Vucci/AP]