Donald Trump injured in apparent assassination attempt

The former president was rushed to safety after gunshots were fired at his rally

Donald Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 23, 2024. ©  Donald Trump Jr. / social media

Donald Trump has been injured after gunshots were heard during his campaign speech in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday. The former US president was quickly rushed off stage by his security team. He had blood stains on his right ear.

The Trump campaign later released a statement saying that the former president “is fine.”

• 14 July 2024

  00:18 GMT

  Vivek Ramaswamy, who had challenged Trump for the Republican nomination before endorsing him, dismissed Biden’s “ritual condemnation of political violence” as “insufficient and irrelevant.

  “No amount of verbiage today changes the toxic national climate that led to this tragedy,” Ramaswamy said. “Today, the future survival of the United States of America came down to less than a hair’s width in the path of a bullet.”

  “Regardless of who you vote for, let’s unite around the TRUTH that what happened today is unacceptable, now and forever,” he added.

• 00:08 GMT

  President Joe Biden has condemned “the shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania.”

  “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, as we await further information. Jill and I are grateful to the Secret Service for getting him to safety. There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it,” said a statement released by the White House.

• 00:05 GMT

  Former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, denounced the assassination attempt.

  “There is absolutely no place for political violence in our democracy. Although we don’t yet know exactly what happened, we should all be relieved that former President Trump wasn’t seriously hurt, and use this moment to recommit ourselves to civility and respect in our politics. Michelle and I are wishing him a quick recovery,” he wrote on X.

• 00:02 GMT

  While no one has taken responsibility for the attempt at Trump’s life, several Republican commentators have pointed out violent rhetoric and imagery coming from the Democrats in recent days.

  Biden told donors on July 8 that “it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.” The June cover of the New Republic magazine showed Trump as Adolf Hitler. Meanwhile, major Democrat donor Reid Hoffman had responded to criticism of his funding of lawsuits against Trump by reportedly saying “I wish I had made him an actual martyr.”

  

  ©  X/screenshot

• 13 July 2024

  23:55 GMT

  A close-up photo from the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday shows the injured Republican presidential candidate being rushed offstage after an assassination attempt.

  

  ©  Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

• 23:52 GMT

  A witness outside the rally told the BBC that he and his friends saw a man dressed in tan camouflage climbing onto the roof of a building with a rifle and warned the police about it. 

  “Secret Service is looking at us from the top of the barn, I’m pointing at that roof – and next thing you know, five shots rang out,” the man said.

  He added that after the man shot at Trump, “Secret Service blew his head off.”

• 23:48 GMT

  Former President George W. Bush, a political foe of Trump, issued a statement condemning the assassination attempt. 

  “Laura and I are grateful that President Trump is safe following the cowardly attack on his life. And we commend the men and women of the Secret Service for their speedy response,” Bush said.

• 23:43 GMT

  “Now is the time for every American who loves our country to step back from the division, renounce all violence, and unite in prayer for President Trump and his family,” independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in response to the assassination attempt.

• 23:39 GMT

  Pennsylvania Congressman Dan Meuser, who was in the front row at the rally, told reporters that he heard 8-10 shots that sounded like a .22 or a small-caliber weapon. He said it appeared “multiple people” in the crowd had been hit.

• 23:36 GMT

  California Governor Gavin Newsom, a prominent Democrat, condemned the shooting.

  “Violence has NO place in our democracy. My thoughts are with President Trump and everyone impacted at the rally today,” Newsom said on X.

• https://www.rt.com/news/600976-trump-apparent-assassination-attempt/