Donald Trump calls for unity in face of ‘evil’ after assassination attempt

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Donald Trump called for national unity in the face of “evil” as the FBI investigated the motives behind his attempted assassination at a campaign rally on Saturday.

“We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness”, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Sunday.

“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.”

The former president added: “it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening” and that he looked “forward to speaking to our Great Nation this week from Wisconsin.”

Trump will head to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Monday, where he will be formally selected as the Republican nominee for president.

The Republican candidate was injured in what the FBI called an assassination attempt at an election rally on Saturday evening, an act of political violence that has transformed the 2024 election race and threatens to further polarise the country with less than four months to go until polling day in November.

Trump was treated at a local medical facility before leaving western Pennsylvania late on Saturday. A campaign official posted a video of Trump walking down the stairs of his private aeroplane in New Jersey in the early hours of Sunday, with the caption: “Strong and resilient. He will never stop fighting for America.”

There were calls for an investigation into apparent security lapses on Sunday from lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle.

Speaking to NBC on Sunday, House speaker Mike Johnson said he had asked “pointed questions” to Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whose department oversees the Secret Service, about the surveillance measures put in place at the rally, including whether drones were in use. The Secret Service is responsible for protecting current and former US presidents.

“We need to know how an individual could be at that elevation that was seen by apparently bystanders on the ground,” he said. “How could not that not be noticed by Secret Service?”

“We need to know, is this a protocol failure? Is this a resource issue? Or is this just a failure of those who were on site that day?,” Mike Turner, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN.

John Fetterman, the Democratic senator from Pennsylvania, echoed the need for an investigation as he called for calmer rhetoric ahead of what he said would be the biggest election “in our lifetime”.

Shots were fired towards the stage shortly after Trump began his rally from an “elevated position” outside the venue in Butler, Pennsylvania, according to the US Secret Service. One spectator was killed and two others critically wounded, authorities said. All of the victims were male.

After the shots, Trump crouched and was surrounded by Secret Service agents, who rushed him offstage with blood streaming down his right ear and streaked across his face. He pumped his fist in the air and shouted “fight, fight, fight!” to the crowd before being placed in his motorcade and driven away for medical attention.

The FBI identified the shooter as Thomas Crooks, a 20-year-old man from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, a town in the battleground state about 40 miles from where the rally took place.

Crooks was killed by Secret Service agents on the roof of a building outside the open-air venue where Trump was speaking. His motives for trying to kill former president were not yet known, the FBI said.

State voter records showed that Crooks was a registered Republican. He also donated $15 in 2021, to the Progressive Turnout Project, a left-leaning voter mobilisation initiative, according to campaign finance records.

Instead of traditional fundraising, the Trump campaign was directing supporters to donate to victims and their families.

US President Joe Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris were scheduled to receive an updated briefing from Homeland Security and law enforcement officials on Sunday morning. Biden and Trump spoke after the assassination attempt, the White House said late on Saturday.

Biden was in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he has a holiday home, when the shooting took place, and rushed back to the White House late on Saturday after a brief address to the nation in which he said there was “no place in America for this kind of violence”.