After attempt on his life, Trump sees moment for unity

MILWAUKEE — A grateful Donald Trump was in Milwaukee on July 15 to make final preparations for the Republican presidential nomination later this week, after narrowly escaping an assassination attempt that he said presented an opportunity to bring Americans together.

Trump, 78, had been holding a campaign rally on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania — a key state in the Nov 5 election — when a 20-year-old man with an AR-15-style rifle got close enough to shoot at the former Republican president from a rooftop.

One shot hit Trump's upper right ear, leaving his face streaked with blood, but he was not severely wounded. His campaign said he was doing fine.

"That reality is just setting in," Trump told the Washington Examiner on July 14. "I rarely look away from the crowd. Had I not done that in that moment, well, we would not be talking today, would we?"

One person in the crowd was killed and two others wounded before Secret Service agents fatally shot the suspect.

In their remarks on July 14, both Trump and US President Joe Biden counselled calm and unity, aiming to lower temperatures in a country where a deep political divide has grown even more pronounced during the presidential race.

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Biden delivered a televised address from the Oval Office in the White House on July 14.

"There is no place in America for this kind of violence, for any violence ever. Period. No exceptions," he said, adding: "We can't allow this violence to be normalised.

"The political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated. It's time to cool it down."

Trump pumped his fist in the air several times on July 14 as he descended the stairs from his plane after arriving in Milwaukee, where he will accept his party's formal nomination at the Republican National Convention with a speech on July 18.

"This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together. The speech will be a lot different, a lot different than it would've been two days ago," Trump told the Washington Examiner.

"I want to try to unite our country," the New York Post reported Trump as saying during the same interview, conducted during the flight to Milwaukee. "But I don't know if that's possible. People are very divided."

Biden, a Democrat, ordered a review of how the gunman, who was shot dead by agents moments after opening fire, could have taken up an elevated position so close to Trump, who, as a former president, has lifetime protection by the US Secret Service.

Biden and Trump spoke to each other on the evening of July 13 after the shooting. First Lady Jill Biden also spoke with former first lady Melania Trump on the afternoon of July 14, said a White House official.

Trump and Biden are locked in a close election rematch, according to most opinion polls, including by Reuters/Ipsos. The shooting on July 13 whipsawed discussion around the presidential campaign, which had been focused on if Biden, 81, should drop out following a halting June 27 debate performance.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) identified Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the suspect, and said the shooting was being investigated as an attempted assassination.

FBI officials said on July 14 that the shooter acted alone. The agency said it had yet to identify an ideology linked to the suspect, or any indications of mental health issues, or found any threatening language on the suspect's social media accounts.

Crooks was a registered Republican, according to state voter records, and donated US$15 (S$20) to a Democratic political action committee when he was 17. At the time of the shooting, he was employed as a dietary aide at a nursing home. The Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre said Crooks "performed his job without concern and his background check was clean".

The gun — an AR-style 5.56 calibre rifle — was legally bought, FBI officials said, adding they believed it was purchased by the suspect's father. The officials said "a suspicious device" was found in the suspect's vehicle, which was inspected by bomb technicians and rendered safe.

The Secret Service denied accusations by some Trump supporters that it rejected a campaign request for more security, saying it recently "added protective resources and capabilities to the former president's security detail".

Hours after the assassination attempt, the Oversight Committee in the Republican-led US House of Representatives summoned Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle to testify at a hearing scheduled for July 22.

The shots on July 13 appeared to come from outside the area secured by the Secret Service, the agency said.

The rally attendee killed on July 13 was identified by the authorities as Corey Comperatore, 50, of Sarver, Pennsylvania. He died trying to protect his family from the hail of bullets, said Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.

"Corey was an avid supporter of the former president, and was so excited to be there," Shapiro said, adding: "Political disagreements can never, ever be addressed through violence."

Two people wounded in the shooting were in stable condition on July 14. Pennsylvania State identified them as David Dutch, 57, of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and James Copenhaver, 74, of Moon Township, Pennsylvania.

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Residents of Bethel Park, where the suspected shooter lived, expressed shock at the news on July 14.

"It's a little crazy to think that somebody that did an assassination attempt is that close, but it just kind of shows the political dynamic that we're in right now with the craziness on each side," said resident Wes Morgan, 42, describing Bethel Park as "a pretty blue-collar type of area".

While mass shootings at schools, nightclubs and other public places are common in the US, the attack was the first shooting of a US president or major party presidential candidate since the 1981 attempted assassination of Republican President Ronald Reagan.

Americans fear rising political violence, Reuters/Ipsos polling shows, with two out of three respondents to a May survey saying they worried violence could follow the election.

After Biden defeated Trump in the 2020 election, Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, in a deadly riot fuelled by Trump's false claims that his loss was the result of widespread fraud. 

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