Former President Donald Trump and Republican Nominee hopeful appears to have been the target of an assassination attempt as he spoke during a rally in Pennsylvania today (Saturday). The former president’s ear was covered in blood from what he says was a gunshot. He was quickly pulled away by Secret Service agents and his campaign says he is “fine.”
A local prosecutor says the suspected gunman and at least one attendee are dead. The Secret Service says two spectators were critically injured.
Posting on his Truth Social media site about two and a half hours after the shooting, Trump says a bullet “pierced the upper part of my right ear.”
“I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin,” he said in the post. “Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening.”
The attack, by a shooter who law enforcement officials say was then killed by the Secret Service, was the most serious attempt to assassinate a president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. It comes amid a deeply polarized political atmosphere, just four months from the presidential elections and days before Trump is to be officially named the Republican nominee at his party’s convention.
Trump campaign and RNC release joint statement following assassination attempt at rally
As was communicated earlier this evening, President Trump is doing well and grateful to law enforcement and first responders for their fast action. President Trump looks forward to joining you all in Milwaukee as we proceed with our convention to nominate him to serve as the 47th President of the United States. As our party’s nominee, President Trump will continue to share his vision to Make America Great Again.- Donald J. Trump for President 2024 Senior Advisors Susie Wiles & Chris LaCivita & Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley and Co-Chairman Lara Trump
“The FBI has assumed the role of the lead federal law enforcement agency in the investigation of the incident involving former President Donald Trump that occurred earlier today in Butler, Pennsylvania,” the FBI said in a statement on Saturday night, obtained by Fox News Digital.
“Special agents of the FBI Pittsburgh Field Office responded immediately, to include crisis response team members and evidence response technicians. We will continue to support this investigation with the full resources of the FBI, alongside our partners at the U.S. Secret Service and state and local law enforcement,” it said.
“Anyone with information that may assist with the investigation is asked to call our tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland released a statement on Saturday night condemning the shooting at former President Trump’s Pennsylvania rally.
The Biden official said he was actively looking into the situation.
“I have been briefed on the shooting at former President Trump’s rally, and have briefed the President. The FBI, ATF, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and the Department’s National Security Division are currently working with the Secret Service as well as state and local law enforcement partners on the ground in Butler, Pennsylvania,” Garland said.
“My heart is with the former President, those injured, and the family of the spectator killed in this horrific attack.”
He finished, “We will not tolerate violence of any kind, and violence like this is an attack on our democracy. The Justice Department will bring every available resource to bear to this investigation.”
A witness at Trump’s rally, Brandon Christie, shared his firsthand experience of the shooting on ‘Hannity’ Saturday.
“We’re all just there, you know, looking up at the screen that he has up. And I heard a loud pop and I thought it was like the speaker cracking and we heard another one.”
“And then people start screaming. And so we all just hit the ground. And I started looking around as what was going on, and I saw one of the Secret Service guys, he was firing back. There was probably 6 or 7 shots total, maybe. And then I woke up in the bleachers and people were just screaming and crying, and there’s just blood everywhere.”
“There’s just there’s blood all over his family members. There was a guy up there trying to administer CPR. It just. It all happened so quick. Like, still trying to process everything, and we’re just all down on the ground, and people down on the ground are crying. We don’t know what to do. People are just screaming and crying.”
“And then all of a sudden, people will start standing up and we start walking out and we locked on top of the building. And there are Secret Service up there. They’re standing around what we now know was the shooter. At that time, we really didn’t know where it was coming from.”
“Now no one really started running, we just all kind of hit the ground and people were yelling for paramedics and police to come. And there was probably 6 or 7 state troopers that just all of a sudden showed up out of nowhere, and they pulled him off the bleachers. And he was dead at that time.”
Story courtesy of Fox News
