Trump shooting LIVE updates: Investigation continues into suspected gunman’s motive after former US president wounded at Pennsylvania rally

Donald Trump has told a conservative US outlet he wants to take advantage of a historic moment after the assassination attempt and draw the country together in his convention speech.

Speaking to the Washington Examiner, Trump said he had rewritten his convention speech from a “humdinger” to agitate his followers, to one instead aiming to unite the US in a moment of division and uncertainty.

Donald Trump’s motorcade leaves Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport ahead of the Republican National Convention.Credit: AP

“This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together,” the former president was quoted as saying. “The speech will be a lot different, a lot different than it would’ve been two days ago.”

On Sunday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that 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 top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, Bennie Thompson, has fired an aide in a field office who posted on social media that she wished the Trump gunman had better aim.

Jacqueline Marsaw, a field director for Thompson, posted on Facebook: “I don’t condone violence but please get you some shooting lessons so you don’t miss next time ooops that wasn’t me talking.”

The post, which was later deleted, led to calls for Marsaw to be sacked.

In a statement, Thompson said he did just that.

“I was made aware of a post made by a staff member and she is no longer in my employment,” Thompson said.

“There is no room in American democracy for political violence. I am grateful for law enforcement’s fast response to this incident.

“I am glad the former president is safe, and my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved.”

The former president also spoke to the NY Post about the photo taken of him as he was dragged away by the Secret Service, raising his fist and saying: “Fight, fight, fight”.

“A lot of people say it’s the most iconic photo they’ve ever seen,” Trump said. “They’re right and I didn’t die. Usually, you have to die to have an iconic picture.”

He added: “I just wanted to keep speaking, but I just got shot.”

Trump also praised the crowd at the rally for staying calm during the whole incident.

“A lot of places, especially soccer games, you hear a single shot, everybody runs. Here, there were many shots and they stayed.

“I love them. They are such great people.”

Donald Trump is surrounded by Secret Service agents after the shooting at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.Credit: AP

Trump has given an interview with the New York Post, in which he said he’s “supposed to be dead” as he recounted the shooting at the rally in Pennsylvania.

He told the newspaper he would be dead if he had not turned his head slightly to the right to read a chart on the big screen on illegal immigrants.

“The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this. He called it a miracle,” Trump told the Post.

“I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead,” Trump said. “I’m supposed to be dead.”

Trump said he wanted to keep speaking at the rally but Secret Service agents told him it wasn’t safe. He commended the efforts of the agents and praised them for taking out the shooter.

“They took him out with one shot right between the eyes,” he said.

“They did a fantastic job,” he added. “It’s surreal for all of us.”

Trump’s campaign did not let him be photographed for the interview.

Trump has said he’s not meant to be alive.Credit: AP

The FBI has released a statement saying that a second suspicious device was found at the home of Thomas Matthew Crooks.

The agency had earlier outlined that it had found a suspected explosive device in Crooks’ vehicle.

“Suspicious devices found at both locations have been rendered safe by bomb technicians and are being evaluated at the FBI laboratory,” the statement said.

“The firearm used in the shooting was purchased legally. The shooter was not known to the FBI prior to this incident.”

The agency said it had not established a motive for the shooting but was working “to determine the sequence of events and the shooter’s movements prior to the shooting”.

NSW Premier Chris Minns has decried the “appalling” attempted assassination of Donald Trump, as he applauded former prime minister John Howard’s reform of gun laws.

With Trump narrowly avoiding several shots fired at him while speaking at a rally on Sunday, Minns said the scenes emerging out of Pennsylvania were “very distressing” and it was important to “unambiguously” reject political violence.

“It’s important for functioning democracies around the world to unambiguously state that this is appalling,” he said at a press conference on Monday.

“This is a shocking turn of events that political disagreements no matter how deeply felt can never turn into violent, murderous acts, and that this is appalling.”

With the shooter using a high-powered rifle, Minns paid tribute to Howard’s reform of gun laws in Australia after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, saying curtailing the availability of semi-automatic weapons was the “best thing his government did”.

“That kind of gun culture we don’t need in Australia. We don’t need to be vigilant about it as well,” he said.“That was the right decision to make all the way back in 1996. And it’s saved countless lives in our community. And we need to build on that legacy.”

The attempted assassination of Donald Trump has shifted the financial markets’ focus to the growing prospect of a Trump victory in November, writes Stephen Bartholomeusz.

After Biden’s dreadful showing at last month’s debate, investors had started to think through the implications of another Trump presidency. Now that prospect has been materially strengthened.

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.Credit: Bloomberg

With promises to extend the tax cuts he implemented in his first term and to add to them another big bout of deregulation, the unwinding of President Joe Biden’s big-ticket clean energy initiatives, the greenlighting of more drilling for oil and gas, the mass detention and expulsion of illegal immigrants and his plans to impose a universal tariff of 10 per cent on all imports and a 60 per cent tariff on those from China, a second Trump term would have significant market impacts.

Read more here.

US President Joe Biden faces a delicate balancing act as America reels from the attempted assassination of his biggest political rival, writes US correspondent Farrah Tomazin.

Amid fears of escalating violence, Biden knows that the last thing he can afford to do is add to the simmering tensions of a country bristling with animosity, anger and fear.

He urged people to “take stock of where we are, and how we go forward from here”.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.Credit: AP

And on the issue of political violence, he reminded Americans there had been many examples on both sides of the aisle: the brutal attack on the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; the right-wing plot to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer; and now the attempt to kill a former president days before he was officially announced as the Republican candidate for the White House.

Read more here.

Donald Trump has told a conservative US outlet he wants to take advantage of a historic moment after the assassination attempt and draw the country together in his convention speech.

Speaking to the Washington Examiner, Trump said he had rewritten his convention speech from a “humdinger” to agitate his followers, to one instead aiming to unite the US in a moment of division and uncertainty.

Donald Trump’s motorcade leaves Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport ahead of the Republican National Convention.Credit: AP

“This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together,” the former president was quoted as saying. “The speech will be a lot different, a lot different than it would’ve been two days ago.”

On Sunday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that 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”.

Members of the House and Senate said they would investigate the apparent assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump, demanding documents and testimony from the Secret Service, while others moved to enhance the security provided to US presidential candidates, The Washington Post reports.

At the centre of the maelstrom on Capitol Hill are questions posed by Republicans and Democrats about the agency charged with safeguarding Trump and top US leaders – and how a gunman managed to open fire on someone under its protection.

Republican congressman James Comer.Credit: AP

The Post reports that House oversight chairman, Republican James Comer, has called for Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle to appear before the committee next week.

Mark Green, chair of the House committee on homeland security, requested documents, details and a briefing pertaining to the security at the rally.

Not all members agreed with the rush to question the planning and response from the Secret Service, including Republican Mike Kelly, who witnessed the bloodshed at the rally from the front row and the response by those who whisked Trump safely off the stage.

“There’s a danger in saying these people didn’t do their jobs – when I saw them rush to rescue the president, they were doing their job,” Kelly said in a brief interview with The Washington Post. “We need to step back a little bit and let the process play out.”

The Trump assassination attempt won’t define the US election campaign, and the likelihood of Joe Biden stepping down declines by the day, a US politics expert has said.

A lot can happen between now and the election on November 5, said Brendan O’Connor, professor of US politics and foreign relations at the University of Sydney.

“I imagine there are a lot of things in this campaign that won’t totally overshadow this event, but this event won’t, I think, shape the rest of the campaign,” O’Connor told Melbourne radio station 3AW on Monday.

President Joe Biden speaks from the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Sunday, flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris and Attorney-General Merrick Garland.Credit: AP

He said the Democrats could not force Biden to retire.

“I think the odds are going down every day Biden doesn’t step aside, because really, it’s his decision. It’s not like when, you know, [Julia] Gillard and [Kevin] Rudd replaced each other. It’s a situation where the person who’s president really has to call it a day themselves,” he said.

“That makes every day he pushes on, that makes it less likely that he’s going to step aside.”