Donald Trump returns to assassination attempt site in Butler, Pennsylvania
Donald Trump is holding a massive rally in the Pennsylvania town where he was shot and one of his supporters was killed. Follow updates.
Donald Trump has defiantly returned to the scene of his brush with death, holding a massive rally in the Pennsylvania town where he was shot and one of his supporters was killed.
A month before the US election against Kamala Harris, the former president was greeted by thousands of supporters chanting “fight, fight, fight” – Mr Trump’s instantly iconic response after he was hit in the ear by a bullet from 20-year-old gunman Thomas Crooks.
“As I was saying,” the 78-year-old began his speech, bringing up the graph on illegal immigration on the big screen that he credited for saving his life, as he had turned to face it when Crooks opened fire.
“I love that chart, I love that graph. Isn’t it a beautiful thing?”
Speaking from behind bulletproof glass, Mr Trump described his return to Butler as a “triumph of American spirit” over “evil and adversity”.
“I will never bend, I will never break, I will never yield – not even in the face of death itself,” he said.
The Republican candidate attacked his political opponents as “the enemy within” and suggested they “maybe even tried to kill me”.
Authorities have struggled to understand the motive of Crooks, who was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper. Mr Trump said the “cold-blooded assassin aimed to silence me and to silence the greatest movement … in the history of our country”.
“By the hand of providence and the grace of God, that villain did not succeed in his goal,” he said.
Volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore was killed during the assassination attempt on July 13. On Saturday (local time), his fire jacket and helmet was placed on a seat in the bleachers where he had dived to protect his wife and children when the gunfire erupted.
After meeting with members of his family, Mr Trump promised to “carry his memory in our hearts for as long as we live” as he hailed Mr Comperatore as “a great hero”.
The former president was joined on stage by the world’s richest man Elon Musk, who endorsed the Republican moments after he survived the assassination attempt and has since become a key donor.
He said that “the true test of someone’s character is how they behave under fire”.
“We had one president who couldn’t climb a flight of stairs and another who was fist-pumping after getting shot,” Mr Musk said.
He darkly claimed November would be America’s “last election” if Mr Trump lost.
Mr Trump’s running mate JD Vance said: “I truly believe that God saved President Trump’s life that day … God still has a plan for him.”
The Ohio senator blasted his Democratic opponents for their “dangerous, inflammatory rhetoric” and the media for continuing to warn that Mr Trump was a “threat to democracy”.
Directly addressing Ms Harris, Mr Vance said: “How dare you talk about threats to democracy? Donald Trump took a bullet for democracy, what the hell have you done?”
Last month, Mr Trump survived a second alleged assassination attempt while playing golf in Florida, while law enforcement agencies have also investigated Iranian plots to kill him.
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FOLLOW UPDATES BELOW:
ELON MUSK TO APPEAR AT TRUMP RALLY
Elon Musk will attend former President Donald Trump’s rally in Butler.
The billionaire “fully endorsed” Mr Trump in the immediate aftermath of the shooting and became a key figure in the campaign through a reported $45 million monthly donation to a PAC mobilising Republican voters.
“I will be there to support!” Mr Musk announced on X.
OBAMA BLITZ ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Former US president Barack Obama will stump for Kamala Harris in key swing states, adding his star power to the Democrat’s White House bid in the final month before election day.
Obama will make his first appearance next week in the industrial city of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, perhaps the most critical state in Harris’s battle with Republican Donald Trump.
The 63-year-old remains an influential voice among Democrats, and he and former first lady Michelle Obama delivered rapturously received speeches backing Harris at the party’s national convention in August.
“President Obama believes the stakes of this election could not be more consequential and that is why he is doing everything he can to help elect Vice President Harris, Governor (and vice presidential nominee Tim) Walz and Democrats across the country,” Obama’s senior adviser Eric Schultz said in a statement.
TRUMP BREAKS SILENCE ON MELANIA ABORTION STOUSH
Donald Trump broke his silence on wife Melania’s bombshell support of abortion.
In contrast to the pro-life platform of the former president and the Republican Party, Mrs Trump revealed in her upcoming memoir that she supports the right to terminate a pregnancy.
Asked about the difference of opinion, Mr Trump said that she had to “follow her heart”.
“We spoke about it. And I said, you have to write what you believe. I’m not going to tell you what to do. You have to write what you believe,” Trump told Fox News’s Bill Melugin.
“But I said you have to stick with your heart. I’ve said that to everybody, you have to go with your heart.”
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Originally published as Donald Trump returns to assassination attempt site in Butler, Pennsylvania