President Joe Biden Sunday called for unity and pledged an independent review following the campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday where former President Donald J. Trump was shot and injured.
“An assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for as a nation,” Biden said in remarks from the White House Sunday afternoon, adding that “there is no place in America for this kind of violence or any violence for that matter.”
Biden said the independent review will “assess exactly what happened and we’ll share the results of that independent review with the American people as well.”
“Unity is the most elusive goal of all, but nothing is [more] important than that right now,” Biden said. “We’ll debate and we’ll disagree, that’s not going to change. But we’re not gonna lose sight of the fact [of] who we are as Americans.”
Biden added that he is directing the U.S. Secret Service to assess the security measures for the Republican National Convention beginning Monday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the GOP will formally nominate Trump for president.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that he was initially planning to delay his trip to the RNC by two days, but said he could not “allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling, or anything else” and so would arrive later Sunday.
Outraged congressional Republicans on Sunday demanded answers from the Secret Service as to how the shooter was able to access a rooftop within range of the former president, and committee leaders began planning hearings and probes. The FBI is investigating the shooting as an attempted assassination.
South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” he was grateful the former president “survived an assassination attempt,” and noted how dangerous the situation was.
“How could this happen?” Graham asked. “How could somebody get within 130 yards of the president with a rifle?”
On Sunday night, in an address from the Oval Office, Biden repeated his plea for unity and called for Americans to cool down their political rhetoric.
“Remember, we may disagree. We are not enemies. We’re neighbors. We’re friends, coworkers, citizens. And most importantly, we’re our fellow Americans. We must stand together,” he said.
Biden stressed that political participation needed to remain peaceful.
“In America, we resolve our differences at the ballot box,” he said. “Not with bullets.”
Pennsylvanian killed
Several loud pops rang out as Trump was beginning a campaign event Saturday that quickly ended with him cupping blood on the side of his face and defiantly pumping his fist at the crowd and shouting “Fight, fight, fight,” before he was whisked off-stage by Secret Service agents.
Trump was injured but pronounced safe by the Secret Service and he later wrote on his social media site Truth Social that he was shot “with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.”
An attendee at the rally was killed, and two others were injured in the shooting.
Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro on Sunday identified the person killed as Corey Comperatore. Local news reports said he was a former fire chief.
“Corey died a hero,” Shapiro said during a news conference. “Corey dove on his family to protect them last night.”
Shortly after the shooting, Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement the shooter “fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue,” and Secret Service personnel shot and killed the individual.
The FBI identified the shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
Congressional Republicans said they want answers from the Secret Service about how the event unfolded and if there were any security shortcomings.
The Secret Service is responsible for the safety of sitting and former presidents and certain government officials.
Guglielmi on Sunday morning on X addressed “an untrue assertion that a member of the former President’s team requested additional security resources & that those were rebuffed.”
He said that was “absolutely false.”
“In fact, we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo,” he said.
The agency falls under the Department of Homeland Security, and congressional Republicans have clashed with DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, to the point of impeachment. The Senate, controlled by Democrats, dismissed the two articles of impeachment.
House GOP inquiry
Hours after the Saturday night shooting, House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote on X that the House will conduct an investigation of the incident.
On the “Today” show Sunday, Johnson said that the House’s probe will “determine where there were lapses in security and anything else that the American people need to know and deserve to know.”
Republican Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, wrote a letter to Mayorkas saying he was concerned how the shooter was able to “access a rooftop within range and direct line of sight of where President Trump was speaking.”
“The seriousness of this security failure and chilling moment in our nation’s history cannot be understated,” Green wrote in the letter. “Had the bullet’s trajectory been slightly different, the assassination attempt on President Trump might have succeeded.”
Green asked Mayorkas to provide the committee with several documents by July 22, such as the security plan for the rally, Secret Service protocol for assassination attempts, and copies of briefing materials given to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris about the incident.
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri sent a letter to Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Gary Peters of Michigan to push for an investigation into the shooting.
Hawley, who sits on the committee, said the investigation “must include public testimony, hearings, and robust oversight over the relevant federal departments as they respond to this assassination attempt.”
Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, who also sits on the committee, made the same request, and argued the need for an investigation because “individuals and groups will use yesterday’s tragedy to sow division in our country,” and that the committee “can help push back on those efforts by investigating and publicizing the facts surrounding yesterday.”
An aide to Peters, speaking on background, said the “committee will be conducting an investigation,” and that the committee has requested a briefing for members as soon as possible.
Peters, a Democrat, is “speaking with Secretary Mayorkas today, and committee staff are receiving a briefing from the department this afternoon,” the aide said.
“As we learn more about what happened, the investigation will likely include additional steps including hearings,” the aide said.
Comer wants Secret Service director to testify
Chair of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee GOP Rep. James Comer of Kentucky said in a statement that he will send a formal invitation for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to appear for a hearing.
“There are many questions and Americans demand answers,” Comer said.
Biden, who spoke Sunday night briefly after the shooting, denounced political violence and declined to say whether the incident was an assassination attempt.
“I have an opinion, but I don’t have any facts,” Biden said, speaking from the Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, police department, near his vacation home. “So I want to make sure we have all the facts before I make some comment.”
‘Cool things down’
Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle immediately condemned the political violence.
On Sunday, they took to various talk shows and urged for a cooling down of political rhetoric. “We’ve got to turn the temperature down in this country,” Johnson said.
Rep. Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, who was at the rally Saturday, made similar remarks on “Meet the Press,” where he said “we all need to take responsibility and cool things down.”
Melania Trump, the president’s wife, on Sunday called for Americans to “reunite.”
“Dawn is here again,” she said in a statement. “This morning, ascend above the hate, the vitriol, and the simple-minded ideas that ignite violence. We all want a world where respect is paramount, family is first, and love transcends.”
Shootings, threats, attacks
Threats against lawmakers and political violence have increased over the years.
Then-Rep. Gabby Giffords of Arizona, a Democrat, was shot at a constituent event in 2011. Her husband, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, on X condemned the violence: “No one should ever have to experience political violence — we know that firsthand.”
And House Republican Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana was shot and injured in 2017 during a congressional baseball practice.
Of the 7,501 threats made to members of Congress during 2022, only 22 led to prosecution, the U.S. Capitol Police confirmed to States Newsroom.
Two years ago, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, was attacked and injured in their home in California and a kidnapping and assassination attempt was thwarted in 2020 against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
And in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, a mob of pro-Trump supporters breached the building in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying the electoral results.
No motive cited yet
The motivation behind the attack is still under investigation. According to The Associated Press, there were bomb-making materials found in Crooks’ home.
Crooks is a registered Republican, according to Pennsylvania voting records, and he made a $15 donation to Progressive Turnout Project PAC in 2021, according to Federal Election Commission records.
The shooting came two days before thousands of Republicans gather for the Republican National Convention, where they will formally nominate Trump on Thursday. Trump will announce his running mate at some point.
Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican convention host committee in Milwaukee, said on ABC News that he spoke with Trump after the shooting and that the former president wants the convention to move forward.
“It’s not going to be scaled back,” Priebus said. “In fact, if you had to ask me, I would say this convention is going to be epic.”
Senior advisers to the Trump campaign, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, said in a joint statement after the shooting that Trump wasn’t changing his plans for the RNC.
“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,” they said. “As our party’s nominee, President Trump will continue to share his vision to Make America Great Again.”