The Trump campaign was quick to respond to the assassination attempt on the former president, which took place during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, in a statement to The Daily Caller.
After multiple gunshots were heard over the din of the crowd, Donald Trump, bleeding from the face, was escorted off the stage at the rally by the US Secret Service. A Trump ally told the Daily Caller that the attack on the former president was “It called it “virtually unavoidable” and called the attacks “sickening” and “disgusting”.
“Obviously, we still don't know anything about the culprit, but they've tried everything at this point to eliminate the culprit. [Trump]”I don't think anybody is surprised by this, and when you see Donald Trump get shot and he stands up and pumps his fist in the air, you know this guy's a f**king gangster,” Hogan Gidley, a former spokesman for the Trump administration, told The Daily Caller. (Related: President Trump injured, two killed in shooting at rally)
“He won't quit. He's unstoppable. He loves this country and he wants to help all Americans. This is one of the most awful, abhorrent and dangerous moments in our nation's history,” Gidley told the Caller.
“President Trump expressed his gratitude to police and emergency responders for their swift action in response to this heinous incident. He is in good health and is being examined at a local medical facility. More information will be released at a later date.
— Trump Press Secretary translator
— Team Trump (text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) July 13, 2024
As gunshots rang out, Secret Service agents surrounded the bloody president and grabbed him around the neck, but Trump raised his fist to let his supporters know he was safe.
The suspect later died and at least one other rally attendee was killed, Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said. Said Associated Press (AP).
“This assassination attempt came after years of escalating doomsday, catastrophe rhetoric from just about every Democrat in the country,” Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign's 2020 communications director, told the Caller. “The left has spent so much energy inciting extremists to viscerally hate Trump that it was almost inevitable that someone would attack him. They certainly contributed greatly to what happened today.”
The Trump campaign responded to the attack by saying the former president was “fine” and thanked emergency responders for their efforts. Reports said Trump was taken to a local medical facility for examination.
“Just yesterday Joe Biden posted just four words to X saying, 'He needs to be stopped,' and the next day, apparently someone tried to follow through on that instruction,” Murtaugh told the Caller.
We have to stop him. pic.twitter.com/Y4NbdfpCVq
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 2, 2024
President Joe Biden reportedly said he had not heard about the incident while leaving a church in Delaware on Saturday. The White House released a statement about two hours after the attack on the former president. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed on the attempted shooter.
“I am glad to hear that he is safe and well. As we await more information, we are praying for him, his family and all those who were at the rally. Jill and I are grateful to the Secret Service for transporting him to safety. This kind of violence has no place in America, and we must come together as a nation to condemn it,” the president said in a statement.
Biden is now scheduled to make unscheduled remarks about the assassination attempt.
“Words cannot express the feelings that millions of Americans and I feel. The thought that President Donald J. Trump was so close to being assassinated by crazed leftists is sickening and speaks to the threat that Trump poses to his enemies. We are Virtually unavoidable “I thank God for his grace that saved Trump's life and the heroes in law enforcement who acted as human shields.” Harrison Fields, a black surrogate for President Trump and a former White House communications staffer, told the Caller:
“President Trump, with blood streaming from his face, told all of us to 'fight, fight, fight,' and that's what we're going to do,” Fields told the Caller.
