Trump jokes he will start speech with ‘As I was saying…’ as he returns to site where an assassin tried to gun him down
Donald Trump was expected to return last night to the site where an assassin tried to shoot him in July.
The former president joked that he would begin his speech in Butler, Pennsylvania, by saying, “Like I said…”
Trump famously clenched his fist and shouted “fight, fight, fight!” after a bullet fired by gunman Thomas Crooks, 20, clipped his ear during a rally on July 13.
Crooks was shot dead by police snipers in a case called the Secret Service’s worst failure in decades.
The shooter’s motive has yet to be determined.
Trump returned to the scene of his assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania
Trump cut off his ear shortly after Thomas Crooks, 20, during a rally on July 13
Trump’s plane flew over the rally where an assassination attempt took place in Butler, Pennsylvania
Trump was expected to address the 20,000-strong crowd in Butler, a steel town of 13,000, from behind bulletproof glass.
Crowds gathered at the site before dawn yesterday as Trump supporters flew in from California and Florida.
One said: ‘This is history. This is courage. That Trump is coming
returning to the place where he almost lost his life is symbolic of the man he is. This meeting will be emotional and triumphant.”
Sources close to the ex-president said the security measures were “excessive”, with one saying: “Without going into too much detail, there will be no repeat of last time.” Local Sheriff Mike Slupe said the Secret Service — which thwarted a second assassination attempt on Trump last month when a gunman was arrested on a golf course 200 yards from Trump — is “quadrupling its resources.”
Trump was expected to be joined on stage by Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, running mate JD Vance and the widow of firefighter Corey Comperatore, 50, who died in the July 13 attack.