President Joe Biden warned Americans against making assumptions about the motive behind the assassination of Donald Trump, saying he was using “every available tool” to protect his Republican rival.
“We have no information yet on the shooter’s motive,” Biden said from the White House on Sunday.
“Don’t make assumptions about his motives,” the president implored. Some Republicans have already begun to blame Biden and his campaign rhetoric for the attempted assassination of his Republican rival.
Biden spent much of his speeches defending the Secret Service against criticism and rejecting accusations that it had not done enough to protect the former president.
The Secret Service denies that Trump is not receiving extra protection despite being the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
“Mr. Trump, as a former president and Republican nominee, already receives an enhanced level of security. And I have consistently directed the Secret Service to provide him with all the resources, capabilities and protective measures necessary to ensure his continued safety,” Biden said.
President Joe Biden spoke from the White House about the assassination of Donald Trump
Biden added that he will address the nation from the Oval Office on Sunday evening and that he has ordered an independent investigation into what happened at Saturday night’s meeting.
Biden said he spoke to Trump on Saturday night and was glad the former president was doing well after the assassination attempt.
He also said he was praying for the family of Corey Comperatore, the spectator who was killed at Trump’s rally.
“We also extend our deepest condolences to the family of the victim who was murdered. He was a father, he protected his family from the bullets that were fired, lost his life. God bless him,” Biden said.
Questions have been raised about how Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old killer, was able to climb onto the roof of a building so close to the site of Trump’s rally.
Fraudsters grazed Trump’s ear, killed one spectator and wounded two more before a Secret Service agent shot him dead.
Biden said the results of the investigation into the protective measures at Trump’s rally would be made public. And he condemned the attempted assassination.
“There is no place in America for this kind of violence or any violence,” Biden said. “The attempted assassination goes against everything we stand for as a nation. It is not who we are as a nation. It is not American.”
Biden was joined in the Roosevelt Room of the White House by Vice President Kamala Harris, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
The president said he had ordered a review of security measures at the Republican National Convention, which begins Monday in Milwaukee.
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump gestures as he is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents as he is escorted off the stage
President Joe Biden delivers a speech about the attempted assassination of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump at the White House with Vice President Kamala Harris, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas
Trump announced that he will travel to Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon.
“Given the terrible events of yesterday, I was going to postpone my trip to Wisconsin and the Republican National Convention by two days, but I have just decided that I cannot allow a “shooter” or potential murderer to force a change in schedule or anything else. Therefore, I will be leaving for Milwaukee today at 3:30 PM as planned. Thank you!” he wrote on Truth Social.
After Trump was released from the hospital, he was taken to his home in Bedminster, New Jersey.
His campaign team said the convention would go ahead as planned.