Shooting at Trump rally: Biden orders security check, FBI assumes shooter acted alone

“In America, we resolve our differences at the ballot box – not with bullets,” he said.

Biden had previously said on Sunday that he had ordered an independent national security review of the rally at which Trump was shot in the ear on Saturday night.

He said Trump had “already received an increased level of security.”

“I have consistently directed the Secret Service to provide him with all necessary resources, capabilities and protections to ensure his continued safety,” adding that he has also directed the service to review all security measures for the Republican National Convention.

Biden returned to Washington earlier than planned after the assassination attempt on Trump on Saturday evening and has been briefed several times since the shooting.

He also canceled a trip to Texas on Monday, but will travel to Las Vegas as planned, according to the White House, where he will deliver a speech promoting racial justice and equality.

Predictions about who was likely to prevail in November had already become muddled, as Democrats doubted Biden’s cognitive abilities and insisted on staying in the race.

Shortly after the dust settled in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Trump spoke at a campaign rally, fierce calls for investigations were heard. Biden will now come under even greater pressure. And America will appear more politically unstable than ever, according to analysts.

The gunman who left Trump bleeding and killed one person was identified by the FBI in the early hours of Sunday morning as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from a Pittsburgh suburb – just over an hour’s drive from Butler.

The FBI said it was investigating the shooting as an attempted murder and a possible act of domestic terrorism. The bureau said it believes Crooks acted alone and has no known ideology, but it is scouring his social media accounts.

The FBI also announced that it found a suspicious device in the suspect’s car and brought it to the FBI laboratory for testing.

Hours after the shooting, Trump disembarked from his plane in New Jersey early Sunday morning and made his first public appearance since being shot in the ear.

On his social media platform Truth Social, he said he looked forward to speaking from Wisconsin, where the Republican National Convention will be held.

“At this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand united and show our true character as Americans and remain strong and determined,” he wrote.

Former First Lady Melania Trump called the shooter a “monster” on Sunday and emphasized humanity beyond politics.

“When I saw the brutal bullet strike my husband Donald, I realized that my life and Barron’s were on the brink of devastating change,” she wrote in a statement posted on X.

“A monster who recognized my husband as an inhuman political machine tried to capture Donald’s passion – his laughter, his ingenuity, his love of music and his inspiration.

“I commend those of you who go beyond political boundaries. Thank you for remembering that every single politician is a man or woman with a loving family.”

A White House official said Biden and Trump spoke by phone hours after the shooting. It was a “good, brief and respectful” conversation, NBC News reported.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro on Sunday identified the man killed at the rally as Corey Comperatore, a former local fire chief, and said he “died a hero” while protecting his family. He did not comment on the condition of the other two injured people.

Tom Cotton, Republican Senator from Arkansas, said after a conversation with Trump that he was “focused on finding a path to the (Republican National) Convention.”

“I encourage all delegates and everyone else going to the convention to go there with the confidence that it will be perhaps the safest place in America next week,” Cotton told CBS News.

“Robust, strong election campaigns, opposing ideas between candidates and parties are of course central to American democracy. But we resolve these differences of opinion through political debates and elections. We do not resolve them through violence.”

However, angry messages from many members of his party suggested that this courtesy might not last long.

Even before authorities revealed the shooter’s identity, Republicans were calling for an immediate investigation.

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee said late Saturday that it would investigate the attempted murder. Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the committee’s chairman, asked Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the Secret Service, to testify at a July 22 hearing.

Cheatle, along with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, were among those who briefed Biden shortly after the shooting.

And whatever investigations are launched, the tone of those investigations is already clear.

“The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” Senator JD Vance of Ohio, who is on Trump’s vice presidential list, said on X, formerly Twitter. “This rhetoric led directly to the attempted assassination of President Trump.”

Georgia State Representative Mike Collins called on Richard Goldinger, the Republican district attorney for Butler County, to “immediately bring charges against Joseph R. Biden for incitement to assassinate.”

US House Speaker Mike Johnson said Congress would “conduct a comprehensive investigation into the tragedy to determine where there were security lapses.”

In an interview with NBC News on Sunday morning, the top Republican said it was time to “tone down the rhetoric.”

“We need to calm the mood in this country. We need leaders of all parties on both sides to say that clearly and make sure that happens so that we can move forward and preserve the free society that we all have,” Johnson said.

However, Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida was even more blunt.

He said the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), of which he serves, “has an oversight responsibility and an obligation to the American people to demand answers from the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service as to how this happened and what steps are being taken to investigate this attack.”

Scott, who also sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said a swift effort to find those answers would mitigate the damage the attack has done to America’s image.

“Chairman Gary Peters must immediately convene a HSGAC hearing with testimony from these agencies before August 1st and provide the answers we as U.S. Senators and the American people demand and deserve from our government,” Scott said. “The security of our republic is being questioned and we as a nation need answers.”

Late Saturday, some analysts were already expressing exactly these concerns.

Burgat, director of the legislative affairs program at George Washington University in the US capital, said the assassination would have a significant impact on the US election and the global perception of American stability.

“Domestically, this event is likely to deepen partisan divisions and exacerbate political tensions – at a time when partisan tensions are already at boiling point,” Burgat said.

“Internationally, the attack raises serious concerns about the safety of political figures in the United States and could undermine confidence in the country’s stability and democratic processes.”

FBI Assistant Director Paul Abbate said that “the rhetoric regarding threats of violence on the Internet has already increased following the shooting.”

Rob Casey, senior analyst at political strategy firm Signum Global Advisors, said the incident could boost Trump’s support potential by underscoring his drive, motivating his voting base and giving him a “favorability boost” in the polls – but that effect could be short-lived.

He referred to former President Ronald Reagan, who survived an assassination attempt in 1981 and subsequently experienced a brief increase in his approval ratings in the polls.

“The incident will also likely benefit President Biden by diverting focus from concerns about his age and shooting acuity, reducing pressure on him to drop out of the race, and potentially further encouraging his desire to see the campaign through,” Casey said.

Meanwhile, the Secret Service has denied rumors that it rejected requests from Trump’s team for additional security resources.

“That is absolutely false. In fact, we have deployed additional protection resources, technologies and capabilities as part of the increased pace of travel as part of the campaign,” Anthony Guglielmi, the service’s communications chief, said on X on Sunday morning.

Terry Haines, founder of Washington-based consulting firm Pangaea Policy, said the shooting had significantly increased geopolitical risk and political instability in the United States.

He said the global financial market had “already expected increasing political instability in the US due to polarized politics and the upcoming elections. These fears have intensified significantly again this evening.”

“US political leaders of all stripes must demonstrate that this perception is exaggerated and inaccurate,” he said. “But given the inability of these politicians to act rhetorically responsibly, showing the humility needed to calm the mood is not a given.”

According to a new YouGov poll, half of Americans surveyed said political violence was a “very big problem” in the country, while 32 percent said it was “somewhat of a problem.” Around 4,300 adults were interviewed on Sunday.

Two-thirds of respondents also said that politically motivated violence is more likely than usual in the current political climate.

Additional coverage by news agencies