The Times of Israel is liveblogging Monday’s events as they happen.
In Oval Office, Biden urges Americans ‘to take a step back’ after Trump assassination attempt
WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden uses the formal setting of the White House Oval Office to stress the need for divided Americans to come together after a would-be assassin wounded Republican rival Donald Trump.
Trump’s shooting “calls on all of us to take a step back,” Biden says. Thankfully Trump was not seriously injured, he says.
It’s Biden’s third use of the formal setting of the Oval Office to comment on issues of major importance to Americans since he took power in 2021.
Canada’s Trudeau speaks with Trump, condemns assassination attempt
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has spoken with former US president Donald Trump.
“The Prime Minister condemned yesterday’s appalling assassination attempt and reiterated there’s no place for political violence. The Prime Minister wished the former President well and offered condolences to the shooting victims and to the family of Corey Comperatore,” Trudeau’s office says in a statement.
Trump arrives in Milwaukee for RNC day after assassination attempt
MILWAUKEE — Former US president Donald Trump has landed in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention, a little more than 24 hours after he was wounded in a failed assassination attempt, according to son Eric Trump.
“Touchdown in Milwaukee with @realdonaldtrump,” Eric Trump posts on X with a video peering through the cockpit as pilots landed the Republican presidential candidate’s plane, dubbed “Trump Force One.”
US Secret Service says ‘fully prepared’ to secure GOP convention after Trump attack
MILWAUKEE — The US Secret Service insists the agency is “fully prepared” to maintain security at the Republican National Convention, and that it’s not changing its protocols even after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
“We’re fully prepared and have a comprehensive security plan in place, and we’re ready to go,” Audrey Gibson-Cicchino, the Secret Service’s RNC Coordinator, tells reporters, expressing confidence that the event will be protected by the “highest level security.”
FBI says it is investigating Trump shooting as ‘potential domestic terrorism’
The FBI says that the attempt to shoot Donald Trump is being investigated as a potential act of domestic terrorism, adding that the shooter acted alone and had no known ideology.
“We are investigating this as an assassination attempt, but also looking at it as a potential domestic terrorism act,” Robert Wells, assistant director of the FBI counterterrorism division, tells reporters.
The gun used in the attempted assassination was an “AR-style 556 rifle” that was purchased legally, FBI Special Agent Kevin Rojek tells reporters.
Authorities believe the semi-automatic weapon was bought by the shooter’s father, but do not yet know how he accessed the weapon or whether he took it without his father’s knowledge, the FBI says.
The FBI says it has not yet identified any ideology ascribed to the shooter, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was shot dead by Secret Service agents yesterday.