Biden urges voters to 'cool down' rhetoric after Trump shooting
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The news: US President Joe Biden has urged Americans to “cool down” their rhetoric after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, warning that the country “cannot go down” the path of escalating violence.
The context: Biden made the comments during a televised address from the Oval Office, amid concerns that the shooting – which killed 50-year-old former firefighter Corey Comperatore – will spark further violence after years of political unrest.
Trump vowed to be “defiant in the face of wickedness” in a statement on Truth Social overnight, after surviving a gun shot that grazed his ear at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday. Trump is headed to Wisconsin, where he will be formally nominated at the Republican National Convention this week.
The FBI has identified the shooter as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, a registered Republican who had also donated to a progressive Super PAC. The motive for the shooting, which is being investigated as domestic terrorism, is still unclear. Crooks was killed by a Secret Service sniper within seconds of opening fire.
What they said: Biden said: “A former president was shot. An American citizen killed was simply exercising his freedom to support the candidate of his choosing. We cannot, we must not go down this road in America … There is no place in America for this kind of violence. Any violence ever. Period. No exceptions".
The source: The White House
