Republican candidate Donald Trump faces while surrounded by Secret Service agents during a campaign event at Butler Farm Show Inc. in Butler, Pa., on July 13, 2024. Covered in blood, he was taken off the stage.
Rebecca Drock | AFP | Getty Images
World leaders have united to condemn an assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump over the weekend.
Trump was hit in the ear at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. The FBI identified the suspected shooter as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was quickly shot dead by Secret Service agents at the scene.
A bystander was also killed and two other spectators were seriously injured.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was “sickened by the shooting” and expressed his thoughts to Trump and his fellow Americans.
Leaders of the G20 European countries including Germany, France, and Italy expressed their concerns and blessings to Trump. Britain’s newly elected Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “appalled” by the shocking scenes at the rally, adding that “political violence of any kind has no place in our society”.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the assassination attempt was “a tragedy for our democracy” and that France “shares the outrage of the American people.”
In Asia, China’s foreign ministry said in a statement that President Xi Jinping had expressed condolences to Trump, while Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stressed the importance of standing firm against violence that challenges democracy.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Trump “my friend” and said he “strongly” condemned the incident and said “violence has no place in politics and a democracy.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reiterated the same sentiment and said the campaign in Pennsylvania was “concerning and confrontational”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “Russia has always condemned all forms of violence” and blamed the U.S. government for creating the environment that prompted the attack, Reuters reported.
In the United States, Republicans and Democrats alike criticized the attack and expressed their best wishes to the former president.
In an Oval Office speech on Sunday night, President Joe Biden stressed the importance of lowering the temperature of American politics and urged Americans to remember: “We are not enemies. We are neighbors, friends, colleagues, citizens, Most importantly, we are fellow Americans.
“The political record in this country has gotten very heated. It’s time to cool it down. We all have a responsibility to do that,” Biden said in his speech.
“Disagreements are inevitable in American democracy. It’s part of human nature. Politics must not become a battlefield, God forbid, a killing field,” he said, adding that he had spoken by phone with Trump, who was recovering well.
Vice President Kamala Harris posted on X on Sunday that such violence “has no place in our country” and that such “abhorrent behavior” must be condemned to ensure it never happens again.
Her comments echoed those of former President Barack Obama, who said “there is absolutely no place for political violence in our democracy” and wished Trump a speedy recovery.
