Sierra Leone Telegraph: 14 July 2024:
Former President of America Donald Trump, who is the leading Republican contender for the presidency this November, has survived what the FBI has described as an assassination attempt.
He was shot while speaking at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. One person is dead and two seriously injured.
The man suspected of shooting Trump has been named by the FBI as Thomas Matthew Crooks. He is 20 years old and from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, and reported to be a registered member of the Republican Party.
Social media videos show Trump going down as the bullet pierced through his right ear with blood streaming down his cheek.
Secret Service agents formed a body armour around the former president after a series of gunshots. He was quickly taken to hospital and has since returned home to New Jersey.
A statement published on the Republican National Committee (RNC) website says that the former president is “doing well” and is grateful to law enforcement officers for their quick reaction.
Writing in his Truth Social platform, Trump said: “I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin……. much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening.”
The 20-year-old suspect who has been named by the FBI as Thomas Matthew Crooks was shot dead by a US Secret Service sniper.
Social media videos show the shooter taking aim at the president and firing from a building a few hundred metres away from where Trump was delivering his speech.
As Trump got up and was being whisked away by security agents, he could be seen shouting with clenched fists, calling on his supporters to fight, fight, fight!
This assassination attempt comes just three years after the January 6th 2021 attempt by Trump supporters to violently and unconstitutionally overturn the country’s elections result, for which many in America are holding Trump accountable for incitement.
President Biden who is facing increasing calls to step down from the race, was quick to take to the media to condemn the shooting as “sick”.
“We cannot condone this,” Biden said.
World leaders have expressed their horror and condemnation of the shooting.
With presidential elections just four months away, and the political temperature and rhetoric becoming a worry for Americans and the world at large, questions are being asked about the impact today’s assassination attempt on Donald Trump will have on voters.
Will this lead to increased sympathy vote for Trump, or will voters in November reject any attempt by politicians to use this shooting for electoral advantage?
Be the first to comment