President Joe Biden didn’t respond Saturday night for over an hour after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, but many other politicians—from both parties—were quick to comment on social media.
“They try to jail him. They try to kill him. It will not work. He is indomitable,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, wrote of Trump in a post on X at 6:33 p.m., within 25 minutes of the 6:11 p.m. shooting.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., who was shot and seriously wounded in 2017 by a political opponent of congressional Republicans, weighed in early as well.
“Praying for President Donald Trump,” Scalise posted. “There is never any place for political violence.”
Trump apparently was hit in the right ear by a bullet fired during his rally in Butler. But his campaign staff and Secret Service said he was OK and was treated at a nearby medical facility.
The shooter reportedly is dead after being shot by authorities.
The attempt to kill Trump occurred only five days before, at the party’s convention in Milwaukee, he is set to accept the Republican nomination for president for a third time.
The fairground where the shooting occurred early in the rally, Butler Farm Show, is about 35 miles north of Pittsburgh.
“AMERICA IS PRAYING,” Rep. Elise Stefanik, the fourth-ranking House Republican and a major Trump ally, said at 6:39:
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a consistent critic of Trump, said he was “horrified.”
“I am horrified by what happened at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania and relieved that former President Trump is safe. Political violence has no place in our country,” Schumer said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., called for prayers for the former president.
“Kelly and I are praying for President Trump and all the attendees of the campaign rally today in Pennsylvania, and we send our gratitude to the law enforcement who responded at the scene,” Johnson said.
“I have been briefed by law enforcement and am continuing to monitor the developments,” the House speaker added. “This horrific act of political violence at a peaceful campaign rally has no place in this country and should be unanimously and forcefully condemned.”
Just before 8 p.m., Biden’s post on X appeared, which awkwardly mentions Trump’s name only once.
“I’m grateful to hear that he’s safe and doing well,” Biden said on X. “I’m praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally, as we await further information.”
Biden briefly spoke to the nation about the attempt to kill Trump in televised remarks about 8:10 p.m. in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, in which he called the former president “Donald” twice.
“Look, there is no place in America for this kind of violence,” Biden said. “It’s sick, it’s sick. It’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country. We cannot allow for this to be happening. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this.”
Biden said he was hoping to speak by phone with Trump, and the White House later said that call happened.
As of 8:54 p.m., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and other progressive members of the House’s so-called squad had yet to post on X about the assassination attempt. Among those silent was a Pennsylvania Democrat, Rep. Summer Lee.
Rep. Dwight Evans, a Democrat whose 3rd Congressional District includes Butler, posted a terse comment on X at 8:27 p.m.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., had a warmer message on X.
Pennsylvania Gov. John Shapiro, also a Democrat, already had put out a statement on X shortly after 7.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who worked with Trump when he was president to combat wildfires, also posted on X.
“Violence has NO place in our democracy,” Newsom wrote. “My thoughts are with President Trump and everyone impacted at the rally today.”
Also speaking out was a third-party opponent of Trump’s in the presidential race, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose father, the former New York senator and attorney general, was assassinated after winning California’s Democratic primary in 1968.
“Now is the time for every American who loves our country to step back from the division, renounce all violence, and unite in prayer for President Trump and his family,” Kennedy posted.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he was grateful for the Secret Service’s quick response.
“Tonight, all Americans are grateful that President Trump appears to be fine after a despicable attack on a peaceful rally. Violence has no place in our politics,” McConnell said. “We appreciate the swift work of the Secret Service and other law enforcement.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., posted: “My thoughts and prayers are with former President Trump.”
“I am thankful for the decisive law enforcement response,” Jeffries also wrote. “America is a democracy. Political violence of any kind is never acceptable.”
One Colorado Democrat, a state legislator, apparently didn’t get the memo.
“The last thing America needed was sympathy for the devil but here we are,” state Rep. Steven Woodrow wrote.
https://twitter.com/WoodrowForCO/status/1812255823634014377
In a statement, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts thanked God that Trump is safe after a week of deflecting attacks by Biden and many other Democrats on the Heritage-led Project 2025, which makes policy and personnel recommendations for the next conservative presidential administration.
“What a dark day, and the precise thing I’ve been warning about,” Roberts wrote on X. “But with faith, maybe this can be a turning point against the Left’s pattern of inflammatory rhetoric that conservatives are ‘threats to democracy’ merely because we have different policy ideas than they do.”
Ken McIntyre contributed to this report, which will be updated.
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