President Joe Biden has condemned the attack on Donald Trump after he appeared to be shot at and emerged with a bloody face during a chaotic rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
“I’m praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally,” the president wrote in a White House statement. “There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it.”
At a 8:13 p.m. press conference in Delaware, Biden said he had attempted to speak with Trump but that the former president was busy receiving medical attention.
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“I have tried to get ahold of Donald. He is with his doctors. Apparently, he’s been doing well. I plan on talking to him shortly, I hope when I get back to the telephone,” Biden said. “There’s no place in America for this kind of violence, it’s sick, it’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country. We cannot allow this to be happening, we cannot be like this, we cannot condone this.”
A statement from the White House on Saturday night confirmed Biden had been able to speak to Trump but did not disclose details of their conversation.
“The bottom line is, the Trump rally is a rally that he should have been able to be conducted peacefully without any problem,” the president said at the press conference. “But the idea, the idea that there’s political violence or violence in America like this is just unheard of. It’s just not appropriate. Everybody must condemn it.”
Asked if he believed Trump was the victim of an assassination attempt, Biden said, “I don’t know enough… I have an opinion, but I don’t have any facts.”
Biden went on to thank the Secret Service and other agencies. He said he would update the press with more information on those injured as it came to hand.
NOTUS reported that Biden campaign staff have been told to “refrain from issuing any comments on social media or in public”. They were also asked to pause “any proactive campaign communications” on all platforms until more is known.
According to CNN, Biden will return to the White House earlier than expected, arriving Sunday. His original schedule had him in Delaware until Monday and flying onto Texas.
Trump’s campaign told The Daily Beast that the former president “is fine and is being checked out at a local medical facility.”
Several high-profile Republicans released statements condemning the political violence before Biden chimed in, including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN.)
The president, a devout Catholic, was reportedly attending a 5:30 p.m. mass at St. Edmond’s Catholic Church near his Delaware home when the shooting broke out.
Read it at The Hill
