United States: US President Joe Biden told Americans in a primetime speech from the White House that US politics must never be a “killing field” and denounced the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
At a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, a gunman opened fire, wounding Trump, the presumed Republican contender for president, in the ear. In the attack, one person was killed and two more suffered serious injuries.
Biden asked Americans to “take a step back” and issued a warning that “political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated” in the Oval Office address, which was just his third since taking office.
The President cautioned that November’s election will be “a time of testing” due to growing political polarization and urged Americans to unite in his primetime address. Ahead of the election, Biden and Trump are still neck and neck in popularity polls.
“We cannot, must not, go down this road again. We’ve travelled it before in our history. In America we resolve our differences at the ballot box. At the ballot box. Not with bullets,” Biden said.
America was shocked by the attack on Saturday when Trump was hit in the ear moments after he started speaking in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The 78-year-old was seen in photos that went viral across the globe holding a defiant fist up and blood dripping from his ear and down his face while Secret Service agents hauled him off the stage and into a waiting car.
The FBI identified the shooter as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, and Secret Service personnel shot and killed him on the spot. Law enforcement officials informed CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, that they had found explosive devices at his home and in his car.
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