Two weeks after the attempted assassination of former US President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate has declared that he will continue to hold campaign events outdoors. The Secret Service has agreed to “significantly increase security measures,” Trump said on Saturday in his online network Truth Social. “They are perfectly capable of doing so.” He added that “no one should ever stop or impede free speech or assembly.”
After the assassination attempt, the Secret Service reportedly encouraged Trump’s campaign team to hold rallies in large indoor venues instead of outdoor events.
Trump narrowly survived the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13th; he was hit by a bullet in his right ear. One man in the audience was killed, and two other participants in the rally were seriously injured. The suspected perpetrator, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper – 26 seconds after he fired the first shots at Trump.
The armed attacker was positioned on a roof 150 meters from the podium. In total, he fired eight bullets at the rally. The FBI classified the attack as an assassination attempt.
Trump has made the assassination a central part of his election campaign. At his first campaign appearance after the assassination, he said, to cheers from his supporters, that he had “taken a bullet for democracy.”
Trump also said he would return to Butler for a “big and beautiful rally.” Trump and his vice presidential candidate JD Vance were scheduled to hold a rally in a 6,000-seat hockey arena in the US state of Minnesota on Saturday.
