Trump special: Calls for unity following attack
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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Valerie Sanderson and at 13 hours GMT on Sunday the 14th of July, this is a special edition of the Global News Pod. Donald Trump urges Americans to unite in the face of wickedness after he narrowly survives an assassination attempt.

There's been international condemnation of the attack, which took place at a rally in the US. President Joe Biden said... There's no place in America for this kind of violence. It's sick. We look at the implications for the election campaign and we ask, how was the gunman able to get so close? MUSIC

Donald Trump says evil will not be allowed to win after he survived an attempt on his life during an outdoor rally in Pennsylvania. One person in the crowd was killed and two others are in a critical condition. The attacker, who opened fire from a nearby rooftop, was shot dead. The FBI has identified him as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Pennsylvania. Investigators are working to establish a motive. Our correspondent Gary O'Donoghue was at the rally.

Just minutes into the rally, shots rang out across this outdoor venue. You will want to really see something that said, take a look at what happened. Donald Trump clutched at the side of his head. He then hit the ground, Secret Service personnel piling on top of him. Their job, to put their bodies between him and the shooter. Then he was up on his feet, blood at his right ear, and his fist raised, whisked away to hospital.

In the minutes after, one eyewitness, Greg, the owner of a local business, told us something extraordinary. He'd seen the shooter and tried to warn the security services. We noticed the guy crawling up the roof 50 feet away from us. We could clearly see him with a rifle. The police...

The police are down there running around on the ground. We're like, hey, man, there's a guy on the roof with a rifle. And the police were like, huh, what? Like, they didn't know what was going on. You know, we're like, hey, right here on the roof. We can see him from right here. And next thing you know, five shots ring out. In the moments after the shooting, there was panic. Many ran.

many simply fell to the ground. Mr Trump later described hearing a whizzing sound and feeling the bullet go through his ear. The FBI is now in charge of this investigation, an investigation into an attempted political assassination in modern-day America. Gary O'Donoghue. Within an hour of the attack, President Biden gave a televised address in which he said he was grateful that Donald Trump was safe and he condemned the shooting.

There's no place in America for this kind of violence. 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. The Trump rally was a rally that he should have been able to be conducted peacefully without any problem. 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. And everybody, everybody must condemn it.

Now an investigation is underway. Kevin Rojek is from the FBI office in Pittsburgh. We're still working through the security apparatus that the secret service had in place.

what potentially happened. There's going to be a long investigation into exactly what took place and how the individual was able to get access to the location, what type of weapon he had. All that is really days, weeks and months of investigation. The BBC's Jenny Kumar, who's at the scene, told us more about the shooter.

He's been named as Thomas Matthew Crooks. He was 20 and he was from Bethel Park, which is about an hour away from where the shooting happened. And we understand that the police have done a raid on his house. There was a no-fly zone over it. And also a bit more detail about the fact that he was registered as a Republican voter once.

And, though, we understand he made a $15 donation to a committee that raises money for left-leaning and democratic politicians on the day that President Biden was sworn in. We know that he graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022. That's according to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. And he received a $500 Star Award from the National Math and Science Initiative.

Now, his father, Matthew Crooks, who's 53, has told the media outlet CNN he was trying to figure out what had happened and he would wait until he spoke to law enforcement before saying any more. Donald Trump is due at the Republican convention, which begins in Wisconsin on Monday. Just before we recorded this podcast, Mr Trump posted a statement on his own Truth Social website. Here's an edit of it.

Donald Trump is in New Jersey now. He actually got off the plane last night completely unaided, fine. His campaign says he is in great spirits. The former president himself says he's looking forward to being here in Milwaukee later in the week to speak to the nation. And in that statement that he put out earlier this morning, clearly he is very in tune with this being a momentous moment for

for him in the campaign and wanting to strike the correct tone. He painted himself as a kind of fighter, saying that they will remain resilient and fight. And he said that he is appealing for unity at this time.

But certainly for Donald Trump in that statement saying only God alone could have prevented what could have happened there. We see in those photographs how closely that bullet went by his ear. We saw blood on his face and how he responded to that, telling the Secret Service to wait as he took a moment to pump his fists and tell his supporters to fight. So certainly we can expect the tone here in Milwaukee to very much reflect that.

what happened in Pennsylvania and how Donald Trump has reacted to that. The attack has united Democrats and Republicans who've condemned the use of violence and who've called for more social cohesion. Here's the Democratic congressman Adriana Espelat from New York State. The atmosphere has been very charged, very aggressive for a long time, very polarized. And unfortunately, I'm not surprised.

There's a constant threat of violence, even throughout the campaign. I think that the temperature has been very high. This action, fortunately, should be one that we reject and don't see happen again.

And here's Stephen Moore, a senior economic advisor to the Trump campaign. It is a divided nation and it's becoming toxic. And, you know, now look, one shooter doesn't represent the country. But I do worry about violence because people are at each other's throats about the ideological differences that separate our country right now. Maybe, you know, this might be in the end a good thing if it can bring everybody together and say, let's tone it down a little bit.

We've also been hearing reaction from world leaders with many calling it an attack on democracy. Well, Stephanie Prentice is with me. What have we heard? Who have we heard from so far? Well, Val, condemnation of this attack has united many countries in the sentiment that there is no place for violence like this in politics.

So the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, they were two of the first world leaders to offer their prayers and support to Mr Trump. We heard from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, he condemned it as a terrorist act.

And we've also heard from world leaders, including Ukraine's President Zelensky. He said he was appalled at the news and he wrote, such violence has no justification and no place in the world. Never should violence prevail. Now, the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, he said his country stood with the United States and we can hear from him now. This was an inexcusable attack on the democratic values that Australia

Australians and Americans share and the freedom that we treasure. These values are ones that unite our two countries. It's the basis of our alliance is those shared values between our peoples as great democratic nations and all Australians stand with our friends in the United States at this difficult time.

The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Italy all strongly condemned the attack too. India's Narendra Modi said he was deeply concerned about his friend and President Xi of China has wished Mr Trump a speedy recovery. But Stephanie, it's true too, isn't it, that some countries are being accused of using this to advance their own agenda? Absolutely. So already we've been hearing political commentators discussing the dangers of the attack itself being weaponised. As

A spokesman for Russia's President Vladimir Putin has said the Biden government had created an atmosphere, in their words, around Mr Trump during the election campaign that made this attack possible. Here's Dmitry Peskov. The atmosphere that was created by this administration during the political struggle, the atmosphere around candidate Trump, it's precisely this that provoked what America is now facing.

The Kremlin also used the attack to comment on the US support for Ukraine, suggesting the Americans spend public money on police at home. And in a similar vein, Argentina's Javier Millet has used social media to blame the international left for the assassination attempt. He wrote, in panic at losing at the polls, they resort to terrorism to impose their backward and authoritarian agenda. Thanks, Steph. Stephanie Prentice there.

Still to come in this podcast... We'll always remember where we were and what we were doing, and this will change our country. We just don't know how yet. We find out how the attack on President Trump might affect the upcoming presidential election.

I'm Katrina Perry from the Global Story podcast. Kamala Harris announces her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. But do the vice presidential candidates really influence the election? And how will Tim Walz and J.D. Vance impact the final months of the race? The Global Story brings you unique perspectives from BBC journalists around the world. Find us wherever you get your podcasts.

Donald Trump said on his Truth Social website that he wanted to thank the United States Secret Service and law enforcement for their rapid response. He said it was incredible that such an act could take place in America. But there have been questions raised over security. An eyewitness who spoke to the BBC said he tried to tell security for several minutes that he could see a sniper on top of a roof just outside the perimeter of the event.

Former Security Service member Robert McDonald, who led the team that protected Joe Biden when he was vice president, said he was incredibly surprised.

I'm very troubled that a citizen who was at the event was able to see that something appeared to be not right, was taking it upon themselves to pass that information along. You know, we work in concentric rings of protection. We have an inner ring, a middle ring, and an outer ring. Those people were in the outer ring, obviously. And I can tell you that if that information was passed along properly, the former president would have been taken off of the stage and brought to a secure location.

For more on security at the Pennsylvania rally, the BBC's Paul Henley spoke to Jonathan Gilliam, a former FBI agent and US Navy SEAL. There was a failure to freeze an area around that stage...

that was far enough out that incorporated these few buildings that somebody could have gotten on top of. That's the first mistake that happened. And not only did they not incorporate that, but it appears that law enforcement wasn't even aware

that the shooter had gotten on top of that building. Other individuals that were there just to see Trump from afar, they were there and they hadn't been screened either, as far as I can tell, because that wasn't in the frozen zone. Video suggests that security personnel did have their guns trained on the shooter before he fired. We know that they were trained in that area. We don't know if they were particularly on

that shooter. Because when that video that you're speaking of, when the shots rang out, you can see the Secret Service agent recoil and come off of his site. He was stunned by the shot that came out. And then he went back onto the scope. Then I believe it's five rounds were

released by the shooter before nine seconds later, there was another round, which I have to assume most likely was the Secret Service shooting the attacker. That is a lifetime when it comes to responding to an active shooter. What kind of circumference around the podium at an event like that would you have

swept, made secure. So you do these different rings of security. Somebody who could get on with a knife. So you're going to have a certain amount of law enforcement that's going to be aware in the proximity of that stage. Then you think about a pistol. The max effective range of a pistol would be in an environment like that, if they could secrete it into that area, would be about 50 yards. And then for an AR-15 or an AK-47, in this case, they're saying it was an AR-15, the max effective range is 600 yards.

So 130 yards, that's nothing. I mean, that's an easy shot for anyone to take with virtually no experience shooting. That should have been taken into account. They could have locked those buildings down or that area so that nobody could get in or on top of those buildings. I would have gone out at least 300 yards away.

and maybe even further, depending on the structures that were around there. Have you got an opinion on whether Donald Trump has the right size of security detail for an ex-president? I

I don't think so. I mean, I think that's evidently clear. Again, we can look at what occurred and we can say, no, they don't have. And again, Secret Service works with local law enforcement, so they can always draw on those extra numbers to support them and help with the perimeter or the convoy. But in this case, either they didn't have enough counter snipers or they just didn't sweep that area and put law enforcement out there. It was either incompetence or they just didn't have the numbers. Also, when we say the size difference,

I'm not just talking about the numbers. I'm talking about the size of the people. You should put tall people that are protecting a tall person. As you can see in the video, there's a female standing in front of him. She's not even tall enough to get to his shoulders. So his entire head was exposed.

from one side because that protector, that Secret Service agent, was not the right physical size. Basically, they are body armor. They're living body armor. And that was a failure. Politicians want to be seen to be close to the people, literally. How much of a problem does that...

pose for a security protocol. When we look at what's occurred, I mean, these numerous assassination attempts that have happened around the world and in the case of Mexico, where numerous politicians have been killed recently, we're talking this year, the protectees have to understand there's a happy medium between this. And I don't feel like that's being met. When you look at the podium that Trump was standing behind, that is clearly not bulletproof.

Why aren't things like that, like the size of the podium and making that a ballistic shield, why isn't that being taken into account? That itself wouldn't have stopped this one going at his head. But what if there was one that was lower? That could have stopped the round. These are simple things that need to be looked at. And the protectee themselves, and I will give Donald Trump this one criticism in this, is that they have to drill into the head of these protectees themselves.

that when something occurs, we have to move you and we can't take time to stop and have a photo op because they don't know how many times he's been shot. They don't know if there's more than one shooter. And if they're going to move him, they have to move him. He has to get out of there. So you think that moment after he was shot, when Donald Trump was

pumping the air with his fist. You call that a photo op and you think he should have been simply out of sight then? He should have been gone. You know, he's a strong person and he's got a warrior mentality to stand up and do that. But if I was in charge of that detail, he would have been yanked off that stage so fast and so aggressively, he wouldn't have had time to even stand up. He would have been off that stage. Security expert and former FBI agent Jonathan Gilliam.

What happened in Pennsylvania on Saturday is bound to have an impact on the election campaign in the run-up to the vote in November. Questions being asked include, will Donald Trump benefit and will it increase the pressure from Democrats on Joe Biden to step down? Paul Henley spoke to Matt Gorman, the Republican strategist, and to Democrat strategist Marianne Marsh.

I was watching it live and it was a scary moment. And it's one of those where we'll always remember where we were and what we were doing. And this will change our country. We just don't know how yet. And I think in the short term, we will certainly see that image of President Trump everywhere in Milwaukee at the Republican convention in the long term. We're uncertain how this will change the campaign, but it certainly will.

Marianne, the Biden administration has been very swift with total condemnation. How should it deal with this, though, as the campaign progresses? The Biden administration and the Biden campaign, starting last night, took down everything, virtually stopped their entire campaign for president. They took down all of their political ads, stopped all political communications, no email solicitations, no fundraising solicitations. Everything has stopped. And that is the right thing to do.

So I think what we have an opportunity to do, however, is to reset the campaign, reset the tone and tenor. As Matt pointed out, the Republican National Convention starts tomorrow in Milwaukee. Everyone has an opportunity there and across the country, elected officials, opinion leaders and others to vote.

take note of this attack, condemn this attack. Violence is never the answer. It should always be condemned. And I think that's a very important thing to do. I think on the Democratic side, which is most interesting, is this may end the attempt to get Joe Biden to step aside and not run for reelection. Why would it do that?

We're in a time of political turmoil and tumult, certainly with the attack on Donald Trump last night. And we're all grateful that he's survived that and will be fine. But I think to go after the sitting president and continue the pressure campaign to get him step aside may really contribute to even more uncertainty and more tumult.

We will see how this all works out. Like Matt, you know, I agree, we don't really know, but it is an opportunity for everyone to be a leader, to change the tone, change the tenor, words matter, condemn this action and try to have a more positive policy-based discussion and debate for the election in November. Matt, so it is possible that the tension might come down in this campaign and there could be more agreement across the political divide, but...

Donald Trump could benefit. Can we be bold about this? Donald Trump could benefit in the campaign and in popularity from what's happened. He probably grasps that when he puts on social media today, God alone has prevented the unthinkable happening. He's saying he's saved. Yeah, I mean, I think that was I saw a statement this morning and I thought it was hit the exact right note.

calling for unity, talking about his faith. I thought that was the exact right thing to say and at the right time. I think I would expect him to continue that over the next couple of days as we hit the convention as well. You know, look, I actually agree with Marianne entirely. I think it is far less likely that Joe Biden steps aside than it was yesterday at this time and certainly than it was a week ago at this time. For even just an even more cynical way, this certainly gets –

the struggles with Joe Biden, the Democratic Party off the front page. Earlier in the day, there was, you know, some tense conference calls among Democrats. This gets it off the front pages and for quite a bit now. But might there be voters who come round to Mr. Trump in the wake of what's happened? People, perhaps Republican supporters who weren't keen on Mr. Trump personally, but admire his resilience and bravery now?

Possibly. Look, I could expect him to see a bump. And I think between this and the Republican National Convention, which there tends to be a bump in the polling after your respective party's convention, absolutely. But this will tend to even out, I bet, by the month's end or certainly by Election Day.

Your assertion, Marianne, that this could end the debate over whether Mr Biden steps down. I mean, it could certainly rule out any debate in the in the very few coming days. It's unlikely to put a stop to it in the in the medium term, is it? Well, I think President Biden.

President Biden has shown that he's really dug in on running for reelection. And I assume that that may have gotten even stronger in the wake of this. But I would want to go back to one thing. I think everyone has an opportunity here, Democrats and Republicans, to model good behavior. Joe Biden called Donald Trump last night, not once but twice, to talk to him, check in on him, see how he was doing. That is the right thing to do. And they are fierce competitors.

But to Matt's point, this has been a very stubborn race. It has been as tight as you can imagine, all within one, two, three points of each other throughout this whole race. So what I think we should all hope for is if you are an elected official or a public opinion leader with a title, model better behavior. Select your words carefully. And I think Joe Biden, in the wake of this attack on his

rival, showed exactly one of the ways we can all go forward. And we should all learn from that. Matt, Donald Trump has clearly used inflammatory language in the past. Is it a given that he won't be using it anymore during the rest of this campaign? Language that could be seen to be inciting violence, I mean?

I can't look into the future, but, you know, this is a moment where we can, you know, cool the temperature a little bit and hopefully kind of come together. I think that could be something that comes out of this. And Donald Trump will be at the event tomorrow, will he? He should be. Many people are expecting him to come out with his vice presidential pick. Yeah.

during the convention in the evening. And then he will, of course, speak on Thursday night. Republican strategist Matt Gorman and Democratic strategist Mary-Anne Marsh.

And that's it from us for now, but there'll be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, send us an email. The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at Global News Pod. This edition was mixed by Pat Sissons. The producer was Judy Frankel. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Valerie Sanderson. Until next time, bye-bye.

I'm Katrina Perry from the Global Story podcast. Kamala Harris announces her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. But do the vice presidential candidates really influence the election? And how will Tim Walz and J.D. Vance impact the final months of the race? The Global Story brings you unique perspectives from BBC journalists around the world. Find us wherever you get your podcasts.