Donald Trump was scheduled to return last night to the place where an assassin tried to shoot him dead in July.
The former president joked that he would begin his speech in Butler, Pennsylvania, with the words: “As I was saying…”
Trump shook his fist and shouted “fight, fight, fight!” after a bullet fired by gunman Thomas Crooks, 20, severed his ear during a demonstration on July 13.
Crooks was shot and killed by police marksmen in a case that has been called the Secret Service’s worst failure in decades.
The gunman’s motive has not yet been determined.
Trump returned to the site of his assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania
Trump, moments after 20-year-old Thomas Crooks cut off his ear during a rally on July 13.
Trump’s plane flew over the rally where there was an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania
Trump was expected to address the crowd of 20,000 in Butler, a steel town of 13,000, behind bulletproof glass.
Crowds began gathering at the site before dawn yesterday, with Trump supporters flying in from California and Florida.
One said: ‘This is history. This is bravery. For Trump to come
Returning to the place where he almost lost his life is a symbol of the man he is. This demonstration will be emotional and triumphant.”
Sources close to the former president said that the security measures “were off the charts,” and one of them said: “Without going into too much detail, there will be no repeat of last time.” Local Sheriff Mike Slupe said the Secret Service, which thwarted a second assassination attempt on Trump last month when a gunman was arrested on a golf course 200 yards from Trump, “is deploying four times its resources.”
Trump would be joined on stage by Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, his running mate JD Vance and the widow of firefighter Corey Comperatore, 50, who died during the July 13 attack.