President Biden called on the nation to “lower the political temperature in our politics” on Sunday night — a day after a gunman opened fire, striking Donald Trump on the ear at a rally in Pennsylvania.
Addressing the nation from the Oval Office, the President urged Americans to step up and remain peaceful despite political differences.
“While we may disagree, we are not enemies,” Biden said. “We’re neighbors, we’re friends, and co-workers, citizens — and most importantly, we are fellow Americans. And we must stand together.”
Trump was speaking Saturday before a large crowd when shots rang out from the roof of a nearby building. His right ear was grazed by a bullet but he was otherwise unharmed as aides and Secret Service whisked him offstage; other Secret Service officers killed the gunman.
“Yesterday’s shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania calls on all of us to take a step back – take stock of where we are – how we go forward from here,” Biden said. “Thankfully former President Trump is not seriously injured. I spoke with him last night, and I’m grateful. He’s doing well, and Jill and I keep him and his family in our prayers.”
Biden also extended condolences to the family of Corey Comperatore, who died shielding his wife and daughters from the gunfire, and to the two people who were wounded and are healing.
Trump has said he plans to continue as scheduled, and arrived at the Republican National Convention on Sunday. The convention starts Tuesday.
The gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was fatally shot, and an investigation was underway to examine how he was able to sneak onto a rooftop and be close enough open fire on Trump, missing a potentially deadly hit by just millimeters.
Biden emphasized there’s little known about the shooter’s motives, opinions or affiliations.
“Law enforcement professionals as I speak are investigating those questions,” Biden said. “Tonight, I want to speak to what we do know: A former president who was shot. An American citizen killed while simply exercising his freedom to support the candidate of his choosing.”
That was enough, he said.
“We cannot, we must not, go down this road in America,” Biden said. “Violence has never been the answer.”
Biden catalogued a growing list of politically violent incidents — members of Congress of both parties being shot, the violent attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the attack on the husband of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a scotched plan to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and now, an attempt on Trump’s life.
“There’s no place in America for this kind of violence, or any violence, ever,” Biden said. “Period. No exceptions. We can’t allow this violence to be normalized.”
Acknowledging the high stakes in November’s election, Biden insisted politics must remain “an arena for peaceful debate.”
“This places an added burden on each of us to ensure that no matter how strong our convictions, we must never descend into violence,” Biden said, noting that he expects Republicans to criticize him and his record this week from the convention floor.
“In America, we resolve our differences at the ballot box,” Biden said, adding that decisions “should rest in the hands of the people, not in the hands of a would-be assassin.”
“Hate must have no safe harbor,” Biden declared. “We need to get out of our silos where we only listen to those with whom we agree. Where misinformation is rampant. Where foreign actors fan the flames of our division to shape the outcomes consistent with their outcomes, not ours.”
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