Latest news with #campaignrally
Forbes
4 days ago
- Politics
- Forbes
Salena Zito talks 'Butler,' Her Book On The Trump Rally Shooting
Donald Trump pumps his fist as he's rushed offstage by U.S. Secret Service agents after being grazed ... More by a bullet during a rally on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Photo by) Salena Zito was standing just four feet from President Trump's podium when she heard the pops. All of a sudden, what was meant to be a campaign rally on July 13, 2024, in the Republican stronghold of Butler, Penn., became the scene of an attempted assassination. Zito, a writer for the Washington Examiner and native of the region, had just wrapped a pre-rally interview with then-candidate Trump. Her daughter — a photojournalist — was close by when the shots rang out. A nearby security officer tackled Zito, likely to protect her from being struck by a stray round. Capturing a moment that changed everything in Butler, PA 'I was very aware that history was happening in front of me,' Zito told me, in an interview about her new book Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland, which hit shelves last week — and has just debuted at #1 on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list. 'The angle I was looking at (President Trump), it was so crystal clear. I saw the streak of blood across his face. I saw him grab his ear. I saw him take himself down, and not fall down. I knew what the sound was immediately.' Zito's book is a raw and detailed account of that day. 'Her analysis is sharp-eyed and her anecdotes revealing,' reads a review of Butler in The Guardian. And speaking of reviews, her subject couldn't resist adding one of his own — Trump raved in a Truth Social post that Zito's is a 'powerful new book' and that she 'was an eyewitness to that terrible day, and understands the unbreakable Spirit of our Movement to FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT.' The book is also something deeper. Beyond the you-are-there narrative, Butler is a meditation on place – on the kind of regions, like Butler County, that Zito argues are too often overlooked by the media and political class. 'I want readers to understand the importance of place,' she told me. 'Not just in what happened in Butler. But in how the country voted. Place and rootedness has a lot to do with that.' Zito writes with authority not just because she was there — but because she's actually from there. Her family settled in Butler County in the 1750s. She knows the rhythms of the region and the values that drive the people who live there, and her reporting connects the dots between a town rocked by a would-be assassin and a country that re-elected Trump months later, in part because of places just like Butler. The book also contains new insight from Zito's interviews with the president in the aftermath. 'What he says about why he said 'fight, fight, fight' — he told me that the next morning,' she said. 'He understands now the presidency isn't just about him. It's about projecting strength. It's about preserving the vision of what the presidency is supposed to be.' She added that Trump, whom she's interviewed many times over the years, seemed fundamentally changed. 'He believes he was saved for a reason. There are a number of things he did that day that he never does. The way he is governing now is as a man who understands he was given a chance — and he wants to use that chance to accomplish something.' Butler is as much about the gravity of that day as it is about how geography, identity, and community helped shape a moment in history and a candidate whose life almost ended before the election did. And with the book now sitting atop the New York Times bestseller list, it's clear that message is resonating. 'Trump is one of only two presidents that have ever campaigned in Butler,' Zito reminds me. 'The other is John F. Kennedy.'
RNZ News
14-07-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
'Inexcusable' failures led to Donald Trump assassination attempt
Then Republican candidate Donald Trump is rushed off stage after being shot at during a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania in July 2024. Photo: AFP/ Rebecca Droke A congressional inquiry into the attempt to assassinate US President Donald Trump at a campaign rally a year ago lamented "inexcusable" failures in the Secret Service's operations and response, and called for more serious disciplinary action. On 13 July 2024, a gunman shot the then-Republican presidential candidate during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing his ear. One bystander was killed and two other people in addition to Trump were wounded before a government sniper killed the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks . "What happened was inexcusable and the consequences imposed for the failures so far do not reflect the severity of the situation," said the report released by the US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The dramatic incident energized Trump's bid to return to the White House, with his campaign using a photo of him bloodied and pumping his fist as he was hurried offstage to woo voters. The report did not shed new light on the gunman's motive, which still remains a mystery, but accused the Secret Service of "a cascade of preventable failures that nearly cost President Trump his life". "The United States Secret Service failed to act on credible intelligence, failed to co-ordinate with local law enforcement," said the committee's Republican chairman Rand Paul. "Despite those failures, no one has been fired," he added. "It was a complete breakdown of security at every level - fuelled by bureaucratic indifference, a lack of clear protocols, and a shocking refusal to act on direct threats. "We must hold individuals accountable and ensure reforms are fully implemented so this never happens again." The Secret Service cited communication, technical and human errors and said reforms were underway, including on co-ordination between different law enforcement bodies and establishment of a division dedicated to aerial surveillance. Six unidentified staff have been disciplined, according to the agency. The punishments range from 10 to 42 days' suspension without pay, and all six were put into restricted or non-operational positions. Earlier this week, while reflecting on the assassination attempt, Trump said "mistakes were made" but that he was satisfied with the investigation. In an interview with his daughter-in-law on Fox News' My View with Lara Trump , Trump said the sniper "was able to get him from a long distance with one shot. If he didn't do that, you would have had an even worse situation". "It was unforgettable," Trump has previously said of the events. "I didn't know exactly what was going on. I got whacked. There's no question about that. And fortunately, I got down quickly. People were screaming." On the anniversary of the attack, Trump told reporters "God was protecting me," adding that he did not like to think "too much" about the assassination attempt. "It's a little bit of a dangerous profession being president, but I really don't like to think about it too much," he said. - AFP
Daily Mail
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Martyr, Savior, Showman: Key details in Trump's iconic Butler assassination survival photo... that expert says suggests divine intervention
A raised fist, a bloodied face and the steely gaze of a man who'd just dodged death - in that split second, Donald Trump didn't just survive an assassination attempt, he made history. Captured in the chaos that followed the July 13, 2024, shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a photo of an injured Trump that spread instantly.
National Post
13-07-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Trump assassination attempt was result of 'preventable' Secret Service errors: U.S. Senate panel
A 'cascade of preventable failures' within the U.S. Secret Service nearly cost President Donald Trump his life during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania last year, according to a Senate committee report released Sunday. Article content The Republican-led Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which oversees the Secret Service, found that a series of lapses in planning, communication and coordination allowed 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks to climb undetected onto a rooftop overlooking the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and open fire on July 13, 2024. Article content Article content 'It is a miracle that President Trump survived,' Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, the committee's chairman, said in the report. 'What happened was inexcusable, and the consequences imposed so far do not reflect the severity of the situation.' Article content Article content Article content The findings were released on the one-year mark of the shooting, which jolted the 2024 presidential campaign. Trump, who was grazed in the ear, moments later raised his fist and chanted, 'Fight, fight' — an image his campaign capitalized on. Article content According to the Secret Service, six agents were suspended for up to 42 days without pay. Article content The committee probe, which included 17 interviews and more than 75,000 pages of documents, showed that repeated requests for additional security were either denied or left unfulfilled in the months before. Article content Numerous questions remain about the shooting, including Crooks' motivation. Democrats on the committee did not immediately comment on the report. Article content Agents assigned to Trump's protective detail told investigators they often refrained from submitting further requests because they were convinced headquarters would deny them, according to the report. Article content Article content Article content Just 25 minutes before Crooks fired toward Trump, local law enforcement reported a suspicious man carrying a rangefinder outside the rally perimeter. But the Senate report says a Secret Service supervisory agent failed to broadcast the warning over the agency's radio network, and the message failed to reach agents on Trump's protective detail. Article content The report found significant gaps in how agents were briefed. One counter-sniper assigned to the Butler rally testified he had not been told about any intelligence suggesting a potential long-range threat. That agent chose not to report a suspicious person because he assumed someone else would act. Article content 'I'm not the only one that's observing that area,' the sniper told investigators. 'Someone else could've also put out the radio call.' Article content Crooks fired eight shots, killing Corey Comperatore, a local firefighter, and wounding two other attendees before he was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper. Article content
Bloomberg
13-07-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Senate Panel Cites Secret Service Lapses in Trump Rally Shooting
A 'cascade of preventable failures' within the US Secret Service nearly cost President Donald Trump his life during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania last year, according to a Senate committee report released Sunday. The Republican-led Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which oversees the Secret Service, found that a series of lapses in planning, communication and coordination allowed 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks to climb undetected onto a rooftop overlooking the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and open fire on July 13, 2024.
