Donald Trump is “safe and sound” after being shot near him, his campaign team announced on Sunday, two months after the assassination attempt that targeted the Republican presidential candidate.
The former president, who was at his golf club in Florida according to media reports, is “safe and sound after gunshots were fired nearby,” Steven Cheung, communications director for Donald Trump’s campaign, said in a statement, adding that there were “no further details at this time.”
The Secret Service, which protects presidents, former presidents and high-profile political figures, announced on X that it was “investigating with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office an incident involving former President Donald Trump that occurred shortly before 2:00 p.m. (1800 GMT).”
“The former president is safe and sound,” the Secret Service confirmed. His communications chief Anthony Guglielmi also announced on X a press briefing later in the day to give “additional details.”
But it is not known who fired the shots, and even less whether the 78-year-old former US president was the target.
According to initial reports from the local press, it could also be a dispute between two people near Mr. Trump’s golf club.
The incident comes in an already crazy campaign that has seen in just a few weeks the Republican candidate escape an assassination attempt, Democratic President Joe Biden throw in the towel and his Vice President Kamala Harris replace him at short notice.
– Biden and Harris “relieved” –
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris said they were “relieved” that Donald Trump was “safe and sound.” According to a statement from the White House, the president and his vice president “will be regularly updated by their teams.”
On July 13, the former president (2017-2021) who aspires to become president again was injured in the ear by gunfire that left one person dead and two injured in the audience at a rally in Pennsylvania, one of the six or seven key states in the presidential election, in the northeast of the country.
Images of Donald Trump, blood streaming down his face and his fist raised, have been seen around the world and have shaken up the campaign for the November 5 election.
This security fiasco led to the resignation of the head of the Secret Service and the compulsory leave of at least five agents from this unit.
A week later, on July 21, under pressure from his own Democratic camp after a disastrous debate against Donald Trump, President Biden, 81, gave up running again and left the field to his vice-president Harris.
Since then, the campaign has taken a very acrimonious turn between the billionaire and Republican tribune and his 59-year-old rival, a former prosecutor and senator from California.
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