After rally shooting, Trump heads to Republican National Convention as Biden urges unity
Former U.S. president Donald Trump arrived in Milwaukee on Sunday for the Republican National Convention, a day after he was injured at a campaign rally in what the FBI is investigating as an attempted assassination.
Trump had said earlier Sunday that he was going to delay his trip because of the shooting but then decided he didn’t want it to force a change in his schedule.
Trump is not expected to speak at the convention, where the party will formally make him their presidential nominee, until Thursday night.
President Joe Biden, a Democrat, said he had ordered a review of how a 20-year-old man carrying an AR-15-style rifle managed on Saturday to get close enough to shoot from a rooftop at Trump, who as a former president has lifetime protection by the U.S. Secret Service.
Trump, 78, was holding a campaign rally in Butler, Pa. — one of the states expected to be the most competitive in the Nov. 5 election — when shots rang out, hitting his right ear and streaking his face with blood. His campaign said he was doing well and appeared to have suffered no major injury besides a wound on his upper right ear.
Trump is due to receive his party’s formal nomination at the convention, which kicks off in Milwaukee on Monday.
Michael Whatley, who chairs the Republican National Committee, said on Fox News Sunday that authorities are working together to safeguard the venue, where officials have spent months making security preparations.
“I was going to delay my trip to Wisconsin, and The Republican National Convention, by two days, but have just decided that I cannot allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling, or anything else. Therefore, I will be leaving for Milwaukee, as scheduled,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site on Sunday.
On Sunday evening, Biden said in televised remarks from the Oval Office that the United States “must not go down” the road of political violence.
Join me as I address the nation from the Oval Office. <a href=”https://t.co/0lbRNEt6OH”>https://t.co/0lbRNEt6OH</a>
—@POTUS
“It’s time to cool it down,” the U.S. president said of the rhetoric surrounding American politics. “We must never descend into violence.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke to Trump on Sunday, according to his office. Trudeau “condemned yesterday’s appalling assassination attempt,” the PMO said, adding he “wished the former president well and offered condolences to the shooting victims.”
Motive not yet known
The FBI identified Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pa., as the suspect in what it called an attempted assassination. He was a registered Republican, according to state voter records, and had made a $15 donation to a Democratic political action committee at the age of 17.
Law enforcement officials told reporters they had yet to identify a motive for the attack. Both Republicans and Democrats will be looking for evidence of Crooks’s political affiliation as they seek to cast the rival party as representing extremism.
“There is no place in America for this kind of violence,” Biden said at the White House. “I urge everyone, everyone please don’t make assumptions about his motive or affiliations.”
Trump and Biden are locked in a close election rematch, according to most opinion polls.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday called for unity and expressed his condolences to the family of the attendee killed in a shooting at a Donald Trump rally in Pennsylvania, which the FBI says it’s investigating as an assassination attempt. Biden said he spoke briefly with Trump on Saturday night following the shooting and that he’s ‘sincerely grateful he’s doing well and recovering.’
Secret Service agents fatally shot the suspect, the agency said, after he opened fire from the roof of a building about 140 metres from the stage where Trump was speaking. An AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle used in the shooting was recovered near his body, according to sources.
The firearm was legally purchased by the suspect’s father, ABC and the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources. Bomb-making materials were found in the suspect’s car, The Associated Press reported, citing sources.
Authorities identified a rally attendee who was shot and killed as Corey Comperatore, 50, of Sarver, Ga., who Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told reporters was killed when he dove on top of his family to protect them from the hail of bullets.
Witnesses say the shots fired at former U.S. president Donald Trump appeared to come from outside the area secured by the Secret Service. The FBI said it had taken the lead in investigating the attack.
Pennsylvania State Police on Sunday identified the two people wounded in the shooting, both of whom were listed in stable condition. They are 57-year-old David Dutch, of New Kensington, Pa., and 74-year-old James Copenhaver, of Moon Township, Pa.
The Secret Service in a statement denied accusations by some Trump supporters that it had rejected campaign requests for additional security.
“The assertion that a member of the former president’s security team requested additional security resources that the U.S. Secret Service or the Department of Homeland Security rebuffed is absolutely false,” Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement. “In fact, recently the U.S. Secret Service added protective resources and capabilities to the former president’s security detail.”
The shots appeared to come from outside the area secured by the Secret Service, the agency said.
Hours after the attack, the oversight committee in the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives summoned Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle to testify at a hearing scheduled for July 22.
Some of Trump’s Republican allies said they believed the attack was politically motivated.
In the wake of the assassination attempt against Donald Trump, Republican strategist Chip Felkel says it’s important the Trump campaign takes a measured and restrained tone as the Republican National Convention gets underway in Milwaukee. ‘In a weird, ugly way, this is of great benefit to the mobilization of Trump supporters,’ he says.
“It’s one side that is going after Donald Trump in a way to demonize him personally,” said Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican. “The left seems to have targeted Donald Trump as a person.”
Trump began the year facing multiple legal worries, including four separate criminal prosecutions.
He was found guilty in late May of trying to cover up hush-money payments to a porn star. But the other three prosecutions he faces — including two for his attempts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election — have been ground to a halt by various factors, including a U.S. Supreme Court decision this month that found him to be partly immune to prosecution.
Trump contends, without evidence, that all four prosecutions have been orchestrated by Biden to try to prevent him from returning to power.
Published at Sun, 14 Jul 2024 01:06:12 +0000
Can homelessness be ended? Prince William says yes — and he’s trying to get others to help
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He apologized for his raspy voice — a result of cheering on England the night before as it captured a spot in Sunday’s Euros 2024 soccer final — but Prince William was firm Thursday in his ongoing effort to promote a cause he has put at the heart of his philanthropic endeavours.
“Homelessness is a complex societal issue, and one that touches the lives of far too many people in our society,” he said.
“However, I truly believe that it can be ended.”
William was speaking at an event in London to mark the first anniversary of his Homewards initiative. The five-year program launched in 2023 by the Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales aims to show that through coalitions of local organizations and charities working together, it’s possible to end homelessness, “making it rare, brief and unrepeated.”
William’s interest in the issue is longstanding — his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, took him to a shelter as a child. He has been patron of Centrepoint, a charity that focuses on ending youth homelessness, since 2005.
There’s no doubt it’s a significant problem. Data shows Britain has the worst rate of homelessness in the developed world, and it has become worse since 2010.
William’s interest also reflects the way in which he and his wife, Catherine, Princess of Wales, have concentrated their philanthropic efforts, seeking to draw people together to work in a limited number of areas — early childhood development, conservation and mental health among them — rather than cast a wider net on a larger range of issues.
“This is what they’ve done through the Royal Foundation — to focus on one or two particular causes and really try and drive some work and activity in that area. And in a sense, homelessness was a natural choice,” said Craig Prescott, a constitutional expert and lecturer in law at Royal Holloway, University of London, in an interview.
In trying to draw people together in such a way, there is precedent, as William’s father, King Charles, when Prince of Wales, also tried to bring people together to tackle issues of the day.
“In a sense [William is] following on from his father and using the convening power … to get different agencies and organizations who are involved in homelessness talking to one another and coming up with solutions,” Prescott said.
“If there’s some take-up from central government, then great. But it’s something for them to take up rather than for William to tell them to do it.”
It would become problematic if a royal were seen to be urging politicians to take specific actions.
Prescott noted that Diana was criticized for appearing on stage with a Labour Party politician and saying something must be done about homelessness.
“This was criticized for being political, and in a political sort of context as well. She was on the platform with politicians, and I think that’s one clue that I don’t think we’ll be seeing many politicians at these events, if any, I would imagine.”
Even royal involvement with an issue such as homelessness has drawn criticism.
The anti-monarchy group Republic has often spoken out against William’s actions.
“The monarchy represents and helps to perpetuate the very inequality that causes the housing crisis to persist. William is part of the problem, and his efforts at promoting himself through limited involvement in homelessness charities needs to stop,” Republic CEO Graham Smith said earlier this year, when plans were announced to build homes for homeless people on William’s Duchy of Cornwall estate in southwestern England.
“Rather than be thankful for a few homes built on Duchy land, which William will profit from, we all need to be demanding the return of the Duchy to full public ownership and an end to the monarchy.”
Royal interest in social issues around housing and homelessness has a long history.
Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband, was the first president of the Society for Improving the Condition of the Labouring Classes. Through Albert’s patronage, the society showed model housing for the working classes at the Great Exhibition of 1851.
“It’s not unprecedented. Even Edward VII, when Prince of Wales, was a member of two royal commissions, one on the housing of the poor and the other one on the treatment of the elderly,” said Bob Morris, a member of the honorary staff of the constitution unit at University College London, in an interview.
“He attended pretty regularly and when his turn came, asked some sharp and well-informed questions and signed at least one of the royal commission reports, if not the other.”
William’s Homewards initiative has been working in six U.K. locations to form local coalitions.
“Homewards has already established strong foundations, forming wide-ranging local groups of organizations and individuals and focusing minds on measures to prevent people from becoming homeless,” Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, a charity for people experiencing homelessness and a partner in the Homewards initiative, said in a release.
“Crucially, Homewards has sought to put people with lived experience at the heart of its work.”
Still, William acknowledged Thursday there is a long road ahead.
“I created Homewards because I wanted us to look at the issue of homelessness through a different lens: to inspire a movement to prevent people from ever experiencing homelessness in the first place,” he said.
“I know this will take a huge effort. And I know that demonstrating that homelessness is not an inevitable part of our society will take time.”
But in the year since Homewards was set up, he said there has been “an incredible amount of work done” to build foundations for success.
“Coalitions have been built, bringing together over 500 individuals and organizations who are setting ambitious priorities and co-developing new ways of addressing homelessness that are local, relevant and collaborative — something that has never been done before on this scale,” he said.
“Already, a pipeline of nearly 100 homes is being established through the innovative housing projects which will be developed in each location — and believe me — my ambitions alone mean there will be so many more.”
He said there is a lot more work to do.
“The energy and enthusiasm that each individual and organization is bringing to the program, and to showing that it is possible to end homelessness in their local area, is inspiring and I know, together, we can do this.”
Here comes another prime minister
In Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years as monarch, she saw 15 British prime ministers come and go from their weekly audiences with her.
Less than two years into his reign, King Charles is now on to his third prime minister, after the British election on July 4 saw the Labour Party trounce Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives. (Sunak’s predecessor, Liz Truss, lasted a mere 49 days as PM.)
Labour Leader Keir Starmer made the traditional post-election trip to meet the monarch on July 5, and in a ceremony known in palace parlance as the “kissing of hands,” officially became prime minister.
“You must be utterly exhausted and nearly on your knees,” Charles said, in a short video clip the Royal Family posted to YouTube of the moment the King welcomed Starmer to the palace.
“Not much sleep,” Starmer replied.
“Anyway, you’re here,” Charles said.
“It’s a very, sort of, quick changeover, isn’t it?” said Starmer.
“To say the least. And having to get to grips with everything straight away must be quite exhausting,” the King said.
Keir Starmer, whose Labour Party defeated the ruling Conservatives in a general election, met with King Charles on Friday.
The video offered a rare glimpse of a monarch and the prime minister chatting with one another at Buckingham Palace, and stands in stark contrast to what is publicly known about what is said during the regular weekly audiences.
“No notes are taken of that,” Morris said. “We don’t know what goes on in those meetings, but it’s been valued by prime ministers in the past because you’re talking to a [person] who is not your political competitor and you can unburden yourself a bit.”
Some media attention in recent days dusted off details of Starmer as a younger man calling for the abolition of the monarchy.
Starmer has reportedly described that as a youthful indiscretion, and since then has, as Morris noted, accepted a knighthood (from Charles in 2014).
“You will certainly not find anything in the Labour manifesto about abolition of the monarchy,” Morris said.
Speculation swirled throughout Elizabeth’s reign about how she and her prime ministers got along, and which ones were more — or less — in royal favour.
“As Queen Elizabeth matured, then of course she had things that she could say from our own experience to prime ministers…. She tended to be keener on the Commonwealth than her prime ministers,” Morris said. “There were some occasions when she clashed with a prime minister, but usually found a way of circumventing them.”
But arguably, said Prescott, it’s in the monarchy’s interest to be on good terms with the prime minister of the day.
“I think you … saw where the prime minister could be useful to the monarchy in those days after the death of Princess Diana, where it was people from Downing Street … as well as [Prime Minister Tony] Blair himself, who moved things on in that week …. and when perhaps the Queen, for good reason, sort of wasn’t playing her role as head of nation, to some extent, Blair stepped in, but then realized that there was stuff that the Queen had to do and advised her accordingly.
“So I think it shows you how it sort of goes both ways, the relationship between the prime minister and the monarch.”
Elizabeth was heavily criticized for not responding publicly immediately after Diana’s death, but days later did deliver a heartfelt speech on TV, expressing admiration for her former daughter-in-law.
Prescott will also be watching for any signals Starmer’s government may send via King Charles and the Royal Family when it comes to foreign policy, particularly around state and official visits.
“You might see a reorientation of that. It was very clear that the Conservative government used the Royal Family with more state visits in Europe post-Brexit,” he said.
“And of course the King’s first visits were to France and Germany, which was a very clear signal.”
Next Wednesday, however, will see Charles taking part in a significant ceremony much closer to home: the state opening of the new Parliament.
He will deliver the King’s Speech, which will outline the policies and proposed legislation from Starmer’s government for the next session of Parliament.
Princess Anne returns
Princess Anne returned to public duties on Friday, nearly three weeks after she suffered a head injury at her estate in western England.
Anne, an avid equestrian and longtime patron of the Riding for the Disabled Association, visited the group’s national championships, which took place not far from her home.
Michael Bishop, RDA’s chief executive, said the organization was “delighted that she has chosen to join us as she returns to royal duties.”
Anne, 73, became the group’s patron in 1971, and its president in 1986.
King Charles’s sister spent five nights in hospital after suffering a head injury on June 23. The exact cause of the injury was unconfirmed, but her medical team said the injuries were consistent with the potential impact from a horse’s head and legs.
The injury led Anne to cancel a planned trip to Canada that was to begin on June 30 and include a ceremony to commemorate the centennial of the Newfoundland National War Memorial in St. John’s.
Princess Anne has had to postpone numerous upcoming events, including a trip to Newfoundland, after suffering a concussion and other injuries from reportedly being struck by a horse’s head or legs.
Gov. Gen. Mary Simon read a message on Anne’s behalf that described her “deep regret” at being unable to attend.
The visit would have been Anne’s second to Canada within a matter of weeks. In early May, she was in British Columbia, where her engagements included time with the Victoria Therapeutic Riding Association.
— With files from CBC News
Royally quotable
“It’s a bit of nostalgia for me.”
— Prince William, during a visit to the air base where he served in the Royal Air Force between 2010 and 2013.
Royal reads
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Sabrina Cohen-Hatton has gone from rough sleeping as a teenager to visiting the Prince of Wales in Windsor Castle to give him advice on tackling homelessness. [BBC]
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Prince Harry paid an emotional tribute to the global veteran community as he accepted the Pat Tillman Award for Service at the ESPY Awards in Los Angeles. [Newsweek]
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King Charles has upset the pigeon racing community after dropping the monarchy’s official support amid opposition from animal rights activists. [The Guardian]
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A nine-year-old double amputee who missed a garden party at Buckingham Palace because of a traffic jam attended a private gathering with Queen Camilla. [BBC]
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King Charles bumped fists and learned new handshakes in a meeting with the West Indies cricket team. [ITV]
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Published at Sun, 14 Jul 2024 08:00:00 +0000