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Poland is considering a Ukrainian proposal to intercept Russian rockets that are on course to hit cities in Ukraine or enter Polish territory, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said following a speech at the American Enterprise Institute on the sidelines of the NATO summit on Friday.

“We are a frontline state and Russian missiles breach our airspace – we assume by mistake,” Sikorski said.

Sikorski explained that some missiles fired from around St. Petersburg fly along the Polish border through Belarusian airspace, before briefly entering Polish airspace for about 40 seconds before hitting targets inside Ukraine.

“Our dilemma is the following: if we shoot them down only when they enter our airspace, the debris is a threat to our citizens and to our property,” he said.

“And the Ukrainians are saying, ‘Please, we will not mind, do it over our airspace when they’re in imminent danger of crossing into Polish territory,’” he said, “To my mind, that’s self-defense but we are exploring the idea.”

Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Warsaw to sign a security cooperation agreement between the two countries.

Sikorski said the idea of Poland downing Russian missiles was discussed in that agreement.

“At this stage, this is an idea. What our agreement said is we will explore this idea,” he said.

On Wednesday, Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz told Polish national radio service Polskie Radio 24 that such a decision would only be made with NATO allies.

“If NATO does not make such a decision, Poland will not make it individually,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has defended Joe Biden after being called “President Putin” by him, calling it “a mistake.”

The US president accidentally referred to Zelensky as “President Putin” when introducing Zelensky at a NATO event on Thursday, before correcting the name moments later.

While the US president – who faces mounting pressure over whether he is fit enough to serve another term in office – played down the gaffe at a high-stakes news conference later that day, the incident was scrutinized internationally.

Russian state media seized on Biden’s performance to further criticize the NATO alliance, saying it turned the event into “a farce.”

However, when asked by press at Ireland’s Shannon Airport Saturday what his reaction was to the error, Zelensky shrugged and said, “It was a mistake.”

“I think United States gave a lot of support for Ukrainians. We can forget some mistakes, I think so,” he continued.

The US is providing Ukraine with much-needed military support in its war against Russia.

The Biden Administration announced a new $2.3 billion military aid package for Ukraine on Wednesday, and said an additional $2.2 billion will be purchased for Ukraine from US arms manufacturers under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which provides Kyiv with longer-term support.

Weeks earlier, the United States and Ukraine signed a bilateral security pact, which commits the US for 10 years to continued training of Ukraine’s armed forces, as well as more weapons support and intelligence sharing. Zelensky at the time described the security pact as “a bridge to Ukraine’s membership in NATO.”

In May, Biden also accepted a request from Ukraine for a change in policy, giving Ukraine permission to strike inside Russian territory, close to the Kharkiv border, with American munitions.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

Iran’s President-elect Masoud Pezeshkian said he looks forward to improving ties with Europe, despite accusing the continent of backtracking on commitments to alleviate the impact of US sanctions.

“Despite these missteps, I look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue with European countries to set our relations on the right path, based on principles of mutual respect and equal footing,” Pezeshkian wrote in the English-language Tehran Times newspaper.

Pezeshkian went on to state that there were numerous areas of cooperation to explore once “European powers come to terms with this reality and set aside self-arrogated moral supremacy coupled with manufactured crises that have plagued our relations for so long.”

In 2018, under then-President Donald Trump, the US pulled out of the landmark nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – a move the EU, UK, France and Germany later said they “deeply regret” – and reimposed sanctions.

European countries made 11 commitments to Iran to “try to salvage the agreement and mitigate the impact of the United States’ unlawful and unilateral sanctions on our economy,” Pezeshikian said.

“European countries have reneged on all these commitments, yet unreasonably expect Iran to unilaterally fulfill all its obligations under the JCPOA,” he added.

He said the commitments included “ensuring effective banking transactions, effective protection of companies from U.S. sanctions, and the promotion of investments in Iran.”

Pezeshkian, a 69-year-old trained heart surgeon and lawmaker, won Iran’s presidential election last Saturday, defeating his hardline rival Saeed Jalili, Iran’s former nuclear negotiator, in a pivotal vote amid heightened tensions both domestically and internationally.

The reformist has favored dialogue with Iran’s foes, particularly over its nuclear program, and sees that as a means to address the country’s domestic issues.

“I wish to emphasize that Iran’s defense doctrine does not include nuclear weapons and urge the United States to learn from past miscalculations and adjust its policy accordingly,” Pezeshkian wrote.

“Decision-makers in Washington need to recognize that a policy that consists of pitting regional countries against each other has not succeeded and will not succeed in the future,” he added.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, has the final say on all matters of state. Pezeshkian will ultimately defer to Khamenei, who has condemned those seeking improved relations with the West, on matters of foreign policy.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

UK police have arrested a 34-year-old man as part of a search to identify those responsible for leaving two suitcases of human remains at a famous bridge in western England earlier this week.

The man was arrested in Bristol and taken into custody during the early hours of Saturday as part of a joint operation between London and local police, London Metropolitan Police said in a statement. He will be transferred to London for questioning later on Saturday, according to the statement.

A 36-year-old man who was arrested in London early Friday over the grisly find at the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol has been released without charge, the Metropolitan Police previously said.

At this stage police are not currently looking for anyone else in connection with the incident, the statement added.

Saturday’s arrest was hailed as a “significant development” in the police’s investigation by deputy assistant commissioner Andy Valentine.

Investigations have been underway since the suitcases with human remains were found on the famous bridge in Bristol, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of the capital, on Wednesday.

Officers believe they know the identity of the two male victims, but “formal identification is yet to take place,” they said. Police are trying to locate and inform their next of kin.

Police then found human remains in a west London apartment which they believe are connected to body parts found in Bristol

Valentine said members of the public with concerns are encouraged to speak to officers who are being stationed in the Clifton and Shepherd’s Bush areas over the coming days “to reassure those affected by this tragic incident.”

This post appeared first on cnn.com

The FBI named 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pa., as the suspected shooter in what it described as an assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday.

The Secret Service said its agents “neutralized” the shooter, who is now dead. Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.” One spectator was killed, and two others were critically injured.

Relatively little is known about Crooks, though in the coming hours and days, his background and possible motives will be the subject of intense focus by media and law enforcement. Here’s what we know.

Who was Thomas Matthew Crooks?

Crooks was 20 years old and from Bethel Park, Pa. — about 40 miles south of Butler, the location of Saturday night’s Trump rally, the FBI said.

A Thomas Crooks is named in a local media outlet’s list of graduates of Bethel Park High School in 2022 and as one of 20 students to have received a $500 prize for math and science from the school that year. Bethel Park High School did not immediately reply to a request early Sunday for comment.

Crooks was registered as a Republican, according to Pennsylvania’s voter status records.

What do we know about the investigation?

The suspected shooter used an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle to carry out the attack, a U.S. official and another person familiar with the investigation said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the early stages of the investigation.

The FBI said as it identified the suspect that this “remains an active and ongoing investigation” and urged anyone with relevant information to submit it to the agency.

In a news conference earlier in the evening, FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek said the agency did not yet know the shooter’s motivation. “Our investigators are working tirelessly to attempt to identify what that motive was,” he said, before Crooks’s identity was released.

Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens was asked whether the shooter acted alone and responded that it was “too early to say that.”

“It will be some time until we can conclusively … answer that question,” he added.

Bivens described a “chaotic” scene at the rally after shots were fired in the direction of Trump as he was speaking on the rally stage. He said federal and local agencies were working together to interview witnesses and process the crime scene.

This post appeared first on The Washington Post

BUTLER, Pa. — Former president Donald Trump on Saturday was rushed offstage with blood dripping down his face after a shooting that the authorities called an assassination attempt. One attendee was killed and two others were critically injured at the campaign rally, the Secret Service said, a shocking turn in a tense election season where concerns about violence had already been running high.

During the rally, “a suspected shooter fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue,” according to Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. The suspected shooter is dead, said Guglielmi, who confirmed the other death and injuries.

Trump, in a social media post Saturday night, said he was shot in his upper right ear and offered his thanks to law enforcement. He also extended his condolences to the families of a person who was shot and killed and another who was injured. A campaign spokesman said the former president was taken to a medical facility but is “fine.”

“It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The scene unfolded just days before he is set to formally receive the GOP nomination for president at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee — and renewed fears about rising threats of political violence.

At a news conference just before midnight, law enforcement officials said they were still working to determine a motive and were not ready to name the suspect, though they had a tentative identification. FBI special agent Kevin Rojek said investigators consider the shooting an “assassination attempt against our former president Donald Trump.”

Authorities said there would be a lengthy investigation into how the suspect was able to carry out such an attack. Pressed on how the shooter was able to fire multiple times at the venue, Rojek acknowledged: “It is surprising.”

The suspect is a 20-year-old Pennsylvania man, according to a person familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss it. The alleged shooter used an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle to carry out the attack, a U.S. official said, also speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the early stages of the investigation.

Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said the shooter was on the roof of an office building outside the security perimeter for the event.

Authorities said it was too early to say whether the shooter was acting alone and that they were not ready to release the names of victims, though they said the person killed and the others critically injured were all male adults.

Minutes into his remarks, Trump reached for his right ear and then crouched behind the lectern after the first of several pops, which sent the crowd into a panic. A voice was heard saying, “Get down, get down, get down!” Several more apparent shots followed a couple of seconds later. Audience members screamed, and smoke rose in the air.

Members of Trump’s Secret Service detail rushed in, one yelling, “Hawkeye is here!” as members of the Secret Service’s counterassault team mounted the stage, wearing black tactical gear and pointing rifles at the crowd — trying to give the former president and his detail cover so that agents could rush him to safety.

The crowd roared as Trump and the officers began to maneuver offstage. The former president pumped his fist while walking off with what appeared to be blood dripping down his right ear and streaked across his cheek. A Washington Post photographer observed what appeared to be blood on the riser behind the former president.

Trump’s campaign issued a statement condemning the incident. “President Trump thanks law enforcement and first responders for their quick action during this heinous act. He is fine and is being checked out at a local medical facility,” campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in the statement. Later in the evening, Trump campaign advisers and Republican Party officials said in a joint statement that Trump looked forward to proceeding with the convention.

At a news conference Saturday evening, President Biden — who was at a church in Delaware during the incident — said he had been briefed and had tried to contact Trump, who he understood to be doing well. “Look, there’s no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick,” Biden said. “It’s sick. It’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country.” Late in the evening, a White House official said Biden and Trump had spoken.

Biden campaign officials said Saturday night that they were working to pull down their television ads as quickly as they could.

Goldinger, the district attorney, said the shooter was on the roof of a nearby office belonging to American Glass Research. William Bellis, chief financial officer at AGR International — which calls American Glass Research a subsidiary and is based in a cluster of buildings closest to the Trump rally — said Saturday night that the company worked with local police beforehand on security concerns. Police blocked off public access to the company’s parking lot, and that space was available for law enforcement use, Bellis said.

Rico Elmore, a former Republican candidate for the Pennsylvania House who spoke ahead of Trump, was feet from the stage when shots rang out. At first, he said it sounded like firecrackers. Elmore, an Air Force guardsman, yelled for people to get down and heard some call for a medic.

About 10 feet from him, to the right of Trump, a man in the audience was bleeding from his head, Elmore said. Before the medical responders could reach the man, Elmore jumped over a barrier and tried to hold the head wound, the blood smearing across Elmore’s white shirt.

“I held his head and keep it in tact but it was just, it was a serious injury,” Elmore said. He didn’t believe the man survived. He said he also saw a woman passed out, but she didn’t appear to be bloodied.

“There was a lot of anger, a lot of fear, a lot of crying. There were a couple people praying,” said Cindy Hildebrand, the chairwoman of the United Republicans of Butler County, who was also at the rally. A woman next to her had a 7-year-old daughter who was up front hanging from a post excited to see Trump. “Now we have a 7-year-old somewhere out there that is just absolutely traumatized.”

As Republicans raised alarms about the vitriol of some opposition to Trump, Hildebrand said her organization received a phone call after the shooting from a woman who said, “He gets what he deserves.”

The crowd evacuated in an orderly manner, some directing anger over what happened at the media. Police told people to leave because the site was an active crime scene.

Dave McCormick, the Republican candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania — who was in the front row — said during an interview on Fox News that he saw a lot of blood and that Trump is “very lucky to be alive.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that he had been briefed on the shooting and briefed the president. The FBI, ATF, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and the Justice Department’s national security division are working with the Secret Service as other law enforcement agencies, Garland said, adding that “violence like this is an attack on our democracy.”

Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro said that he was also briefed on the situation and that state police were at the site. “Violence targeted at any political party or political leader is absolutely unacceptable,” Shapiro said in a statement. “It has no place in Pennsylvania or the United States.”

National and world leaders across the political spectrum quickly weighed in with horror at what unfolded and offered well wishes for Trump.

“There is absolutely no place for political violence in our democracy,” former president Barack Obama said in a statement.

“Political violence has no place in our country,” Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) echoed.

Republicans shared images of Trump fist-pumping toward the crowd.

“God protected President Trump,” wrote Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a vice-presidential contender, in a posting with the picture. Another possible running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), also shared the photo.

As information about the violence was just beginning to emerge — with authorities saying little about the details of the incident — some Republicans suggested rhetoric from Democrats was to blame. Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) went further: “Joe Biden sent the orders,” he wrote on X.

There is no evidence that Biden was behind the attack.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), a potential Trump running mate, said in a statement on social media that the shooting was “not just some isolated incident.”

“The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” Vance wrote. “That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”

Republicans preparing for the convention in Milwaukee gathered around televisions in a hotel lobby after the incident. Charlie Gerow, a Pennsylvania-based GOP strategist, was in the hotel and described an emotional scene with people crossing themselves and looking stunned.

The convention is expected to continue but with additional security, according to an official familiar with the preparations who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

At a moment when threats against elected officials have escalated, presidential historian Tim Naftali said the tone that Trump and other leaders take in the coming days will have an enormous bearing on what happens next.

Describing the country as a “pressure cooker,” Naftali said: “We’ve been turning up the gas — and some kind of political violence seemed increasingly likely.”

“As a country we have been dancing around Pandora’s box,” said Naftali, who teaches presidential studies at Columbia University’s School of International Public Affairs, “and a horrible person today may have opened it.”

Josh Dawsey, Colby Itkowitz, Maeve Reston, Matt Viser, Joyce Lee, Carol D. Leonnig, Perry Stein, Theodoric Meyer, Alex Horton and Shawn Boburg contributed to this report

This post appeared first on The Washington Post

Law enforcement officials quickly launched an investigation into the Saturday night shooting of Donald Trump as an assassination attempt, offering few details. That did not stop a torrent of unsubstantiated theories from flooding social media and other channels shortly after the event.

Some accounts from the left of the political spectrum immediately claimed that the shooting was a “false flag” operation perpetrated by Trump’s own supporters. Some on the far right accused President Biden of ordering a hit on a political rival.

“Incidents of political violence spawn conspiracy theories and false narratives when people try to spin the event to suit their various agendas,” Megan Squire, deputy director for data analytics at the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, told The Washington Post. “This incident is no different, with people concocting ‘false flag’ conspiracies and even blaming innocent people for either committing this crime or inspiring it.”

The dynamic is only exacerbated, experts say, by the current political environment where Americans increasingly cannot agree on a common set of facts and exist in alternate — and separate — realities.

Minutes after shots were fired, right-wing social media influencers and elected Republicans began insinuating that powerful figures were responsible, directly or indirectly, for the attempt. Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) posted to X that “Joe Biden sent the orders,” garnering over 4 million views, and later called for Biden to face charges for “inciting an assassination.”

More broadly on social media, a TikTok user who posts under the handle @theoldermillenial.1 told his 1.2 million followers, “I guess because the court cases weren’t going so well, they decided to try a different avenue. Guys, don’t forget, this is what the left is capable of.” Shadow of Ezra, an anonymous conspiracy theorist account on X, wrote that “The Deep State tried to assassinate Donald Trump live on television,” in a post that received over a million views, according to data gathered by Junkipedia, a repository of social media content. A follow-up, describing the shooting as “the price you pay when you take down elite satanic pedophiles,” was viewed more than 2.5 million times.

Many others held Biden, the left wing and the media responsible in spirit for the violence. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), whom Trump has mentioned as a possible running mate, said the attempt was “aided and abetted by the radical Left and corporate media.” Nicole Shanahan, the running mate of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a critic of Trump’s, blamed the “DNC and legacy media” for inciting hysteria, which, she wrote, led to the violence. And Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X that Democrats have “wanted Trump gone for years and they’re prepared to do anything to make that happen.”

The word “staged” trended on X in the hours after the shooting, as people online speculated that the scene was fabricated. Thousands of people retweeted unsubstantiated claims that the shots came from a BB gun.

In the heated aftermath, misinformation experts urged the public not to share unconfirmed information online.

“In any fast developing event, there is inevitably a high influx of false or unverified information, especially on social media,” said Graham Brookie, the Atlantic Council’s vice president for technology programs and strategy, in a post on X. “Please exercise empathy and caution as events unfold.”

But far-right channels on encrypted platforms were abuzz with a mixture of shock, rage and conspiracy theories. Triumphant slogans (“You missed!”) and calls for civil war captioned the instantly totemic image of a bloodied but defiant Trump raising a fist with the flag in the background. Without any clear word from authorities on suspects or motives, MAGA extremists instantly embraced the idea of a politically motivated assassination attempt. Disinformation swirled as trolls looked for easy clicks by sharing uncorroborated footage and information about people they claimed to be the assailant.

Some blamed militant antifascists — antifa — while others concocted elaborate explanations involving the Deep State and demons. Several white supremacist accounts held an online discussion on X about how Jews had attempted to assassinate Trump.

“They want a CIVIL WAR. We MUST WIN,” wrote Jackson Lahmeyer, the Oklahoma-based head of the far-right Pastors for Trump group, in an email to subscribers within a couple of hours of the incident.

Pastors for Trump said in the email that the “Deep State FAILED. God’s Hand of Protection is on President Trump.”

Conservative influencer Laura Loomer and radio host Erick Erickson blamed Biden for the shooting, citing his comments days ago to donors that it was time to put Trump “in a bull’s eye.”

The right-wing account Il Donaldo Trumpo posted a photo of John F. Kennedy from the day he was assassinated with the caption, “NOT TODAY, DEEP STATE!!!”

A number of accounts falsely claimed that “antifa extremist Mark Violets” was the shooter at the rally and that he had discussed his plan earlier in a YouTube video. But the video showed the image of a different person who had nothing to do with the shooting.

Internet platforms often struggle to contain viral misinformation about catastrophic events soon after they happen because of the lack of credible information and the time it takes to respond to them, said Katie Harbath, a former Facebook public policy director who is now chief global affairs officer at Duco Experts, a tech consulting firm. “Breaking news situations like this are the hardest for platforms to moderate as facts of what happened are still becoming known and you have to retrain [their algorithms] to look for specific content and let human reviewers know what is or is not okay,” she said.

Among the measures online platforms might be pondering right now include fielding any potential requests from law enforcement for information and looking at images of the shooting to see if any would violate the company’s standards against gruesome content. Policy officials will most likely keep an eye out for information regarding the identity of the shooter in order to lock down his or her account, Harbath added.

AI chatbots had not yet caught up with the events of Saturday night when queried by a Post reporter. Asked whether someone tried to shoot Trump, ChatGPT said “there has not been a recent attempt to shoot” the former president. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant had mixed results. It correctly responded to a query about whether Trump was shot by citing a report from Reuters and The Post about the gunfire at the Pennsylvania rally. But when the question was phrased slightly differently, it referenced a 2016 campaign rally event where a man tried to grab a gun from a police officer in an attempt to shoot Trump.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.

As more details about the shooter emerged throughout the evening, seemingly identifying a man who was perched on a rooftop outside the Trump rally, Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, posted that either the Secret Service suffered from “extreme incompetence” for allowing him to position himself there or “it was deliberate.”

Paul Penzone (D) the former sheriff of Arizona’s most populous county, Maricopa, where conspiracies and doubts about elections and democratic institutions have flourished in recent years, said that false theories and misinformation significantly affect public emotion and perspective, “and ultimately human behaviors — to the detriment of civil discourse.”

Penzone frequently directed beefed-up security to county officials, election workers and county buildings amid a hostile environment toward public officials in the battleground county. Threats and harassing communications were often traced to conspiracies fueled by misinformation, he added.

Hannah Allam, Yvonne Wingett-Sanchez, Naomi Nix and Susie Webb contributed reporting.

This post appeared first on The Washington Post

BUTLER, Pa. — Former president Donald Trump on Saturday was rushed offstage with blood dripping down his face after a shooting that the authorities are investigating as an assassination attempt. One attendee was killed and two others were critically injured at the campaign rally, the Secret Service said, a shocking turn in a tense election season where concerns about violence had already been running high.

During the rally, “a suspected shooter fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue,” according to Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. The suspected shooter is dead, said Guglielmi, who confirmed the other death and injuries.

Trump, in a social media post Saturday night, said he was shot in his upper right ear and offered his thanks to law enforcement. He also extended his condolences to the families of a person who was shot and killed and another who was injured. A campaign spokesman said the former president was taken to a medical facility but is “fine.”

“It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The scene unfolded just days before he is set to formally receive the GOP nomination for president at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee — and renewed fears about rising threats of political violence.

Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said the shooter was on the roof of an office building outside the security perimeter for the event. The incident is being investigated as an attempted assassination, with the FBI, Secret Service and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives all working on the case, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Minutes into his remarks, Trump reached for his right ear and then crouched behind the lectern after the first of several pops, which sent the crowd into a panic. A voice was heard saying, “Get down, get down, get down!” Several more apparent shots followed a couple of seconds later. Audience members screamed, and smoke rose in the air.

Members of Trump’s Secret Service detail rushed in, one yelling, “Hawkeye is here!” as members of the Secret Service’s counterassault team mounted the stage, wearing black tactical gear and pointing rifles at the crowd — trying to give the former president and his detail cover so that agents could rush him to safety.

The crowd roared as Trump and the officers began to maneuver offstage. The former president pumped his fist while walking off with what appeared to be blood dripping down his right ear and streaked across his cheek. A Washington Post photographer observed what appeared to be blood on the riser behind the former president.

Trump’s campaign issued a statement condemning the incident. “President Trump thanks law enforcement and first responders for their quick action during this heinous act. He is fine and is being checked out at a local medical facility,” campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in the statement. Later in the evening, Trump campaign advisers and Republican Party officials said in a joint statement that Trump looked forward to proceeding with the convention.

At a news conference Saturday evening, President Biden — who was at a church in Delaware during the incident — said he had been briefed and had tried to contact Trump, who he understood to be doing well. “Look, there’s no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick,” Biden said. “It’s sick. It’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country.” Late in the evening, a White House official said Biden and Trump had spoken.

Biden campaign officials said Saturday night that they were working to pull down their television ads as quickly as they could.

Goldinger, the district attorney, said the shooter was on the roof of a nearby office belonging to American Glass Research. William Bellis, chief financial officer at AGR International — which calls American Glass Research a subsidiary and is based in a cluster of buildings closest to the Trump rally — said Saturday night that the company worked with local police beforehand on security concerns. Police blocked off public access to the company’s parking lot, and that space was available for law enforcement use, Bellis said.

Rico Elmore, a former Republican candidate for the Pennsylvania House who spoke ahead of Trump, was feet from the stage when shots rang out. At first, he said it sounded like firecrackers. Elmore, an Air Force guardsman, yelled for people to get down and heard some call for a medic.

About 10 feet from him, to the right of Trump, a man in the audience was bleeding from his head, Elmore said. Before the medical responders could reach the man, Elmore jumped over a barrier and tried to hold the head wound, the blood smearing across Elmore’s white shirt.

“I held his head and keep it in tact but it was just, it was a serious injury,” Elmore said. He didn’t believe the man survived. He said he also saw a woman passed out, but she didn’t appear to be bloodied.

“There was a lot of anger, a lot of fear, a lot of crying. There were a couple people praying,” said Cindy Hildebrand, the chairwoman of the United Republicans of Butler County, who was also at the rally. A woman next to her had a 7-year-old daughter who was up front hanging from a post excited to see Trump. “Now we have a 7-year-old somewhere out there that is just absolutely traumatized.”

As Republicans raised alarms about the vitriol of some opposition to Trump, Hildebrand said her organization received a phone call after the shooting from a woman who said, “He gets what he deserves.”

The crowd evacuated in an orderly manner, some directing anger over what happened at the media. Police told people to leave because the site was an active crime scene.

Dave McCormick, the Republican candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania — who was in the front row — said during an interview on Fox News that he saw a lot of blood and that Trump is “very lucky to be alive.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that he had been briefed on the shooting and briefed the president. The FBI, ATF, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and the Justice Department’s national security division are working with the Secret Service as other law enforcement agencies, Garland said, adding that “violence like this is an attack on our democracy.”

Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro said that he was also briefed on the situation and that state police were at the site. “Violence targeted at any political party or political leader is absolutely unacceptable,” Shapiro said in a statement. “It has no place in Pennsylvania or the United States.”

National and world leaders across the political spectrum quickly weighed in with horror at what unfolded and offered well wishes for Trump.

“There is absolutely no place for political violence in our democracy,” former president Barack Obama said in a statement.

“Political violence has no place in our country,” Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) echoed.

Republicans shared images of Trump fist-pumping toward the crowd.

“God protected President Trump,” wrote Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a vice-presidential contender, in a posting with the picture. Another possible running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), also shared the photo.

As information about the violence was just beginning to emerge — with authorities saying little about the details of the incident — some Republicans suggested rhetoric from Democrats was to blame. Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) went further: “Joe Biden sent the orders,” he wrote on X.

There is no evidence that Biden was behind the attack.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), a potential Trump running mate, said in a statement on social media that the shooting was “not just some isolated incident.”

“The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” Vance wrote. “That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”

Republicans preparing for the convention in Milwaukee gathered around televisions in a hotel lobby after the incident. Charlie Gerow, a Pennsylvania-based GOP strategist, was in the hotel and described an emotional scene with people crossing themselves and looking stunned.

The convention is expected to continue but with additional security, according to an official familiar with the preparations who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

At a moment when threats against elected officials have escalated, presidential historian Tim Naftali said the tone that Trump and other leaders take in the coming days will have an enormous bearing on what happens next.

Describing the country as a “pressure cooker,” Naftali said: “We’ve been turning up the gas — and some kind of political violence seemed increasingly likely.”

“As a country we have been dancing around Pandora’s box,” said Naftali, who teaches presidential studies at Columbia University’s School of International Public Affairs, “and a horrible person today may have opened it.”

Josh Dawsey, Colby Itkowitz, Maeve Reston, Matt Viser, Joyce Lee, Carol D. Leonnig, Perry Stein, Theodoric Meyer and Shawn Boburg contributed to this report.

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Top allies of Donald Trump quickly accused President Biden and his supporters of using rhetoric that led to a shooting and potential assassination attempt Saturday at a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pa., even as Biden condemned the attack and called on the nation to unite against political violence.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), a potential Trump running mate, said in a statement on social media that the shooting was “not just some isolated incident.”

“The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” Vance wrote. “That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”

At the time of that statement, there was no public reporting on the motives of the shooter. Trump said he was wounded in his ear at the event, and was rushed from the scene. His campaign released a statement saying “he is fine,” while being checked out at a nearby medical facility.

Chris LaCivita, a top adviser to Trump’s campaign, posted on social media a sentiment similar to Vance’s, blaming the attack on efforts by Trump’s political enemies to disrupt his candidacy. “[W]ell of course they tried to keep him off the ballot, they tried to put him in jail and now you see this …” LaCivita wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, before later deleting the post.

LaCivita’s message pointed to words Biden had used earlier in the week when he told a group of donors about shifting his campaign to attack Trump’s policy record, including his record on abortion and Project 2025, a policy document drafted by some former Trump advisers. “So, we’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bull’s eye,” Biden had told donors in the private call, which was reported publicly.

After deleting the X post, LaCivita reiterated in a text message to The Washington Post that he doesn’t think Biden “or anyone else” should use words like that.

“For weeks, leftist activists, Democrat donors and now even the president of the United States have made disgusting remarks,” LaCivita wrote. “It’s high time they be held accountable for it.”

“The best way is through the ballot box,” he added. He later posted a similar message on X.

Trump himself often uses inflammatory language, having taken office in 2021 by describing the state of the nation as “American carnage.” He has since called his political enemies “vermin,” described some undocumented migrants as “animals” and warned of a “bloodbath” if he fails to win in November.

Biden announced his 2020 campaign for the presidency by explaining he was motivated by the need to quell the division in the country and prevent the sort of deadly violence that had occurred at a 2017 white nationalist protest in Charlottesville.

“Look, there’s no place for this kind of violence in America. It’s sick. It’s sick. It’s one of the reasons we have to unite this country,” Biden said in remarks at the Rehoboth Beach, Del., police department Saturday. “We cannot be like this.”

The shooting Saturday was universally condemned by political leaders, with former president Barack Obama (D), Vice President Harris (D), Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and many others releasing statements condemning the violence.

“As one whose family has been the victim of political violence, I know firsthand that political violence of any kind has no place in our society,” former House speaker and member of Congress Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement. “I thank God that former President Trump is safe.”

Pelosi’s husband, Paul, was attacked in his home by a hammer-wielding assailant in an act of political violence. Last year, at an event in California, Trump made light of that attack. “How’s her husband doing by the way? Does anyone know?” he said to laughs, in reference to Paul Pelosi’s injuries from the attacks.

Other Trump supporters were quick to blame Biden and the media for the shooting Saturday, despite a lack of information about the shooter’s motives.

Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) pointed to the “bull’s eye” comment by Biden earlier in the week.

“Joe Biden sent the orders,” Collins wrote on X. He later added, “The Republican District Attorney in Butler County, Pa., should immediately file charges against Joe Biden for inciting an assassination.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) was also quick to place blame. “The Democrats and the media are to blame for every drop of blood spilled today,” Greene wrote on social media. “For years and years, they’ve demonized him and his supporters.”

Greene lost her House committee assignments in 2021 after social media posts from before her time in Congress surfaced that indicated that she had supported political violence. She had liked a post that suggested shooting prominent Democratic leaders and responded approvingly to a commenter who suggested hanging Obama and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

She later told the House that her past comments “do not represent me,” and that she had been misled by online communities before winning office.

As the news spread of the shooting at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania, Ron Kaufman, a Republican National Committee delegate from Massachusetts, described the mood in Milwaukee, where Republicans were gathering for next week’s nominating convention, as one of “shock and disbelief.”

“There’s a feeling,” Kaufman wrote in a text message, “that the Democrats’ constant pounding on President Trump as ‘a threat to democracy’ leads to this.’”

Maeve Reston contributed to this report.

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BUTLER, Pa. — The gunshots were high-pitched pops, slight and hollow in the open air.

Donald Trump, the former president set to accept the Republican nomination in five days, was less than 10 minutes into his speech here to a crowd of tens of thousands. A miles-long line of cars crawled for hours to pass through metal detectors and bag inspections, just like any Trump event, until these green fairgrounds became a sea of red hats.

Trump was almost an hour late, and his supporters waited impatiently under the blazing sun and thumping music. In the middle of the crowd, opposite the stage, a platform of TV cameras pointed at the podium, with reporters huddled underneath for shade.

Finally Trump walked out, as usual, to chants of “USA” and marveled: “This is a big crowd. This is a big, big, beautiful crowd.” A bright red MAGA cap shaded his eyes, and his white shirt was open-collared in the heat as he leaned his arms on the lectern.

He launched into his stump speech but quickly got bored with the prepared script. He offered to invite the Republican Senate candidate, Dave McCormick, to speak, but McCormick wasn’t ready.

“You don’t mind if I go off teleprompter, do you?” Trump teased. “Because these teleprompters are so damn boring.” He asked to show “that chart that I love so much,” showing border crossings across his and Joe Biden’s presidencies, and acted amazed that his producers obliged, projecting it onto the giant screens to either side. “Wow, you guys are getting better with time.”

He was pointing to one of the screens, narrating the increase in immigration since he left office in 2021. “Look what happened to our country!”

The pops came in pairs, a burst of five or six total. Trump swatted his ear, as if he heard a mosquito. Then he hunched his shoulders and ducked.

“Get down, get down, get down!” Secret Service agents shouted as they rushed up onto the stage and surrounded him. The crowd screamed. Another burst of popping noises. More screaming. The people in the bleachers behind Trump shuffled, unsure about where to go. The people in chairs or standing crouched or fell to the ground. A dense cloud of smoke hung to the right of the stage, then dispersed quickly.

One more solitary shot.

More suited Secret Service agents rushed the stage, then black-clad men wearing body armor and helmets, and carrying assault rifles. The crowd shouted in confusion.

“Are we good?” one of the officers said, audible from the podium microphone.

“Shooter’s down,” another answered.

“We’re good to move.”

“Are we clear?”

“We’re clear!”

“Let me get my shoes on,” Trump said, as the agents lifted him.

“I got you, sir.”

“Hold on, your head is bloody.”

“Let me get my shoes on,” he said again, as the agents formed a ring around him.

The crowd, seeing him standing, started to cheer.

“Wait,” Trump said, and thrust up a fist. “Fight!” he said. “Fight!”

Then the people roared and chanted again: “USA!”

“We gotta move,” an agent said. Leaning on the agents for assistance, Trump kept his fist raised as he hobbled off the stage, down the stairs and into his black SUV. One black dress shoe remained on the red-carpeted stage.

Officers — Secret Service, county sheriff’s deputies, state troopers, U.S. Department of Homeland Security — started telling the crowd to evacuate, calling the site an active crime scene. The rallygoers walked out, calling and texting family and friends and recording videos. People were shocked but calm.

As people passed the press risers elevating the cameras, some took out their anger on the media.

“You’re not safe. It’s your fault.”

“You wanted political violence, now you got it. Hope you’re all f—ing happy.”

“The shot heard ’round the world.”

“The liberal media is responsible!”

“Every f—ing one of y’all!”

Others sought out the cameras to offer eyewitness accounts, but they were jumbled and sometimes contradictory amid the panic.

The crowd trudged glumly to the parking lot, a few stopping for a last-minute hot dog or snow cone.

A man with a cane cowered behind the bathrooms, vomiting.

They walked to their cars past Trump flags streaming in the wind over a long row of vendors selling MAGA hats and mug shot T-shirts and Trump keychains and vulgar bumper stickers and Trump visors topped with bright orange fake hair.

A man with a bullhorn wearing a homemade “JAN 6 SURVIVOR” shirt called on people to march on Main Street, “peacefully and patriotically,” echoing Trump’s speech on the Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021. Most everyone ignored him. One young man accused him of being an undercover federal agent and told him to shut up.

They left behind a field strewn with empty plastic water bottles. A giant American flag hoisted from two cranes flapped high above the empty white bleachers bordered with red, white and blue bunting.

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