Questions Surround Attempted Trump Assassination

It’s Monday. We try to keep things as light as we can in this newsletter, and we’ll get back to doing that soon, but the events of this weekend were a dark moment for the country—and we take that seriously. 

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories 

• President Joe Biden addressed the nation from the Oval Office on Sunday evening, urging Americans to “lower the temperature” of political rhetoric after the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump on Saturday. The FBI—working with the Secret Service—is leading the investigation into the shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, that left one dead and three injured, including the former president. The FBI has also identified a suspect in the shooting: a 20-year-old Pennsylvania native who worked as a dietary aid at a nursing and rehabilitation center. Secret Service snipers shot him just moments after he opened fire on the rally, and law enforcement later reportedly found explosives in his car parked near the event. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Sunday that Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old retired fire chief, died of a gunshot wound in Saturday’s shooting after he threw himself between his family and the gunfire. Two other people who were shot and wounded remain in “critical condition” and were being treated Sunday at a Pittsburgh hospital. Trump said the attempt on his life would not alter his travel plans to this week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. “Based on yesterday’s terrible events, I was going to delay my trip to Wisconsin, and The Republican National Convention, by two days,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday. “But have just decided that I cannot allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling, or anything else.”
• Prior to the attempt on Trump’s life on Saturday, President Biden spoke with Democratic members of Congress in an attempt to reassure them that he can still beat the presumptive Republican nominee in November after more than a dozen said they believed he should withdraw from the race. Lawmakers on that call reportedly said it was “tense” and a “disaster,” but even so, the push to force Biden out seemed—publicly, at least—to have lost momentum on Sunday in the wake of the assassination attempt against the former president. 
• The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday launched an airstrike targeting Muhammad Deif, the leader of the military branch of Hamas, and Rafah Salameh, the leader of Hamas’ military operations in the southern city of Khan Younis. The strike occurred in a section of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, but one out of which Israeli officials have accused Hamas of operating and launching rockets. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry claimed that 90 people were killed; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Saturday that the IDF had targeted Deif and Salameh but did not yet have “absolute clarity” regarding whether he had been killed. Deif—who was an architect of the October 7 attacks and has reportedly been instrumental in bringing new weapons and military technology to Hamas’ Qassam Brigades—has not been seen publicly in many years, and survived a similar attack in 2014.
• A New York judge dismissed bankruptcy proceedings on Friday for former New York City mayor and longtime Trump ally Rudy Giuliani after he failed to turn over necessary financial records. The dismissal could allow the two Georgia election poll workers whom Giuliani was convicted of defaming last year to begin collecting their $146 million in damages awarded by a federal jury in December. “Mr. Giuliani would often promise to file monthly operating reports by a certain date, only to miss those deadlines,” New York bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane wrote. “Perhaps even more troubling, the information in the monthly operating reports has been incomplete or inaccurate. … This lack of transparency—apparently even to Mr. Giuliani’s own counsel—raises significant concerns about Mr. Giuliani’s ability and willingness to manage the bankruptcy estate in the best interest of his creditors.”
• AT&T revealed Friday that a massive data breach between May and October 2022 had exposed the phone numbers of “nearly all” AT&T customers. Hackers were also able to access a record of every call or text made by an AT&T customer—even to those who use other networks—as well as the duration of each of these calls, though not the content of those calls or texts. The data was illegally downloaded through the company’s workspace on Snowflake—a third-party cloud platform. AT&T claimed that at least one of the hackers associated with the hack was in custody.
• Barbora Krejcikova won the Wimbledon women’s singles over the weekend, beating out Italy’s Jasmine Paolini to win her second major singles tournament. The 28-year-old player from the Czech Republic has had prior success in doubles matches—including a doubles gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics—and entered Wimbledon this year as the 31st seed. Meanwhile, Carlos Alcaraz defeated Novak Djokovic in straight sets on Sunday in the final of the Wimbledon men’s singles. The No. 3 seed Alcaraz prevailed over No. 2 seed Djokovic—who was hampered by a knee injury—to claim his second Wimbledon title and become just the sixth men’s player to win Wimbledon and the French Open in the same year.
• Spain defeated England 2-1 on Sunday to win the Euro 2024 tournament—Spain’s fourth European championship, more than any other nation. Also on Sunday, Argentina defeated Colombia 1-0 in extra time in the Copa America. The latter match, held in Miami, was delayed 82 minutes due to difficulties getting fans into Hard Rock Stadium.
• Fitness personality Richard Simmons—known for his flamboyant home workout routines—passed away on Saturday at the age of 76. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department said he died of natural causes.

‘It’s Time to Cool it Down’

In a press conference on Sunday morning, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro revealed the name of the man who died during the attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life on Saturday evening: Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old father of two from Pennsylvania. “Corey was a girl-dad. Corey was a firefighter. Corey went to church every Sunday,” Shapiro said, after speaking to Comperatore’s widow and two daughters. “I asked Corey’s wife if it would be okay for me to share that we spoke. She said yes. She also asked that I share with all of you that Corey died a hero; that Corey dove on his family to protect them last night at this rally. Corey was the very best of us. May his memory be a blessing.” Two other victims were critically wounded in the shooting, but have yet to be identified as of Sunday evening.

More than 24 hours after the tragedy in Butler County, Pennsylvania, that left Comperatore dead, two others critically wounded, and Trump shot in the ear, new details are slowly emerging about how Saturday’s rally unfolded. President Joe Biden addressed the nation on Sunday night, encouraging Americans to “lower the temperature in our politics.” With the Republican National Convention set to kick off today, security will be tight as the gathered politicians, journalists, and delegates reflect on this weekend’s events.

Speaking from the Oval Office, Biden condemned political violence and called on political leaders and the public alike to turn down the temperature. “We cannot, we must not, go down this road in America,” he said. “We cannot allow this violence to be normalized. You know the political rhetoric of this country has gotten very heated. It’s time to cool it down. We all have a responsibility to do that.”

“While unity is the most elusive of all goals right now, nothing is more important for us now than standing together,” he added. Biden—who promised in his January inaugural address that his “whole soul” was in “bringing America together, uniting our people, and uniting our nation”—will return to the campaign trail tomorrow, speaking at the NAACP National Convention in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

Biden’s speech followed remarks he delivered earlier on Sunday afternoon after receiving a briefing from federal law enforcement officials about the assassination attempt against his political opponent. He implored the country to not make assumptions about the shooter’s motives or political affiliation while investigations are ongoing. The president also said he had directed the head of the Secret Service to review all of the security measures for the RNC and ordered an “independent review of the national security at yesterday’s rally to assess exactly what happened.”

And almost every hour after the shooting on Saturday has resulted in new information emerging about what exactly did happen. On Sunday, there was a slow trickle of additional details about the suspected shooter, whom Secret Service snipers killed seconds after he opened fire on the former president and rallygoers at about 6:15 p.m. ET. The FBI confirmed the suspect in the assassination attempt was 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, saying as of Sunday that the suspect seems to have “acted alone and that there are currently no public safety concerns.”

The FBI is treating the investigation both as an attempted assassination and as a potential instance of domestic terrorism—which, according to the FBI’s definition, is a violent act intended to shape U.S. government policy in some way. The suspect’s gun was legally purchased by his father, according to law enforcement. Explosive devices were reportedly found in the suspect’s car—which was parked near the rally—and at his family home in Bethel Park, about an hour away. 

But the suspected gunman’s motivations remain unclear. His political affiliations—to the extent that he actually had any—seem ambiguous, and authorities said Sunday his social media accounts hadn’t provided clues as to what may have caused him to try to assassinate the former president. Former high school classmates described him as a loner who was quiet and not obviously interested in politics. He apparently tried out for his high school’s rifle team, but was rejected. “At present, we have not identified an ideology associated with the subject,” Kevin Rojek, the FBI’s Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge, said Sunday. “But I want to remind everyone that we’re still very early in this investigation.”

There are also still a lot of unanswered questions about the security lapse that allowed the shooter to get within 200 yards of the former president with a rifle and open fire. The building atop which the shooter was perched had been designated as part of local police jurisdiction, a Secret Service spokesperson said, but law enforcement had not secured it. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and in both houses of Congress signaled Sunday they would investigate federal law enforcement’s actions and protocols. “The seriousness of this security failure and chilling moment in our nation’s history cannot be understated,” GOP Rep. Mark Green, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, wrote in a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas, whose department oversees the Secret Service. “As the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) investigates, the Committee on Homeland Security (Committee) is dedicated to conducting rigorous oversight to ensure that the American people receive answers and presidential candidates receive proper and adequate protection.” 

Likewise, the chairs of the House Oversight and Intelligence Committees and the Senate Committee on Homeland  Security and Governmental Affairs are all investigating the federal law enforcement’s handling of the rally and the shooting, Axios reported. GOP Rep. James Comer, chair of the House Oversight Committee, has called Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to appear before lawmakers on July 22. GOP Rep. Mike Waltz alleged yesterday that the DHS had denied requests to beef up Trump’s security, though Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, denied that claim. “Theres an untrue assertion that a member of the former President’s team requested additional security resources & that those were rebuffed,” he tweeted. “This is absolutely false. In fact, we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo.”

Trump flew to Milwaukee yesterday, where security at the Republican National Convention is now front and center. But the Secret Service and local law enforcement say they’re prepared. “There have been no changes to our current operational security plans for this event,” said Audrey Gibson-Cicchino, the Secret Service’s coordinator for the convention, noting that the event is already receiving the highest level of security that the Secret Service provides. “We are confident in the security plans that are in place for this event.” Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said yesterday, “I just wanted to reassure those not only in the convention but also in our city: We got this.”

Beyond just the physical security, the weekend’s events could also affect the tenor of the event. Even before Saturday’s assassination attempt, RNC officials seemed to be expanding the tent. On Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was added to the speaking schedule after initial reports that he had been snubbed. A similar process played out with former Gov. Nikki Haley, who received an invitation to participate shortly before the shooting on Saturday evening. Yesterday, a Haley aide confirmed that she will be in Milwaukee this week and speak to the convention on Tuesday.

The Trump campaign itself has internally emphasized turning down the heat in the wake of the assassination attempt. Trump campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles shared a memo with staff following the shooting, urging them “to recognize the political polarization in this heated election” and warning that they “will not tolerate dangerous rhetoric on social media.” A little over an hour after the shooting on Saturday, LaCivita tweeted, “well of course they tried to keep him off the ballot, they tried to put him in jail and now you see this,” linking to a separate post about Biden’s comments to donors last week about it being “time to put Trump in the bullseye.” LaCivita later deleted the post.

We’ll see if it lasts, but Trump himself says he is focused on shifting the message at the convention. “The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger,” he told the Washington Examiner yesterday. “Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now.” He added his primetime address will be “a chance to bring the country together. I was given that chance.”

Worth Your Time

• In addition to the societal and political turmoil, there was also a deep human cost to Saturday’s events: Two people were critically wounded and one, 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, was fatally shot. Danielle Paquette, Annie Gowen, and others spoke to Comperatore’s friends and family for a piece in the Washington Post. “The shooting ‘claimed the life of my brother,’ Dawn Comperatore Schafer wrote in a post on Facebook,” according to the Post. “The hatred for one man took the life of the one man we loved the most.” Her younger brother had just turned 50 and had “so much life left to experience,” she wrote. “This feels like a terrible nightmare but we know it is our painful reality.” Comperatore was the former chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company, and was an engineer by profession, according to a LinkedIn profile matching his name and photo. “At the [Buffalo Township] fire station on Sunday, an American flag dangled at half-staff in honor of Comperatore. The chief, 59-year-old Kip Johnston, said he was struggling to process the fact that his friend of three decades was gone. How many afternoons had they shared in this office, listening to the fire scanner before charging out the door together? ‘He was the first one running into a burning building,’ Johnston said.”

Toeing the Company Line

• In the newsletters: The Dispatch Politics crew reported on the growing intraparty divide within the Democratic Party on Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, Nick made the cynical case (🔒) for why Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio will be Trump’s VP pick, and Jonah took stock of American politics’ embarrassing moment.
• On the podcasts: In episodes recorded before the attempted assassination of the former president, Sarah, Steve, and Jonah were joined on The Dispatch Podcast roundtable by Alex Thompson of Axios to discuss President Biden’s performance during his Thursday press conference, Sarah and David gamed out a series of hypotheticals and answered audience questions in a special Advisory Opinions episode recorded live from the American Enterprise Institute, and Jonah ruminated on The Remnant about the right’s attempts to intellectualize Trumpism. On today’s episode of The Dispatch Podcast, Jamie is joined by Bernard-Henri Lévy to recap the French election, and in a special DP/AO crossover event, Sarah, Jonah, Steve, and David French discuss political violence and the attempt on former President Trump’s life. 
• On the site over the weekend: Tara Isabella Burton reviewed Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor’s latest book, Cosmic Connections: Poetry in an Age of Disenchantment, and Luis offered qualified praise for the “flawed yet nervy creativity” of the third season of FX’s hit series The Bear.
• On the site today: Cole explains Secret Service protocol at campaign events and looks into what went wrong on Saturday, while Paul Miller argues that, while free speech comes with responsibility, blaming heated rhetoric for violence sets a bad precedent.

Let Us Know

Do you expect a message of unity from the Republican National Convention this week?