News
The week in 40 photos
July 19, 2024
July 15, 2024
President Joe Biden has stressed the need for divided Americans to come together as he addressed the nation, after Donald Trump was shot in an assassination attempt.
Mr Biden said "politics should never be a political battlefield or, God forbid, a killing field" as he spoke in a televised address from the Oval Office.
We need to lower the temperature in our politics," he added.
Former president Trump, 78, suffered a bullet wound to his ear in the shooting, which happened early on Saturday evening as he was giving a speech to supporters in Butler, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles (50 km) north of Pittsburgh.
"There is no place in America for this kind of violence, for any violence ever. Period. No exceptions," said Mr Biden in his address.
"We can't allow this violence to be normalised. The political rhetoric of this country has gotten very heated. It's time to cool it down."
He said passions would run high on both sides and the stakes of the election were enormous.
We can do this," Mr Biden implored, saying the nation was founded on a democracy that gave reason and balance a chance to prevail over brute force.
"American democracy - where arguments are made in good faith. American democracy - where the rule of law is respected. Where decency, dignity, fair play aren't just quaint notions, they're living, breathing realities."
The Republican National Convention opens in Milwaukee on Monday, and Donald Trump's plane was seen touching down for the four-day event earlier on Sunday.
The former president said in a social media post he was going to delay his trip by two days because of the attempted assassination "but have just decided that I cannot allow a 'shooter', or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling, or anything else".
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Secret Service has denied diverting resources away from Trump on Saturday, adding: "Protection models don't work that way.
"As far as 'field office teams' these are the candidate nominee operations teams that are added during election years for the heavy travel tempo," he said on X.
The Secret Service has come under fire for not securing the area where the gunman shot from, around 150 metres from the former president.
