Biden calls for unity after Trump rally shooting

Rehoboth Beach: President Joe Biden said on Saturday that "everybody must condemn" the suspected assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, adding that he hoped to speak with his 2024 presidential rival soon.

Addressing the nation about two hours after the shooting, Biden said he was relieved that Trump is reportedly "doing well." He mentioned that he had been unable to reach Trump before his remarks and pledged to update the public later on Saturday on whether they had spoken, as well as providing additional details about the investigation.

“We cannot allow this to be happening,” Biden said. “The idea that there’s violence in America like this is just unheard of."

Biden, speaking without a teleprompter, said he was waiting for additional information before formally calling the attack an attempted assassination on the former president.

“I have an opinion, but I don’t have any facts,” he told reporters, pledging to provide updates as he learns more.

The president delivered his remarks from the White House’s emergency briefing room in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, which is set up whenever the president travels to allow him to address the country within minutes. He was spending the weekend at his beach home and was at a nearby church for mass when the shooting occurred.

Biden received an "initial briefing" from aides after he left the church shortly after the shooting and then convened security officials for a more in-depth update from Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the United States Secret Service, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall.

Following the shooting at Trump’s rally, the Biden campaign announced it was pausing all messaging to supporters and working to pull down all of its television ads as quickly as possible.

Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement that she was also briefed, adding that she and her husband “are relieved" that Trump was not seriously inured.

“We are praying for him, his family, and all those who have been injured and impacted by this senseless shooting,” she said. AP