close
close

Trump says he will continue outdoor rallies with more Secret Service protection

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Saturday he will continue holding outdoor rallies, just two weeks after he was shot during an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.

In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, the former president said:

“I WILL CONTINUE TO DO OUTSIDE REPORTS, AND THE SECRET SERVICE HAS AGREED TO INCREASE THEIR OPERATIONS GREATLY. THEY ARE ENTIRELY AUTHORIZED TO DO SO. NO ONE SHOULD EVER OBSTRUCT OR INTERFERE WITH FREEDOM OF SPEECH OR ASSEMBLIES!!!”

Trump spoke at a campaign rally in Butler on July 13 when a gunman opened fire from the roof of a building overlooking the crowd and the stage. The shooter, later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, one person present killed and injured two others.

A few days later, Trump appeared several times at the Republican Party convention in Milwaukee with a bandage over his ear.

The FBI said Friday that a bullet wounded him the former president.

“What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, either whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the decedent’s gun,” the FBI’s Bureau of Public Affairs said in a statement to CBS News.

The statement came after FBI Director Christopher Wray testified earlier this week that there was still “some doubt” about what had caressed Trump’s right ear during the assassination attempt.

The Secret Service quickly came under fire after the assassination attempt, with questions growing about how this could have happened during such a high-profile event. Kimberly Cheatle has resigned from her post as director of the U.S. Secret Service after coming under pressure from lawmakers who called for her to resign following the assassination attempt.

Trump will hold a rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on Saturday night, this time with his running mate J.D. Vance. He also plans to speak earlier in the day at a bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee.