President Joe Biden spoke to Donald Trump on Saturday night after the attempted assassination of his rival and condemned the ‘sick’ political violence in America.
The president rushed back to the White House from his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, after a gunman opened fire at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Biden addressed the media about two hours after the mayhem in which shots were fired at Trump.
‘There’s no place in America this kind of violence. It’s sick. It’s sick,’ he said.
‘It’s one of the reasons we have to unite this country.’
He said the investigation was ongoing and he steered clear of giving a definitive assessment that the attack amounted to an assassination attempt.
‘I have an opinion but I don’t have any facts,’ he said in answer to a journalist’s question.
‘So I want to make sure we have all the facts before I make any more comments.’
He thanked the Secret Service and other agencies.
‘The bottom line is the Trump rally is a rally that he should have been … conducted peacefully without any problem,’ he said.
‘But the idea, the idea that there’s political violence or violence in America like this is just unheard of. It’s just not appropriate. Everybody, everybody must condemn it, everybody.’
Biden returned from a campaign rally in Detroit, Michigan, late on Friday night and was spending the weekend at his Delaware beach home.
But he upended those plans by calling media to a briefing at his local police station in Rehoboth.
His campaign announced it was suspending all communications and trying to pull its TV s.
Two hours earlier, pandemonium gripped a Trump campaign rally.
The former president was in full flight before shots were heard. Trump grabbed his right ear with his right hand, then brought his hand down to look at it before dropping to his knees behind the podium before Secret Service agents swarmed and covered him.
Biden issued a statement just before he appeared before the cameras.
‘I have been briefed on the shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania,’ he said.
‘I’m grateful to hear that he’s safe and doing well. I’m praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally, as we await further information.
‘Jill and I are grateful to the Secret Service for getting him to safety. There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it.’