Trump to return to scene of shooting

Nobody can “stop free speech or gathering,” the former president declared, after announcing a new rally in Pennsylvania

Former US President Donald Trump has announced that he will hold a “big and beautiful rally” in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he was wounded in an assassination attempt earlier this month.

Trump narrowly avoided death at a rally in Butler on July 13, when a would-be assassin’s bullet clipped his ear as it streaked past his head. Firing from a rooftop that the US Secret Service had inexplicably left unsecured, the 20-year-old gunman killed one spectator at the rally and wounded two others before he was shot dead by Secret Service snipers.

The rally ended with cheers and chants of “USA” as Trump rose from behind his lectern and pumped his fist in the air, before he was led to safety by his security detail.

“I will be going back to Butler, Pennsylvania for a big and beautiful rally, honoring the soul of our beloved firefighting hero, Corey, and those brave patriots injured two weeks ago,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform on Friday.

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Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old former firefighter, was fatally shot in the head during the attempted assassination. 

“What a day it will be – fight, fight, fight!” Trump continued, using the phrase he mouthed to supporters as he climbed to his feet after the shooting. “Stay tuned for details.”

Trump did not reveal a date or location for the rally. The July 13 rally was held at the Butler Farm Show, a fairground near the city’s regional airport.

Following the shooting, Secret Service officials cautioned Trump against holding large-scale outdoor rallies, the Washington Post reported earlier this week. According to a separate report in the New York Times, the agency refused repeated requests from the Trump campaign to provide extra resources at these large events.

In a Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump said that he will “continue to do outdoor rallies,” and claimed that the Secret Service had “agreed to substantially step up their operation.”

“No one can ever be allowed to stop or impede free speech or gathering,” the former president concluded.