The Republican National Convention starts on July 15 in Milwaukee, two days after Donald Trump was injured in an assassination attempt, with the violent scene at his campaign rally horrifying the country and amplifying already intense political divisions.

Trump and his advisers are pledging resilience in the face of the attack, with plans going forward for the event to showcase the former president and his platform as his party formally chooses him to be its nominee.

Trump assassination bid: what we know 

It was not immediately clear if and how Saturday’s attack would alter the four-day event, which normally has a celebratory atmosphere. Republican officials have said they want to defy the threat Trump has faced and stick to their plans and their schedule. But at the very least, the event is expected to include a heightened focus on security and a grim recognition of how stunningly close the presumptive Republican nominee came to losing his life.

Here’s what to watch for on the first day of the Republican National Convention:

The shooting has drawn bipartisan condemnation and bipartisan calls for unity. But it has also led to some Republicans blaming President Joe Biden, pointing to his words casting Trump as a threat to democracy. Some have demanded that prosecutors now drop the four criminal cases Trump faces, including one in which he’s been convicted.

Trump rally shooting LIVE

As elected officials, politicians and a few regular Americans address the conference, the question is which tone will prevail in the aftermath of the attack: Will it make speeches even more fiery or will calls for calm prevail?

Even before the attempt on Trump’s life Saturday, Republicans were largely firmly aligned with him and planned to show party unity at the convention. But that message is expected to be even more pronounced as the former president and GOP officials look to project resolve, with Trump saying Sunday that “it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win.”

From Lincoln to Trump: A long history of shootings in U.S. Presidential politics 

The show of unity is a departure from the party’s recent history. In 2016, the first time Republicans formally crowned Trump as their nominee, the opening day of their convention was marked by angry dissent from anti-Trump delegates on the floor of the event. After his turbulent presidency concluded with an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by his supporters, his political standing seemed weaker than ever when he launched his third White House campaign in 2022. But Trump flattened a field of GOP challengers and his legal problems have galvanized his supporters.

Trump has still not named a running mate, and an announcement could come as soon as Monday. His top three contenders, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, are scheduled to speak to Republican delegates at some point this week, according to event organizers. And per tradition, the person Trump selects as his vice-presidential running mate is expected to give an address Wednesday night.

Trump has compared his search for a new vice president to his former reality TV show, “The Apprentice,” leading to speculation that the showman might opt for an onstage reveal of his pick at the convention. He could also make the announcement on social media, as he did in 2016 when he selected Mike Pence to be his running mate.

Before the shooting, the 2024 race was rocked by upheaval among Democrats after Biden’s shaky debate performance last month led members of his party to start staging a public intervention calling for him to bow out as their nominee and raising the real possibility that Trump may be running against someone else.

Republicans have long sought to paint Biden as incompetent, but since Biden’s campaign has become seriously questioned, Trump and the GOP have stepped up their criticisms of Vice President Kamala Harris. That’s expected to continue as the convention kicks off, with more references to “the Biden-Harris administration.”

The theme for Monday’s program is “Make America Wealthy Once Again,” according to Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee. Focusing on economics not only makes sense because it can be a key issue for swing voters, but it’s an area where Trump might have an edge over Biden when it comes to voter views on job creation and cost of living.

Look for Republicans to focus on Trump’s proposals to impose higher tariffs on foreign-made goods along with extending the tax cuts he signed into law in 2017, which expire next year. Biden wants to extend the middle-class tax cuts while raising taxes on highly profitable companies and the richest Americans.

Expect Republicans to also focus on inflation, even though the worst price spike in four decades is steadily fading, according to a new report from the Labor Department. Biden claims Trump’s tariffs would only aggravate the problem.

As Trump tries to win over undecided and middle-of-the-road voters, one of the key questions is to what degree he’ll feature some of the far-right characters in his orbit, his lies about his loss in the 2020 election, his calls for retribution against his opponents and his embrace of those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Key messages of Trump’s third campaign for the White House have included venting his grievances from the past election and decrying his legal problems. He has said that if he’s elected president, he expects to pardon many of those arrested or convicted for their roles in the violent siege on the Capitol and has even played a song at his rallies that he recorded with some of the jailed defendants.

Though candidates typically try to moderate their message as they move into the general election, Trump has rarely been typical — or moderate — and some of the messages he’s featured in his campaign could be jarring to the voters he’s looking to sway.

Biden is getting his own slice of the prime-time spotlight Monday when he appears in an interview on NBC with Lester Holt as he continues to try to reassure members of his party about his candidacy.

He canceled a planned Monday trip to Texas and his reelection campaign temporarily suspended its television ads after Saturday’s shooting. But the pause in Democratic counterprograming to the Republican convention won’t last.

After the NBC interview, he’ll fly later Monday to Nevada, where he will address the NAACP convention in Las Vegas on Tuesday and do an interview with the BET network.

The president has made decrying Trump as a threat to democracy and the nation’s founding values a centerpiece of his campaign. He had to soften that message in the shooting’s immediate aftermath, but plans to use the trip to highlight what his campaign calls stark contrasts between himself and Trump.

In addition to hoping to defuse some of the GOP criticism coming from Milwaukee, the campaign hopes the trip could help Biden reclaim standing with some Democrats who are still skeptical he’s up to the rigors of the campaign.

Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump reacts after gunfire rang out during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Two witnesses at Donald Trump’s election rally in Pennsylvania, where he was attacked, claimed to have seen the shooter, with one recalling how the gunman moved from roof to roof, apparently scouting for a perfect perch to shoot at the former US President.

The FBI on July 14 identified the gunman as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. Crooks, armed with an AR-style rifle, was killed by Secret Service personnel. He fired multiple shots at the stage from an “elevated position outside of the rally venue,” the agency said.

The gunman was able to get close enough to shoot and injure Trump is seen as a huge failure of the security agencies tasked with providing cover for him ahead of the election.

The gunman was on a rooftop approximately “200 to 250 yards” from where the former US president was addressing his supporters, U.S. media reported.

According to an attendee named Ben Macer, he was up along the fence line and “saw the guy move from roof to roof”, CBS News reported.

Macer further said he told an officer that the shooter was on the roof, approximately “200 to 250 yards” away from where Trump was addressing his supporters.

“When I turned around to go back to where I was, it was when the gunshots started, and then it was just chaos, and we all came running away, and that was that,” he said.

Butler resident Ryan Knight, another witness along the fence line, also said he saw the suspected shooter atop the American Glass Research building, the report said.

“I walked over about 20 minutes before the shooting happened to stand along the fence line where Trump was. As I was doing that, I was right beside the AGR building, which had the shooter on it,” Knight said.

“When I was sitting there, a guy said, ‘Oh God, he had a gun.’ When I looked up, there was a guy on top of the building with an M16 with a blanket, pointing at the president. He starts shooting. Four to five shots rang out. I throw the guy I’m with to the ground. I jump to the ground, I look up, and I see his head get split up from the shot from the Secret Service,” he said.

The Secret Service has confirmed that one attendee was killed and two others were critically injured in the shooting.

“All the cops started flying over, pushing us out, they took my name, witness report, [and] cell phone number to go over what happened because there [weren’t many] eyewitnesses,” Knight said.

“My main thought is why wasn’t the Secret Service on top of AGR? That’s a very big vantage point to shoot at the president. How did that get missed?” Knight asked.

Macer said he did not get a clear look at the alleged shooter, but reiterated that he saw him move from building to building.

The story so far: In a shooting incident under investigation as an attempted assassination attempt, former U.S. President Donald Trump was shot in the ear during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, leaving one person dead and two others critically injured. Follow Live Updates here

The U.S. Secret Service, which provides former Presidents with lifetime protection, said Trump was safe while the suspected shooter was killed.

The attack marks the first attempt to assassinate a President or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. Coming less than four months before the November 5 election and just days before Trump was to accept the Republican nomination for a third time to set up a potential rematch with President Joe Biden, the incident is likely to have a far-reaching impact on the presidential race and domestic politics.

Here’s what we know so far.

How did the shooting unfold? 

On Saturday evening, a few minutes after Trump took the stage in Butler and began his speech, at least five shots rang out as the former U.S. President was talking about a spike in illegal border crossings. In one of the videos of the incident, Trump is seen clutching his right ear behind the podium before Secret Service agents dash toward him and cover him. “Get down,” the agents said as Trump dropped to the ground as gunfire set off panic.

A minute later, he emerged with his face streaked with blood. He pumped his fist in the air in a show of defiance, mouthing the words “Fight! Fight! Fight!” before the Secret Service rushed him to a black SUV.

Who was the shooter?

The suspected shooter, who attacked Trump from an elevated position outside the rally venue, was killed at the scene. The suspect has been identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. Law enforcement reportedly recovered an AR-style rifle at the scene. No motive has been identified so far in the assassination attempt, the FBI has stated and added that the investigation is ongoing.

Crooks was a registered Republican, according to the state’s voter records. However, he had given $15 to a progressive political action committee in 2021, the day President Joe Biden took over, as per an AP report.

How did rally attendees react?

A witness recounted how a man next to him was shot dead during the apparent assassination attempt on the Republican presidential candidate. “I heard several gunshots. The man beside me suffered a gun shot to the head, was instantly killed [and] fell to the bottom of the bleachers. Another woman looked like she got hit in the forearm or hand,” the man told NBC News. He said it seemed the victim was “in the way of the shots between whoever was shooting the gun and the President.”

Republican Dan Meuser was in the front row with other elected officials and candidates when the shots rang out. “It was pretty clear after the first pop that it was gunfire,” he told AP. “It was just a lot of mayhem, and just a terrible, terrible tragedy, a terrible shame.”

Rico Elmore, vice chairman of the Beaver County Republican Party, was sitting in a section for special guests, facing President Trump, when he heard what sounded like firecrackers. “So, everyone hesitated — and it was like, no, these are actual shots. So I yelled, ‘Get down!’” Elmore saw Secret Service agents helping Trump off the stage and then heard someone from his left calling for a medic. He took off his tie and jumped a barricade, but when he reached the person, Elmore saw he had been shot in the head. Elmore said he held the victim’s head but it was too late. “I mean, it was a horror,” Elmore said.

Chet Jack, a member of the state Republican Party, and his wife Beth were sitting in the bleachers facing Trump when they heard the shots. Beth ducked after hearing the shots and then a second round of shots. “I couldn’t see what happened with President Trump, because the minute I heard a shot, I yelled, ‘Everybody get down!’” Beth said. While Beth ducked for cover, Chet said he remained standing. He said he believed the shots were coming from above, and that ducking wouldn’t protect him.

Also Read |From Lincoln to Trump: A long history of shootings in U.S. Presidential politics

Is Trump safe? 

After the incident, Trump left for New Jersey to spend the night at his private gold club. He wrote on his Truth Social site that he, “knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realised then what was happening…” He thanked the Secret Service and law endorsement for their “rapid response”.

Trump also extended his condolences to the family of the person killed at the rally. “It is incredible that such an act can take place in our country. Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who is now dead,” he said.

Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., said his father was “in great spirits.” “He will never stop fighting to save America, no matter what the radical left throws at him,” Trump Jr. said in a statement.

What has Biden said?

President Joe Biden, meanwhile, returned to Washington from Delaware earlier than planned following the attack at the Trump rally. The White House said President Biden also spoke with former President Donald Trump.

“I’m grateful to hear that [Trump is] 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 … There’s no place for this kind of violence in America,” the U.S. President said in a statement.

Vice President Kamala Harris said she was “relieved that he [Trump] is not seriously injured.” “We are praying for him, his family, and all those who have been injured and impacted by this senseless shooting,” she said in a statement.

“Violence such as this has no place in our nation. We must all condemn this abhorrent act and do our part to ensure that it does not lead to more violence.”

What is the world saying?

The deadly incident sent shockwaves across the globe, with leaders uniting to condemn the attack and denounce political violence. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “deeply concerned” by the attack on his friend.

“Violence has no place in politics and democracies. Wish him speedy recovery… Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the deceased, those injured and the American people,” the PM added.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was “sickened” by the shooting, while a spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office denounced all forms of political violence. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the incident “concerning and confronting.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was shocked. Jordan Bardella of the French far-right National Rally party said “Violence is the poison of any democracy.”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she was “following with apprehension” updates from Pennsylvania and wished Trump a speedy recovery.