Law enforcement personnel patrol the venue, following a shooting incident during the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, in Washington, D.C.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin at a press conference in Astana, Kazakhstan, on November 28, 2024. Mr. Putin said “in his opinion” Donald Trump is not safe now
| Photo Credit: via Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday (November 28, 2024) as an experienced and intelligent politician, but said he did not believe Mr. Trump was safe after attempts on his life.

Mr. Trump was wounded in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July. In a separate incident in September, a man was charged with attempted assassination after allegedly positioning himself with a rifle at one of Mr. Trump’s Florida golf courses.

Speaking to reporters in Kazakhstan after a summit, Mr. Putin said he had been shocked by the way the U.S. election campaign had unfolded.

He cited “the absolutely uncivilised methods used to battle against Mr. Trump, up to and including an assassination attempt — and more than once”.

“By the way, in my opinion, he is not safe now,” said Mr. Putin.

“Unfortunately, in the history of the United States various incidents have happened. I think he (Trump) is intelligent and I hope he’s cautious and understands this.”

Shocked at Trump criticism

Mr. Putin, who is himself heavily protected, said he had been even more shocked though by how Mr. Trump’s family and children had been criticised by political opponents during the U.S. election campaign.

He called such behaviour “revolting” and said in Russia not even “bandits” would resort to such methods.

Talking about what he described as the Biden administration’s decision to escalate the war in Ukraine by allowing Kyiv to strike Russia with Western missiles, Mr. Putin speculated that it could be a ploy to either help Mr. Trump by giving him something to roll back or a way of making his life more difficult with Russia.

Either way, Mr. Putin said he thought Mr. Trump would “find the solution” and said Moscow was ready for dialogue.

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump takes the stage following early results from the 2024 U.S. presidential election in Palm Beach County Convention Center, in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., November 6, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

An Iranian national charged by the FBI for plotting assassination on president-elect Donald Trump was tasked by the Iranians to target Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka, the Department of Justice has alleged.

Farhad Shakeri, 51, of Iran was charged Friday (November 8, 2024) in a criminal complaint in connection with their alleged involvement in a plot to murder Mr. Trump. Shakeri is an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) asset, remains at large and is believed to reside in Tehran, Iran.

“He was also tasked with targeting Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka,” the Department of Justice said. According to documents filed in a federal court, Shakeri was asked by IRGC to target Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka and to plan a mass shooting event in October 2024.

On or about October 23, 2024, the governments of the United States and Israel publicly warned travellers about threats of an attack targeting tourist locations in the Arugam Bay area, and, on or about the following day, Sri Lankan authorities reported having arrested three individuals in connection with the threat.

On October 28, after the public travel warnings issued by the governments of the United States and Israel and after CC-2’s arrest by Sri Lankan authorities-Shaker advised the FBI that he had previously tasked CC-2 with surveilling the Israeli consulate in Sri Lanka, the Department of Justice said.

Shaker stated that he and CC-2 had served time in prison together. Shaker informed the FBI that he had provided this surveillance to IRGC Official-I. According to Shaker, after being provided surveillance on the Israeli consulate, IRGC Official I asked him to identify another target.

After this Shaker then instructed CC-2 to surveil a tourist location in Arugam Bay frequented by Israeli tourists. IRGC Official-I instructed Shaker to orchestrate a mass shooting at the Arugam Bay location. They planned that CC-2 would supply AK-47s and other weapons for the attack, federal prosecutors said.

An Iranian man has been charged over an alleged plot by Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to kill Donald Trump – the United States president-elect who has already survived two attempts on his life. The Republican leader, set to return to the White House this January, was shot in his ear during an assassination attempt in July.

The Justice Department termed Farhad Shakeri as an “Iranian asset” who was tasked by the Iranian regime on October 7 to plot Trump’s assassination. Shakeri, 51, allegedly told law enforcement that he did not intend to propose a plan to kill Trump within the timeframe set by the IRGC, according to an official statement.

“The Justice Department has charged an asset of the Iranian regime who was tasked by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump,” said Attorney General Merrick B Garland.

Read | Trump Says He Would Not Mind Somebody ‘Shooting’ At Him Through Fake News

The US has designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization.

FBI director Christopher Wray said the charges reveal that Iran continues to target US citizens, which includes Trump and other leaders and government officials who criticize the Iran regime. “The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been conspiring with criminals and hitmen to target and gun down Americans on US soil and that simply won’t be tolerated,” he said.

The statement said Shakeri had immigrated to the US as a child and was deported around 2008 after he was convicted in a robbery case. The prosecutors believe Shakeri is now in Iran.

Shakeri has also been charged with hiring two men in New York, whom he had met in prison, to kill a US citizen of Iranian origin who had publicly opposed the Iranian government. The two New York residents – Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt – have also been charged for their alleged involvement in the murder plot.

Threats And Robotic Dogs

Having survived two attempts on his life and now on the path to the most powerful office, protecting the president-elect has become the top priority for the US Secret Service. Robotic dogs are being used to patrol Trump’s Mar-a-Lago house in Florida.

Read | Donald Trump’s “Guts” Bring Him Back To The Site Of Failed Assassination

A bullet had pierced Trump’s ear during an earlier attempt on his life at a rally in Pennsylvania in July. A second attempt was reported three months later at the Florida golf club when shots were fired in the former president’s vicinity. Trump was not injured this time.

After the election results on November 6 made it clear he would return for a second term, Trump said in his victory speech that he was told God had spared his life for a reason. “And that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness,” he had said.

Washington:

A new report has shown that the US Secret Service is responsible for security failures in the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, which led to one death and multiple injuries.

An internal review by the agency revealed on Friday that agents neglected to use technology that could have identified the attacker when he flew a drone over the rally site hours before the incident, Xinhua news agency reported.

The report highlighted failures by the Secret Service’s advance team and its coordination with state and local law enforcement prior to the attack. The Secret Service, responsible for overseeing Trump’s security, failed to instruct local police snipers to secure a nearby rooftop.

Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned amid widespread outrage over the agency’s failure to prevent the incident, was previously grilled by multiple lawmakers at a Congressional hearing on why the agency failed to secure the rooftop.

At a news briefing on Friday, Acting Director Ronald Rowe highlighted a “lack of clarity” from the Secret Service in their security planning for Trump’s rally.

At the rally, just shortly before shots were fired into the crowd, some people saw the suspect climbing on top of the roof and alerted local police, but Trump’s protective detail had no idea police were searching for the suspicious person.

Secret Service agents and local law enforcement operated on different radio frequencies and were stationed in separate locations, which hindered their ability to quickly share information.

“It’s important that we hold ourselves accountable for the failures of July 13th, and that we use the lessons learned to make sure that we do not have another failure like this again,” Rowe said.

After the assassination attempt of Trump in Pennsylvania, the Secret Service allocated additional resources not typically provided to someone in Trump’s position.

On Sunday, a man was arrested after a Secret Service agent spotted a rifle barrel sticking out of a fence at the Trump International Golf Club in South Florida and “engaged” with him. Trump was unharmed in what appears to be the second assassination attempt in about two months.

Just days after the second assassination attempt, the US House of Representatives on Friday unanimously approved a bill that aims to enhance Secret Service protection for the presidential nominees and their respective vice presidential candidates.

The bill would require the Secret Service to “apply the same standards for determining the number of agents required to protect presidents, vice presidents, and major presidential and vice presidential candidates”.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

President Joe Biden said Monday that the US Secret Service needs more personnel to perform its duties after a second apparent assassination attempt against Republican election candidate Donald Trump.

“One thing I want to make clear, the (secret) service needs more help, and I think the Congress should respond to their needs,” Biden told reporters at the White House.

“I think we may need more personnel.”

Biden added that “thank God the president’s OK” following Sunday’s incident in which the Secret Service opened fire on a gunman, who was later arrested, at Trump’s golf course in Florida.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Nearly two weeks after Donald Trump’s near assassination, the FBI confirmed on July 26 that it was indeed a bullet that struck the former President’s ear, moving to clear up conflicting accounts about what caused the former President’s injuries after a gunman opened fire at a Pennsylvania rally.

“What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject’s rifle,” the agency said in a statement.

The one-sentence statement from the FBI marked the most definitive law enforcement account of Trump’s injuries and followed ambiguous comments earlier in the week from Director Christopher Wray that appeared to cast doubt on whether Trump had actually been hit by a bullet.

The comment drew fury from Trump and his allies and further stoked conspiracy theories that have flourished on both sides of the political aisle amid a dearth of information following the July 13 attack.

Up until now, federal law enforcement agents involved in the investigation, including the FBI and Secret Service, had refused to provide information about what caused Trump’s injuries. Trump’s campaign has also declined to release medical records from the hospital where he was first treated or to make the doctors there available for questions.

Updates have instead come either from Trump himself or from Trump’s former White House doctor, Ronny Jackson, a staunch ally who now represents Texas in Congress. Though Jackson has been treating Trump since the night of the attack, he has come under considerable scrutiny and is not Trump’s primary care physician.

The FBI’s apparent reluctance to immediately vouch for the former President’s version of events has also raised fresh tension between the Republican nominee and the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency, which he could soon exert control over once again. Trump and his supporters have for years accused federal law enforcement of being weaponized against him, something Wray has consistently denied.

Speaking at an event later Friday in West Palm Beach Florida, Trump drew boos from the crowd when he described the suggestion that he may have been struck by glass or shrapnel instead of a bullet.

“Did you see the FBI today apologized?” he asked. “It just never ends with these people. … We accept their apology.”

Trump appeared on July 26 for the first time without a bandage on his right ear. Photographs and video showed no sign of continued bleeding, and no distinct holes or gashes.

Questions about the extent and nature of Trump’s wound began immediately after the attack, as his campaign and law enforcement officials declined to answer questions about his condition or the treatment he received after Trump narrowly escaped death in an attempted assassination by a gunman with a high-powered rifle.

Those questions have persisted despite photographs showing the trace of a projectile speeding past Trump’s head as well as Trump’s teleprompter glass intact after the shooting, and the account Trump himself gave in a Truth Social post within hours of the shooting that he had been “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.”

“I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin,” he wrote.

Days later, in a speech accepting the nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Trump recounted the scene in detail, while wearing a large gauze bandage over his right ear.

“I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me really, really hard, on my right ear. I said to myself, ‘Wow, what was that? It can only be a bullet,’” he said.

“If I had not moved my head at that very last instant,” Trump said, “the assassin’s bullet would have perfectly hit its mark, and I would not be here tonight.”

But the first medical account of Trump’s condition didn’t come until a full week after the shooting, when Jackson released his first letter last Saturday evening. In it, he said the bullet that struck Trump had “produced a 2 cm wide wound that extended down to the cartilaginous surface of the ear.” He also revealed Trump had received a CT scan at the hospital.

Federal law enforcement involved in the investigation, including the FBI and Secret Service, had declined to confirm that account. And Wray’s testimony offered apparently conflicting answers on the issue.

“There’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear,” Wray said, before he seemed to suggest it was indeed a bullet.

“I don’t know whether that bullet, in addition to causing the grazing, could have also landed somewhere else,” he said.

On July 25, the FBI sought to clarify matters with a statement affirming that the shooting was an “attempted assassination of former President Trump which resulted in his injury, as well as the death of a heroic father and the injuries of several other victims.” The FBI also said Thursday that its Shooting Reconstruction Team continues to examine bullet fragments and other evidence from the scene.

Jackson, who has been treating the former President since the night of the July 13 shooting, told The Associated Press on July 25 that any suggestion Trump’s ear was bloodied by anything other than a bullet was reckless.

“It was a bullet wound,” said Jackson. “You can’t make statements like that. It leads to all these conspiracy theories.”

In his letter on July 26, Jackson insisted “there is absolutely no evidence” Trump was struck by anything other than a bullet and said it was “wrong and inappropriate to suggest anything else.”

He wrote that at Butler Memorial Hospital, where the GOP nominee was rushed after the shooting, he was evaluated and treated for a “Gunshot Wound to the Right Ear.”

“Having served as an Emergency Medicine physician for over 20 years in the United States Navy, including as a combat physician on the battlefield in Iraq,” he wrote, “I have treated many gunshot wounds in my career. Based on my direct observations of the injury, my relevant clinical background, and my significant experience evaluating and treating patients with similar wounds, I completely concur with the initial assessment and treatment provided by the doctors at nurses at Butler Memorial Hospital on the day of the shooting.”

The FBI declined to comment on the Jackson letters.

Asked if the campaign would release those hospital records, or allow the doctors who treated him there to speak, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung blasted the media for asking.

“The media has no shame in engaging in disgusting conspiracy theories,” he said. “The facts are the facts, and to question an abhorrent assassination attempt that ultimately cost a life and injured two others is beyond the pale.”

In emails last week, he told the AP that “medical readouts” had already been provided.

“It’s sad some people still don’t believe a shooting happened,” Cheung said, “even after one person was killed and others were injured.”

Anyone who believes the conspiracies, he added, “is either mentally deficient or willfully peddling falsehoods for political reasons.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a close Trump ally, also urged Wray to correct his testimony in a letter on July 26, saying the fact Trump had been hit by a bullet “was made clear in briefings my office received and should not be a point of contention.”

“As head of the FBI, you should not be creating confusion about such matters, as it further undercuts the agency’s credibility with millions of Americans,” he wrote.

Trump also lashed out at Wray in a post on his Truth Social network, saying it was “No wonder the once storied FBI has lost the confidence of America!”

“No, it was, unfortunately, a bullet that hit my ear, and hit it hard. There was no glass, there was no shrapnel,” he wrote.

On Friday, he called Wray’s comments “so damaging to the Great People that work in the FBI.”

Jackson has encountered significant scrutiny over the years.

After administering a physical to Trump in 2018, he drew headlines for suggesting that “if he had a healthier diet over the last 20 years, he might live to be 200 years old.”

He was reportedly demoted by the Navy after the Department of Defense inspector general released a scathing report on his conduct as a top White House physician that found Jackson had made “sexual and denigrating” comments about a female subordinates and took prescription-strength sleeping medication that prompted worries from his colleagues about his ability to provide proper medical care.

Trump appointed Wray as FBI director in 2017 to replace the fired James Comey. But the then-President swiftly soured on his hire as the bureau continued its investigation into the Russian election interference.

Trump flirted openly with the idea of firing Wray as his term drew to a close, and he lashed out anew after the FBI executed a search warrant at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to recover boxes of classified documents from his presidency.

Washington:

Former US president Donald Trump was indeed hit by an assassin’s bullet or a fragment of one, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Friday, putting to rest questions over the nature of the Republican candidate’s wounding at a campaign rally this month.

“What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject’s rifle,” the FBI said in a statement.

Trump’s right ear was covered in blood on July 13 after he was injured during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

The FBI deemed the assault — in which a gunman fired eight bullets from outside the event’s security perimeter — an assassination attempt.

But FBI chief Christopher Wray told US lawmakers on Wednesday that there was some doubt as to “whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that, you know, that hit his ear.”

Following the new statement from the FBI — which Trump has long alleged is part of a “deep state” conspiring against him — the Republican posted on his Truth Social platform: “I assume that’s the best apology that we’ll get from Director Wray, but it is fully accepted!”

Earlier Friday, he posted a letter from his former White House doctor saying the wound was almost certainly due to a bullet.

“There is absolutely no evidence that it was anything other than a bullet,” wrote Ronny Jackson, now a Republican congressman from Texas, on Truth Social.

Two rally attendees were seriously wounded in the attack, and a 50-year-old Pennsylvania firefighter was shot dead, according to officials. The gunman was killed by a US Secret Service sniper.

Since the shooting, Trump has made the attack a key part of his campaign pitch, telling a crowd in Michigan that he “took a bullet for democracy.”

At the Republican National Convention where he was anointed the party’s nominee for president, Trump said he had “God on my side” as he described the attack.

And at Trump rallies, many of the former president’s supporters have taken to wearing bandages on their right ears, a reference to the attack.

On Thursday, Trump had also denied Wray’s comments and accused him of political partisanship.

“It was, unfortunately, a bullet that hit my ear, and hit it hard. There was no glass, there was no shrapnel,” he said.

A New York Times investigation published Friday said “a detailed analysis of bullet trajectories, footage, photos and audio… strongly suggests Mr Trump was grazed by the first of eight bullets fired by the gunman.”

Trump’s campaign has not released any medical reports or statements from his current physician, instead quoting Jackson — a former White House physician who is a staunch political ally of the ex-president.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Republican Presidential nominee and former President Donald J. Trump attends a public campaign at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan on July 20, 2024. This is also Trump’s first public rally since he was shot in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania on July 13
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Donald Trump said on July 20 nobody warned him of a problem in the lead-up to the former president’s rally in Pennsylvania last week when a would-be assassin shot him in the ear.

“Nobody mentioned it, nobody said there was a problem. I would’ve waited for 15, they could’ve said let’s wait for 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 5 minutes, something. Nobody said,” Mr. Trump told Fox News in an interview. “I think that was a mistake,” he added. “How did somebody get on that roof? And why wasn’t he reported?”

The Washington Post on Saturday reported that top officials at the U.S. Secret Service repeatedly rejected requests from Mr. Trump’s security detail for more manpower and gear at events before the attempted assassination. The agency, which is responsible for Mr. Trump’s protection, denied these requests, saying at times that it lacked resources, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Secret Service did not immediately respond outside regular office hours to a Reuters request for comment.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is set to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee on July 22 for a hearing related to the shooting at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania last week.

Police and members of the community gather at the site of a shooting death of a homeless man near the site of the Republican National Convention (RNC) on the second day of the event on July 16, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images via AFP

Ohio police officers in Wisconsin for the Republican National Convention shot and killed a man who was wielding two knives near the convention, Milwaukee’s police chief said on July 16.

Five members of the Columbus, Ohio, police department fired on the man, who had a knife in each hand, refused police commands and charged at an unarmed man before police fired, Milwaukee Chief Jeffrey Norman said at a news conference. Two knives were recovered from the scene, the chief said.

Also read | Iran threat prompted more security at Trump rally as officials warn of potential for copycat attacks

Police released body camera footage that showed officers on bikes talking before one of them says, “He’s got a knife.”

Several officers then yell “Drop the knife!” as they run toward two men standing in a street. When the armed man moved toward the unarmed man, police fired their weapons.

“Someone’s life was in danger,” Norman said. “These officers, who were not from this area, took it upon themselves to act and save someone’s life today.”

Thousands of officers from multiple jurisdictions are in Milwaukee providing additional security for the convention that began Monday and concludes Thursday.

The shooting fueled anger from residents who questioned why out-of-state officers were in their neighborhood located about a mile from the convention site.

The Columbus Division of Police, as well as the chief of staff for Milwaukee’s mayor and a spokesperson for the convention’s joint command center, all said there was nothing to suggest the shooting was related to the convention itself.

A cousin and others identified the man killed as 43-year-old Samuel Sharpe.

Milwaukee residents and activists quickly converged on the site of the shooting, many of them expressing outrage about the involvement of a police department in town because of the convention. They held a nighttime vigil.

“They came into our community and shot down our family right here at a public park,” said Linda Sharpe, a cousin of the man who was killed. “What are you doing in our city, shooting people down?”

Sharpe said her cousin lived in a tent encampment across the street from King Park, where the shooting occurred.

Residents said the encampment was a long-standing feature of the neighbourhood, which is home to several social service clinics and a shelter. Some said Milwaukee police officers are familiar with many of those living in the tents and might have been able to deescalate the situation.

David Porter, who said he knew Sharpe and is also homeless, was angry that officers from outside of Milwaukee were in his neighborhood.

“If MPD would have been there, that man would still be alive right now,” Porter said, referring to Milwaukee police.

Norman, the Milwaukee chief, said 13 officers who were part of a bicycle patrol from Columbus were within their assigned zone having a meeting when they saw the altercation.

“The officers observed a subject armed with a knife in each hand, engaged in an altercation with another unarmed individual,” Norman said. They only fired after the armed man ignored multiple commands and moved toward the unarmed man, the chief said.

“This is a situation where somebody’s life was in immediate danger,” Norman said.

The Columbus Division of Police has received attention because of its special unit deployed to Milwaukee that works to improve police-community relationships and had a visible role in guiding the largely uneventful protests on Monday.

The shooting happened near King Park, roughly a mile from the convention center, where a small group of protesters gathered before marching on Monday. That demonstration was followed by dozens of Columbus police officers, wearing blue vests that read: “Columbus Police Dialogue.”

The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office said an autopsy was scheduled for Wednesday.