By Steve Holland
BUTLER, Pennsylvania (Reuters) -Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Saturday will return to the rural Pennsylvania site where he was nearly assassinated for a rally in the critical battleground state exactly one month before the Nov. 5 election.
Trump ally Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla (NASDAQ:) and owner of social media platform X, will attend the rally, his first time at a Trump campaign event since he endorsed the former president after the July 13 assassination attempt.
Trump narrowly escaped being shot in the head in Butler by a bullet that whizzed by and left his right ear bleeding, a near-miss that exposed serious gaps in security for the former president and led to heightened protection measures for his subsequent outdoor rallies.
By afternoon, thousands of people wearing Trump regalia had filled the event site at the local fairgrounds. Some chanted the “fight, fight, fight” slogan Trump used to rally his followers moments after he was shot.
Trailers were lined up around the site as a protective measure, blocking the view, for example, from the building where the shooter had opened fire.
The crowd cheered as three parachutists with American flags streaming behind them hurtled down and landed near the building.
July 13 was the first of two attempts on Trump’s life. On Sept. 15, a gunman hid undetected for nearly 12 hours at Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, with plans to kill him, prosecutors have said, but was thwarted by a U.S. Secret Service agent patrolling the course ahead of Trump.
Republican officials hope Trump’s return to Butler will generate more support among his hard-core followers and drive up turnout for him in Pennsylvania, a state he and his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, see as crucial to winning on Nov. 5.
“I’m going back to Butler because I feel I have an obligation to go back to Butler,” Trump told the NewsNation cable news network earlier this week. “We never finished what we were supposed to do.”
Trump also will be joined at the rally by his vice presidential running mate, Senator JD (NASDAQ:) Vance, and the family of firefighter Corey Comperatore, who was fatally shot during the attempt on Trump’s life.
Introductory speakers at the rally focused on remembering Comperatore.
“We will not let that tragic day overshadow our community’s light,” said JD Longo, mayor of the nearby town of Slippery Rock.
An attendee of the July rally, Shane Chesher, 37, said he would return on Saturday for what he expects will be an emotional event.
Chesher said he witnessed the assassination attempt from a seat on the stage behind Trump and is still processing what happened.
“Honestly, I don’t know that I understand still to this day what we experienced that day,” Chesher said in an interview.
Returning to the site, he said, “will be spiritual, and I think it will be very emotional, good and bad.”
The Butler shooting led to widespread criticism of the U.S. Secret Service and the resignation of its director.
Critics raised concerns about how the 20-year-old suspect, Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was subsequently shot to death by Secret Service agents, was able to access a nearby rooftop with a direct line of sight to where Trump was speaking.
A Secret Service probe found communication gaps and a lack of diligence ahead of the shooting. In its aftermath, the agency approved extra security measures for Trump, including using bulletproof glass to shield him at outdoor rallies.
Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement before Saturday’s rally that there had been “comprehensive changes and enhancements to our communications capabilities, resourcing and protective operations.”
Trump credits turning his head to read a chart on a big video as having saved his life. With blood dripping down his face, he raised a fist and shouted “fight” to his supporters, a vivid image from that day. He wore a white bandage on his wounded ear for days after the shooting.
