Trump rally shooting: What it means for the US election & how the world is reacting | DW News

Summary

Former US President Donald Trump was wounded in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Gunshots were fired from a nearby rooftop, resulting in one spectator's death and injuries to two others. Trump suffered a grazed ear, prompting a swift Secret Service response. The FBI is leading the investigation, which has raised questions about security protocols. The incident has drawn global condemnation and concerns about political violence and its impact on the US election.

Takeaways

• 🔍 Former US President Donald Trump was wounded in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
• 🚨 The FBI is leading the investigation into the incident, which involved a shooter firing from the roof of a nearby building, less than 150 meters from the stage.
• 🏥 Trump suffered a graze wound to his right ear, while one spectator was killed and two others were critically injured.
• 👥 The shooter, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew C, was a registered Republican with no criminal record, raising questions about security and motives.
• 🛡️ The Secret Service is under scrutiny for the security breach and is expected to explain how the shooter got so close to Trump and fired multiple rounds.
• 🗣️ Trump's response to the incident was to encourage his supporters to 'fight,' which could potentially escalate tensions.
• 📸 An Associated Press photographer captured the moment Trump was rushed off stage by Secret Service agents, with blood visible on his face.
• 🌍 International leaders, including UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and various European heads of state, have condemned the act of political violence.
• 🔑 The incident is expected to have significant implications for the US presidential campaign, possibly impacting voter sentiment and campaign strategies.
• 🔄 The event may further deepen the divide in the US, with potential impacts on discussions around gun control and political rhetoric.
• 🛑 The shooting has raised serious concerns about security measures for political events and the need for enhanced protective protocols.

Q & A

What incident occurred involving former US president Donald Trump?

Former US president Donald Trump was wounded in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Gunshots rang out, with the shooter opening fire from the roof of a nearby building.

How close was the shooter to the stage where Trump was speaking?

The shooter was less than 150 meters from the stage where Trump was speaking.

What is the FBI's role in the aftermath of the incident?

The FBI is leading the investigation into the assassination attempt.

What injury did Donald Trump sustain during the shooting?

A bullet grazed his right ear, causing bleeding and injury.

What was the immediate response of the Secret Service agents?

Secret Service agents formed a shield around Trump and he shouted 'fight, fight' to his supporters before being taken to safety.

What was the outcome for the spectator who was shot in the head?

The spectator was shot in the head and died instantly.

How did the suspect manage to get into a position to fire at Trump?

The suspect was able to crawl up the roof of a nearby building and had a direct line of sight towards Trump.

What actions did the authorities take against the suspect?

Authorities killed the suspect, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew C.

What political affiliation was the suspect registered with?

The suspect was a registered Republican from Pennsylvania.

What are the concerns regarding the Secret Service's handling of the situation?

The Secret Service is under pressure to explain what led to the security breach and why the shooter was able to get so close and fire multiple rounds before being neutralized.

How did President Joe Biden respond to the incident?

President Joe Biden condemned the apparent assassination attempt, calling it a form of violence that has no place in America and urging unity against such acts.

Outlines

00:00

🚨 Assassination Attempt on Former President Trump 🚨

Former US President Donald Trump was injured in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Gunshots were fired from a nearby building, with the shooter positioned less than 150 meters from the stage. The Secret Service reported the incident, and the FBI is leading the investigation. A spectator was killed, and two others were critically injured. Trump was grazed on the ear, prompting a quick response from the Secret Service to secure him. The shooter, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew C, a registered Republican with no criminal record, was killed by authorities. The incident has raised questions about the security measures in place and the political climate leading to such violence.

05:02

🔍 Investigation and Reactions to the Shooting 🔍

The FBI and cooperating agencies are conducting a thorough investigation into the assassination attempt on Trump, examining evidence and eyewitness accounts. The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability plans to probe the incident and has summoned the Secret Service director to testify. The shooter, Thomas Matthew C, had no criminal record and was identified through DNA and biometric records. Eyewitnesses described the chaotic scene, with initial confusion mistaking the gunshots for fireworks. President Joe Biden condemned the violence, calling for unity against such acts. The incident has sparked discussions on political violence and gun control in the US, with reactions from European leaders expressing shock and condemnation.

10:04

🌍 Global Reactions and Impact on US Political Climate 🌍

The assassination attempt on Trump has drawn global reactions, with leaders and politicians across Europe expressing condemnation and concern for political stability in the US. The incident has highlighted the deep divisions within the US and the potential for further violence during the presidential campaign. The response from various European leaders, including those from Germany, France, and the European Union, has been one of shock and a call for unity against political violence. The attack is seen as a threat to democracy, with some politicians, like Nigel Farage, blaming the media and left-wing politicians for fostering an environment of hatred.

15:06

📸 Iconic Moment Captured by Photojournalist 📸

An Associated Press photojournalist, Evan Vucci, who has covered Trump for years, witnessed and captured the moment of the attack. He described the scene as normal until the sound of gunfire was heard. Secret Service agents quickly responded, rushing to Trump's side. As Trump was escorted offstage, he fist-bumped the crowd, showing defiance despite the blood on his face. The photojournalist emphasized the importance of documenting such a pivotal moment in American history, which could become an iconic image in the political landscape.

20:06

🤔 Analysis of the Shooting's Impact on the Election 🤔

The Aspen Institute's director, Ana Milner, provided analysis on the potential impact of the shooting on the US election. She noted the risk of increased violence and tension in an already divided country. Trump's reaction to the incident, characterized by his defiant fist bumps, suggests he may use the event to mobilize his supporters rather than calming the situation. The challenge for Biden, as the current and potential future president, is to balance his campaign with his duty to promote peace and unity. The incident may also lead to heightened security measures for future campaign events and could influence the political strategies of both parties.

25:08

🔧 Questions About US Gun Violence and Security 🔧

The shooting raises questions about gun violence and security in the US, with clear divisions between conservative and progressive views on gun ownership and control. The incident is likely to reinforce existing positions on both sides of the debate. While conservatives may advocate for stronger security and even arming teachers, progressives will likely call for stricter gun control measures. The event may prompt the Republicans to review their security plans for the upcoming party convention and the election period, indicating a potential shift towards more robust security concepts.

Keywords

💡Assassination Attempt

An assassination attempt refers to an act intended to kill a high-profile individual, usually a political figure. In the video's context, it is the core event where former US President Donald Trump is targeted while giving a speech at a rally in Pennsylvania. The term is used repeatedly to emphasize the severity and the political nature of the incident.

💡FBI

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the principal federal investigative agency in the United States. In the script, the FBI is leading the investigation into the assassination attempt, highlighting the federal interest and the serious nature of the crime due to its potential impact on national security and political stability.

💡Secret Service

The Secret Service is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States, primarily known for its role in protecting the president and other high-ranking officials. In the video, the Secret Service is criticized for a security breach that allowed the shooting to occur, and they are under pressure to explain their response to the incident.

💡Rally

A rally is a gathering of people for a common cause, often associated with political campaigning. In this video, the rally is the setting for the assassination attempt on Trump, indicating the public and political nature of the event where the incident took place.

💡Gunfire

Gunfire refers to the act of discharging firearms or the sound of bullets being fired. In the script, the term is used to describe the moment when shots were fired at the rally, leading to the injury of Trump and others, and triggering the main event of the video.

💡Eyewitness

An eyewitness is a person who has seen an event take place, especially a crime or accident. The script includes accounts from eyewitnesses who describe the scene and their reactions during the shooting, providing first-hand perspectives on the incident.

💡Republican

The Republican Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States. The shooter, Thomas Matthew C, is identified as a registered Republican, which may be relevant to understanding his motives or affiliations, although the script notes he had previously donated to Democratic causes.

💡Political Violence

Political violence refers to acts of aggression, such as assassinations or attacks, that are motivated by political beliefs or ideologies. The video discusses the broader implications of political violence in the context of the United States, particularly in relation to the attack on Trump.

💡Security Breach

A security breach is a failure in the protection measures of an event or location, allowing unauthorized access or actions. The script mentions a security breach in the context of the shooter's ability to get close to Trump and fire shots, raising questions about the effectiveness of the security measures at the rally.

💡Condemnation

Condemnation is the act of denouncing something as wrong or evil. The script includes various instances of condemnation from world leaders and political figures, expressing their disapproval and concern over the assassination attempt.

💡Election Year

An election year is a year in which one or more political offices are up for election. The script refers to the current year as an election year, indicating that the political climate and the upcoming vote may have played a role in the heightened tensions and the attack on Trump.

Highlights

Former US President Donald Trump was wounded in an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The shooter opened fire from a nearby building, approximately 150 meters from the stage.

The FBI is leading the investigation into the incident, which is considered a major security breach.

A bullet grazed Trump's right ear, prompting immediate response from Secret Service agents.

Trump urged his supporters to 'fight' after the shooting before being taken to safety.

One spectator was killed instantly, and two others are in critical condition after being hit.

The suspect, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew C, was a registered Republican with no criminal record.

Authorities killed the suspect, raising questions about the Secret Service's response time and tactics.

The House committee on oversight and accountability plans to probe the security failure.

President Joe Biden condemned the violence, calling for unity against such acts in America.

International leaders, including UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, have expressed condemnation and sympathy.

Eyewitness accounts reveal a chaotic scene and confusion among the crowd during the shooting.

The shooter's motive remains unclear, with mixed political affiliations and no criminal history.

The incident is expected to intensify discussions on gun control and security measures during political events.

Concerns rise about the impact of the shooting on the already divisive presidential campaign.

Transatlantic relations may be affected as Europe expresses concern over US political stability.

Transcripts

former US president Donald Trump has

been wounded in what the FBI is calling

an assassination attempt he was on the

campaign Trail in the town of Butler

Pennsylvania addressing a crowd at an

open air rally when gunshots rang out

the Secret Service says the shooter open

fire from the roof of a nearby building

the suspect was less than 150 M from the

stage on which Trump was

speaking the FBI is leading the

investigation into the incident

and you know this is the moment former

US president Donald Trump was shot at a

rally in Pennsylvania what

happened a bullet grazes his right ear

Secret Service agents form a shield

around

him Trump Rises

[Applause]

[Music]

he shouts fight fight to his supporters

before being taken to

safety the FBI says it was an

assassination attempt a spectator was

shot in the head and died instantly

according to an eyewitness two other

people were hit and are in critical

condition after the shooting Trump

posted this on his social media

platform I I was shot with a bullet that

pierced the upper part of my right ear I

knew immediately that something was

wrong I heard a whizzing sound shots and

immediately felt the bullet ripping

through the skin much bleeding took

place so I realized then what was

happening a witness told BBC news that

he saw the suspect and informed law

enforcement moments before he pulled the

trigger

we noticed a guy

crawling Army you know bear crawling up

the roof of the building beside us 50 50

ft away from us so we're standing there

you know we're pointing we're pointing

at the guy crawling up the roof and he

had a gun right he had a rifle we could

clearly see him with a rifle absolutely

um we're pointing at him the police are

down there running around on the ground

we're like hey man there's guy on the

roof with a rifle and the police are

like huh what you know like like they

didn't know what was going on you know

we're like hey right here on the roof we

can see him from right here we see him

you know he's he's

crawling and next thing you know I'm

like I'm thinking to myself I'm like why

is Trump still speaking why have they

not pulled him off the stage I'm

standing there pointing at him for you

know two three minutes Secret Service is

looking at us from the top of the barn

I'm pointing at that roof just standing

there like this and next thing you know

five shots ring out

authorities killed the suspect

20-year-old Thomas Matthew

C he was a registered Republican from

Pennsylvania the Secret Service is under

pressure to explain what led to this

major security

breach Trump was targeted just days

before he'll be confirmed as the

Republican Presidential

nominee an election year that was

already turbulent has now taken a dark

turn in

America very own Janelle Duman joins us

from Washington Janelle bring us up to

date indeed as you said there Ben this

is an ongoing investigation by the FBI

and several cooperating agencies they

are going through every bit of evidence

coming through every second of

eyewitness accounts combing through

endless hours of footage but but of

course uh as the dust settles and the

shock subside somewhat a full half day

after this incident occurred the qu the

question coalescing in everyone's Minds

here in Washington is how this could

have happened in such a high security

situation now the house committee on

oversight and accountability said it

would launch its own probe into the

matter and has summoned the director of

um the Secret Service Kimberly Cheeto to

testify before them at a hearing on July

22 and indeed a lot of these questions

are going to uh are going to have to be

answered by the Secret Service earlier

today there was a a briefing by the FBI

in order to get reporters and the media

up to speed on what was happening and

they said the things that are well

established by now that we are talking

about a shooter who managed to place

himself on a low roof outside the event

but uh one uh one that was uh where he

was able to have a direct line of uh

line of sight uh towards of the former

president Donald Trump but uh they in

but the Secret Service was not

represented at that briefing but a lot

of the questions that were being

directed at them they were having to

refer again to the secret service for

example how was it possible that he got

so close how was it possible that he got

in multiple rounds before uh before the

threat was neutralized as they say in

their language so this is definitely

going to be something that uh that uh

many are going to be watching out for

what the response of the secret service

is going to be what kind of uh security

failures there were if any and how this

all came to pass and apart from all

those details you've listed what more do

we know about the

shooter indeed so uh Thomas Matthew C he

is a 20-year-old from bethl park that is

a suburb in Western Pennsylvania it's a

suburb that is about 1 hour's drive away

from Butler Pennsylvania which of course

is where this rally took place uh and

where this uh uh attempted assassination

uh uh against uh former president Donald

Trump took place now he is a registered

Republican although records show that he

has donated before to uh Democrat L

causes he's uh thought to have no

criminal record he had no ID on him at

the time he was being identified so he

was identified through other means

through uh DNA testing through biometric

records now uh in the FBI statement uh

that uh was released about him there

wasn't so much more detail apart from

that uh but uh rather once again that

it's a reminder that this is an active

investigation and the FBI is asking

anyone who has any information to come

forward at this stage DW correspondent

Janelle

dumaan let's hear now from some other

eyewitnesses to the

shooting there sounded like there were

fireworks and everybody kind of

hesitated like what's happening before

Trump like swatted his ear you could see

that he actually had that in he dropped

and that's when everybody had the

initial reaction to drop to the ground

and it was just it was just like people

were just on top of each other like she

was getting she was getting buried

jumped on top of her and so it was just

it was crazy um I Heard the shots um I

uh I thought it was firecrackers to

begin with uh somebody over there was

screaming he's been shot he's been shot

so I made my way over uh I said I'm an

emergency department physician let me

help you the guy had spun around was

jammed between the benches he had a head

shot here there's lots of blood and he

had brain matter US President Joe Biden

has condemned the apparent assassination

attempt against Trump let's listen into

some of his

remarks there's no place in America for

this kind of violence it's sick it's

sick it's one of the reasons why we have

to unite this country we cannot allow

for this to be happening we cannot be

like this we cannot condone this but the

bottom line is that the Trump rally was

a rally that he should have been able to

be conducted peacefully without any

problem 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 we Everybody

Everybody Must condemn it everybody

let's bring in William glra a former

colleague of mine also Deputy editor of

the parliament magazine that deals with

EU politics he joins us from Brussels we

heard President Biden there William what

sort of political climate in the US has

led to what we can now call an attempt

on Trump's

life well unfortunately Biden's

statement there is rather aspirational

this is something we've heard a lot from

Joe Biden and his previous Democratic

predecessor in the White House Barack

Obama where they tried to always you

know aspire to the the better side of

the United States but of course American

history is full of violence political

violence and otherwise we know that it's

a violent country with massive amounts

of guns and gun violence and a long

history of vigilante violence and um you

know targeting political leaders and

political officials es especially fire

Brands like Donald Trump I think could

broadly be categorized as so as much as

Joe Biden I think is trying to elevate

the conversation and speak to one's

better Angels so to speak there is this

is not unprecedented that this he said

that there's no place in America for

this but unfortunately there is what

does this mean then for Trump

campaign we're going to have to see

going ahead of course I mean already

we've heard from the Trump campaign and

the Republican party that the the

upcoming National Convention for them

will be going on as scheduled he will be

attending and he will almost certainly

be um nominated as the candidate for the

Republican party but if we you know pass

this prologue uh Americans sort of

American culture loves this sort of

heroic figure and those images that we

were seeing of Donald Trump getting up

and the fist bump are going to be iconic

and are going to come to Define him and

his sort of his Persona in the political

Spectrum uh and I think that is going to

be played leaned really deeply into in

these weeks ahead you know every time

there's a big development in a campaign

we always ask you know how long are we

going to remember this and the answer

basically always always is well until

the next big development you know we

were just talking about the Joe Biden's

debate performance and how long are we

going to be talking about that well now

we have this to talk about so and I

think Republicans and Donald Trump are

going to lean very heavily into it the

Republicans of course are known for

being anti-gun control how are they

responding to

this this is something I'm really

fascinated in watching I mean we

allegedly this suspect had an AR-15 and

AR-15 is an iconic rifle for the gun

rights movement for people who want to

have less gun control and more ability

for individuals to have guns we have a

long history uh it seems like not a week

goes by where a legally purchased gun is

used by someone without a criminal

record to shoot people whether it's at a

school whether it's in a public place or

now in this case in a political setting

there's just so many incidences like

this and Republicans and Donald Trump

specifically go very hard on people's

right to be able to do that maybe not to

shoot people but the right to be able to

have those weapons and then things like

this happen so it's going to be

interesting how Republicans walk this

line and if people hold them accountable

for essentially creating or helping

create a situation where this is

possible right where their own candidate

is the target of the policies that they

have advocated for for decades that

could become a weakness for them um but

again if passes prologue to use that

expression again Republicans are very

good on messaging and very good at

basically saying the answer to guns is

more guns that's always been sort of

their line and we can probably expect

more of that to come yeah I think you

said it there another thing the Secret

Service is under intense scrutiny

indeed when I watched that video I was

shocked as just a Layman you know who

who has has his watched his share of of

Secret Service videos and their tactics

and their strategies and they have plans

in place for what is supposed to happen

when these things happen how a gunman

got on top of a roof just a few hundred

feet away from the pre from the former

president uh and and possibly would be

president again is is mindboggling to me

and how they got him off the stage is

mind-boggling to me um these are things

that as we just heard from Janelle are

going to be under intense investigation

moving moving forward we heard that long

sound bite in the report earlier from

the eyewitness saying them warning for

minutes there's a gunman um so Secret

Service action here is is going to be

the most under scrutiny and then

allowing Donald Trump to sort of give

that fist bump and expose himself make

himself a Target or possibly when there

was still an active Threat all of these

things were just big questions to me

that I of course don't have answers to

but are going to be uh Central questions

in the investigation going forward Jal

William glue thank you for your

analysis and reactions to the shooting

are coming in from around the world with

leaders expressing condemnation and

offering sympathy un Secretary General

Antonio gutes has condemned what he

called an act of political violence and

wished Donald Trump a speedy recovery

British prime minister K stama responded

to what he called shocking scenes saying

political violence in any form has no

place in our societies and my thoughts

are with the victims of this attack

Ukraine's President Vladimir zilinski

issued a statement speaking of his

relief that Trump is now safe and saying

he hopes America emerges stronger from

this let's listen

in an attempt on the life of Donald

Trump a terrible crime that can only be

condemned and which demonstrates how

serious the challenges to democracy are

globally violence in any form and

anywhere must absolutely not prevail

I'm confident America will rise to the

challenge I wish Mr Trump a speedy

recovery strength and support to all

those

affected May every evil intention

fail let's get more on the European

perspective on this attempted

assassination this apparent attempted

assassination joining us now our

correspondents Matthew Moore in Berlin

Lisa Louie in Paris and Jack perck in

Brussels let me start start with you

Matthew tell us about the political

reactions here in

Germany yeah we've been getting quite a

lot of reaction this morning Nisha and

mostly it must be said on Twitter or X

the chancellor Ola SCH um tweeted and he

called the attack despicable he said

such acts of violence threaten democracy

the foreign minister analena bebok has

also um voiced her condemnation of the

of the incident saying it had deeply

shocked her and she said violence must

never become a means of political

conflict and that's basically the

message that we're getting from senior

politicians that they're shocked and

they're appalled and they think that

political violence should never be the

answer um and it's interesting that the

leader of the opposition Friedrich M

said that there he thinks that it will

further poison this campaign as how he

described the attack um so a mix really

um of of voices that have have been

giving their reaction to this incident

this morning and of course here in

Germany there are concerns about

violence against politicians too but let

me go over to Lisa in Paris Lisa what

are French politicians there

saying well French president IM Mar has

said that this was a tragedy to our

democracies we also heard from the farri

right National rally with is President

Jordan badela saying that violence was

the poison was a poison to democracy and

former presidential candidate Marine Le

Pen saying that this was a dramatic

symbol of the violence that is

undermining democracy y now this comes

to the backdrop of France's national

holiday basti day that is celebrated

over the course of this weekend here in

France across the country with 130,000

police and security Personnel deployed

across the country the interior Minister

announced that a person a minor had been

arrested in AER in Western France and

that person was believed to having to

have been planning a a violent attack

during the events this weekend so the

countries on edge also looking ahead to

the Olympic summer games that will be

happening here in about two weeks times

time with again tens of thousands of

police officers and security Personnel

deployed during the events each day

France is on edge and obviously this

attack brings back painful memories of

Terror attacks that have been on

numerous occasions Happening Here in

France over the past decade so concerns

along the along both sides of the

political Spectrum as well as about

Security in Europe like you said Lisa

but I want to bring Jack in now in

Brussels is there been a official EU

reaction that Echoes what we're hearing

from Paris and Berlin

here yeah it really has been echoing

what Matthew and what Lisa has been

saying we heard from the European

commission president Ursa Von Deion

saying that she's deeply shocked that

political violence has no place in

democracy and she also sent condol vces

to the innocent victim that was shot as

part of the incident in the United

States the outgoing president of the

European Council Chara Michelle said

that political violence is absolutely

unacceptable in democracy strongly

condemn the attack and interestingly the

statement from the foreign policy chief

of the European Union also outgoing

Joseph Burell he said that once again

we're witnessing unacceptable acts of

violence against political represent

Representatives so a similar sort of

message as we've seen across the

capitals of the European Union here in

the institutional uh heads as well and

what about the reaction from politicians

who are closer to Trump

perhaps yeah I mean this is the

interesting part of this we've had a

number of different uh reactions from uh

leaders and politicians in the European

Union and indeed Europe uh for instance

the Hungarian prime minister Victor

Orban he tweeted or used X to say my

thoughts and prayers are with Trump in

these dark hours Georgia Maloney the

Italian Prime Minister she released a

statement which said said that she hopes

the next few months of the Electoral

campaign will'll see dialogue and

responsibility Prevail over violence and

hatred and now Nigel farage the British

politician that was very prominent at

the same time in 2016 as When Donald

Trump won the presidency due to his

campaign to pull the United Kingdom out

of the European Union he released a

statement saying The Narrative of hatred

against his friend Trump uh is what's

responsible for this and he said that

the media is and the left and leftwing

politicians are responsible for it and

they he hopes that they are happy with

themselves a very strong statement from

Nigel farage in the United Kingdom uh

people that feel close to Donald Trump I

think would say that they feel that

attack is not only an attack on him but

also an attack on the values that they

themselves also

support thank you for that Matthew Moore

in Berlin Lisa Louie in Paris and Jack

perck in

Brussels let's head back to the scene in

Pennsylvania for a moment and hear from

a reporter from the Associated Press

News Agency who witnessed the attack on

Donald Trump and captured the iconic

image behind me Evan vui has spent years

covering the former US president and

gave his of what happened at the rally

so today I was photographing uh former

president Trump uh at a campaign rally

here in Butler Pennsylvania uh I was

right in front of the stage directly in

front of the stage it was a normal rally

um you know I've done it hundreds of

times

and uh over my left shoulder I heard

several several pops and I I knew

immediately it was gunfire so I looked

at the stage and I saw the Secret

Service agents rushing to uh president

Trump uh from that moment I I ran to the

stage and I started photographing the

agents on top of them and then off to my

right I saw uh the secret service

counter assault team arriv um and then I

ran to the other side of the stage and

they picked president Trump up and then

as he's uh walking down the ramp he he

started fist bumping to the crowd and

waving um and I I did notice he had

blood coming down his face as you can

see in the photos um the agents took him

down the ramp and they put him into an

SUV uh and again as he was getting into

the SUV he also started pumping his fist

again I'm not sure how long it was from

beginning to end but um you know in my

mind it was it all happened really fast

at the moment I heard the shots being

fired I knew that this was a moment in

American history that had to be

documented I mean it's our job as

journalists to do this work dramatic

description there and let's get some

analysis on it from stormy Ana Milner

she is the director of the Aspen

Institute in Germany a US American Think

Tank m m welcome to DW we know that this

is a divisive presidential campaign to

say the least and we have the

photojournalist there describing what he

calls an iconic moment in the history of

the US how do you expect the shooting to

impact the cause of this

election well first of all this terrible

incident happened in a situation in

which uh the United States is already so

deeply divided um and the situation is

already very tense um so one of the B

big risks right now is um as we also

heard from the other reporters is that

the situation gets even more heated um

and that there will be more violence um

on the streets and at other campaign

rallies and a lot uh will depend on how

Trump is going to handle the situation

and as we saw in the pictures uh right

now um when just after the shooting and

he raised his fist um and he said fight

fight um just cannot see that he will

try to um calm down the situation calm

down his voters but rather that he will

um utilize this incident to further

mobilize um his voters just as it as he

has also done around um January 6 um

although this would be the moment for

the country to come together this would

be the moment for Trump and Biden to

stand up together um on the stage um and

uh call against violence and call the

country to come together but I'm afraid

that this is probably not going to

happen you know that's interesting what

you say about the country needing to

come together both the Democrats and the

Republicans but they that might not

actually play out but given the seeming

advantage that you pointed out that this

may bring to Trump how can we expect the

Democrats to respond now what can their

political strategy

be so this is a difficult situation um

for Biden because he's not just running

um in the campaign I mean as as the next

president but he is also currently the

president and as a president he needs to

be presidential and his job is um to

calm down the situation to expert uh

confidence um and to call on everybody

um not to be violent and call against

political violence that's his job to do

um at the same time um it's it's a

difficulty for his campaign um because

he's under so much stress um already

after after his TV um uh debate with

Trump in which he didn't fair so well

there are a lot of calls on him to step

down in the campaign so what he would

actually currently need to do is go

after his component in an aggressive and

open way but this is not the situation

in which he can do this so he already

pulled down a campaign ads um and he um

is not campaigning currently and as a

president that is what he needs to do to

calm the situation but for his campaign

that's a tricky thing to do absolutely

so a complex political situation here

but we also want to take a look at the

security situation in the US we know

about the history of gun violence in

that country doesn't this raise serious

questions about the situation

there well I think that the dividing

lines are pretty clear um in the

conservative um Camp um there is a clear

belief that the carriage and ownership

of Guns is a um is a right of every

American um and and uh on the more

Progressive side they have been calls

for a very long time for a more strict

um anti-gun uh legislation or um at

least more legislation which um reduces

the risk of guns being in in the wrong

hands um and I think um on both sides um

of the aisle so to say um or in these

two camps the incident is just going to

strengthen the positions and Views which

people already have um and that could

also be viewed or or witnessed um after

the school shootings in the past so in

the more conservative uh Camp people

feel that the answer is not a

restriction of ownership of guns but

rather um to strengthen the security

maybe even giving teachers um guns um

and on the Progressive side um it will

strengthen the voices of those who say

we really need to do something about gun

violence um what I think will happen

though is that there will be much more

secure U much more measures um of

security for the next campaign Ries um I

think the Republicans will look at their

security concepts for the party

convention which will starts tomorrow um

and around November 5th and 6th and the

days after the election there will be a

lot of thoughts into um more more sound

security Concepts I think that is

definitely going to happen you know I

want to briefly ask you that you focus

on transatlantic relations How concerned

is Europe about political stability in

the US right

now I think Europe um is are very

concerned um and we also heard that in

the statements of your journalists from

the different Capitals in Europe um the

United States is just such an important

Ally um and partner for Europe um and

also for Germany specifically um both in

economic terms but also in political

terms and looking at what is happening

on our continent with Russia's threat uh

to Europe with Russia's aggression and

war against Ukraine um the transatlantic

partnership is more important than ever

so a politically stable and sound and

reliable and predictable partner is that

what you really what the EU really needs

right now um so a lot of politicians are

worried looking um across the Atlantic

absolutely Tommy Ana Milner director of

the Aspen Institute in Germany thank you

so much for that

analysis thank you so much for having me