US State Dept 'unequivocally' condemns attempted assassination of Trump

Washington, July 16 (IANS) The US State Department has "strongly and unequivocally" condemned the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump as he was holding a campaign rally in the state of Pennsylvania on Saturday.

"We know today that people around the world, governments around the world have questions about what happened on Saturday, just as Americans do. And our message to them is simple. As President Biden has made clear, there is no place for violence in our democracy, period," State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller said on Monday.

"We condemn this attack and all political violence strongly and unequivocally, just as we condemn political violence in any country, and just as we condemn previous acts of violence in the United States, whether it be the attack on members of Congress practising for a baseball game, the brutal assault on Paul Pelosi, or of course, the horrific events of January 6, 2021,” he added.

Miller also said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken convened his senior leadership team to ask them to remind their teams and US allies and partners that "America has faced trying times before, but that we have emerged from them stronger because of our core values that we share as a nation".

On Saturday, Trump was shot at an election rally in an assassination attempt just a day before the Republican Party was scheduled to begin its convention to formally declare him its nominee for the White House.

President Joe Biden, who called the former president after the shooting, said there is no place in the US 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 this to be happening. We cannot be like this,” the President said.

The FBI has identified the shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks (20), who was killed by snipers of the US Secret Service that protect the previous and incumbent US presidents and their immediate families.

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