Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Saturday he will continue to hold outdoor rallies just two weeks after a bullet grazed his ear during an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, the former president said:
“I WILL CONTINUE TO DO OUTDOOR RALLYS, AND THE SECRET SERVICE HAS ALLOWED TO ATTEND THEIR OPERATIONS. THEY ARE VERY AFRAID TO DO SO. NO ONE CAN EVER BE ALLOWED TO STOP OR PREVENT FREE SPEECH!!!”
Trump spoke at a campaign rally in Butler on July 13 then a gunner opened fire from the roof of a building overlooking the audience and the stage. The gunman was later identified as a 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, killed a participant and injured two others.
Days later, Trump appeared several times at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee the following week with a bandage over his ear.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
The FBI said Friday that one bullet was injured the former president.
“What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented, fired from the deceased subject’s rifle,” the FBI’s Office of Public Affairs said in a statement to CBS News.
The statement came after FBI Director Christopher Wray testified earlier this week that there was still “some question” about what grazed Trump’s right ear during the assassination attempt.
The Secret Service quickly came under intense scrutiny after the assassination attempt, with questions mounting about how it could have happened in such a high-profile event. Kimberly Cheatle resigned from her position as head of the US Secret Service after facing pressure from lawmakers who called for her to resign in the wake of the assassination attempt.
Trump is set to hold a rally Saturday night in St. Cloud, Minnesota, this time with his running mate JD Vance. He also plans to speak at a bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee, earlier in the day.