TRANSCRIPT
Wounded former United States president Donald Trump is set to appear at the Republican National Convention after surviving an assassination attempt.
He is expected to formally accept the Republican party's nomination during the four-day event where Trump's Vice-President running-mate is also set to be announced.
This comes after a shocking twist in Mr Trump's presidential run when he was shot in the ear by a bullet at a campaign event yesterday [[14 July]] which came within inches of taking his life.
Saurabh Sharma, a Donald Trump supporter who was at the Pennsylvania rally, describes the terrifying moment.
"And so when those first few bullet noises happened, there were people all around me, including myself, that thought that this was a firework or a B-B gun, that it wasn't an actual shooting. But as as they kept coming, everyone kind of really quickly hit the floor, including the president. And it was a little bit of a daze situation at that point as we kind of peeked our heads back up and the first thing I saw was him reach out his fist to the audience saying "fight, fight" and that definitely caused a ripple through the crowd. Everyone noticed that - it it it really kind of energised everyone."
The gunman opened fire from the roof of a building about 140 metres from the stage where Donald Trump was speaking, hitting the former president while killing one rally attendee and critically wounding two others.
A Secret Service sniper then shot dead the attempted assassin who has been identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, a nursing-home employee and registered Republican.
The FBI says it has not yet identified an underlying ideology, written declarations or social media posts from Crooks but they believe he acted alone.
One of his former classmates says he was a social outcast.
"He was a kid that was always alone. He was always bullied. Every day. He was just an outcast. I don't want to say this is what provoked it but you never know."
Many feared that the assassination attempt would encourage a more extreme turn from Donald Trump.
But in an exclusive interview with the Washington Examiner - he says he has completely rewritten his Republican National Convention speech in the wake of the incident to call for national unity.
Trump also posted on his Truth Social platform saying Americans must "remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness" while stressing that it is "more important than ever that we stand United not allowing Evil to Win."
However, within hours of the attempt on Trump's life, many of his supporters began laying blame on Democrats.
From establishment Republicans to far-right conspiracy theorists, a consistent message emerged that President Joe Biden and other Democratic leaders laid the groundwork for the shooting by casting Trump as an autocrat who poses a grave threat to democracy.
President Biden has since called for a lowering of the political temperature.
"I want to speak to you tonight about the need for us to lower the temperature in our politics. Yes, we have deeply felt strong disagreements. The stakes in this election are enormously high. Disagreement is inevitable in American democracy. It's part of human nature. But politics must never be a literal battlefield or, God forbid, a killing field. I believe politics ought to be an arena for peaceful debate. We stand for an America not of extremism and fury, but of decency and grace."
Meanwhile, political leaders around the world - and in Australia - have condemned the assassination attempt.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says he wishes Donald Trump a speedy recovery.
Spanish then translated into English: "On behalf of all of Venezuela and our people, I want to condemn and repudiate the attack against former president Donald Trump, wish him a speedy recovery, and may God bless the people of the United States and give them peace and tranquility. We have been adversaries, but I wish (former) president Trump health, a long life, and I condemn this attack."
And Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the attack is unacceptable.
"This was an inexcusable attack on the democratic values that Australians and Americans share and the freedom that we treasure. These values are ones that unite our two countries. It is the basis of our alliance. And all Australians stand with our friends in the United States at this difficult time."
The shooting occurred less than four months before the November 5 U-S election.
Many are now theorising how this attempt at Donald Trump's life will impact his electoral chances against President Joe Biden.
In 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously injured in the last assassination attempt to wound a sitting president.
Del Wilber of the Associated Press says the incident created a wave of sympathy for the leader.
“What the assassination attempt did for Reagan, too, was that it built a bond with the American people. And I think it'll be really interesting to see what happens in the next couple of weeks about what this does for the American public's relationship with Trump.”
In the following election in 1984, President Reagan won in an historic landslide, winning 49 of 50 states.
Professor of International Relations at the Australian National University, Wesley Widmaier, believes Donald Trump could benefit in a similar way this November.
"Reagan was not doing terribly well and there was this groundswell of sympathy for him. And so people kind of rallied around him. Trump's been very disciplined this campaign, I think there's going to be a lot of sympathy for him."
