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LIVE Trump shooting investigated as possible domestic terrorism, FBI says – latest updates
The FBI is investigating the shooting at a Donald Trump rally on Saturday as a possible domestic terrorism incident.
Senior officials said they had no reason to believe the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was part of a wider plot involving other individuals, and that their priority was establishing the 20-year-old’s motive.
They added that the FBI had not found evidence that Crooks, who was registered as a Republican, suffered from mental health issues, and that his father purchased the semi-automatic rifle used in the shooting.
It is unclear whether Crooks’ father gave him the weapon or if he took it without permission, the New York Times reports.
Joe Biden, the US President, said he had no new information on the gunman’s motive on Sunday but said he expected the investigation to be “thorough and swift”.
Follow the latest updates below and see our earlier coverage here
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‘God alone’ saved me, says Donald Trump
Donald Trump has said “God alone” saved his life from an assassination attempt, as he called Americans to unite against political violence.
The former president struck a statesmanlike tone after narrowly escaping death when 20-year-old registered Republican, Thomas Matthew Crooks, opened fire at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania.
One attendee at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania where the gun attack took place was killed and two more were hospitalised, investigators said on Sunday.
Sending his “love” to victims of the shooting on Saturday, Trump said he was praying for the wounded and called on Americans to remain “resilient” in the face of “wickedness”.
The presumptive Republican nominee thanked his security team for protecting him after a bullet “ripped through” his ear, causing a minor injury. Imagery of the attack showed that the rounds missed Trump’s head by mere inches.
The incident cast a dark shadow over the presidential election race, as politicians on both sides called for an end to toxic political discourse.
Trump called for the country to reject political division, even as his own allies blamed Joe Biden for the attack.
“Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers yesterday, as it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening,” he said.
“We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our faith and defiant in the face of wickedness.”
He added: “In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand united, and show our true character as Americans, remaining strong and determined, and not allowing evil to win.”
Melania, his wife, said she had realised her life was “on the brink of devastating change” as the “violent bullet” sped towards her husband. She called for an end to “the hate, the vitriol, and the simple-minded ideas that ignite violence”.
Strategists said Trump’s unity message would likely help him win over swing voters in the coming weeks ahead of November’s presidential election. Some moderates have grave concerns about voting for Mr Biden after a series of public gaffes but believed Trump was too divisive.
Crooks, a registered Republican voter who also donated to a progressive political group in 2021, used his father’s AR15-style rifle to carry out the attack from a nearby rooftop.
Investigators have not speculated publicly on his motive. The dietary aid worker at a Pennsylvania nursing home was killed by US Secret Service snipers seconds after opening fire.
Police also named Corey Comperatore, 50, as the rally attendee who was killed by a bullet intended for Trump. Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania governor, said he was a “hero” who died shielding his wife and daughters from the attack.
One of the daughters, Allyson, wrote online: “He truly loved us enough to take a real bullet for us.”
The other victims, 57-year-old David Dutch and 74-year-old James Copenhaver are in a stable condition.
The Trump campaign launched a crowd-funder for Mr Comperatore’s family, which has already raised more than $1 million (£787,000).
FBI investigators and a bomb squad searched Crooks’s family home on Sunday and found bomb-making equipment. Explosive materials were also discovered in his car at the rally, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Amid calls for unity, the attempt on Trump’s life also led to accusations by some of his supporters that Democrats had encouraged violence against him.
Don Jr, the Republican nominee’s eldest son, tweeted that liberal media outlets and rival politicians had radicalised his father’s opponents by portraying him as “literally Hitler”.
JD Vance, the favourite to be Trump’s running mate, said Mr Biden had portrayed him as an “authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs”, claiming that his rhetoric “led directly to president Trump’s attempted assassination”.
Several Republicans said Mr Biden’s reported call for his party to “put Trump in a bullseye” on a call with donors last week had encouraged Crooks to carry out the attack.
Chris LaCivita, the Trump campaign’s co-chairman, said Mr Biden should be “held accountable” for “disgusting remarks”.
One Democratic representative, issued a veiled criticism of the Biden campaign, arguing that the election should not be “misleadingly portrayed as a no-holds-barred struggle between democracy or authoritarianism”.
The same argument was made by the Russian government, which said it did not think the attack “was organised by the current authorities” but said the “atmosphere around candidate Trump…provoked what America is confronting today”.
On Sunday night, Mr Biden repeated his own call for unity, and confirmed he had ordered a “thorough and swift” investigation of the attack.
“There is no place in America for this kind of violence, or any kind of violence for that matter,” he said. “We must unite as one nation to demonstrate who we are.”
The Biden-Harris campaign has suspended its communications and advert campaigns, many of which had depicted Trump as “unhinged” and “extreme”.
Some Republicans, including Mr Trump Jr, criticised Bennie Thompson, a Democratic representative who had previously proposed legislation to remove the Secret Service protection of convicted felons. If the bill had succeeded, then “my dad would be dead right now,” Mr Trump Jr said.
One of Mr Thompson’s staff members was sacked in the hours following the shooting, after she said online that Trump’s opponents should “get shooting lessons so you don’t miss next time”.
Mr Biden said he had a “short but good conversation” with Trump, and that he was “sincerely grateful he is doing well”. Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, called him to offer condolences, and Boris Johnson described his escape as a “miracle”.
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader who is a friend of the former president, said he would fly to the US to support him after the attack.
Comparing the shooting to incidents during the UK election campaign, when he was doused with a milkshake and pelted with rocks, he issued a call in an article for The Telegraph for Left-wing commentators to “realise that their language has an impact”.
“It has become commonplace amongst the media elite to view Trump as an authoritarian fascist,” he said.
“I implore all of those on the Left to think very carefully about how they seek to play politics. Next time, it could be very, very different.”
Saturday’s shooting, which is the first assassination attempt to wound a US president since 1981, has raised questions about the Secret Service security measures at Trump events.
The Trump campaign said it had hired private armed security to protect him, and advised staff to avoid campaign buildings while their safety is assessed.
Mr Biden, who was due to speak again from the Oval Office on Sunday evening, said he had ordered a full security review into measures at the Republican National Convention, which begins on Monday in Wisconsin.
The convention’s organisers are working with the Secret Service and 40 law enforcement agencies to keep delegates, other attendees and members of the media safe.
Trump said he would still speak at the convention, where he is also expected to reveal his choice of running mate.
He said he was planning to delay his arrival, but decided he “cannot allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling, or anything else”.
In an apparent olive branch to one of his fiercest critics, it was revealed that Trump has invited Nikki Haley to speak to delegates.
Ms Haley was Trump’s main opponent during the Republican primary this year, and argued he was unsuitable to be president. Dozens more senior Republican figures will speak at the four-day event.
Invanka Trump, the former president’s daughter and former White House aide, said she believed her deceased mother Ivana “was watching over Dad last night during the attempt on his life”.
Melania has largely stayed out of the spotlight during the 2024 presidential campaign but called on her husband’s opponents to remember that “every single politician is a man or a woman with a loving family”.
Bookmakers on Sunday slashed odds on Trump winning November’s presidential election, amid speculation that his brush with death would lead to an increase in public support.
Some analysts pointed to an eight-point poll bounce experienced by Ronald Reagan after he was shot in March 1981.
Others suggested that a Democrat coup against Mr Biden is now unlikely to succeed, leaving him as the party’s nominee. Trump allies have suggested they think they would be more likely to beat Mr Biden than Kamala Harris, his vice president.
After concerns about Trump’s security team at the rally, two congressmen proposed a law that would give presidential candidates enhanced Secret Service protection.
Ritchie Torres and Mike Lawler called the assassination attempt a “dark moment in our nation’s history” and called for “more protection” for top presidential candidates.
If successful, the law would also give protection to Robert F Kennedy Jr, who is running as an independent presidential candidate and has long complained he does not receive federal security assistance.
Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, has said he will hold congressional hearings to investigate the level of security at Trump’s events.
They will include evidence sessions with Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the Secret Service, and other officials from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.
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Foreign Secretary to call for immediate ceasefire in Gaza
The Foreign Secretary will call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza in meetings with the leaders of Israel and Palestine on Sunday.
David Lammy will make the case for a “credible and irreversible pathway” towards a two-state solution to Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas.
Mr Lammy has travelled to the Middle East for his first visit since Labour entered Government, with meetings scheduled with leaders in Israel as well as hostage families.
The Foreign Office said he will then visit the Occupied Palestinian Territories, where he will state “his commitment to recognising a Palestinian state as an undeniable right of the Palestinian people”.
It comes after Labour’s stance on Gaza cost Sir Keir Starmer some seats at the general election, with four MPs losing to pro-Palestine independents.
The Foreign Secretary said: “The death and destruction in Gaza is intolerable. This war must end now, with an immediate ceasefire, complied with by both sides.
“The fighting has got to stop, the hostages still cruelly detained by Hamas terrorists need to be released immediately and aid must be allowed in to reach the people of Gaza without restrictions.
“I am meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to stress the UK’s ambition and commitment to play its full diplomatic role in securing a ceasefire deal and creating the space for a credible and irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution.”
He added: “The world needs a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state.
“Central to this is to see an end to expanding illegal Israeli settlements and rising settler violence in the West Bank. Here, in what should be a crucial part of a Palestinian state, alongside Gaza and East Jerusalem, we need to see a reformed and empowered Palestinian Authority.”
Jonathan Ashworth, who was a central figure in the Labour campaign, lost his seat in Leicester South to Shockat Adam, a pro-Palestine independent.
The party was also unsuccessful in Blackburn, Dewsbury and Batley, and Birmingham Perry Barr, as a result of independent candidates running on pro-Palestine tickets.
Jeremy Corbyn, a long-time supporter of the Palestinian cause, won against Labour in Islington North.
The Foreign Secretary will also announce a further £5.5 million in aid this year to UK-Med, a front-line charity which sends medics to crisis-hit regions such as Gaza.
Labour called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza for the first time in February, with Mr Lammy, then the shadow foreign secretary, saying that the situation in Gaza had “evolved”.
He added that his party was “mirroring the language” used by the United Nations, as well as the UK’s fellow Five Eyes alliance members: the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
The Prime Minister initially resisted calls to support a ceasefire, instead saying he supported “humanitarian pauses” to allow the entry of aid into Gaza and for people to leave the territory.
More than 50 MPs, including 10 frontbenchers, resigned last November to vote in favour of a ceasefire.
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Wounded Russian soldiers – some on crutches – used in ‘meat wave’ attacks
Injured Russian soldiers are being sent back into the line of fire in “meat wave” assaults.
The Ukrainian army has reported capturing Russians already suffering from their wounds sustained in previous attacks.
They had been given minimal medical attention before being sent back to fight.
The tactics show an apparent disregard for foot soldiers as commanders throw thousands of men into the front lines in a slow and grinding summer offensive.
Some Russians have been captured re-entering the battlefield on crutches.
Other injured troops have recorded videos pleading with their superiors for proper treatment as they receive orders to return to battle.
One soldier captured by Ukraine was said to be driving an armoured vehicle with bloodied rags over an injured eye.
The meat assault units are often made up of foot soldiers, released prisoners and the maimed.
Many are simply protecting the next wave of soldiers behind as part of a tactic to distract and overwhelm Ukraine, and make incremental territorial gains.
British military intelligence believes that Russian ranks have been depleted by as many as 70,000 personnel over the last two months – an alarming rate that shows no signs of slowing.
Ukrainian soldiers told The Telegraph that it is “normal practice” to see injured men staggering as they fight, and that Ukrainian prisoners of war are being used by Russia as human shields.
‘We don’t have the strength’
Meanwhile, Russian soldiers have been recorded pleading with their superiors, the military prosecutors office, and even Vladimir Putin, for their lives.
“Why would they send wounded and exhausted people into battle? It’s the same as sending people to their deaths,” said two soldiers of the 1009th regiment in a video shared on social media.
“The commander says that tomorrow we must go and storm this building again.
“But how can we do this if we are in pain, wounded, and simply don’t have the strength?”
The pair, who lent against a tree with visible wounds to their faces, said the only medical treatment they received for shrapnel wounds was from their own first aid kit as they hid in the forest.
Another video clip showed a group of the injured, a number of whom were walking on crutches, pleading desperately with their superiors, stressing that this was their final opportunity to make their case.
They told the camera: “Hear us, please, hear us, hear us. This is our last chance. We have no more options.”
The latest death toll figures of Russian soldiers is equivalent to an average of above 1,000 a day amid the escalating intensity of battle on the newly opened front in Kharkiv, and fighting elsewhere in east and north-east Ukraine, the British Ministry of Defence said on Friday.
“Although this new approach has increased the pressure on the front line, an effective Ukrainian defence and a lack of Russian training reduces Russia’s ability to exploit any tactical successes, despite attempting to stretch the front line further,” the MoD added.
Hunter (his call sign), a Ukrainian junior soldier, said that there are “frequent cases” of Russian soldiers “simply left in positions to die”.
“This is a common situation when wounded Russian soldiers are captured. According to them, they were left to their fate without food and water to die by their own comrades,” he said.
Hunter reported seeing Ukrainian PoWs being pushed to walk ahead of advancing Russian soldiers, forced into the cruel role of human shields.
Yuriy, a machine gunner, confirmed Hunter’s reports, telling The Telegraph: “Of course, I have seen PoWs, this is outrageous and tearing us apart from the inside, such an attitude towards prisoners of war is unacceptable and prohibited by conventions.”
In the Donetsk region, a Russian soldier was captured by Ukraine with his leg rotting from a shrapnel wound.
“He was not evacuated for some reason. Later in Dnipro, our medics had to amputate this leg for him so he can survive,” Vlad, a member of the Kraken Regiment volunteer unit, told The Telegraph.
Vlad reported that the Russians they captured revealed their commander, known by the call sign Ryba, had ordered that no one would be evacuated until they had secured the territory around the Kupyansk silicate plant in the Kharkiv region.
Kupyansk, a strategic rail hub, was seized by Russia in early 2022, retaken by Ukraine seven months later and missile and artillery strikes continue to hit the area.
The river through Kupyansk could offer a natural defence against future Russian advances.
A soldier who chose to remain anonymous said: “We carried a wounded Russian to our side for many kilometres to save his life as he was left alone to die.”
Hunter confirmed that many units – including the poorly-trained, lightly-equipped “Storm-Z” assault troopers – are “prohibited” from leaving their positions.
‘Storm fighters, they’re just meat’
Storm-Z is a series of penal military units for convicts – including murderers – established by Russia by April 6, 2023, renamed Storm-V later that year.
Illia Yevlash, the spokesman for the Khortytsia operational-strategic group, claimed in February that Russian commanders were using human wave tactics involving Storm-Z and Storm-V.
“Storm fighters, they’re just meat,” said one regular soldier from army unit number 40318.
“If such units retreat, they can be destroyed by their barrier units,” said Hunter.
“The Russian armed forces mobilise people with serious illnesses such as tuberculosis or HIV, and such ‘soldiers’ are treated differently.”
Use of suicidal human wave attacks does not appear to have reduced despite high-profile changes at the top of the Russian defence ministry.
Many Ukrainian soldiers who spoke to The Telegraph revealed they hesitate to save Russians because of their unwavering resolve to continue fighting even after being captured.
Yuriy explained that some injured soldiers wanted to surrender quickly, but that he had seen others “shoot to the last”, even attempting to detonate grenades when they were given medical aid.
The high Russian attrition rate comes as Ukraine also struggles to find enough soldiers to make any significant breakthroughs.
The much-anticipated Russian summer offensive appears to have largely fizzled out, with both sides once again locked in fighting along rigid front lines dividing Ukraine roughly from north to south.
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More migrants could drown because UK deals with EU have cut off dinghy supplies, says Border Force
Migrants are at greater risk of drowning in the Channel because a shortage of dinghy supplies has led to fewer, more overcrowded boats for smuggling gangs to fight over.
Increased UK-EU cooperation has meant supplies of equipment including dinghies, outboard motors and lifebelts have been cut off from the French coast by border officials and police.
Gangs are now left battling over fewer small boats, loading different groups of migrants on to a single dinghy, often made from cheaper materials because of the pan-European restriction on supplies, according to Border Force sources.
The UK has struck deals with Turkey, traditionally a source for dinghies and motors; Bulgaria, one of the main land routes for equipment into Europe; and Frontex, the European border agency. These are said to be having a significant impact on supplies of boats used by the people smuggling gangs for their illegal cross-Channel trade.
It comes as four migrants died on Friday when a flimsy dinghy barely 35ft long capsized. There was just one lifejacket and an inner tube ring between the more than 60 migrants crammed on board. Many of them could not swim.
In April five migrants including a woman and a seven-year-old girl died after being crushed on a dinghy packed with 112 people when it got into trouble several hundred yards from the beach.
More than 14,000 people have made crossings so far this year. That is 10 per cent higher than the number recorded this time last year (12,772) and up six per cent on the same period in 2022 (13,318), according to provisional data from the Home Office.
“The boats are getting bigger and the loads are getting bigger,” said a Border Force source. “There’s interfactional warfare in Calais between the gangs. So if there is a boat around, there’s a fight about which load [of migrants] gets on it.
“That can mean that there will be more than one load who will pile on and there is then an increased risk of drowning as a result.
“We have also been doing work in the Balkans, Bulgaria and Turkey. There are more dinghies being intercepted which is causing shortages. This means the loads are getting bigger.”
French laws
There has been criticism of French police officers for apparently standing on the beach rather than physically stopping the migrants setting sail in the dangerous dinghies but they are hamstrung by French laws. This means they can only disrupt departures by, for example, slashing the dinghies.
“The French are restricted in what they can do. They cannot legally stop someone leaving France unless there is direct evidence that they are a criminal.
“There are all sorts of legal reasons why the French are doing what they are doing. It would require a change in the law to give them more powers to stop and arrest them. It means the only alternative is to try to disrupt them.”
Rishi Sunak negotiated a £490 million deal with the French to double the number of officers on the beaches, pay for more surveillance equipment such as drones and build a detention and processing facility for the migrants.
While on his trip to Nato on Wednesday, Sir Keir Starmer admitted that the small boats crisis could get worse before it gets better and that numbers coming across the Channel are going up, not down.
The Prime Minister scrapped Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda scheme on his first day in office, with the money to be diverted to a new border security command, which will oversee the recruitment of hundreds of new officers and investigators tasked to smash the people-smuggling gangs
Fast-track deportations
The Labour Party also pledged to set up a new enforcement and returns unit to negotiate new agreements to be able to remove migrants and to fast-track deportations.
Sir Keir has said he will seek to negotiate a new deal to be able to return migrants to the EU, which some officials believe is critical to deterring people from crossing. Britain has hinted it would be prepared to accept unaccompanied migrant children and asylum seekers with family connections in return.
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Clifton Suspension Bridge suspect shouts ‘my boss is really bad’ before fleeing the scene
The suspect in the suitcase murder investigation ran from the scene shouting “my boss is really bad” before human remains were found.
The man was pursued by an onlooker on a bike from Bristol’s Clifton Suspension Bridge and made the comment in Spanish before apparently trying to stop the person filming.
In the early hours of Thursday morning police found the remains of two men in suitcases nearby. Further remains were found at a flat in West London on Friday while a manhunt was underway.
On Saturday, armed police detained a 34-year-old man at Bristol’s Temple Meads railway station who is understood to be undergoing questioning in London.
Metropolitan Police officers had earlier said that they wanted to speak to 34-year-old Colombian national Yostin Andres Mosquera.
The Sun published a video of the suspect running away from the Clifton Suspension Bridge, where it is understood he had been challenged by witnesses who thought they saw blood leaking from the luggage he was carrying.
The video shows him being pursued by a person on a bike before he appears to say “mi jefe es muy malo”, Spanish for “my boss is really bad”.
Human remains connected
Detectives have confirmed that human remains found at a flat in Shepherd’s Bush belong to the same two men whose remains were found in Bristol.
It has been reported that the victims lived together and one had recently travelled to Colombia. They have not yet been identified.
A neighbour told the Mail on Sunday that one of them “had been on holiday in Colombia… they were quite well travelled and had a villa on the border of Spain and France too. They’d lived here for a couple of years.”
It is believed that one of the men may have worked as a concierge for Harrods Estate, the property company, before retiring in 2019.
On Saturday, investigators in blue forensic suits, wearing masks and gloves, could be seen working behind a cordon outside the property in Scotts Road.
Officers from the Metropolitan Police are leading the investigation and are working with their counterparts in Avon and Somerset Police.
Dept Assistant Commissioner Andy Valentine, of Scotland Yard, said of the arrest: “This is a significant development in our investigation, and I would like to thank the public for their support.
“We understand the concerns of local communities in both Bristol and London, and officers will remain in the Clifton and Shepherd’s Bush areas over the coming days to reassure those affected by this tragic incident. Anyone with any concerns is encouraged to speak with them.”
The suspect is believed to have travelled to Bristol from London in a vehicle in which he was not the driver. He was picked up in a taxi outside a pub in Clifton, an affluent area in the west of the city.
It is thought he then made a short journey from outside the pub to the other side of the bridge, which connects Bristol with Leigh Woods in North Somerset.
The manhunt began at 11.57pm on Wednesday, when police received reports of a man seen “acting suspiciously” near the Bristol bridge.
Officers arrived within 10 minutes but the man had left the scene, leaving a suitcase behind. A second suitcase was found nearby a short time later and both contained body parts.
A 36-year-old man who was arrested in Greenwich on Friday in connection with the investigation has since been released without charge.
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