Donald Trump is returning to headline at rally in Butler, Pa., where a 20-year-old gunman fired several shots at him during a July campaign rally.
The Butler Farm Show gathering is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Oct.5.
Doors open at 10 a.m. for supporters wanting to see the 78-year-old candidate at the site of the July 13 assassination attempt where five people, including Trump and the shooter, were hit by gunfire. One attendee was killed as was the gunman, whose reason for opening fire from a rooftop roughly 400 feet from where Trump was speaking remains a mystery.
The shooting became a rallying cry for Trump supporters who days later sported bandages on their ears at the Republican National Committee convention in solidarity with their leader, whose ear was nicked by a bullet during the attempt on his life.
Secret Service sharpshooters killed gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks before he could further wound Trump. The former president’s security detail came under heavy criticism as it became clear the shooter should’ve never gotten so close to the Republican leader with an AR-15-style rifle and a rangefinder.
A Senate report released Wednesday blamed major communication issues for contributing to the GOP nominee nearly being killed. Those findings found multiple failures on the part of Secret Service that were “foreseeable, preventable, and directly related to the events resulting in the assassination attempt that day.”
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle tendered her resignation on July 23 amid fallout over her agency’s failures.
Trump spoke about the shooting at his party’s convention six days after the incident occured.
“I began speaking, very strongly, powerfully and happily,” he recalled. “I started to — like this — turn to my right and was ready to begin a little bit further turn, which I am very lucky I didn’t do, when I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me really, really hard on my right ear.”
He thanked his Secret Service detail for keeping him alive in Butler.
“These are great people,” Trump told convention-goers.
Earlier this month, authorities arrested a second gunman, Ryan Routh, who was laying in wait for the Republican candidate at his Florida golf course. No one was injured in that encounter. The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to increase Trump’s security detail.
