Former President Donald Trump will return to the site of the first assassination attempt on him in Butler, Pennsylvania, during the first week of October, according to two sources familiar with the Trump campaign’s planning.
The rally, currently scheduled for Oct. 5, will take place at the Butler Farm Showgrounds, where gunman Thomas Crooks shot and grazed his ear on July 13. The upcoming event will likely be similar in format to the July rally.
Trump has repeatedly said he would return to Butler, writing on his social media platform Truth Social in late July that he was returning to Butler for a “BIG, BEAUTIFUL RALLY.”
Scammers opened fire on Trump from a rooftop about 400 feet from the former president during an outdoor campaign rally in Butler. CBS News Video Analysis Investigators determined that the shooter fired eight shots in less than six seconds before being fatally shot by a Secret Service sniper, a fact later confirmed by the FBI. A Pennsylvania firefighter Corey Companion was shot dead at the July rally, and two other participants were seriously injured.
The U.S. Secret Service has placed at least five agents on leave, including the head of the Pittsburgh field office, as the division’s internal affairs department continues its investigation into what happened in Butler, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
Since the attempted assassination of Butler, Trump has spoken at his outdoor rallies behind bulletproof glass.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Asked whether he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after the shooting, Trump told CBS News political correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns that he did not, but that it was “a miracle I wasn’t killed.”
“The answer is it was very, very close, within an eighth of an inch, and I wouldn’t talk to you right now. And I think God has a reason for doing things, and his reason may very well be that he wants to save this country, maybe save the world,” Trump said.
More recently, the former president has publicly admitted that he is on edge. On September 18, at a rally in Uniondale, New York, Trump flinched when he heard someone trying to rush the stage. He mentioned that he was suffering from a “little yip problem,” a type of nervousness or spasm that affects golfers and baseball players.
“This is a smart guy coming in, this guy, I thought, I’m getting ready,” he said. “I’m going like this. You know, I’ve got a little problem with Yip here, right? It was unbelievable. I was ready to start fighting.”
Trump’s life was again threatened when a potential assassin was discovered by the Secret Service with a high-caliber rifle in the bushes near the former president’s golf course in West Palm Beach while he was playing a round of golf.
Suspect Ryan Wesley Routh currently faces two federal firearms charges arising from the September 15 incident, and federal prosecutors also plan to charge him assassination attempt of a political figure.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Pat Milton and Nicole Sganga contributed to this report.
