Former President Trump said Sunday that he rewrote his speech for this week’s Republican National Convention to focus on unity following the assassination attempt against him over the weekend.
“The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger,” Trump said in an interview with the Washington Examiner.
“Had this not happened, this would’ve been one of the most incredible speeches,” aimed mostly at the policies of President Biden, he added, according to the newspaper. “Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now.”
The former president also said the speech was initially going to excite his voter base but will now focus on how the attack on his life has altered the campaign.
“This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together. The speech will be a lot different, a lot different than it would’ve been two days ago,” he said.
Trump arrived in Milwaukee for the convention Sunday, one day after he was targeted in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa. The former president said a bullet pierced his ear.
One attendee as well as the shooter were killed, officials said, and two other spectators were injured.
Shortly after the shooting, top Trump aides confirmed the former president still planned to attend the Republican convention; and on Sunday, Trump said he was looking forward to speaking to the nation in Wisconsin.
Trump also said he decided to depart for the convention Sunday afternoon because, “I cannot allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling, or anything else.”
The former president is slated to formally accept the GOP nomination Thursday night and is widely expected to name his running mate during the convention, likely Monday.
Law enforcement identified the shooter in the early morning hours Sunday as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pa. Investigators said they are still trying to determine a motive.
Bomb-making materials were found inside Crooks’s vehicle and home, and his phone was sent to an FBI lab in Quantico, Va., for further processing and exploitation, officials confirmed Sunday.
In a prime-time address Sunday night, Biden made a plea to lower the temperature in politics.
“The political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated. It’s time to cool it down,” Biden said in remarks in the Oval Office. “This places an added burden on all of us that no matter how strong our convictions, we must never descend into violence.”