Republican Party will be ‘strong and resilient’ moving forward: Michael Whatley
RNC Chairman Michael Whatley vows that the Republican Party stands ‘firmly’ behind former President Trump during an appearance on ‘Fox News Sunday.’
MILWAUKEE, WI – Former President Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee have emphasized that the party's convention will "proceed" following the assassination attempt on the former president at his rally in Pennsylvania.
But Trump's top two political advisers are telling staff to stay away from campaign offices as the locations are assessed and armed security is enhanced.
"President Trump looks forward to joining you all in Milwaukee as we proceed with our convention to nominate him to serve as the 47th President of the United States," Trump co-campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said in a statement on Saturday night, a couple of hours after the shooting at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The statement was also signed by Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley and co-chair Lara Trump, the former president's daughter-in-law.
TIGHT SECURITY IN MILWUAKEE ON THE EVE OF THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION
An exterior view of the Fiserv Forum, where the Republican National Convention gets underway in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Monday, July 15, 2024. (Fox News - Monica Oroz,)
The Republican National Convention, where Trump will be formally nominated as the GOP's 2024 standard-bearer, is scheduled to kick off on Monday in Milwaukee, the largest city in swing-state Wisconsin.
Wiles and LaCivita on Sunday morning reiterated in a statement that "the RNC Convention will continue as planned in Milwaukee, where we will nominate our President to be the brave and fearless nominee of our Party."
CLICK HERE FOR LIVE FOX NEWS UPDATES ON THE TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
But they also advised staff – some of whom are already working out of Milwaukee ahead of the convention – to avoid campaign offices in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Washington, D.C., until those locations undergo security assessments. And they noted that they are ramping up "armed security presence with 24/7 officers on-site."
"Our highest priority is to keep all of you on this staff safe," Wiles and LaCivita emphasized.
Trump co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita speaks with Fox News and other news organizations at the spin room following the first 2024 general election debate, on June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (Fox News - Paul Steinhauser)
Whatley, in an interview on "Fox News Sunday" in the Fiserv Forum, the site of the convention in Milwaukee, emphasized that "the arena is set and the security is here" when asked about security precautions at the convention.
"We're working with the Secret Service. We're working with 40 different law enforcement agencies, in terms of what that security is going to look like, and this is going to be a facility where we're going to be able to have 50,000 delegates and alternates and guests and members of the media, who are going to be here and who are going to be safe," Whatley noted.
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Intense security measures common at the two major political parties' national nominating conventions – including massive federal, state and local law enforcement presence, many blocks of street closures in all directions, including K-rail barriers and metal barricades – were already in place before the attempted assassination of Trump.
Former President Trump gestures with a bloodied face after multiple shots rang out during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2024. (Reuters/Brendan McDermid)
The shooting took place minutes after Trump began speaking at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in the western part of the state, and the visibly bloodied former president was rushed off the stage by Secret Service agents.
The Secret Service reported that "a suspected shooter fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue. US Secret Service personnel neutralized the shooter, who is now deceased."
"One spectator was killed, two spectators were critically injured," the Secret Service added in their statement.
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