U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday called on the nation to lower the political temperature and work out differences at the ballot box rather than with bullets, a day after his predecessor and Republican rival Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.
In a rare prime-time speech from the Oval Office, Biden said that "the political record in this country has gotten very heated. It's time to cool it down. We all have a responsibility to do that," despite significant disagreements.
Ahead of Biden's address, Trump arrived in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention, which will run four days from Monday. There, the 78-year-old is set to be formally nominated as the party's candidate for the presidential election in November.
Biden said the stakes in the election are extremely high as the choice U.S. voters make will shape the future of their country and the rest of the world for many years to come, but "the path forward through competing visions on the campaign should always be resolved peacefully, not through acts of violence."
The assassination attempt on Saturday came amid a growing divide in U.S. politics and society. Trump was injured after multiple shots were fired at the event in Butler, Pennsylvania, with one hitting his upper ear.
In the immediate aftermath, Trump, who had blood on his right ear and face, pumped his fist in the air multiple times before being whisked from the stage by Secret Service agents.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into the shooting as an assassination attempt. A suspect, identified as a 20-year-old from Pennsylvania, is thought to have fired from a nearby rooftop before being killed by the Secret Service at the scene.
On Sunday, Biden received a briefing on the incident from the heads of the Secret Service and the FBI.
During the Oval Office address, Biden said he does not know the motive of the shooter, his affiliations nor whether he acted alone, adding law enforcement officials are investigating those questions.
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