Top Republicans blame Biden for Trump assassination attempt as American democracy is pushed to breaking point amid claims ex-president was refused bolstered Secret Service security

Top Republicans have blamed Joe Biden’s campaign rhetoric for the assassination attempt on Donald Trump which has rocked American democracy to the core.

Vivek Ramaswamy and JD Vance are among those blasting Biden in the aftermath of the chilling attack at Trump’s Pennsylvania rally on Saturday evening – while also sparking urgent questions about major security failings. 

The Secret Service is under the microscope for allowing the gunman to crawl over the closest roof to a presidential nominee, after the Department for Homeland Security allegedly rejected requests from Trump’s people for extra security – something the department has denied.

Meanwhile, some of the president’s critics including Bill Ackman brought back a tweet of Biden’s saying it was ‘time to put Trump in a bullseye’ just five days before the shooting – as the DNC frantically attempted to pull all TV ads. 

Gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, from Bethel Park, PA, fired several rounds from a rooftop including one bullet which struck Trump in the ear. It came just days before the former president was to accept the Republican nomination for 2024. 

Crooks – a registered Republican who donated $15 to the liberal ActBlue political action committee on Biden’s Inauguration Day in 2021 – killed one spectator and injured two more people before cops gunned him down.

The Biden administration rushed the president back to the White House from his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware in the immediate aftermath, and he condemned the shooting on X. 

Biden, 81, spoke with Trump, 78, while his team frantically attempted to pull all TV ads – but several top Republicans were quick to make alleged links between the rhetoric in their marketing and the shocking events of Saturday evening. 

‘Today is not just some isolated incident,’ Ohio Senator JD Vance, 39, wrote on X. 

‘The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. 

‘That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.’

Bill Ackman – a former Democrat supporter – shared Vance’s post, adding: ‘Agreed. This rhetoric has to stop’. 

Ackman, 58, supported the Democratic Party and endorsed Dean Phillips for the 2024 presidential primaries – but he withdrew his allegiance with the party because of Biden’s alleged lack of support for Israel. 

The billionaire hedge fund manager has since pledged support for Donald Trump instead. 

Some X users brought back an old tweet of Biden’s saying it was ‘time to put Trump in a bullseye’. 

‘I have one job, and that’s to beat Donald Trump. I’m absolutely certain I’m the best person to be able to do that,’ the president wrote. 

‘So, we’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye’.  

Vivek Ramaswamy also poured fuel on the fire, saying the assassination ‘wasn’t totally a shock’ and blamed ‘the toxic national climate that led to this tragedy’. 

‘First they sued him. Then they prosecuted him. Then they tried to take him off the ballot,’ Ramaswamy wrote on X. 

‘The only thing more tragic than what just happened is that, if we’re being honest, it wasn’t totally a shock. 

‘Biden’s inevitable ritual condemnation of political violence today (when it comes) will be insufficient and irrelevant. 

‘No amount of verbiage today changes the toxic national climate that led to this tragedy.’

During media appearances in the hours after the shooting, Speaker Mike Johnson also said ‘everybody needs to turn the rhetoric down’ while Majority Leader of the U.S House of Representatives Steve Scalise echoed the same sentiment. 

‘We can have heated political discourse and debates, but it shouldn’t be personal and we shouldn’t be targeting people,’ Johnson told NBC’s Today program. 

‘President Biden himself said in recent days that it’s time to put a bullseye on Trump. 

‘I know that he didn’t mean what is being implied there, but that kind of language on either side should be called out.’

Meanwhile, Scalise told CBS that both sides need to ‘do better’.

‘There’s been a lot of rhetoric from the last few months and I think that this idea that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy,’ he said. 

‘That kind of language, all it takes is one person to hear that and act on it. 

‘I don’t know if that’s the case today, but those are the kind of things that shouldn’t be said and all of us need to do better and dial the language down’. 

Questions are also swirling about why the Department of Homeland Security allegedly refused repeated requests from Trump’s people for beefed up Secret Service protection. 

According to Republican Florida Rep Mike Waltz, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas repeatedly denied such requests. 

‘I have very reliable sources telling me there have been repeated requests for stronger secret service protection for President Trump. Denied by Secretary Mayorkas,’ Waltz wrote on X. 

Responding to questions about how the assassination attempt was allowed to unfold on the closest roof to Trump, Elon Musk blamed ‘extreme incompetence or it was deliberate’.

‘Either way, the SS leadership must resign,’ X boss Musk wrote on the platform. 

A witness even revealed he warned Secret Service agents about the gunman on a nearby roof minutes before shots rang out.  

The stunned witness, Greg Smith who owns Brenckle’s Farms & Greenhouses, said he saw Crooks climb onto the top of a building outside the event in Butler, Pennsylvania, and that he was bewildered by the lack of action from agents.

‘I’m thinking to myself, ‘Why is Trump still speaking on this stage right now? Why is he still up there talking?’ he told DailyMail.com.

After the gunman opened fire he saw the Secret Service ‘blow his head off,’ the man said in a video captured by the BBC.

Secret Service Chief of Communications Anthony Guglielmi vehemently pushed back against this claim, saying they had given extra resources to protect the former president. 

‘The assertion that a member of the former President’s security team requested additional security resources that the U.S. Secret Service or the Department of Homeland Security rebuffed is absolutely false,’ Guglielmi said in a statement seen by DailyMail.com. 

‘In fact, recently the U.S. Secret Service added protective resources and capabilities to the former President’s security detail. 

‘The former President, and the current President, are commonly subject to threats. 

‘The U. S. Secret Service takes threats seriously, and it takes actions based on those threats as warranted. 

‘The U.S. Secret Service is constantly evaluating the very dynamic threat environment and responding to it in the fulfillment of its responsibilities. 

‘While we can’t get into specifics, the U.S. Secret Service adds additional resources for all campaign cycles including manpower and a variety of protective technology. 

‘This addition of resources happens for all election cycles and is part of our candidate nominee operations section, also known as CNOS.’ 

Crooks fired at least eight bullets from a rooftop just 130 yards from where Trump, 78, was on stage in Butler speaking to thousands of fans at 6.15pm. He reportedly also had explosives in his car. 

Law enforcement sources told CBS News that Crooks had been armed with ‘an AR-style rifle’.

During the attack, he appeared to be wearing merchandise promoting one of YouTube’s most popular channels devoted to firearms – Demolition Ranch – NBC News reported.

His father, Matthew Crooks, 53, told CNN he was trying to figure out ‘what the hell is going on’ but would ‘wait until I talk to law enforcement’ before speaking. 

A member of the crowd was killed in the deadly shooting, while two others who were wounded are in a critical condition. All three are males, according to law enforcement officials.  

Trump was left bloodied and hurt during the assassination attempt as he was seen to suddenly grab hold of his ear as loud bangs rang out and whizzed by before he ducked to the floor.

The Secret Service swarmed around the 45th US President as piercing screams were heard from the MAGA crowd. 

He then got to his feet with blood pouring down his cheek and raised his fist in the air and defiantly shouted ‘fight’ while the audience shouted ‘USA’ as he was dragged off stage and bundled into a vehicle. 

Secret Service agents could be heard shouting ‘the shooter is down’ in the ensuing chaos and the gunman was later confirmed dead.

Trump was taken to hospital for treatment before being later released.

In a post to his Truth Social network, Trump said a bullet pierced the ‘upper part’ of his right ear.

‘I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin,’ Trump wrote. 

‘Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening.’

Spokesman Steven Cheung said Trump is ‘fine’ and being checked out at a local medical facility while the former president’s eldest son Donald Trump Jr said his father ‘is in great spirits’.

Trump flew back to New Jersey ahead of his spending the night at his golf resort in Bedminster.

Later on Saturday, a bomb squad and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were at an address registered to Crooks as cops stood guard in front of yellow police caution tape.

Special Agent Kevin Rojek, the FBI officer in charge, said Crooks had been identified using DNA as he was not carrying any ID on him. 

Rojek said they had not identified a motive for what he called ‘an assassination attempt on our former president’.  

According to Pennsylvania’s public court records, Crooks had no criminal history and officials claimed they are still working towards identifying a motive behind the shooting.

Crooks appeared to have graduated in 2022 from Bethel Park High School, and received a $500 ‘star award’ that year from the National Math and Science Initiative, a report from The Tribune-Review in western Pennsylvania.

‘Most importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the rally who was killed, and also to the family of another person that was badly injured.

‘It is incredible that such an act can take place in our country.

‘GOD BLESS AMERICA!’ 

Rep. Ronny Jackson revealed his nephew was shot during the assassination attempt on Trump.

Jackson, who was Trump and President Barack Obama’s White House physician, said he helped his nephew and a friend get a spot in the friends and family section close to the stage at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

He told Fox News on Saturday night that his relative was grazed in the neck and bleeding.

‘They heard the shots and everybody dropped to the ground and … he was grazed in the neck, a bullet crossed his neck and he was bleeding,’ Jackson said on Fox News. ‘This is my nephew. They were there. I set them up. They went to the rally.’

Biden has condemned the attack. 

‘I have been briefed on the shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania. I’m grateful to hear that he’s safe and doing well,’ the president said in a statement. 

‘I’m praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally, as we await further information. 

‘Jill and I are grateful to the Secret Service for getting him to safety. There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it.’