Oct. 5 (UPI) — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will return to the scene of the July 13 assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pa., on Saturday while his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, travels to North Carolina to survey Hurricane Helene damage.
GOP campaign officials have promised that Trump’s appearance at the Butler Farm Show Inc. site north of Pittsburgh will be “different” from his usual rallies of late, which have featured increasingly ominous and strident attacks on Harris, the Democratic Party, the legal system, immigrants and other political targets.
Instead, amid tight security precautions due to the deadly attack by a 20-year-old sniper on his previous visit to Butler, the former president will tone down the divisive rhetoric and focus on those who were killed and injured during the shooting, including Corey Comperatore, a firefighter who died while shielding his family from the bullets, campaign officials say.
As the rally got underway at around 2 p.m. EDT, the firefighter coat and helmet worn by Comperatore were placed in the stands behind the stage. The former president was scheduled to deliver his remarks at 5 p.m. EDT, with his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, taking the stage 30 minutes earlier.
Crowds began arriving at the site as early as 6 a.m., the Butler Eagle reported.
The July 13 assassination attempt, as well as another two months later in which an armed man was found hiding along the perimeter of Trump’s West Palm Beach, Fla., golf course, has led to a “paradigm shift” in how the Secret Service is providing protection for candidates and other public figures, its leaders say.
An internal investigation launched by the agency, as well as separate probes underway by a pair of congressional committees, have put the blame for the close call in part on a lack of communication between the Secret Service and local and state law enforcement officials.
That will not be the case on Saturday in the key swing state, all the parties have promised.
Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., who represents the area in Congress and is leading the bipartisan House probe of the assassination attempt, said there will be more law enforcement officers on site who will be using better communication methods.
“It is so safe and so secure,” he told reporters on Friday. “I think, in every possible way that you can secure that area, that has been done. It’s 180 degrees different than the site on July 13.”
Trump will also be shielded by bulletproof glass, as he has been at his outdoor rallies since late August.
On Friday, Trump and Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp made a rare joint appearance as they toured the damage from Hurricane Helene. He then hosted a town hall in Fayetteville, N.C.
Harris, meanwhile, on Saturday was scheduled to meet with hurricane survivors in North Carolina, parts of which remain in dire condition more than a week after the storm. Her campaign says she will also receive briefing from local, state and federal officials who are coordinating the ongoing relief efforts in hard-hit western North Carolina.
She was scheduled to arrive in Charlotte, N.C., at 3:25 p.m. and spend three hours in the state before returning to Washington.
Although the visit is not being billed as a campaign stop but rather an official visit, Harris’ appearance is happening in an electoral battleground state where most statewide polls show a very tight race.
The North Carolina visit comes a day after Harris visited another swing state, Michigan, where she met with Arab American and Muslim leaders, many of whom have voiced strong objections to the Biden administration’s staunch support of Israel in its ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.
She later held a rally in Flint, Mich., where he appeared with former NBA superstar and Michigan native Earvin “Magic” Johnson. While there she blasted the positions of Trump and Vance on the auto industry, questioning their commitments to continuing the Biden administration’s efforts to develop U.S. electric car-making capacity.
“Two days ago, Donald Trump’s running mate suggested that if Trump wins, he might let the Grand River assembly plant in Lansing close down, the same plant that our administration helped save earlier this year, along with 650 union jobs,” Harris said. “Michigan, we together fought hard for those jobs, and you deserve a president who won’t put them at risk.”
Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, spoke in Cincinnati on Saturday while on a fundraising tour through Ohio. During the appearance, he slammed Vance for refusing to say at this week’s vice presidential debate whether Trump had lost the 2020 election, the New York Times reported.
“He is not a reflection on the integrity of the people of Ohio,” Walz said.
The governor is scheduled to embark on a similar fundraising tour through California and Washington state on Sunday.
