Monday Briefing: An assassination attempt on Donald Trump

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July 15, 2024

	By Daniel E. Slotnik

Good morning. We’re covering an assassination attempt on Donald Trump and a major Israeli airstrike in Gaza.

Plus, an extravagant wedding heralds India’s Gilded Age.

After shots rang out, Donald Trump was swarmed by Secret Service officers. Doug Mills/The New York Times

Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt

The shots rang out as Donald Trump was speaking at a rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday night. The former president clutched his right ear, spurting blood, then ducked for cover as his supporters screamed and Secret Service agents leaped on top of him.

Within moments, someone shouted “shooter down,” and the agents began moving Trump offstage. He pumped his fist in the air and seemed to shout “Fight! Fight!” as the crowd erupted with chants of “U.S.A.!”

For the first time in more than four decades, a man who was elected president of the U.S. had been wounded in an assassination attempt. Here’s what to know.

Eric Lee/The New York Times

After Secret Service snipers killed the shooter, Trump was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. A spectator was killed, and two others were critically wounded, authorities said.

Not long after, Trump wrote on his social media platform that he had been “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.” He also expressed condolences to the family of the man who was killed, Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old volunteer firefighter with two daughters. The two other victims remained hospitalized yesterday.

Trump’s campaign said he planned to move ahead with the Republican National Convention, which begins today in Milwaukee.

The F.B.I. identified the shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pa., a 20-year-old dietary aide at a nursing facility. The Secret Service said the shooter had fired from an elevated position outside the rally venue, and law enforcement officials recovered near his body an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle that Crooks’s father had purchased. A Times analysis of videos indicated that eight shots were fired from a rooftop 330 to 390 feet from where Trump was speaking.

Investigators yesterday discovered, in a car belonging to Crooks, materials to build explosive devices. Senior F.B.I. officials said yesterday that they were investigating the shooting as a possible domestic terrorism attack and attempted assassination, but that they had no reason to believe it was part of a larger plot. Here’s what is known about the suspect.

World leaders and elected officials condemned the violence, and some prominent Trump backers accused Democrats of inflammatory rhetoric that incited the attack. The Biden campaign suspended its television advertising, and the Trump campaign warned staffers to avoid “dangerous rhetoric on social media.”

An annotated photo showing what appears to be a projectile passing by Donald Trump during a rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday. Doug Mills/The New York Times

Eyewitnesses: Times reporters and photographers were at the rally, and two told us what they saw. One image by the photographer, Doug Mills, appeared to show a bullet streaking by Trump’s head.

Biden: President Biden, who said he had spoken with Trump, urged Americans on Sunday to “unite as one nation.” He scheduled an Oval Office address to the country at 8 p.m. Eastern, and you can watch live here.

What’s next: The assassination attempt plunged a tumultuous race into shock, Shane Goldmacher writes. The attack will likely tear Americans further apart, Peter Baker writes.

Damaged shelters at the site of the Israeli bombardment in Mawasi. Bashar Taleb/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Hamas leader’s fate unknown after an Israeli airstrike

The fate of Hamas’s top military commander remained unclear after Israel conducted a major airstrike on Saturday in southern Gaza, killing at least 90 people, about half of them women and children, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

The intended target was Muhammad Deif, an architect of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, the second most senior official in Hamas and the leader of its military wing. Israeli officials said that the attack had killed Rafa Salameh, the leader of Hamas forces in the southern city of Khan Younis. Hamas has denied that either man died in the attack.

The strike hit Mawasi, a “humanitarian zone” where the U.N. said hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought shelter. How the airstrike might affect fragile cease-fire talks was not immediately clear, but a member of Hamas’s political bureau rejected a news report that the group had decided to halt the negotiations.

Related: Hamas has fought as a guerrilla force camouflaged among civilians during the eight months of fighting in Gaza. Hamas fighters, Israeli soldiers and military analysts told us how.

The New York Times

A Cambodian base highlighted China’s growing naval influence

Since December, Chinese warships have docked at the Ream military base in Cambodia, as workers build a naval port that resembles other bases China has constructed.

Cambodian officials said that China was just helping to modernize its military, but a close look at the base revealed that Beijing might be expanding its navy’s reach.

A woman paying tribute to people killed in Sevastopol by debris from an intercepted Ukrainian missile. Yuri Kochetkov/EPA, via Shutterstock

Sports News

Barbora Krejcikova’s forehand dictated much of the Wimbledon women’s final. Julian Finney/Getty Images

Anant Ambani and his fiancée, Radhika Merchant. Ashish Vaishnav/SOPA Images, via LightRocket, via Getty Images

The lead-up to the wedding of the younger son of Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, would have awed Jay Gatsby. Artists like Rihanna and Katy Perry performed for guests like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg at pre-wedding celebrations, which included a four-day Mediterranean cruise — the bride-to-be said the couple couldn’t find a large enough venue on land.

Those extravagant celebrations offered a peek into the upper echelon of India’s Gilded Age. The wedding took place over the weekend, with guests like Kim and Khloé Kardashian and John Cena. Here’s what we know.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times.

Boris Akunin has lived mainly in Britain since 2014. Andrew Testa for The New York Times

An exiled Russian novelist works to transform his home

The writer known as Boris Akunin has sold at least 30 million books in Russia, many of them featuring Erast Fandorin, a detective considered the Russian Sherlock Holmes. Long a vocal critic of the Kremlin, Akunin left Russia in 2014 to protest the country’s illegal annexation of Crimea, and he has contemplated how cultural figures abroad can spur change at home.

Akunin’s work was still widely available in Russia until last December, when pro-Kremlin pranksters pretending to be Ukrainian officials recorded him supporting Ukraine’s defense. After the recording was released, the Russian government essentially ended the distribution of his books.

Despite the obstacles, Akunin said he was still pressing for change at home, and writing more than ever.

Con Poulos for The New York Times.

Cook: Cocoa powder and bittersweet chocolate make these chocolate-peanut butter swirl cookies fancy.

Read: Our list of the 100 best books of the 21st century is up. We can help you choose one.

Pack: Here’s how to pack a cooler to keep perishables crisp.

Travel: Spend 36 hours in Izmir, Turkey, the 8,500-year-old “Pearl of the Aegean.”

Play: Spelling Bee, the Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku. Find all our games here.

That’s it for today. See you tomorrow. — Dan

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