In a primetime address from the White House, US President Joe Biden strongly condemned the assassination attempt on his predecessor Donald Trump, asserting that American politics must never become a "killing field." Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, was wounded in the ear when a gunman opened fire at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The attack resulted in one fatality and left two others critically injured.
During his Oval Office address, which marked only the third of his presidency, Biden urged Americans to "take a step back" and emphasized the dangers of heated political rhetoric. "No matter how strong our convictions, we must never descend into violence," he stated in remarks that lasted just under seven minutes.
Biden's address, though brief, was delivered without incident, despite ongoing scrutiny over his recent high-profile verbal slips. He called on Americans to unite and warned that the increasing political polarization made the upcoming November election "a time of testing."
Currently, Biden and Trump are neck-and-neck in opinion polls as the election approaches.