CNN —
Donald Trump returned Saturday to the Pennsylvania venue where he narrowly escaped death in an assassination attempt in July for a high-profile rally that allies are billing as a key moment as his 2024 White House campaign enters its final month. will be held.
The former president described this weekend’s visit to Butler, an hour’s drive north of Pittsburgh, which could be the most important battleground state in the election, as unfinished business.
“The day I got shot, I said, ‘I’ll be back. we plan on coming back. And I’m making good on my promises,” President Trump said in an interview with NewsNation this week. “I’m really doing my duty.”
However, the venue was the same, but on that early summer night, just minutes after President Trump began his speech, a gunman opened fire on the crowd, a bullet grazing Trump’s ear, killing and injuring one attendee. Since that revelation, everything else about the 2024 presidential election has been turned upside down. 2 others.
The assassination attempt, followed by another incident while President Trump was golfing in Florida last month, underscored the remarkable volatility and unpredictability of the final stages of a presidential campaign that in many ways was historic.
President Joe Biden faced mounting pressure within his party following his disastrous June debate loss and withdrew eight days after the shooting in Butler. And Vice President Kamala Harris’ late rise to the top of the Democratic field changed the course of the election, forcing President Trump to adapt to a vastly different challenge than the 2020 rematch both parties had been preparing for. Ta.
With just a month left until Nov. 5, early voting and mail-in voting have already begun in many states, major TV ad buys have been made, and maps of battleground states are showing up close. There is.
Five days after the shooting, when Trump charmed Republicans with his convention speech in Milwaukee, the former president vowed never to mention the details of the assassination attempt again.
This pledge did not last long, and the Butler shooting has played a recurring role in his rallies ever since. At last weekend’s rally, a crowd in Erie spoke of President Trump’s return to the shooting site, which he said has steadily grown into a “major tourist destination” since July 13.
“We’re going back. It’s a big deal. A lot of people are coming,” President Trump said. “I’m going to start my speech with the words, ‘As I said.'”
Images of Trump with his face covered in blood and his fist raised are depicted on shirts, flags and other merchandise sold at the rally. It has also become an enduring metaphor for the devotion and love his loyal followers have for him.
“Everybody there, they were great,” Trump told the Erie crowd, some of whom cheered when he asked if anyone had attended the Butler rally. “They had my back. They realized we were in trouble.”
Saturday’s event at the Butler Farm Show is expected to be “different” than a typical Trump rally, a senior Trump campaign adviser told CNN. Instead, President Trump plans to use his speech to pay tribute to the victims of that day.
The former president is planning a memorial for firefighter Corey Comperatore, who died protecting his family from bullets. Comperatore’s wife, daughter and sisters will be visiting on Saturday. President Trump will also recognize two other victims injured in the assassination attempt, David Dutch and James Copenhaver, and will thank his personal Secret Service agents who surrounded him on stage. is.
But while President Trump’s speech has been described as vastly different in both tone and content from his typical past statements, he did use familiar topics as he did on the final night of the Republican National Convention. and returned to attacking his political opponents.
The Trump campaign has clearly signaled the importance it attaches to the event, with vice presidential candidate Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance attending, as well as Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk and singer Lee Greenwood is also expected to attend.
Before the first assassination attempt, Trump’s campaign and aides had suggested that the former president be provided with the same security and resources for various events as the sitting president, two people familiar with the matter said. , it was rejected.
“It finally bit us in the butt,” one of the people said.
Secret Service officials said in July that a radio call that a man was on the roof of a nearby building did not reach officials protecting Mr. Trump, and that authorities did not inform them who was in charge of security at the building. It says the failure on the 13th has been resolved. For this Saturday’s gathering.
A federal official familiar with the plan told CNN that unlike on the day Trump was shot, the Secret Service and local law enforcement will now be under one unified command to quickly communicate threats and issues to each other. He said he will be placed at the center.
Other reinforcements that were supposed to be established the day Thomas Matthew Crooks nearly assassinated the former president are also scheduled to take effect Saturday, sources told CNN. That includes an anti-drone system that didn’t come online until nearly an hour after Crooks flew the drone overhead. Rally venue.
According to the Senate report, the operator confessed that day he had difficulty getting the system working and had less than an hour of training on the drone system.
Federal officials told CNN that the buildings where Crooks was camped will be heavily guarded on Saturday.
“There will be people on the roof,” officials said of the building, adding that “security will be further strengthened.”
“There will be many more enhancements,” the official said.
Trump will be surrounded by bulletproof glass as he takes to the stage, an additional measure introduced at his campaign events in the aftermath of mass shootings this summer.
Pennsylvania State Police will also take a more active role in security this time around, and more local law enforcement will be brought in to police the area.
Local officials had previously complained of a lack of meetings and guidance from the Secret Service during the July rally, but the Secret Service has been more direct about who secures what areas. They are expected to give specific and clear instructions.
“We are working closely with the Pennsylvania State Police and local law enforcement in and around Butler Township. We are also leveraging other federal security resources to expand our personnel and technology.” Anthony Guglielmi, the Secret Service’s communications director, said in a statement Friday.
Prior to the rally in Butler, the campaign held extensive conversations and made a presentation to the city of Butler detailing the scope of the event and other planning details.
Target key counties and precincts
In the final stages of the campaign, Trump and Harris focused on seven key battleground battleground states: the “Blue Wall” states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and the Sunbelt battlegrounds of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina. The focus is on the state.
More than $100 million worth of presidential ads are scheduled to air in the first week of October. Democrats have booked more than $60 million worth of ads from Oct. 1 to Oct. 7, while Republicans have booked ads worth about $41 million, according to data from AdImpact.
The largest share of this spending will be concentrated in Pennsylvania, where Democrats will spend $11.1 million and Republicans $12.5 million. Each party spent more than $115 million on the Keystone State’s airwaves through the end of the race, split almost evenly.
The campaign is trying to win over a handful of persuasive Americans while working hard to ensure that supporters actually turn out to vote.
But the battle for the White House is also being waged on highly localized terrain, with significant attention focused on battleground states within battleground states that could tip the balance. Harris has slammed Trump over health care in Wisconsin, while Trump has slammed Harris over Georgia taxes.
Republican and Democratic strategists told CNN they don’t expect the battlefield map to expand or contract in the final 30 days before Election Day.
There are currently no further presidential debates scheduled. That means it may be impossible for either candidate to find a momentary opportunity to fundamentally change the trajectory of the presidential race, and more targeted appeals are gaining traction.
A new market law poll found that Harris has a strong lead among independent voters in Wisconsin, leading Trump by 22 points. Her appearance Thursday in Ripon, Wisconsin, the birthplace of the Republican Party, with former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney was aimed at accelerating that progress, aides said.
Both campaigns have moved away from traditional television interviews, with President Trump refusing to do an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes, but with independent podcasts and podcasts aimed at key constituencies as well as new and infrequent voters. Online programs are also included.
One of the focuses of Ms. Harris’ campaign is Pennsylvania’s Latino voters, seeking to prevent Mr. Trump from eating into the Democratic Party’s traditionally large lead among nonwhite voters. That effort was on display at an event in Bethlehem last month held by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, one of his running mates. He pledged to continue supporting Puerto Rico’s Hurricane Maria recovery efforts. This is an appeal to Pennsylvania’s Latino voters, who are primarily of Puerto Rican descent.
The Harris campaign is also poised to receive a boost from former President Barack Obama, who begins a four-week push to strengthen her candidacy in Pittsburgh starting Thursday.
CNN’s Camila Decharas, David Wright, Kristen Holmes and Zachary Cohen contributed to this report.
