The FBI is attempting to pin down a motive after the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump on Saturday. The shooting took place during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Donald Trump: “If you want to really see something that’s sad, take a look at what happened” —

Secret Service: “Get down! Get down! Get down!”

Unidentified: “What are we doing? What are we doing?”

A bullet grazed Trump’s ear, leaving him bloodied. Fifty-year-old Corey Comperatore, a volunteer firefighter and spectator, was killed as he attempted to protect his family from the gunfire. Two others are in critical condition. Secret Service fatally shot the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, moments after he fired.

The Justice Department is investigating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism. Investigators believe Crooks acted alone when he shot an AR-15 toward the rally stage from atop a nearby building, just minutes into Trump’s speech. Some attendees said they spotted the gunman climbing to the roof and attempted to get law enforcement to intervene.

Moments after a bullet grazed Trump’s ear, a photographer from the Associated Press snapped a photo of a bloodied Trump raising his fist with an image of an American flag behind him. Many online commentators are speculating the incident, and the image, would help Trump’s election bid.

President Joe Biden ordered a review of the rally’s security. He addressed the nation from the Oval Office Sunday evening.

President Joe Biden: “There is no place in America for this kind of violence or for any violence ever, period. No exceptions. We can’t allow this violence to be normalized. You know, the political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated. It’s time to cool it down. And we all have a responsibility to do that. Yes, we have deeply felt, strong disagreements. The stakes in this election are enormously high.”

Biden’s team says it is pulling its television ads and pausing outgoing campaign communications following the shooting. This comes amid mounting pressure for Biden to end his presidential campaign. Nineteen congressional Democrats have now called on Biden to step aside. Before the attack on Saturday, Biden was reportedly grilled on a call with centrist Democrats over his plans; the call was described to Axios as a “disaster.”

The youth climate group Sunrise Movement publicly called on Biden to step aside Friday, saying the climate risk is too great. “Another Trump presidency would cause catastrophic and irreversible damage to our climate,” the group warned.

Donald Trump arrived here in Milwaukee on Sunday as the Republican National Convention kicks off. Thousands of Republicans are participating in the event, where Trump will accept the nomination for president. On the eve of the RNC Sunday, dozens of people set up an unhoused encampment just minutes from Fiserv Forum, where the RNC will be held, to protest policies that have exacerbated poverty and a housing crisis nationwide. Democracy Now! was there.

Tara Colon: “What it means to be in this encampment during the RNC for us means putting a face to the poverty, OK? Poverty doesn’t discriminate in the United States. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a brand-new baby, because she was born, literally. I walked from tent city to the hospital, because that was my struggle for housing.”

The encampment was organized by the Poor People’s Army, which will lead a march later today. Several other anti-Trump protests are also moving forward today, including the March on the RNC. This is spokesperson Omar Flores.

Omar Flores: “Well, nothing really changes for us, you know? I will say that Trump breeds a lot of hate. He encourages this type of thing. But we are going to continue with the family-friendly march. The shooting has nothing to do with us, really.”

We’ll have more from the protests later in the broadcast and tomorrow.

In Gaza, Israel killed at least 91 Palestinians and injured 300 others when it bombarded the coastal area of al-Mawasi, near Khan Younis, Saturday. Hundreds of thousands of Gazans have been staying in the designated “safe zone” of al-Mawasi after fleeing other areas, including Rafah. This is a survivor of the slaughter.

Abdel Rahman Kanan: “Some of us were outside the house, and some inside the house. West of al-Mawasi is supposed to be a safe zone. For five minutes there were airstrikes. I got on the floor. Many were killed and got injured. Many people among our neighbors were killed, and many injured. Three minutes later, after everything calmed down and when the ambulances arrived, the warplanes started to fire again around the same place.”

Israel claimed it was targeting Hamas leader Mohammed Deif, but Deif’s fate remains unclear two days later, and Hamas claims he survived the attack.
The U.N. and others condemned the massacre. The Council on American-Islamic Relations said, “President Biden’s continuing support for and silence about the genocide gives a green light for more Israeli abuses and war crimes.”

But Israel’s slaughter continues unabated. On Sunday, Israeli missiles targeted another UNRWA school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least 22 people. Many of those who were sheltering at the U.N. school arrived after receiving evacuation orders from Israel at their previous locations. Deadly strikes have also been reported at the Magazi and Bureij refugee camps.

Meanwhile, rescue workers say they found at least 60 bodies under the rubble of the Shuja’iyya neighborhood of Gaza City following Israel’s withdrawal from the area last week, after leaving it in ruins.

On Sunday, Hamas confirmed ceasefire talks are still ongoing. We’ll have more on Gaza later in the broadcast.

In the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, protesters marched following Saturday’s massacre in Gaza.

Mahmoud Abu Talal: “This is not the first massacre committed by the occupation against children, women and elders. The occupation is helpless to reach the resistance movement. Each time, they commit a massacre and claim they were attacking leaders of the resistance. But we tell them, 'You are cowards, murderers and criminals. You only kill children and women.'”

Thousands of Israelis also took to the streets of major cities to call on the Israeli government to finalize a ceasefire and hostage deal.

Voters in Rwanda are casting ballots today in an election that is expected to easily keep President Paul Kagame in office for a fourth straight term. Kagame has been in power since 2000, making him the only elected president of Rwanda since the 1994 genocide, during which up to 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by militia members.

Ahead of the election, Rwandan courts banned Kagame’s biggest rivals from running. Rights groups have called out Kagame’s sweeping crackdown on the press and dissent, as well as his backing of M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who have been accused of committing rape, murder and torture.

Pakistan announced it is moving to ban former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s PTI party. This comes just days after Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled PTI was eligible for a number of seats in national and provincial assemblies. It also comes after another court acquitted Khan and his wife on charges their marriage violated Islamic law. Khan remains behind bars on separate charges of inciting riots in 2023. The U.N. and others have deemed Khan’s detention arbitrary and said it “appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for political office.”

In Ecuador, five people have been convicted for the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. Villavicencio, a former journalist, was shot dead at a campaign rally in Quito last year. He was running on an anti-corruption platform and had vowed to take on organized crime. This is his wife’s attorney, Hugo Espín.

Hugo Espín: “This is an important first step. I think the country needs transparency. The country needs to get to the intellectual authors so that there isn’t impunity. The only way to get security in the country is by erasing impunity of any people committing a crime.”

Back in the United States, as anti-immigrant hate speech is expected to be a centerpiece of the RNC, a new report by Human Rights Watch and the Drug Policy Alliance reveals that the U.S. deports thousands of immigrants every year for drug offenses, many of which are no longer penalized under state law, including marijuana-related offenses. The groups say that between 2002 and 2020, half a million immigrants were deported — policies that have torn apart families and destabilized communities.

In Texas, around 350,000 homes and businesses in the Houston area remained without power Sunday, nearly one week after Hurricane Beryl slammed into the region. Some residents have taken to sleeping in their cars amid scorching temperatures. Texas Governor Greg Abbott called for an investigation into CenterPoint Energy, which residents say was unprepared to respond to the disaster. This is Deborah Powell, a 72-year old retiree from Houston.

Deborah Powell: “There should be something that the city can do to give these people lights and make sure that we don’t suffer no more. Houston shouldn’t have to suffer. H-Town. This is H-Town, man. H-Town shouldn’t have to suffer. But we’re suffering right now. So, it’s something. I know Mayor Whitmire just got in there, so I’m not going to down him. But it’s something Mayor Whitmire and everybody else that’s connected with the city and the lights, CenterPoint, it’s something they have to do. It’s something they can do. What it is, I don’t know. If I could go do it, I’d do it.”

This comes as Politico reports the Biden administration rejected a request from CenterPoint last year for $100 million to strengthen its poles and wires against powerful storms.

Meanwhile, at least two people were reported dead in Vermont from heavy flooding caused by Beryl as it continued to make its way across the U.S. last week. Before arriving on U.S. soil, Hurricane Beryl killed at least 19 people across the Caribbean. Scientists warn such events will only become stronger and more frequent due to the climate catastrophe.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called on the international community to ensure the survival of UNRWA, the U.N. agency assisting Palestine refugees, amid ongoing attacks from Israel. Guterres spoke at a conference in New York, where 118 U.N. members asserted their commitment to keeping UNRWA running, at least through September.

Secretary-General António Guterres: “And my appeal to everyone is this: Protect UNRWA, protect UNRWA’s staff, and protect UNRWA’s mandate, including through funding. And let me be clear: There is no alternative to UNRWA. … And UNRWA is also being targeted in other ways. Staff have been subject to increasingly violent protests and virulent misinformation and disinformation campaigns. Some have been detained by Israeli security forces and subsequently reported mistreatment and even torture.”

Guterres added UNRWA is often the main source of hope for Gazans as they are “forced to move like human pinballs across a landscape of destruction and death.” The U.S. was previously UNRWA’s largest donor, but Congress passed a bill this year banning funding to the agency until March of next year. At least 195 UNRWA workers have been killed in Gaza since October 7.

A Syrian soldier was killed Sunday after Israel launched fresh strikes in and around Damascus. Israel’s military said it had targeted a Syrian military command center as well as other infrastructure in response to two drones that were fired toward Israel from Syrian territory. This comes as parliamentary elections are taking place in Syria today, which could pave the way for a constitutional amendment to extend the term of President Bashar al-Assad. This is the fourth election that’s been held in Syria since the war began in 2011.

Officials from Sudan’s warring parties are in Geneva, Switzerland, for U.N.-led talks aimed at brokering a possible ceasefire between the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces, as well as open access to humanitarian aid for civilians. The violence has left tens of thousands dead and displaced over 10 million people since April of last year. The U.N. says about 26 million people, slightly more than half of the population in Sudan, is facing high levels of “acute food insecurity.”

In Somalia, at least nine people were killed after a car bomb was detonated outside a cafe in the capital Mogadishu Sunday as people gathered to watch the Euro 2024 soccer finals. Some 20 others were wounded in the explosion. Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s deadly attack.

In Bolivia, union leaders marched on the capital of La Paz Friday in support of leftist President Luis Arce after he survived a failed military coup attempt last month. Arce addressed supporters at the “March for Democracy.”

President Luis Arce: “Behind a coup, there are always economic interests. And in our country, we’ve always had to face coups as others wanted to take our natural resources from us. For strategy and geopolitics, they wanted to take what is for us the engine of development and growth of the families here in our country.”

Finland has passed a bill that allows authorities to turn away asylum seekers at its border, a move immigration and rights groups warn is a violation of international law. This comes after Finland last year closed all its land crossings with Russia amid mounting tensions since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022. Finland joined NATO last year after decades of pursuing a military policy of nonalignment.

In New Mexico, a judge dismissed involuntary manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin in the fatal 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the western “Rust.” Baldwin, the film’s star and producer, fired the loaded prop gun that killed Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza. The judge’s dismissal Friday ended Baldwin’s trial just two days after it opened, and came after Baldwin’s defense accused the prosecution of concealing evidence “favorable to Baldwin.”

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s weapons handler, who is serving 18 months in prison after being convicted earlier this year, said she will also seek to have her case dismissed in light of the decision. Meanwhile, the family of Halyna Hutchins vowed to pursue their civil case against those involved in the deadly shooting.