Donald Trump says he’ll return to Butler for a rally honoring Corey Comperatore
Trump's vow to return to Butler County came nearly two weeks after the assassination attempt against him.
Former President Donald Trump plans to return to Butler, Pa. for another rally, he wrote in a Truth Social post Friday — nearly two weeks after a 20-year-old Pennsylvania man attempted to assassinate the former president, killing one rallygoer and injuring two others.
In his post, Trump said his forthcoming Butler visit will honor Corey Comperatore, the 50-year-old man who was killed at the July 13 rally, as well as the two other men who were wounded in the shooting. No other details were provided.
Comperatore, a firefighter, was fatally shot while shielding his wife and two daughters. Pennsylvania State police identified the two people who were wounded but survived as David Dutch, 57, of New Kensington, Pa., and James Copenhaver, 74, of Moon Township, Pa.
Trump’s return “will play a vital role in the healing of our community and the elevation of our name above the ugliness of July 13,” said Jondavid Longo, the mayor of Slippery Rock, a borough less than 20 miles away from Butler. Despite the violence at the previous rally, Longo said he did not believe Trump’s supporters would be deterred from attending.
“I’ve held the line and said that the people will always meet President Trump if he comes to visit us, and nothing is going to stop us, not violence or the threat of violence, from exercising our First Amendment rights to participate in this political cycle openly and freely,” Longo said.
Trump did not provide a date for a second Butler rally, although he is already expected to return to Pennsylvania next week. On Wednesday, the former president will hold his first rally in the commonwealth since the assassination attempt, this time located indoors at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg. The U.S. Secret Service has encouraged the Trump campaign to stop outdoor rallies in favor of indoor ones. Trump reportedly plans to follow this guidance for the foreseeable future.
In Harrisburg, doors will open at 2 p.m., and Trump is scheduled to speak at 6 p.m., according to the event page.
Since the deadly rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds, all eyes have been on the Secret Service’s major security lapses that led to the agency’s failure to protect Trump from Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pa.
Crooks was able to scale a nearby building — despite being spotted by law enforcement more than 30 minutes beforehand — and used an AR-15 style rifle to fire several rounds from the building’s roof less than 150 feet away from the stage where Trump was speaking.
» READ MORE: What we learned about the Trump assassination attempt from the Secret Service director’s testimony before Congress
Crooks was also able to survey the rally site twice before he attempted to assassinate Trump, including flying a drone to scope out the Butler Farm Show grounds, FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before Congress this week. Crooks also searched online queries such as “How far away was [assassin Lee Harvey] Oswald from Kennedy,” on the same day he registered to attend the Butler rally.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned this week after testifying at the same congressional hearing. She said the shooting was the Secret Service’s “most significant operational failure” in decades.
Attendees at the rally told The Inquirer that security measures at the Butler rally mirrored what they had experienced at other Trump rallies. Rallygoers went through bag-checks and metal detectors. Attendees also noted a large police presence there, and said items such as firearms, weapons, explosives, umbrellas, and laser pointers were prohibited.
Staff writer Gillian McGoldrick contributed to this story.