Speaking from the Oval Office, Biden said passions were high on both sides and the stakes in the election were high, but violence was “not the answer.”
US President Joe Biden used a prime-time televised address to urge Americans to avoid political violence and unite to protect democracy.
Speaking the day after an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, Joe Biden said political passions can be heightened, but that “Competing visions of the campaign should always be resolved peacefully, not through acts of violence“.
“The power to change America should always be in the hands of the people, not in the hands of a would-be assassin.” said the American president.
He added that passions were high on both sides and the stakes in the election were enormous, but violence was not the answer.
“We can do it“, Joe Biden said, asserting that the nation was founded on a democracy that gave reason and balance a chance to prevail over force.
Earlier on Sunday, Joe Biden condemned the assassination attempt on his predecessor, calling it “contrary to everything we stand for as a nation“, and said he had called for an independent investigation into security measures at the event, to determine how such an attack could have happened.
Donald Trump was shot and injured in the ear during a political rally Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania.
One member of the public was killed and two others were injured in the shooting, which was reportedly carried out using an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle.
The shooter, named by the FBI as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper.
The motive for the shooting remains under investigation.
One of the shooter’s former classmates described him as a loner who was bullied at school.
“He would sit alone at lunch and be an outcast. And you know how kids are these days. They would pick on him because they thought it was funny. That’s the best way to describe it. It’s really sad.” said Jason Kohler.
Former First Lady Melania Trump released a statement online condemning the shooting and urging Americans to “rise above hate“She thanked Secret Service agents and law enforcement and called the shooter “monster“.
Donald Trump is expected to be a hero at the Republican convention in Milwaukee, which begins Monday. Security has been tightened for the event.
Some 2,400 delegates from across the country will attend and are expected to nominate Donald Trump as the party’s presidential candidate in November.
On his Truth Social account, the former president said he had initially planned to delay his trip to the convention but would go on the scheduled date, saying he “cannot allow a ‘shooter’ or potential assassin to force a change of program“.