Trump arrives in Michigan for first rally post-assassination attempt as Biden isolates with Covid amid calls to step aside – live updates

Ethan Meyers is in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where Donald Trump supporters have gathered in anticipation of the former president’s remarks:

“He was spared by the hand of God!” A man wrapped in a flag started chanting as he walked past a line of people snaking outside the 12,000-seat Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The display prompted a smattering of “USA! USA!,” but the general tone of the crowd who had gathered to see Donald Trump’s first rally since a would-be assassin opened fire on him at a campaign event in Pennsylvania a week ago was much more laid-back.

Indeed, despite the roiling impact of the shooting on US politics, it felt like back to business-as-usual for the Trump campaign road show.

Here are some images from the newswires from the rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where Donald Trump is due to speak shortly in his first public campaign rally since he was injured in an assassination attempt.

Axios’s Sophia Cai reports that supporters of Donald Trump had to go through one of eight metal detectors to enter the venue for today’s rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan:

“Welcome to Michigan, Donald Trump and JD Vance,” the Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, said in an Instagram post on Saturday, before outlining “three things you should know about our great state” ahead of today’s joint rally.

Here, we protect reproductive freedom. We’re not interested in your national abortion ban. Two, we find ways to put money back in Michiganders pockets … and three, we’re a proud union state and UAW workers still remember when Donald Trump broke his promises to Michigan workers … and Michigan is going to reject your extreme Project 2025 agenda.

Whitmer’s caustic welcome comes amid polling indicating she would beat Trump by 1% in the key swing state if she were to become the Democratic presidential nominee, but trails the former president by almost 4% nationally in a hypothetical general election matchup.

Donald Trump has arrived in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he is expected to speak in his first public campaign rally since last Saturday’s assassination attempt.

From Fox 17’s Lauren Kummer:

Donald Trump is shortly expected to speak at his first public campaign rally since his assassination attempt a week ago by appearing in a crucial rust belt battleground state alongside his new running mate, Ohio senator JD Vance.

The return to the campaign trail by Trump comes after the attempted killing of the former president at a Pennsylvania rally last Saturday when a 20-year-old gunman opened fire, injuring Trump and others and killing one rally-goer.

The shooting roiled American politics, ratcheting up the tension in a race already fueled by fears over rising political violence and the prospect of civil unrest. It also dominated the past week’s Republican national convention in Milwaukee from which Trump emerged at the head of a remarkably unified and energized campaign.

Tonight’s joint rally with Vance is the first for the pair since they officially became the nominees.

Michigan is one of the crucial swing states expected to determine the outcome of the presidential election. Trump narrowly won the state by just more than 10,000 votes in 2016, but Democrat Joe Biden flipped it back in 2020, winning by a margin of 154,000 votes on his way to the presidency.

JD Vance has been speaking at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in his first rally appearance since he was announced as Donald Trump’s running mate.

From CNN’s Kate Sullivan:

Donald Trump was struck by a bullet that passed “less than a quarter of an inch” from his head that left a “2 cm wide wound” in his right ear during last week’s assassination attempt, his former physician said.

In a statement shared by the former president, Texas congressman Ronny Jackson, Trump’s former doctor, said he has been evaluating and treating his wound daily.

Trump “is doing well”, Jackson said.

As reported and witnessed by the entire world, he sustained a gunshot wound to the right ear from a high-powered rifle used by the would be assassin. The bullet passed, coming less than a quarter of an inch from entering his head, and struck the top of his right ear. The bullet track produced a 2cm wide wound that extended down to the cartilaginous surface of the ear.

Jackson said there was initially “significant” bleeding, “followed by marked swelling of the entire upper ear” which has since resolved.

“Based on the highly vascular nature of the ear, there is still intermittent bleeding requiring a dressing to be in place,” he wrote, adding:

In summary, former president Trump is doing well, and he is recovering as expected from the gunshot wound sustained last Saturday afternoon. I am extremely thankful his life was spared. It is an absolute miracle he wasn’t killed.

Donald Trump’s campaign is preparing a major attack plan on Kamala Harris if Joe Biden steps aside, including a wave of ads focusing on her record in her current office and in California, according to a report.

The Trump team has already prepared opposition research books on Harris, including a recently concluded poll testing her vulnerabilities in a general election contest, the New York Times reports, citing sources. The report says:

The Trump team’s attention on Ms Harris is based on its assumption that if Democrats were to bypass the first Black woman to serve as vice president, it would drive even deeper divisions in the party and risk alienating their base of Black voters.

Trump allies have also begun examining the records of Democratic governors who are considered potential running mates for Harris, including Pennsylvania’s governor, Josh Shapiro, according to the report.

Members of the House homeland security committee have announced they plan to visit the site of the assassination attempt of Donald Trump on Monday.

The committee chair, Mark Green, will be joined by 10 members of the committee for the visit to Butler, Pennsylvania.

The visit comes as the House oversight committee prepares to hear from the Secret Service director, Kim Cheatle, in a public hearing on Monday morning.