Trump blames Biden ‘to a certain extent’ for Pennsylvania assassination attempt: ‘There’s a lot of hatred’

WASHINGTON, DC: Former president and GOP nominee Donald Trump called out incumbent Joe Biden as the one responsible for him facing an assassination attempt last month, during an interview with Dr Phil that aired on Tuesday, August 27.

While speaking at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, Trump was fired upon by 20-year-old Thomas Crooks. One of the bullets grazed his right ear, but he remained mostly unharmed as the Secret Service agents rushed to his protection and quickly neutralized the shooter.

The business tycoon told Dr Phil during his interview that the Biden administration refused to provide him the required security detail and hence were "to a certain extent" responsible for what went down last month.

Donald Trump's conversation with Dr Phil on the assassination attempt

"I've always been sort of angry. You know we have talked about Secret Service. He (Biden) always made it very tough for us (Trump campaign) to have the proper number of Secret Service people," Donald Trump complained in the interview.

"And I don't know whose fault it is, but I will tell you, I had these massive rallies with 50, 60,000 people or more, and our people were always fighting to get more security, more Secret Service."

"And he (Biden) knew that we didn't have enough. And he'd have a rally of three or four people," continued Trump, attacking Biden over the size of rally as was his signature.

"I mean, nobody would go. If he had a rally, if he got 20 people, it was a lot. Nobody would go... And yet he had a massive contingent of Secret Service."

"I know that they wanted to have his people come over to these big rallies that I was having," he pivoted back again. "And I know that it was a very tough situation. So, you know, when this happened, people would ask, whose fault is it? I think to a certain extent, it's Biden's fault and Harris' fault, and I'm the opponent."

"Look, they were weaponizing government against me. They brought in the whole DOJ to try and get me. They weren't too interested in my health and safety. I would be if I were in their position, but they weren't interested," alleged Trump, adding that the Biden administration was "making it very difficult to have proper staffing in terms of Secret Service."

Dr Phil asked Trump to clarify at that point if he meant that the Biden administration was "okay" with him being shot, to which Trump responded, "I don't know. There's a lot of hatred. I don't know why. I had a great presidency."

MAGA backs Donald Trump's claim online

MAGA supporters on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) reacting to Trump's comments shared his views and blamed the Biden administration over the unfortunate incident. The following tweets demonstrate the prevalent view.

"We all know they were all in on it and are trying to cover it up," stated a user.

"The Democrats are responsible for all of their hateful rhetoric playing games with his Secret Service protection, giving more protection to Biden's wife at a dinner than a former president," wrote another.

"President Trump is right to blame Joe Biden. He’s the leader of the Democratic Party. It’s his violent rhetoric that’s to blame," commented a third.

"When you call someone Hitler over and over for years, that’s going to cause an event like July 13. They fully bear responsibility," expressed a fourth.

"This is not surprising. They tried to indict him, impeach him, imprison him and now k*ll him," chimed a fifth user.

"Good, it needed to be said by him loud and clear like this," shared yet another.

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.