Summary
Donald Trump arrived at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee for his first public appearance since he survived an assassination attempt two days ago
He had a large bandage on his right ear, which was injured when an attacker opened fire at a political rally
The leading Republican candidate became the party's official nominee earlier today, after a formal counting of the delegates at the convention
The former president named JD Vance, the senator from Ohio, to be his running mate and vice-president if he returns to the White House
Vance was once a Trump critic, but has since become one of the candidate's most trusted defenders on Capitol Hill and in the media
Trump also enjoyed a big legal win earlier today, after a judge in Florida threw out the classified documents case against him
Meanwhile, the fallout from Saturday's shooting continues - the US Homeland Security secretary says the gunman should never have had a direct line of sight
Live Reporting
Edited by Brandon Livesay and Jude Sheerin at the convention
'Terrifying for your classmate to commit such a heinous act'published at 13:36 15 July
13:36 15 July
One of the suspected gunman's schoolmates has been speaking to US media, describing Thomas Matthew Crooks as relatively reserved and quiet.
Michael Dudjak tells NBC News that he learned Crooks was the person behind Saturday's assassination attempt while he was with high school friends.
"It’s definitely terrifying for someone you went to school with to commit such a heinous act," Dudjak, also aged 20, says - adding that he was "in the same class as this person" just "two years ago".
Dudjak says Crooks was "on his own a lot" and that he can't recall him being outspoken about politics or active on social media.
- We've a bit more on what's known about Crooks - who was shot dead at the scene - here
Who are Trump rally shooting victims?published at 13:22 15 July
13:22 15 July
One bystander was killed and two others were seriously injured in the assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday evening.
Here's what we know so far about the victims:
Corey Comperatore
Comperatore was a 50-year-old volunteer fire chief who lived in Sarver. His daughter, Allyson, described him as the "best dad a girl could ever ask for".
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said that Comperatore went to church every Sunday and "loved his community".
He was said to be an avid Trump supporter and to have been excited to attend the Pennsylvania rally.
“He was a good person,” neighbour Matt Achilles told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
David Dutch
Dutch, from the Pennsylvania city of New Kensington, is a long-time employee of the technology company Siemens, according to his sister.
Jennifer Veri-Grazier told the New York Times that the 57-year-old suffered damage to his liver and broken ribs in the shooting and has had to have more than one operation.
She described him as a long-time Trump supporter.
James Copenhaver
Copenhaver, 74, is from Moon Township, Pennsylvania, and was a registered Democrat, the New York Times reports.
Albert Quaye, a supervisor in Moon Township, told the newspaper that Copenhaver was retired and had become very interested in local politics.
Read more about the victims here.
Many questions remain over Crooks and his motivepublished at 12:56 15 July
12:56 15 July
Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from Butler, PennsylvaniaGood morning from Pennsylvania – where we are still trying to piece together exactly what led to Saturday's shooting in Butler.
Many questions remain about the man identified as the culprit, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.
While some former classmates have described him as constantly bullied, most that have so far spoken to media have painted a picture of an intelligent and quiet, yet perhaps unmemorable, young man.
Few believed he was capable of an act of violence that left one dead and three others wounded, including former President Donald Trump.
Among the new bits of information we've received is that he studied engineering science at a local community college, and that he was a member of a gun club.
Earlier in his life, he'd tried and failed to join his school's rifle club.
I'll be headed to some of the locations we know he frequented in the coming hours to try get a better understanding of who he was and what brought him to the Trump rally in Butler.
Stay with us for more updates.
Trump's media company sees share price surgepublished at 12:48 15 July
12:48 15 July
Image source, ReutersTrump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) – the parent company of Donald Trump's social media platform Truth Social – has seen a 67% increase in its share price following Saturday's assassination attempt.
Donald Trump is the biggest shareholder, owning 65% of the company. It has a stock market valuation of about $3.8bn.
TMTG's stock has surged this year – driven by traders betting on a Trump victory in the 5 November US presidential election.
No changes to Republican convention security plans - officialspublished at 12:36 15 July
12:36 15 July
Image source, EPAAs we've reported earlier, Donald Trump is expected to speak at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee this week, where he will be formally nominated as the party's presidential candidate.
The party conference is going ahead as planned, with Audrey Gibson-Cicchino, the RNC's liaison with the SecretService, saying she was "not anticipating any security changes", despite the assassination attempt against Trump on Saturday.
"We are confident in the security plans for this event andwe are ready to go," she told reporters.
Some 50,000 people are expected to attend the four-day jamboree of pageantry, politics and policy as the party makes its case to voters ahead of November’s general election.
Who was Trump rally victim Corey Comperatore?published at 12:05 15 July
12:05 15 July
Image source, ReutersCorey Comperatore, a husband and father of two, was killed trying to protect his family during the attempted assassination of Donald Trump on Saturday.
The 50-year-old was a volunteer fire chief, and according to his social media profiles, worked as a project and tooling engineer at a plastics manufacturing company.
An avid Trump supporter, he was attending the rally near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which is about 12 miles from his home.
Comperatore's daughter Allyson, writing on social media, described him as "the best dad a girl could ever ask for" and said he had "died a real-life superhero".
"He threw my mom and I to the ground... [and] shielded my body from the bullet that came at us," she said, describing the moment of the shooting.
In interviews, neighbours and friends have described him as a good man who played an active role in his community. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said Comperatore "died a hero".
A GoFundMe set up for his family has raised more than $830,000 (£640,000).
Image source, ReutersOfficer found gunman on roof moments before he fired – reportspublished at 11:43 15 July
11:43 15 July
A law enforcement officer found suspected gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks moments before he fired towards former President Trump, two officials told the Associated Press on a condition of anonymity., external
Crooks is said to have pointed his gun at the officer, who retreated down a ladder, and the 20-year-old "quickly fired" at Trump.
Witnesses previously told the BBC that they reported the gunman to police "minutes" before he opened fire.
The US Secret Service has been under scrutiny since Saturday – with the FBI saying it's "surprising" a gunman was able to open fire at the rally before being killed.
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Why did Trump ask for his shoes after being shot at?published at 11:21 15 July
11:21 15 July
Image source, ReutersLet’s have a look at another detail we learned from Trump’s interview with the New York Post.
In one of the videos of the assassinationattempt, Trump can be heard saying: “I want to get my shoes.”
He explained to the Post thatthe agents who tackled and jumped on him in the aftermath of the shot hit himso hard that his shoes fell off.
"And my shoes are tight," he told the newspaper.
Trump also commended the Secret Service personnel for their actions and praised them for shooting the gunman.
Image source, ReutersEx-Secret Service agent sees 'failure after failure' at Trump rallypublished at 11:08 15 July
11:08 15 July
Former Secret Service agent Timothy Miller tells the BBC's Newsday that what happened at Donald Trump's Pennsylvania event was "a hair's width from a presidential assassination".
Asked what the Secret Service should have done, Miller says given the "deadly accuracy of an M-16 rifle" there should have been patrols of the area next to the building where the gunman was and armed police "up there [on the roof]".
"Once it was identified that there was an unknown armed man, with a rifle, on that roof, within 150 yards of the president, the counter-sniper teams should have taken action immediately and appropriately," he says.
"As you look at that whole thing, there's failure after failure," Miller adds.
One person was killed and two others were critically injured, but Miller says "we were very fortunate that there weren't more people killed" as "systematic failures" were in place at that site.
Miller says that had the former president not slightly turned his head to the opposite side, the gunman would have killed him and "we would be discussing a very different situation".
America's long history of political violencepublished at 10:54 15 July
10:54 15 July
The attempt to assassinate Donald Trump – a former president and current presidential candidate – has shocked many and led to questions about his security as well as the political temperature in America.
Four sitting presidents have been assassinated in US history – Abraham Lincoln in 1865, James Garfield in 1881, William McKinley in 1901, and John F Kennedy in 1963.
Others have survived assassination attempts including Ronald Reagan - the last US president to be shot. He was seriously wounded just 69 days into his presidency in 1981 but went on to serve two full terms.
Theodore Roosevelt, a former president running for office again in 1912, was shot in the chest at a campaign event. He survived, but failed in his bid for the presidency.
Image source, Getty ImagesTrump is in ‘great spirits’, Oklahoma senator sayspublished at 10:40 15 July
10:40 15 July
MarkwayneMullin, a US senator from Oklahoma since 2023and a friend of Donald Trump, says Trump was "very energetic and sounded like it was just another day" when he spoke to him on Sunday.
Mullin tells the BBC’sNewsday programme that the former president was “in great spirits”.
Hesays they talked about the shooting and says that the former president is aware thathad he not turned his head to look at the screen, “This would have been a quitea different story”.
But Mullin adds that Trump has processed what happened to him and was clear that itwas ”by God's grace that he was even here today having this conversation".
The Oklahoma senator says Trump is proud ofhow the crowd responded, that they were calm and listened to instructions.
Image source, USA Today SportsTrump shooting - who was where?published at 10:20 15 July
10:20 15 July
Let's remind ourselves of the moment former US President Donald Trump was rushed off stage at a campaign rally after an assassination attempt on Saturday.
Shots rang out as he was speaking at the event in Pennsylvania, sparking panic in the crowd.
Trump, who emerged with a bloodied face and was pictured pumping his fist in the air, says he was shot in the ear. He had been speaking at a campaign rally at Butler Farm Show Grounds, about 30 miles (50km) north of Pittsburgh, when loud bangs were heard.
As you can see on the map above, the gunman was on a rooftop about 130m (430ft) from where Trump was speaking – one witness told the BBC the gunman may have been hidden from the authorities by the slope of the roof he was lying on.
Gunman rejected by high school rifle teampublished at 10:07 15 July
10:07 15 July
Image source, ReutersAs we've been reporting, Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old gunman who was shot dead at the scene, was rejected from his high school rifle team.
A classmate has told ABC News that Crooks was asked not to come back to the team after a preseason session.
“He didn't just not make the team, he was asked not to come back because how bad of a shot he was, it was considered like, dangerous," Jameson Myers said.
Another member of the team recalled how Thomas Crooks "shot terrible" and "wasn't really fit for the rifle team".
The school district said there was no record of Crooks trying out for the team and he "never appeared on a roster".
Crooks did, however, belong to a local shooting club - the Clairton Sportsmen's Club - for at least a year.
The King has written privately to Trumppublished at 09:40 15 July
09:40 15 July
Daniela Relph
BBC royal correspondentBuckingham Palace has confirmed that King Charles III wrote privately to former President Donald Trump yesterday and that this message has been delivered via the British embassy in Washington.
The contents of the letter have not been made public.
The BBC understands that the sentiments in the letter are in keeping with those communicated by the prime minister.
US professor shocked but unsurprised by assassination attemptpublished at 09:17 15 July
09:17 15 July
“I wasn’t surprised that something like this happened given thestate of American politics,” Matthew Schmidt, associate professor of national securityand political science at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, tells BBC 5 LiveBreakfast.
Schmidt adds he was shocked by the assassination attempt but that thecurrent political climate was conducive to violence:
Quote Message
We have been living for some time, at least a couple of decades now, in a political environment where both sides are declaring the other side as out of bounds, as being beyond compromising with, beyond working with.”
Extreme politics used to be the norm in the US, then stopped during the Cold War and is now reverting back, Schmidt says.
What is the Republican National Convention?published at 09:03 15 July
09:03 15 July
Image source, ReutersOnce every four years the Republican and Democratic parties hostconventions to formally select their respective presidential candidate andprepare for the final stretch of campaigning.
The conferences include high-profile speakers, as well as aprime-time speech from the nominee.
During the convention, the delegates from each state pledgetheir support to the candidate of their choice and approve a platform.
It is merely a formality for Trump as he is the party's presumptivenominee having won 2,265 delegates in the primaries, which is enough forthe nomination.
The 2024 Republican National Convention (RNC) will kick offlater today and run until Thursday. The Democrats will hold their conventionnext month in Chicago.
Trump is expected to speak on Thursday night. Other speakersreportedly include Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia congresswoman, FloridaGovernor Ron DeSantis and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
One of the biggest moments of the conference will be when Trumpunveils his vice-presidential candidate, but as the dust settles from theassassination attempt, it is unclear when he will announce who he has chosen ashis running mate.
Trump should fix not fight – veteran Republicanpublished at 08:47 15 July
08:47 15 July
Image source, Getty ImagesVeteran Republican congressman Pete Sessions says the attempted assassination of Trump was a "failure" of law enforcement, which is "unacceptable" and "most destressing" – saying there are "lots of questions to ask".
Trump was "saved by the grace of God", he tells the BBC's Today programme.
Asked what Trump's tone will be when he speaks at the Republican convention – where he will be formally nominated as the party's presidential candidate later this week – Sessions says he thinks it will be on the need to "move forward" and "change the dialogue".
"We have been led down this pathway that it's okay to verbally bludgeon each other," Sessions says, adding "no country can survive much of this."
"I think he should be for fix, not fight," Sessions says of Trump's tone going forward.
Secret service director 'unnecessarily woke'published at 08:26 15 July
08:26 15 July
Here's a bit more from Wisconsin representative Glenn Grothman’sinterview with the Today programme.
Grothman goes on to say thatthe vast majority of the media in the US is not impartial, left-wing and "unnecessarily inflammatory".
"So if a young person, a 20-year-old would read this sortof thing, it doesn't surprise me that he may feel 'oh my goodness I had bettershoot Donald Trump, the next Adolf Hitler is about to take over the UnitedStates'," Grothman adds.
Asked about the role of the Secret Service and the criticism it has received since Saturday, the chairman of thesubcommittee on national security says he doesn't understand why the roofs ofthe buildings around Trump's rally were not being monitored.
He then adds that the current director of the secretservice is "unnecessarily woke" and "spends a great deal of timeto get so many women, for example, in the secret service as possible ratherthan spending their time making sure they're doing a good job".
'I'm supposed to be dead' - Trumppublished at 08:12 15 July
08:12 15 July
Image source, Getty ImagesDonald Trump has said he was "supposed to be dead", calling the assassination attempt a "surreal experience".
"I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead,” said Trump, speaking to the New York Post while en route to Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention.
Trump wore a white bandage that covered his right ear but his aides did not allow any photographs to be taken, said the Post.
“The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this, he called it a miracle," Trump added.
Shooting shows a 'failure in security' - former FBI agentpublished at 07:58 15 July
07:58 15 July
Image source, ReutersWe've just been hearing from former FBI special agent Ken Gray on the Today programme.
So far, the FBI has said it is investigating the shooting as a potential act of domestic terrorism, although the motive is still unclear.
Gray says the shooter's ability to get as close as he did shows there was a "failure in security", and that the FBI is conducting an investigation over whether or not it was sufficient for this kind of rally.
He explains that prior to the event, security starts with a site survey where they consider possible threats - where they could come from and how to extract someone from the crowd.
The retired agent criticises the "awful long time" it took for the security services to get Trump away from the scene, suggesting it could have left another opportunity if there was a second shooter.
