Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is rushed offstage during a rally on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The family of Corey Comperatore, the man killed at the Butler rally where a gunman tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump, will be in attendance Saturday when Trump returns to the Butler Farm Show, according to the Trump campaign.
Malphine Fogel, the mother of Oakmont teacher Marc Fogel, who has been detained in a Russian prison since 2021, is also slated to attend.
The U.S. Secret Service has taken responsibility for the failures that resulted in the July 13 assassination attempt. Members of a U.S. House task force investigating the incident found that gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to scale a nearby roof and fire multiple shots at Trump due to the Secret Service’s poor planning and breakdowns in communication and coordination with local law enforcement.
The guest list for Saturday’s return rally also includes David Dutch, who was injured in the July 13 shooting; several local first responders; elected officials and sheriffs from Butler and surrounding counties; Pennsylvania GOP U.S. Reps. Guy Reschenthaler, Dan Meuser and Glenn Thompson; and GOP U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO and X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk, who has become a vocal Trump supporter, contributing to a pro-Trump super PAC is also on the guest list, and tweeted late Thursday that he “will be there to support.” Trump’s running mate, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) is scheduled to speak at the rally ahead of Trump.
The former president’s son Eric and daughter-in-law Lara are also attending, according to the campaign.
The Trump campaign said during the rally the former president “will honor the memory of Corey Comperatore, who heroically sacrificed his life to shield his wife and daughters from the bullets on that terrible day,” and recognize Dutch and James Copenhaver, the two rally goers wounded in the shooting. “He will express his deep gratitude to law enforcement and first responders, and thank the entire community for their outpouring of love and support in the wake of the attack.”
Since the July shooting there has been a second assassination attempt against Trump, where no shots were fired, at his Florida golf course in West Palm Beach in September.
The campaign has changed significantly since July 13. Trump and Vance accepted the GOP’s nominations at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee later that week. Then on July 21, President Joe Biden bowed out of his reelection campaign and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who accepted the party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.
Trump and Harris and their running mates and surrogates have placed intense focus on Pennsylvania in an effort to win the state’s 19 electoral votes.
The Harris campaign is hosting a get-out-the-vote concert Friday night in Pittsburgh, with second gentleman Doug Emhoff, and musicians Jason Isbell and Michael Stipe as headliners. And the Harris campaign announced Friday that former President Barack Obama will hit the campaign trail next week, beginning a blitz of battleground states on Thursday in Pittsburgh.
The latest polling finds Harris and Trump dead even among Pennsylvania likely voters.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.