In a memo to staff in the early hours Sunday, top Trump advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said that the convention “will continue as planned” as party delegates prepare to “nominate our President to be the brave and fearless nominee of our party.”
LaCivita and Wiles said they had enhanced the security presence at Trump’s campaign offices in D.C. and West Palm Beach, Fla., and encouraged aides to stay away from the offices as they assessed the security risks. Several people with knowledge of convention planning said additional security measures were put in place to ensure that events, including those outside the hardened security perimeter, would be safe to attend. Like other people interviewed for this story, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential planning.
But those people said that they expected the program to go forward largely as planned — and that any shift in messaging would be determined by Trump himself and his team.
One major challenge for aides to both Trump and President Biden in the days ahead will be grappling with the anger and partisan vitriol that burst forth immediately after the shooting. Many supporters of Trump, both rank-and-file voters and elected officials, quickly took to social media to argue that the rhetoric of Biden and his supporters — casting Trump as a threat to democracy — led to Saturday’s events.
LaCivita and Wiles sought to cool the temperature in their overnight memo, asking aides not to comment publicly on the shooting. “We condemn all forms of violence and will not tolerate dangerous rhetoric on social media.”
LaCivita initially posted a more pointed commentary on X on Saturday night — suggesting the attack was tied to decisions by Trump’s adversaries. “[W]ell of course they tried to keep him off the ballot, they tried to put him in jail and now you see this,” LaCivita wrote. He later deleted the post.
Many Trump allies, including Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who is under consideration to be Trump’s running mate, cast blame for the shooting on Trump’s political opponents — with Vance arguing that it was not “just some isolated incident.”
In his televised statement Saturday after the shooting, Biden called Saturday’s violence “sick” and asked Americans to “unite as one nation to condemn it.”
Democrats had planned a full week of counterprogramming with daily news conferences to push their message about Biden’s economic successes, the Republican Party’s direction on abortion and Trump’s statements about what he would do if he is elected again.
But the Biden campaign paused all outbound communications on Saturday night and aides said they were working to pull their television ads down as quickly as possible — injecting uncertainty into how the campaign will respond to convention speeches and activities this week.
Trump signaled his defiance in the immediate moments after the shooting in Butler, Pa. pumping his fist and mouthing the word “fight” several times as his Secret Service detail ushered him offstage.
In his Truth Social post Sunday, Trump slightly modulated that tone — writing that “it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win.”
Joshua Dawsey contributed to this report.
