The Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump has made his first campaign appearance since the alleged assassination attempt on him. Speaking in the city of Flint, Michigan, on Tuesday, he made a connection between Sunday’s incident at his golf course in Florida and his call for high tariffs on car imports from Mexico and China. “And then you wonder why I’m being shot at?”Trump said. “Only important presidents get shot at.”
Trump presented himself as a defender of the US auto industry. If he does not win the election on November 5, “there will be no more jobs in the automotive industry,” said the 78-year-old. Flint was once a central location for the industrybefore numerous factories had to close.
Trump and Democratic candidate Harris are in a neck-and-neck race for the White House. Harris called her rival on Tuesday and expressed her relief at the mild outcome of the alleged assassination attempt. Harris and Trump had a “cordial and brief” phone conversation, the White House said.
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: (17.09.24)
Harris said during an appearance in Pennsylvania that she wanted to hear if Trump was OK. “And I told him what I have said publicly: There is no place for political violence in our country.”Harris said in an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).
Pennsylvania, like Michigan, is one of the so-called swing stateswhich are particularly contested in the November election. The polls predict an extremely close outcome. After the assassination attempt, Trump accused Harris and President Joe Biden of using their words to incite violence against him. The right-wing populist is known for heating up the political climate with polemical statements.
Biden and Harris had already expressed relief on Sunday that Trump was unharmed in the incident. A man had previously been arrested in Floridawho was armed with a rifle and stationed himself at Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach. According to investigators, he was a few hundred meters away from the former president. The man did not fire a shot. Investigators suspect an “attempted assassination.”
Russia steps up disinformation campaign against Harris, says Microsoft
Meanwhile, according to the software company Microsoft, Russian actors are stepping up their disinformation campaign against US presidential candidate Kamala Harris. A Kremlin-linked group called Storm-1516 has produced two fake videos since the end of Augustto discredit the election campaign of Harris and her vice-candidate Tim Walz, the US company said on Tuesday.
A video shows a group of alleged Harris supporters attacking an alleged participant at a Trump rally. The other video reportedly shows an actor spreading the fabricated claim that Harris injured a girl in an accident in 2011, leaving her paralyzed, and then committed a hit-and-run. According to Microsoft, both videos reached millions of views.
A second Russian group called Storm-1679 After its fake news campaign in connection with the Olympic Games in Paris, the Microsoft report continued, it is now also concentrating on the distribution of videos intended to discredit Harris. (AFP)
