Joe Biden says he is ‘grateful’ Donald Trump is fine after assassination attempt: ‘We may disagree, we are not enemies’

“We are neighbors, we are friends, coworkers, citizens, and most importantly we are fellow Americans. We must stand together,” he added.

Biden said he was “grateful” that Trump was fine, and remembered Corey Comperatore, who was killed in the shooting carried out by Thomas Matthew Crooks. He urged viewers to “step back and take stock of where we are and how we go forward from here.”

“Thankfully, former Trump [sic] is not seriously injured. I spoke to him last night. I’m grateful he’s doing well and Jill and I keep him and his family in our prayers,” Biden said.

“We also extend our deepest condolences to the family of the victim who was killed. Corey was a husband, a father, a volunteer firefighter, a hero, sheltering his family from those bullets. We should all hold his family and all those injured in our prayers,” Biden added.

‘We do not know the motive of the shooter yet’

Biden also went on to urge people not to quickly judge what Crooks’ motivation was. The suspect was killed by the Secret Service.

“We do not know the motive of the shooter yet. We don’t know his opinions or affiliations. We don’t know if he had help or support or whether he communicated with anyone else. Law enforcement professionals as I speak are investigating those questions,” Biden said.

He added, “Tonight, I want to speak to what we do know. A former president was shot, an American citizen killed while simply exercising his freedom to support the candidate of his choosing. We cannot, we must not go down this road in America. We’ve traveled it before through our history.”

‘Violence has never been the answer’

Biden associated the assassination attempt to other incidents of violence, such as the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, and a failed plot to abduct Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. “Violence has never been the answer, whether it’s been with members of both parties being targeted and shot, or a violent mob attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, or a brutal attack on the spouse of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, or intimidation of election officials, or a kidnapping plot against a sitting governor or an attempted assassination on Donald Trump,” Biden said.

“There is no place in America for this kind of violence — for any violence ever, period, no exceptions. We cannot allow this violence to be normalized,” he added.

The president then asked Americans to sort out their differences with “the ballot box, not with bullets.” “All of us now face the time of testing as the election approaches. And the higher the stakes, the more fervent the passions become,” he said. “This places an added burden on each of us to ensure no matter how strong our convictions, it must never descend into violence.”

Biden called on people to reach out to individuals with different viewpoints, and also warned against “misinformation.” “Here in America we need to get out of our silos, where we only listen to those with whom we agree, where misinformation is rampant, where foreign actors fan the flames of our division to shape the outcomes consistent with their interests, not ours,” he said.