Vice President Kamala Harris postpones visit to South Florida in wake of Trump assassination attempt
WEST PALM BEACH — Vice President Kamala Harris announced on Sunday that she would be postponing her Tuesday visit to South Florida in response to former President Donald Trump's assassination attempt.
Harris had originally planned on traveling to Palm Beach on July 16 for a moderated conversation alongside Republican women to discuss Trump's stance on reproductive rights.
She was expected to pitch to Republican and independent women that the Biden administration is "the only choice they can trust to protect their freedom to make one's own health care decisions," her office shared in a statement merely hours before former president Trump took to the stage in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump was rushed offstage on Saturday night bleeding from his right ear after gunshots rang at the open air campaign rally. The gunman, later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, opened fire with a semiautomatic AR-style rifle from the roof of a shed outside of the cordoned-off rally area, about 400 feet from the stage, multiple sources told CBS News.
Crooks was killed by a Secret Service sniper, officials said.
As of Monday morning, law enforcement had not identified a motive for the incident. An FBI official said the family of the shooter is cooperating with investigators.
In response to the situation in Pennsylvania, Biden campaign officials said Harris' plans would be modified.
"In light of the horrific shooting in Pennsylvania, the Vice President's planned campaign trip to Florida has been postponed," the statement read.
This would have marked Harris' third trip to Florida this year and her 13th since taking office.