Donald Trump removes bandage for rally speech – and says he ‘took a bullet for democracy’
Mr Trump appears at a campaign rally in Michigan for the first time since Thomas Matthew Crooks shot him last week in Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, a leading Democratic senator says Kamala Harris is “ready” if Joe Biden bows out of the presidential race.
Donald Trump said he “took a bullet for democracy” as he appeared at a campaign rally for the first time since the assassination attempt on him – as divisions in the Democratic Party grow over potential replacements for Joe Biden.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, who previously ran against Mr Biden in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, has said vice president Kamala Harris is “ready” if he bows out.
“What gives me a lot of hope right now is that, if President Biden decides to step back, we have vice president Kamala Harris who is ready to step up to unite the party, to take on Donald Trump and to win in November,” she told MSNBC.
Thirty-six Democrats are now calling for the president to step aside, although Ms Harris tweeted her support on Saturday.
If chosen to replace him, Ms Harris would be the party’s first black woman and first person of South Asian descent to be the presidential nominee but not everyone is behind her.
Officials from the highest ranks, including former speaker Nancy Pelosi, prefer an open process to choose a replacement, believing it would strengthen a Democratic nominee when they confronted Republican Donald Trump.
New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez told her Instagram followers on Friday: “If you think that there is consensus among the people who want Joe Biden to leave… that they will support Kamala, vice president Harris, you would be mistaken.
“A lot of them are not just interested in removing the president. They are interested in removing the whole ticket.”
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The vice president hit the campaign trail on Saturday, as Mr Biden was recovering from COVID in isolation.
She did not refer to the turmoil that has surrounded Mr Biden’s candidacy, instead focusing on positive messaging for her sold-out crowd in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
“We are going to win this election,” Ms Harris said.
“It’s not going to be easy, but we are a group of people that understand anything worthwhile takes hard work.”
According to Sky News’ US partner network, President Biden has been left feeling betrayed by the growing number of Democrats trying to convince him to quit the presidential race.
Two sources told NBC News that the president was “angry” and personally hurt by how the party had left him out to dry and tried to push him out.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump has appeared at a campaign rally in Michigan for the first time since Thomas Matthew Crooks shot him in the ear last week at a rally in Pennsylvania.
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He had previously sported a large white bandage on his right ear but opted to remove it for Saturday’s rally, instead a smaller, beige-coloured plaster covered the top of his ear.
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Read analysis: Trump boasts of his survival as Biden fights for his political life
“They keep saying [I’m] a threat to democracy,” he told his supporters.
“I’m saying, what the hell did I do for democracy? Last week, I took a bullet for democracy. What did I do against democracy?”
