Florida Rep. Byron Donalds 'relieved and grateful' Trump is 'OK' after shooting at PA rally
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Florida Congressman Byron Donalds called for an end to violence in American politics in reaction to the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Trump was rushed off the stage after shots rang out during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump was shot in the right ear. A spokesman confirmed in a statement that the former president is "fine" but saw doctors at an area medical facility, according to USA TODAY.
The shooter and one rally attendee were killed and two attendees injured, USA TODAY reported.
“It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country. Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who is now dead,” Trump said in a statement on Truth Social.
Donalds, a Republican from Naples and who's been rumored to be on the short list of Trump VP picks, told Fox News he was "relieved and grateful that President Trump is OK."
"This violence in our politics has got to end. I mean, I know we talk about these issues in inflamed tones but there's no excuse for violence, trying to assassinate a president, former president, elected official," he told the outlet.
Donalds encouraged people to get out and vote saying, "It's in the hands of the American people to have the country they want going forward and that's a country where we embrace tolerance, we're not just 'have one thought, one mind and one way of looking at our issues or one way of looking at the world.'"
Donalds, who represents Florida's 19th congressional district, is a self-described "Trump-supporting, liberty-loving, pro-life, pro-Second Amendment Black man."
A member of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, Donalds has played a large role in key negotiations between moderate and ultraconservative GOP lawmakers.
Contributing: Amy Bennett Williams, Naples Daily News, C.A. Bridges, USA TODAY Network, Florida
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Trump rally shooting: Donalds reacts to assassination attempt
