NBC's Lester Holt: Trump assassination attempt follows campaign's 'increasingly fierce rhetoric'
The most recent assassination attempt against former President Trump followed the "increasingly fierce rhetoric" and "baseless claims" from his campaign, NBC’s Lester Holt remarked.
While reporting on additional details following the Secret Service opening fire on an allegedly armed man at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course in Florida on Sunday, Holt tied the story to bomb threats against Springfield, Ohio, linking them both to political rhetoric.
"Today's apparent assassination attempt comes amid increasingly fierce rhetoric on the campaign trail. Mr. Trump, his running mate JD Vance, continue to make baseless claims about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. This weekend, there were new bomb threats in that town," Holt said.
NBC correspondent Maggie Vespa reported, "Lester, simply put, Springfield, Ohio, has been inundated by threats over the last several days, closing government buildings, schools, hospitals. Today, effectively closing a local university campus after administrators said someone threatened a mass shooting targeting Haitians. This, in light of what officials say, is a false online conspiracy theory alleging Haitian immigrants in that city are eating people’s pets."
Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance pushed back against similar accusations tying him to alleged bomb threats while speaking with NBC's "Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker.
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"This week in Springfield, buildings were closed because of bomb threats. Haitian immigrants say they are afraid for their lives. Are you not doing the very thing you once called reprehensible, Senator?" Welker asked on the Sunday morning show.
"First of all, Kristen, we condemn all acts of violence and all threats of violence. But, Kristen, the reason that I changed my mind on Donald Trump is actually perfectly highlighted by what's going on in Springfield, because the media and the Kamala Harris campaign, they've been calling the residents of Springfield racist," Vance said. "They've been lying about them. They've been saying that they make up these reports of migrants eating geese. And they completely ignored the public health disaster that is unfolding in Springfield at this very minute."
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The FBI is currently investigating the assassination attempt, which came two months after another assassination attempt against the former president during a Pennsylvania rally in July.