- An attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump has shaken a nation ahead of the Republican National Convention
- A majority of lawmakers have called for unity including Trump and President Joe Biden
- Video shows reaction from a congressman who witnessed a high-profile mass shooting in 2017
The shots heard at a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania brought back painful memories for U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI, 2nd District).
Moolenaar was practicing for an annual Congressional Baseball Game in 2017 when a gunman opened fire and shot six people, including current House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana)
Moolenaar says they were lucky that day to have Scalise's security detail and says the lapse in security at the Trump rally should be investigated.
"It's a tragedy," Moolenaar said. "It will be a time in history that people will look back and remember where they were when they heard that news."
Moolenaar said there's no place for political violence in the U.S.
"We resolve our differences in politics through peaceful means, through respectful deliberation and this kind of violence is not acceptable," Moolenaar said.
U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI, 7th District) condemned the shooting on social media. Part of Slotkin's statement said 'patriotic Americans solve their differences at the ballot box, not with violence and gunfire and the way to defend American democracy is with hard work and vigorous advocacy.
PHOTO: U.S. REP. ELISSA SLOTKIN'S STATEMENT ON THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP
Moolenaar says there has to be accountability to the lapse in security over the weekend.
"We're going to have to examine why there was this lapse in this event," Moolenaar said. "There's always going to be a risk but I think the key is preventing events from happening."
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