Trump to Campaign Indoors in First Rally Since Shooting

Former President Donald J. Trump and running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) at the 2024 RNC in Milwaukee, Wis., on July 15, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Former President Donald Trump’s first rally since being shot is set to be held indoors, inside an arena in Michigan on July 20.

The rally at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids will not only be the first since the shooting but will also be the first since the former president announced that Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) will be his running mate.

The former president and Mr. Vance will deliver remarks to the crowd on Saturday, starting at 5 p.m. ET, four hours after the doors open, his campaign said in a July 16 statement.

Former President Trump was struck by a bullet during his most recent rally, which was held outside in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.

The bullet pierced the former president’s right ear, prompting him to fall to the ground, and other bullets hit people nearby.

Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old former fire chief, was struck by a bullet and died. Two other men, David Dutch of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and James Copenhaver of Moon Township, Pennsylvania, were wounded.

The shooter fired from a rooftop about 430 feet away from where the former president was addressing the crowd.

Law enforcement officials fatally shot the gunman.

Secret Service agents surrounded former President Trump, who rose and made a fist to the crowd before being whisked away in an SUV.

He has been described as fine by the Trump campaign and appeared at the Republican National Convention in Wisconsin two days later, with a bandage over his ear.

In Tuesday’s statement, the campaign also criticized President Joe Biden over the jump in inflation that has occurred under his presidency, as well as the spike in illegal immigration.

“President Trump will ease the financial pressures placed on households and re-establish law and order in Michigan!” the campaign said.

President Biden, in his return to the campaign trail, told a crowd in Las Vegas on July 16 that his policies, including reductions in drug prices, have benefited voters.

Michigan is a key battleground state and has been a focus of both parties. President Biden spoke there on July 12, and Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to campaign in Michigan later in the week. Former President Trump was in Detroit in June and held a rally in Grand Rapids in April.

Former President Trump won Michigan in 2016 over Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton—marking the first time a Republican won the state since 1988—but President Biden beat the former president in the state in 2020.