At 6:11 p.m. Saturday, a crowd in Butler, Pennsylvania, fell silent to remember the day a man was shot and another man died at the hands of a gunman at a political rally.
For 6:11 p.m. was the exact moment Thomas Matthew Crooks started a volley of shots that grazed former President Donald Trump’s ear and killed Corey Comperatore, a member of the audience who died in the attack, per Fox News.
The Republican candidate for president spoke of Comperatore’s death and thanked his relatives for attending the rally.
“It is 6:11, 12 weeks to the minute, that the shooting began,” Trump said. “I would like to ask everyone to join me in a moment of silence.”
An opera singer then sang “Ave Maria” as all became quiet.
Much has changed since that first assassination attempt July 13.
In July, Trump stood behind a podium. On Saturday, he stood behind bulletproof glass, NBC News reported.
But the mood Saturday was not all somber.
Trump started his speech by sharing a lighthearted reference to the last time he was in Butler, per Fox News.
“A very big thank you to Pennsylvania,” Trump said. “We love Pennsylvania.”
“And as I was saying…,” he continued, as the crowd cheered.
Trump then spoke about the immigration chart he had, which was the same chart that was on display when he was shot in July.
“I love that chart,” Trump said. “I love that graph. Isn’t it a beautiful thing?”
“But also beautiful because look at the number, that’s the day I left office,” he said. “It was the lowest Border Patrol [apprehensions]…Today, it’s out of control.”
The former president also talked about what America needs.
“Above all, you deserve leadership in Washington that does not answer to the lobbyists, to the bureaucrats, or to the corrupt special interests, but answers only to you, the hardworking citizens of America, of which there are a lot of them,” Trump said.
“We have a lot of them. We have a lot of them over the past eight years, those who want to stop us from achieving this future have slandered me, impeached me, indicted me, tried to throw me off the ballot, and who knows, maybe even tried to kill me,” he said. “But I’ve never stopped fighting for you. And I never will.”
