Buenos Aires Herald 
Following an assassination attempt on Donald Trump during a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday afternoon, President Javier Milei expressed his support for the presumptive Republican nominee on X.
He described the former United States president as a “victim of a cowardly murder attempt that put his and hundreds of people’s lives in danger” and blamed “the left” for the attack.
“I am not surprised by the international left’s desperation that is currently seeing their heinous ideology expire, and is willing to destabilize democracies and promote violence in order to persist in power,” Milei wrote in an X post on Saturday night “In fear of losing an election, they resort to terrorism to enforce their backward and authoritarian agenda.”
He also wished Trump a speedy recovery and for the U.S. elections to be carried out “in a fair, peaceful and democratic way.”
Milei made his comments during his fifth visit to the U.S. since becoming president. He flew to Idaho on Friday to attend the Sun Valley Conference, a highly exclusive annual business meeting organized by the investor firm Allen & Company and nicknamed the “billionaire summer camp.” Milei was expected to meet several high-profile investors there and return to Buenos Aires on Sunday. CEOs Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and Sam Altman (OpenAI) attended the meeting over the weekend.
Milei and Trump met informally at the far-right Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington in February. “[Milei] is a big Trump guy. He loves Trump, I love him because he loves Trump,” the former U.S. president said during his speech at the event.
The Argentine presidential office also issued a communiqué on the murder attempt, saying “the bullet that grazed [Trump’s] ear was not only an attack against democracy, but also against all who defend and inhabit the free world.”
Peronist former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner also showed her “full solidarity” for Trump on an X post on Saturday, minutes before Milei’s. “I have just seen terrible images on TV,” she said. “I don’t think I need to clarify that we don’t share the same ideas: respect for the lives of others goes beyond any political or ideological difference.”
Kirchner is currently a plaintiff in an ongoing trial regarding a murder attempt against her. Fernando Sabag Montiel is facing aggravated attempted murder charges for pointing a loaded gun to her face and pulling the trigger on the night of September 1, 2022, while Brenda Uliarte and Nicolás Carrizo are accused of organizing and helping to carry out the attack.
Right-wing former President Mauricio Macri also repudiated the attack against his “friend Donald Trump,” saying he was “very moved” and “in shock.” In the same line, Peronist Buenos Aires Governor Axel Kicillof said it was “dreadful to see how people resort to violence to sort out political differences.”
Multiple gunshots were heard while Trump was giving a campaign speech at a rally in Pennsylvania: a bullet grazed his right ear. Despite the shock, he received medical attention and left the stage with blood on his face but no major injury. Meanwhile, one attendee was killed and two others were injured, and remain in critical condition.
The FBI is investigating the incident as an assassination attempt and identified Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, as the suspected gunman. Authorities said he opened fire from a nearby building rooftop with a rifle. He was shot dead by Secret Service agents on the spot.
