China’s Xi ‘expressed sympathy’ to Trump after shooting – spokesperson

BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA – JULY 13: Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for a rally at Butler Farm Show Inc. on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Shortly after, shots rang out and Trump slumped before being whisked away by Secret Service with injuries visible to the side of his head. Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said the shooter and one audience member are dead and another was injured. Jeff Swensen/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by JEFF SWENSEN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

BEIJING, China — China’s President Xi Jinping expressed his “compassion and sympathy” to Donald Trump on Sunday, a spokesman said, following an assassination attempt on the former US president during a rally in the United States.

“China is closely following the situation surrounding the shooting of former President Donald Trump,” a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement.

Trump was shot in the ear in an assassination attempt by a gunman at a campaign rally Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The FBI identified the gunman, who was shot dead by the US Secret Service, as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from the US state’s Bethel Park, according to US media.