US Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi rejected “absolutely false” claims that it had refused additional protection for Trump ahead of the rally.
A local prosecutor said Sunday it was “surprising” that a shooter was able to position himself on the nearby rooftop to take his shot.
Shockwaves
The attempt on Trump’s life sent shockwaves around the world, but the effects on a tight US presidential race in a deeply divided country will take time to play out.
Trump’s family has already been promoting images of the president raising a defiant fist to the crowd after the shooting.
Trump clutched his ear and fell to the ground after shots rang out at the rally on Saturday, his last appearance before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Secret Service agents surrounded him then bundled the former president off stage with blood streaked across his ear and face.
Trump said that he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear” and heard a “whizzing sound.”
His narrow escape has sparked conspiracy theories and fingerpointing by Republicans. Possible Trump vice presidential pick J.D. Vance claimed Biden’s campaign “rhetoric” had “led directly” to the attack.
US politics have become increasingly hostile, with Trump building his image around inflammatory verbal assaults, and many Democrats expressing fury and disgust at Trump’s rise.
World leaders condemned the attack, with the Kremlin on Sunday morning saying there was no place for violence in politics and the Vatican denounced what it called an “injury to democracy.”
The spectator who died was named as Corey Comperatore.
“The hatred for one man took the life of the one man we all love the most,” his sister told US media. “We watched him die on the news.”
The United States has a history of political violence. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 while President Ronald Reagan was shot but survived an assassination attempt in 1981.