Biden to make special address to nation after attack on Trump

US President Joe Biden says he will make a special address to the nation later on Sunday in the wake of the assassination attempt on former US president Donald Trump.

"We must unite as one nation to demonstrate who we are," Biden said in brief remarks at the White House, announcing a formal Oval Office address, a format typically reserved for moments of crisis and major turning points in the country.

Biden once again strongly condemned the shooting of former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Trump, who was shot in the ear at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

"An assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for as a nation, everything. It’s not who we are as a nation," Biden said in a a statement to the press. "Unity is the most elusive goal of all, but nothing is more important than that."

At a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday a shooter was able to climb to an elevated position with an assault rifle and fire a number of shots at Trump, causing panic to break out in the audience.

Trump was hit on the ear by a bullet and later seen bleeding, while a firefighter watching the rally was killed and two others seriously injured.

FBI officials later said the perpetrator, killed by Secret Service agents, was a 20-year-old man from the region.