Musk to attend Trump rally in Pennsylvania at site of July assassination attempt

(Reuters) - Elon Musk said late on Thursday he will attend Donald Trump's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania later this week, an event which will mark the former U.S. president's return to the town where he survived an assassination attempt in July.

"I will be there to support!" Musk replied to a post by Trump on social media platform X saying he was returning to Butler on Saturday.

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of X, called Republican presidential candidate Trump "tough" and officially endorsed him after he survived an assassination attempt in Butler on July 13, cementing his shift towards right-wing politics.

The Oct. 5 rally will be held at the same ground where Trump was grazed in the right ear and one rallygoer was killed when a gunman opened fire. The gunman, identified as a 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper.

In September, the former president survived another attempt on his life when a gunman hid undetected for nearly 12 hours at a golf course in one of his Florida clubs.

Kamala Harris, a Democrat, faces Trump on Nov. 5 in what polls show to be a tight presidential race.

(Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)