Elon Musk to join Trump at Butler campaign rally as ex-president returns to site of July assassination attempt

Elon Musk has announced he will join Donald Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday as the Republican presidential candidate returns to the scene of the July assassination attempt for the very first time.

The controversial tech billionaire turned staunch Trump ally announced his attendance in a post on X in the early hours of Friday morning.

“I will be there to support!” he wrote in response to a post from the former president promoting the “historic” event on Saturday.

On July 13, gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, opened fire on Trump minutes after the former president took to the stage at his rally in Bultler. A bullet clipped Trump’s ear, narrowly missing his right temple.

Rallygoer Corey Comperatore was killed in the gunfire and two other attendees were wounded, before the gunman was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper. No political motive for Crooks’s actions has ever been definitively established.

Minutes after the shooting, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk endorsed Trump in the 2024 race and praised him as “tough” as he rose up from the ground seconds after being hit, blood streaming down his face, pumping his fist in the air and chanted “Fight! Fight! Fight!” to the crowd.

The fallout from the shocking attack saw Republicans unite around Trump and condemn the Secret Service for its perceived security lapses, ultimately leading to the resignation of bureau director Kimberly Cheatle following a contentious hearing on Capitol Hill.

A bandaged Trump appeared at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, just five days on from the shooting to give an account of his brush with death ,.

The former president was then targeted by an alleged would-be assassin for a second time last month when suspect Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, allegedly hid for nearly 12 hours at one of his Florida golf clubs and poked a gun through the fence while Trump was playing golf.

The Secret Service foiled the alleged plot and Routh was arrested shortly after fleeing the scene.

Following the September incident, Musk faced backlash for a post on X where he speculated why it was that no one had attempted to assassinate Democrats Kamala Harris or Joe Biden – while Trump had suffered two near-misses.

Musk has emerged as a vocal Trump ally and Harris critic as the 2024 election draws closer, with his endorsement of Trump cementing his personal shift towards right-wing politics since the Covid-19 pandemic.

His appearance at the October 5 rally follows a recent X Spaces interview he conducted with the businessman, who has touted him as a future member of his potential adminstration to be tasked with cutting inefficiency in the workings of the federal government.

Musk, in turn, has said he would be “willing to serve” in a prospective second Trump Cabinet.