Shooting at Trump rally was a 'scary moment': PA Senate candidate

Dave McCormick, the Pennsylvania GOP Senate nominee who attended former President Donald Trump's rally on Saturday, called the shooting a "scary moment."

"The president was taken off the stage, and there was a real confusion of what was going on, whether there were multiple shooters, whether the shooting was done ... an inch difference and the president would have been dead. Was a very scary moment," McCormick told "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos, describing his view from the crowd.

McCormick, who had been invited to join Trump on stage later in the rally, urged unity in the country after the shooting.

"I think we, first of all, have to recognize that we do have a real conflict of ideas. That's OK. Our country is faced with very significant choices and running for office, I believe that we're going in the wrong direction, and so I'm making the case as aggressively as I can that that we need to go in a different direction. That's different than attacking people," McCormick said.

He went on, "We need to embrace conflict, conflict of ideas, conflict in the direction of our country. That needs to be addressed at the ballot box. But we don't need to resort and can't resort to violence as a way of promoting political agendas, and I think that certainly the environment contributed, I think, to these acts of violence that we're seeing."

President Joe Biden, who spoke with Trump on Saturday, called for unity among Americans.

"Look, there's no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick. It’s sick," Biden said. "It’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country."

On Sunday, Trump said in a Truth Social post that "in this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United."

The assassination attempt has also sparked questions over the security apparatus around Trump.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., officially invited Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle for a hearing on Monday, July 22. Republicans have cast the shooting as a breakdown in security.

Paul Eckloff, a former Secret Service agent, said the agents on scene did an "exemplary" job of protecting Trump and that political events for a former president are inherently difficult to protect.

Former presidents "are afforded less protection than a sitting president by authorization, and campaign events are designed for access and viewing of Mr. Trump, rather than security," he told Stephanopoulos on "This Week."

"When I watched those friends of mine and my former colleagues storm the stage, going toward a gunfire, shielding, covering and evacuating the former president, it gave me realization that their mettle was tested and they passed that," he added. "And today, President Trump is alive because of the brave men and women of [the Secret Service.]"