Principals

1. Biden’s Oval address
2. FBI probes Trump shooter
3. Dems pause politics
4. Secret Service scrutiny
5. GOP convention
6. Trump merch
7. US confidence in institutions

PDB: House Democrats to receive security briefing this afternoon

Biden sits down with NBC’s Lester Holt … China holds key economic meeting as growth slows to 4.7% annually ... Hamas accused Israel of trying to derail ceasefire talks

Biden tells Americans to ‘lower the temperature’

“Lower the temperature,” President Biden told the nation in a primetime address from the Oval Office last night. He urged Americans to reject political violence and settle their disagreements “not with bullets” but at the ballot box. The speech represented his third time speaking about the shooting targeting Donald Trump, who hours earlier issued a similar (but shorter) plea for unity on Truth Social: “UNITE AMERICA!” he wrote. The Washington Examiner reports that Trump rewrote his speech to focus on unity, rather than Biden. “It is a chance to bring the country together. I was given that chance,” he said. It’s easier said than done: Some Republicans are blaming Democrats for the assassination attempt against Trump, while one prominent Democratic strategist pushed reporters to consider whether the shooting had been “staged,” Semafor’s Kadia Goba reported.

FBI investigates possible domestic terrorism

The FBI is investigating the shooting at Donald Trump’s Pennsylvania rally as a possible act of domestic terrorism as they hunt for the shooter’s motive. Thomas Matthew Crooks, who the bureau said acted alone, was remembered by high school classmates as a “quiet student who took advanced classes and a sometimes-bullied loner who wasn’t vocal about his political views,” according to The Wall Street Journal. The FBI hasn’t found a manifesto or any unusual online history, The New York Times reported, but agents did find explosive materials in his car. The AR-15-type semiautomatic rifle that Crooks used to fire at Trump belonged to his father and was purchased legally. Crooks lived in the middle-class neighborhood of Bethel Park and had been working as a dietary aide at a local nursing and rehabilitation center. The rally attendee killed in the shooting was identified as Corey Comperatore, a firefighter who was trying to protect his family from the gunfire.

Democrats are putting politics aside, but not for long

The attempted assassination of Donald Trump has rattled Democratic campaigns and paused conversations about replacing President Biden on the ticket — for the time being, Semafor’s Kadia Goba, David Weigel and Benjy Sarlin report. “Folks are not discussing that,” one Democratic leadership aide said of the Biden talk. “At the moment, everyone is grateful that the former president is stable and safe.” The Biden campaign pulled its political ads, Biden delayed a stop in Texas to mark the anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act, and Vice President Harris postponed a Tuesday campaign stop in Florida. Meanwhile, the Democratic and Republican Senate campaign arms each paused their digital fundraising. Some in the party are also worried that the circumstances will provide a critical boost to Trump. “That’s the whole f–ing election,” one Democratic member supportive of Biden’s nomination said.

The Secret Service is about to get grilled

Within hours of the attack, Congress was readying investigations into the Secret Service over the security lapses at the rally that allowed the shooter to open fire. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer asked the agency’s director, Kimberly Cheatle, to appear for a hearing while House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green requested documents and a briefing from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. President Biden separately ordered an “independent review” of the security measures at the rally, following a briefing that Cheatle joined virtually. The Washington Post reported that the agency relied heavily on local police to fill out protective units. “How the f--- did he get a gun that close,” one former officer texted other officials, according to the publication. Crooks was perched on the roof of a building less than 170 yards from where Trump was speaking.

All eyes on Trump in Milwaukee

It’s full steam ahead at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee despite the attempt on Donald Trump’s life. He left for the convention on Sunday after contemplating delaying the trip. “We feel very comfortable that we’re working with the Secret Service, we’re working with 40 different law enforcement agencies in terms of what that security is going to look like,” RNC Chair Michael Whatley said on Fox News. The Secret Service said it has no plans to alter the security, and that the event had already been classified at the highest security level possible. Trump still has a running mate to choose and it’s unclear whether or how recent events will impact his selection. Semafor’s Shelby Talcott breaks down the top three candidates. In a surprise, Nikki Haley, Trump’s chief rival for the nomination, is now slated to speak at the convention.

Flying the Trump flag

How do you measure voters’ passion for their candidate? We’ll see polls over the next week show a surge in intensity of support for Donald Trump, and modelers will adjust Republican turnout upwards. Also, hats. Amazon indicated Sunday that the top searches in the run-up to Prime Day this week were for Trump flags, hats, and shirts, while “trump hat” and “trump flag” spiked on Google Trends. It may, however, be hard to beat the red visor that comes complete with Trump’s hair, sported by a witness to the shooting in that extraordinary BBC interview.

— Ben Smith

Americans grow more confident in police

More Americans express confidence in police this year compared to last year. According to new figures from Gallup, 51% of US adults say they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the police, up from 43% the year prior. It’s unclear how the recent shooting at Donald Trump’s political rally — which has led to scrutiny of the Secret Service — will shift these perceptions. Small business and the US military also receive high marks of confidence from Americans, while big business, TV news, and Congress have the lowest ratings, according to the survey taken during the month of June.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) called for an independent commission to look into the shooting. “We cannot rely just on Congressional Oversight hearings or even Agency Inspector Generals to get the answers that Congress and the American people deserve about the failures to protect President Trump adequately,” Duncan said in a statement.

Axios: Donald Trump has a rare opportunity to redefine himself after his near-death experience. “I think it’s real,” Tucker Carlson told Axios. “Getting shot in the face changes a man.”

Playbook: The Trump campaign is pivoting away from the shooting and back to drawing a contrast with President Joe Biden — the brainchild of advisers Susie Wiles, Chris LaCivita, Jason Miller, and Tony Fabrizio. “Trump has the potential to become a much more sympathetic figure in the eyes of undecided voters. Using the convention to mount an all-out assault on Democrats or entertain conspiracy theories could cause that goodwill to evaporate as quickly as it appeared,” it wrote.

WaPo: The pause in campaigning may be over soon. Democrats will “continue drawing the contrast between our positive vision for the future and Trump and Republicans’ backwards-looking agenda” after Biden’s interview tonight with NBC, a Biden campaign official said.

White House

President Biden and Vice President Harris will receive another briefing from law enforcement officials following the rally shooting over the weekend. Biden will later head to Las Vegas.

Congress

• House Democrats will receive a members-only virtual security briefing from the US Capitol Police and and Sergeant at Arms this afternoon, Semafor’s Kadia Goba reports.
• Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, said his nephew is “doing well” after being wounded during the shooting at former President Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania.

Courts

A federal judge dismissed Rudy Giuliani’s bankruptcy case, saying the former New York mayor’s “uncooperative conduct” and not providing “an accurate and complete picture of his financial affairs” was not in his creditors’ interests, including two Georgia election workers who won a $148 million defamation verdict against him.

Outside the Beltway

Former New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer raised $425,000 from 2,100 donors in the first six months after launching an exploratory committee to potentially challenge Mayor Eric Adams.

Polls

• The race between President Biden and former President Donald Trump remains competitive with Biden trailing by just two percentage points, according to a new national poll by NBC News conducted after their June 27 debate and before the shooting at Trump’s rally on Saturday. The result was within the poll’s margin of error and nearly flat from an April survey. Meanwhile, Trump leads Biden by one point in a Fox News poll.
• Trump narrowly leads Biden in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, a CBS News poll showed.

On the Trail

• Democratic National Committee executive committee member David Walters proposed a process to replace President Biden as the Democratic nominee if he chooses to exit the race. It calls for a 27-day process that requires candidates to get the endorsements of at least 40 members of the DNC to secure a spot in a set number of town halls before the party convention begins Aug. 19. Delegates would then vote on the nominee, who would immediately name a running mate.
• Democratic and Republican politicians are backing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s requests for Secret Service protection after the shooting at Trump’s rally. Meanwhile, a bipartisan pair of House lawmakers are working on a bill to strengthen Secret Service protection for Biden, Donald Trump, and Kennedy.
• Billionaires Elon Musk and Bill Ackman have endorsed Trump following Saturday’s assassination attempt.

Foreign Policy

• Israeli officials said Sunday they were fairly confident that Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif was killed in a targeted attack in the Khan Younis area of Gaza the day before.
• Chinese and Russian naval forces kicked off a joint exercise in southern China on Sunday.

Technology

Alphabet is close to a deal to acquire cybersecurity startup Wiz for $23 billion, the tech giant’s largest acquisition ever. — WSJ

Media

The Daily Show canceled plans to cover the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, citing “logistical issues and the evolving situation” in the city. Instead, it will cover the RNC from its studio in New York Tuesday through Sunday.

Big Read

The Republican Party and its allies are preparing to challenge the November election they falsely claim is being rigged against Donald Trump, The New York Times says. The drive, which has been quietly playing out in courts, statehouses, and county boards in battleground states for months, includes a network of Republican attorneys and activist groups working loosely with the Republican National Committee, many who were active in the 2020 attempt to overturn the election. But this time it involves a systematic search for vulnerabilities in the country’s election system, unlike the improvised and chaotic challenges four years ago. At its center: convincing voters the poll is about to be stolen, regardless of evidence.

Blindspot

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: ABC News co-hosts George Stephanopoulos and Martha Raddatz said Donald Trump and his supporters helped to spread “violent rhetoric” ahead of Saturday’s shooting at the former president’s rally.

What the Right isn’t reading: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is demanding a probe into the power company that serves the Houston area as hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses are still without electricity after Hurricane Beryl hit the state a week ago.

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann, Morgan Chalfant

Reporters: Kadia Goba, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Jim Banks is a Republican congressman from Indiana who is running for US Senate this election cycle.

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