Trump fundraises off assassination attempt as Biden suspends campaign ads in aftermath of rally shooting

Donald Trump’s campaign has begun soliciting donations in the wake of hisattempted assassination even as Joe Biden’s campaign halted all TV ads while the nation reels from the attack at a rally in rural Pennsylvania.

One day after a bullet grazed Trump’s ear in the shooting thatleft one spectator dead, his campaign sent at least two text message-based fundraising appeals which contain links to WinRed, the GOP-affiliated fundraising platform run by the ex-president’s allies.

The page contains an image of Trump raising his fist while wearing one of his signature campaign hats, an American flag flying above. It appears deliberately meant to echo the now-famous photograph, of the bloodied ex-president striking a defiant pose as he was rushed off by his Secret Service detail, taken by Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci moments after the shooting.

The Independent reviewed two separate texts sent out by the Trump campaign using its texting “short code,” 88022.

One of the messages read: “From Trump: FEAR NOT… It is more important than ever that we stand UNITED,” while the other bore the message “NEVER SURRENDER.”

Both contained links to Trump’s WinRed page.

A third text, sent at 5.24pm (Eastern Time) on Sunday, repeated the “fear not” message and reported that Trump would be speaking as planned at the Republican National Convention this week. It also included a link to the same campaign fundraising page.

At the same time, the Biden re-election effort has “paused all outbound communications” in the aftermath of the shooting, and is “working to pull down our television ads as quickly as possible,” a campaign official told Reuters.

Trump was shot at a Pennsylvania campaign rally on Saturday by Thomas Matthew Crooks, a