After Trump assassination attempt, Biden campaign pauses ads, events, attacks
President Joe Biden's campaign has spent the past few weeks not only fighting back against growing calls for him to step aside after his disastrous debate performance but attacking former President Donald Trump as a danger to American democracy.
However, after an assassination attempt on Trump at his Pennsylvania rally on Saturday, all of that has come to a halt.
The assassination attempt on the former president, which also resulted in the deaths of both the shooter and a spectator, led the Biden campaign to pull down television ads and pause all "outbound communications," according to a campaign official.
Also, ABC News obtained a campaign memo sent to staffers just minutes after the shooting asking them to "refrain from issuing any comments on social media or in public."
"We understand that there are a lot of questions, and as we gather answers to those questions, we ask that all staff refrain from issuing any comments on social media or in public," wrote campaign co-chair Jennifer O'Malley Dillon and campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez. "We're also asking everyone to pause any proactive campaign communication across all platforms and in all circumstances until we know more."
This "pause" couldn't have come at a more inconvenient time on the campaign trail. The Republican National Convention is set to begin on Monday and is scheduled to have a full week of planned events to bolster the Republican ticket, including the much-awaited announcement of Trump's vice presidential pick.
The Biden campaign's decision to not air any ads prevent them from utilizing needed counter-messaging during the convention.
The campaign had begun to ramp up its attacks on Trump, in part, in an effort to show a more forceful and unscripted Biden. They had launched a series of attacks, specifically on Project 2025, aimed at the former president.
"Folks, Project 2025 is the biggest attack on our system of government and our personal freedom that has ever been proposed in the history of this country," Biden warned at a rally Friday in Detroit, Michigan. "It's a blueprint for the second Trump term that every American should read and understand."
Biden, who had gone to Rehoboth, Delaware for a long weekend, returned to the White House early Sunday morning to be briefed on the situation. His team has now postponed his planned trip to Austin, Texas, for the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, which was supposed to take place at former President Lyndon B. Johnson's presidential library on Monday.
Harris too has had to pivot. The vice president had intended to go to Palm Beach County, Florida, Trump's backyard, to talk about abortion rights, but that trip has been postponed as well, according to a Biden-Harris official.
In remarks on Sunday, Biden urged the country to come together and bring down divisive language.
"There is no place in America for this kind of violence or any violence, for that matter," Biden said. "I've directed the head of the Secret Service to review all security measures for -- all security measures for the Republican National Convention, which is scheduled to start tomorrow."
He also promised an independent review of national security at Saturday's rally.
Despite those actions, the campaign is now dealing with accusation from Republicans that Democrats are to blame for Saturday's shooting after Biden said they must "put Trump in the bullseye."
"We're done talking about the debate. It's time to put Trump in the bullseye. He's gotten away with doing nothing for the last 10 days except ride around in his golf cart, bragging about scores he didn't score," Biden said on a private call with donors on Monday.
ABC News' MaryAlice Parks contributed to this report.
