“I’m sickened by the shooting at former president Trump,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote on X. “It cannot be overstated — political violence is never acceptable.” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said “political violence in any form has no place in our societies.”
Expressions of concern also came from leaders of countries that are at war — or have experienced political violence in recent years.
“We must stand firm against any form of violence that challenges democracy. I pray for former President Trump’s speedy recovery,” said Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who had to be evacuated from a campaign event last year after what appeared to be a smoke bomb was thrown at him. (In 2022, former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe was killed after he was shot during a campaign event.)
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called the shooting “unacceptable” and said it should be strongly condemned “by all defenders of democracy and dialogue in politics.” In 2018, Jair Bolsonaro was stabbed was during a campaign rally before he became the country’s president.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said “such violence has no justification and no place anywhere in the world.” Zelensky, whose country is at war with Russia, was the target of foiled assassination plots in 2022, 2023 and 2024, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Several leaders sent their sympathy to Trump. “China is following the shooting incident that ex-President Trump encountered, and President Xi Jinping has expressed sympathy to ex-President Trump,” a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry said Sunday. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “deeply concerned” for Trump, whom he called his “friend.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “shocked” and is praying for Trump’s “safety and speedy recovery.”
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Some denunciations of the violence came from those who were previously at odds with Trump. Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, who once called Trump a “racist cowboy,” wrote on X that “we reject and firmly repudiate the attack.”
However, some countries used the incident to dig at the United States and its government.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel tweeted that “the arms business and the increase in political violence in the U.S. lead to incidents like the one that took place Saturday.”
The Kremlin, amid ever deteriorating relations with Washington, blamed the Biden administration for fostering a political “atmosphere” that “provoked” the apparent assassination attempt.
Speaking in a conference call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the U.S. administration “prefers to resolve all issues from a position of strength,” including “use of force” in international affairs, and “now this violence has spilled inside the country.”
The Kremlin condemned the attack and wished speedy recovery to the injured. Peskov said Putin has no plans to call Trump after the incident.
Mary Ilyushina, Kelly Kasulis Cho and Mary Beth Sheridan contributed to this report.
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