'Rally of the century!' Trump fundraises off return to site of assassination attempt

Former President Donald Trump is returning to Butler County, Pennsylvania, to hold a rally in the same place he survived an assassination attempt earlier this year — and he's now fundraising off it.

"JOIN ME FOR THE RALLY OF THE CENTURY!" stated Trump in a text message to his supporters. "I'm returning to Butler & I want to share this moment with YOU."

He provided a WinRed link to allow his supporters to give money.

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The Butler rally in July was disrupted when 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks positioned himself on a nearby warehouse roof and opened fire with an AR-15 style rifle, killing a member of the crowd, injuring multiple others, and grazing Trump in the ear, before Secret Service counter snipers killed him.

The shooter's motives remain unclear, although they appear not to have been political.

Since then, Trump's supporters have heavily used the image of the Secret Service tackling a bloodied Trump as he raised his fist in the air as a symbol, and some attendees to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee even wore ear bandages to match his own.

The Secret Service's actions almost immediately came under scrutiny, as lawmakers in both parties demanded to know how the shooter positioned himself on the roof and got a clear shot before a proper response was mounted. The director of the Secret Service resigned, several agents have been put on leave, and an investigation is ongoing.

After that close call, Trump was much more limited in his choice of venue for safety reasons, and did not hold another open-air rally until this week in Asheville, North Carolina.