AUSTIN, Texas — President Joe Biden’s trip to Austin, set for Monday, July 15, has been postponed, the White House announced on Sunday.
The postponement comes after former President Donald Trump was injured in an assassination attempt on Saturday at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, that left one person dead and two others critically injured.
President Biden had been scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the LBJ Presidential Library to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. He was scheduled to participate in a one-on-one interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt from Austin. A fundraiser hosted by LBJ's daughter, Luci Baines Johnson, was also planned for the day.
The LBJ Library said the event will happen at a later date this month. A new date will be announced this week.
“Given the unfortunate events of the last 24 hours, we anticipated that the president's schedule could change anytime,” Mark K. Updegrove, president and CEO of the LBJ Foundation and a presidential historian, said. “We are honored President Biden remains committed to joining us at the LBJ Library to mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act and we look forward to hosting him later this month.”
Addressing the nation about two hours after the shooting, President Biden said he was relieved that former president Trump is reportedly “doing well.” The president was briefed on the incident and spoke to Trump several hours later, the White House said.
"There is no place in America for this kind of violence," President Biden said. "It is sick … We cannot condone this."
The president’s campaign said it would immediately pause all communications and was working to take down television ads following Saturday’s shooting.
The visit was set to be among a host of events the president was holding in the coming week, as his campaign ramps up towards November's presidential election.