Trump Says Only ‘Consequential’ Presidents Get Shot at 

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a town hall meeting at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, on September 17, 2024. (AFP)
Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a town hall meeting at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, on September 17, 2024. (AFP)
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Trump Says Only ‘Consequential’ Presidents Get Shot at 

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a town hall meeting at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, on September 17, 2024. (AFP)
Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a town hall meeting at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, on September 17, 2024. (AFP)

Donald Trump resumed campaigning Tuesday for the first time since a second apparent attempt on his life, boasting "only consequential presidents get shot at" while praising Kamala Harris for making a phone call to check on him.

Trump spoke at a town hall meeting before fervent supporters in Flint, a beleaguered industrial city that was once a jewel of the US automotive industry in swing state Michigan, before factories closed due to foreign competition.

Trump drew a link between what the FBI called a foiled assassination bid against him Sunday at his golf course in Florida and his pledge to slap heavy tariffs on imports of cars from Mexico and China.

"And then you wonder why I get shot at, right? You know, only consequential presidents get shot at," Trump said.

Trump's election rival Harris, campaigning in another swing state, Pennsylvania, said Tuesday she had reached out to the former president after the thwarted attack.

"I checked on him to see if he was OK. And I told him what I have said publicly -- there's no place for political violence in our country," Harris said in an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).

The White House described it as a "cordial and brief conversation." Trump said Harris "could not have been nicer."

Trump has said the would-be shooter was a follower of what he called President Joe Biden's and Harris's rhetoric insisting that he is a threat to US democracy.

At the town hall meeting, Trump supporters said the foiled attack made them support him even more.

"I believe that they want to kill Trump so that Trump cannot try to make his second term in office," said retired autoworker Donald Owen, 71.

- 'Zero jobs' -

Trump depicted himself at the event as the savior of the US auto industry as it competes with foreign companies.

He insisted: "If a tragedy happens, and we don't win, there will be zero car jobs, manufacturing jobs, it will all be out of here."

Meanwhile, Harris used her interview in Pennsylvania to give her first reaction to a row over false stories spread by Trump that Haitian immigrants were eating residents' cats and dogs in a town in Ohio.

Dozens of bomb threats were made against the community in the town of Springfield after Trump and his running mate JD Vance publicly boosted the fake story, forcing the closure of some schools.

"It's a crying shame, literally, what's happening to those families, those children in that community," Harris said.

- 'Hateful' -

"It's got to stop. We've got to say that you cannot be entrusted with standing behind the seal of the president of the United States engaging in that hateful rhetoric," she added.

On Sunday, Trump was whisked away by the US Secret Service after gunman Ryan Routh was discovered in a hedgerow at his Florida golf course.

It was the second such close call for the Republican nominee in as many months, after a bullet grazed his ear in a shooting at a rally in Pennsylvania that left one man dead in June.

The dueling visits of Trump in Michigan and Harris in Pennsylvania come as both focus on the half-dozen swing states critical to winning in the election.

A new poll from Suffolk University and USA Today shows Harris with a slight 49-46 percent edge over Trump in Pennsylvania, thanks in large part to major support from women voters.

It confirms a large gender gap in the race, at least in Pennsylvania, with Harris leading with women by 56 percent to 39 percent, and Trump earning male votes by a slimmer 53-41 percent.



South Korean President Arrested Over Failed Martial Law Bid

15 January 2025, South Korea, Seoul: A TV screen at Seoul Station, shows a report that police and the anti-corruption agency executed a second warrant to detain impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in connection to his short-lived imposition of martial law. Photo: -/YNA/dpa
15 January 2025, South Korea, Seoul: A TV screen at Seoul Station, shows a report that police and the anti-corruption agency executed a second warrant to detain impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in connection to his short-lived imposition of martial law. Photo: -/YNA/dpa
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South Korean President Arrested Over Failed Martial Law Bid

15 January 2025, South Korea, Seoul: A TV screen at Seoul Station, shows a report that police and the anti-corruption agency executed a second warrant to detain impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in connection to his short-lived imposition of martial law. Photo: -/YNA/dpa
15 January 2025, South Korea, Seoul: A TV screen at Seoul Station, shows a report that police and the anti-corruption agency executed a second warrant to detain impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in connection to his short-lived imposition of martial law. Photo: -/YNA/dpa

Impeached South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested on Wednesday over his failed martial law bid, ending a weeks-long standoff with authorities and becoming the first president to be detained in the nation's history.

Yoon, who faces charges of insurrection over his short-lived effort to impose martial law last month, said he would comply with investigators to avoid "bloodshed.”

A former prosecutor who led the conservative People Power Party (PPP) to election victory in 2022, Yoon could face the death penalty or life in jail if he is found guilty of insurrection.

He had sought to evade arrest for weeks by remaining in his residential compound, protected by members of the Presidential Security Service (PSS) who had remained loyal to him.

His guards had installed barbed wire and barricades at the residence, turning it into what the opposition called a "fortress.”

Yoon, who had vowed to "fight to the end,” managed to thwart a first arrest attempt on January 3 following a tense hours-long impasse between the guards and anti-graft investigators working with police.

But before dawn on Wednesday, hundreds of police officers and investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office again surrounded the residence, some scaling perimeter walls and hiking up back trails to reach the main building.

After a standoff of about five hours, authorities announced Yoon had been arrested and the impeached leader released a pre-recorded video message.

"I decided to respond to the Corruption Investigation Office," Yoon said in the message, adding that he did not accept the legality of the investigation but was complying "to prevent any unfortunate bloodshed.”

AFP said that Yoon left his residence in a convoy and was taken to the offices of the Corruption Investigation Office.

Investigators began questioning Yoon shortly after his arrest, Yonhap reported.