Biden says he spoke with Trump after rally shooting: ‘No place in America for this kind of violence’

US president decries assassination attempt and urges Americans to unite during White House press conference

Joe Biden said that that there was no place in America" for the sort of political violence that saw a gunman open fire on Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania and plunge America's already fractious election campaign into new levels of fears over political unrest.

There is no place in America for this kind of violence or any violence for that matter. An assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for as a nation," Biden said. Unity is the most elusive goal of all, but nothing is more important than that right now. Unity. We'll debate and disagree, that's not going to change, but we're not going to lose sight of who we are as Americans."