US Sen. Lankford Speaks Out After Attempted Assassination Of Former President Trump

United States Sen. James Lankford spoke out after an assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump on Saturday in Pennsylvania.

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Lankford joined News 9 on Monday to share more about his thoughts and how leadership in Washington have reacted to the shooting.

"The whole nation is grieved and angry about this assassination attempt," Lankford said. "We're at a point of looking at each other and saying what can we do to be able to bring the rhetoric down?'"

Lankford said there remain questions about national security, citing how close the suspected assailant was able to get to the former president's stage in Butler, Pennsylvania.

"That's definitely within a gunshot range, why wasn't that covered?" Lankford said. "I serve on the Homeland Security Committee, we're already asking those questions and engaging in the dialogue to say what can be done better."

Now focusing the impact national political rhetoric may have had on the shooting, Lankford said he is wanting Americans to use words, rather than violence, to solve their differences.

"There are differences in the two parties and their differences across America, that's okay, to be able to talk about the differences," Lankford said. "This is something I've talked about a lot for years, that we can disagree on issues, but not have to be caustic as we disagree."

For his constituents in Oklahoma, Lankford said to use their best judgement and "not believe everything you read on the Internet."

"There'll be lots of stories that will come out initially, that doesn't mean they're true," Lankford said. "The investigation [is] still pressing on, let's not believe everything we read on the internet, and let's find ways to be able to serve each other and to be able to connect locally, just like we're asking political leaders to do nationally."