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Press Briefing From Butler, PA On Trump Assassination Attempt; Shooter Did Not Have ID, Authorities Using Biometrics And DNA To ID Him; FBI "Working Tirelessly" To Determine Motive For Assassination Attempt; FBI Says It's Working To Learn Shooter's Motive; Biden "Grateful" Trump Is Safe And Doing Well "After Shooting"; Suspected Shooter Killed After Trump Assassination Attempt. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired July 14, 2024 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:02]
GEORGE BIVENS, PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE: But I can tell you that preliminarily, it appears everything unfolded very quickly.
So, you know, again, we'll have more information on that, but it's just too early to start definitively saying this happened at this exact time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But what's going to be decided to do for the right at that building is on the outside (inaudible)
BIVENS: That's correct.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How far outside it goes?
BIVENS: We'll have that information for you. It was some distance outside of the security.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Colonel, can you comment on the reports that there were people who saw someone on the roof and tried to alert authorities?
BIVENS: We're following up on those. I will tell you that I am aware of those. And I am aware that law enforcement had responded to a number of reports of suspicious activity.
The specific response to this will be all part of the after action. But, yes, law enforcement was responding to check on several suspicious occurrences.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What were the other suspicious occurrences?
BIVENS: That will all be part of the investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you said that you're close to identifying the shooter. Could you at least confirm that he is from Butler County, Pennsylvania?
Is there anything else? Did he have any affiliation with that company? Do you know?
KEVIN ROJEK, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, PITTSBURGH OFFICE: So again, we're not prepared at this time to provide the identity of the potential shooter. We're in the process of doing the confirmation. And once we have the confirmation, we'll release the name officially to the press.
But at this time, we can't give any further information on the potential shooter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The (inaudible) the whole state to be done?
ROJEK: No, it's a matter of doing biometric confirmations. So there was no identification on the individual as an example.
So, you know, we're looking at photographs right now, and we're trying to run his DNA and get biometric confirmation on it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you be able to comment just what police found left behind, any possible devices? Did you find any actual guns, just anything else you do want to comment?
ROJEK: Not at this time. No. We're still in the process of an active investigation. So we'd like to reserve releasing any information like that until we have more facts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there any type of the right level of the threat (inaudible) what is typically for event like this?
ROJEK: From the FBI's perspective, no. We did not have any specific threat information related to this event.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Colonel, can you talk about how it happens so quickly? And we know that there are (inaudible) of these two casualties including the gunman at this point that we're aware of. It could have been a lot worse.
ROJEK: Absolutely. Oh, absolutely.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to comment more about that (inaudible) taking care of it so quickly?
ROJEK: So I think the credit goes to not only the Secret Service, who was on site, but also the state and local partners who were there on site and were able to react immediately when the incident occurred.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any officers fired their weapon?
ROJEK: I do not.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I understand that it's very early. There's going to be a lot of questions, but I mean, is this a failure of securities?
ROJEK: Really, at this point, we're not going to make that assessment. There's an active investigation. A lot of things need to occur, investigatively, to make those determinations of what, if any, failures there were. So really, we can't comment on that at this time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can say if Secret Service had checked with buildings or were keeping a close eye, or --
ROJEK: Really have to defer to Secret Service for those questions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) prior to the interview? Were there police at that location at any point?
ROJEK: Are you saying the location where the shooter was located?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
ROJEK: I don't have any information on that. I need to have to refer to Secret Service.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When do you think you will release? When will the name of the shooter be released? I mean, any (inaudible) will happen tomorrow or?
ROJEK: So that'll be -- as soon as we've confirmed 100 percent, we're willing to release that. So if we have, you know, as far as the contact information for the press, we'll -- we should be able to do that within the next few hours, I imagine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a vehicle that you checked out far from here (inaudible) possible vehicle scene that you have in the car.
Is there anything you can tell us tonight about other areas for law enforcement that they need to be searching in relation to this?
ROJEK: Again, right now, we're tracking down all leads and doing all interviews and tracking anything that we can regarding suspicious locations, vehicles, locations, interviewing individuals. So it's all related to this event, but I can't confirm or deny anything that's going on beyond that.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) that the shooter use?
ROJEK: As far as the details of the weapon?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. What kind of -- remind people (inaudible)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Until it's confirmed, we can't comment.
ROJEK: OK. Yes. Until we have the confirmation of who the shooter is, and we'll release that as part of the investigative details later.
[00:05:01]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said that that is a point of extra resources, and one of the things that you said was bombing technician. So is it standard procedure? Or do you have a reason to believe that there are bombs somewhere in Butler County? Just want to (inaudible). ROJEK: It's primarily standard procedure of any suspicious packages. In this case, there was identification of suspicious packages around where the shooter was. And so we deployed in an abundance of caution, bomb assets to make sure that those were cleared for investigators to move safely in the area.
We're still working on -- it's still an active crime scene. So I'm not going to say that the scene is 100 percent clear at this time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why did the Secret Service agents (inaudible).
ROJEK: The Secret Service wasn't available for the press conference at this time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I understand the fact that we're talking about what the fact is, what the decision (inaudible).
ROJEK: Really anything. I don't have specifics on what they were looking at. But, you know, there's people in the crowd will leave badges. They're fleeing the scene like this. So any suspicious packages we have to treat as it may be an explosive device.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And (inaudible) a business in a suspicious service. And who ended up taking it out?
ROJEK: So it was immediate. And it was -- we're still trying to figure that out. So we're -- we'll wait till we have more definitive information regarding that, investigatively.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about the bystander, the person in the crowd (inaudible) how they were -- how they were filled?
ROJEK: My understanding was it was from the shooter. But again, that -- those will be details that are released later.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think those (inaudible) is it part of your method of identifying the individual?
ROJEK: So if that's where the leads take us absolutely.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was Donald Trump's take (inaudible)
ROJEK: I don't -- I don't have that specific information as far as the injuries to the former president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I understand you're not releasing the suspect's identification right now. But as you know, is this person going (inaudible) see something that leaders have been booking after the press is possibly being online?
ROJEK: Again, the information that we currently have, we're looking at that, obviously, very intently.
And as we know that information, we'll release that as well. So we'll need to plan another time for a follow-up press conference.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).
ROJEK: We're looking at all investigative leads and all -- everything from -- and that's why we ask the public, because I'm sure there'll be cell phone video. There'll be all kinds of information that we'll use to fully flesh out exactly what happened here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think you're saying you can't say what type of gun it is. If you know how many shots were fired.
ROJEK: I don't.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And --
ROJEK: I don't have that information as far as -- that'll come out of the investigation as well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there an identification on (inaudible) other victims?
ROJEK: As far as the civilians?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The (inaudible) civilians were endangered and been killed.
ROJEK: Yeah. Go on.
BEVINS: So we do have identification on those. We're not prepared to release it at this time. We have notified a number of family members, but they have not had an opportunity to notify extended family and things.
I would confirm for you that we did have one individual killed. And I know I heard somebody say about two victims. There were three in total besides the former president. So two critically wounded, one killed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point, you know they were sitting near each other? And where in relation (inaudible) former president were?
BEVINS: I don't have their exact seating by individual. Again, that'll all be part of the investigation, but the -- their shots were scattered somewhat. And so they weren't just into one particular location.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're saying just one fatality, as of right now?
BEVINS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The shooter with one fatality.
BEVINS: The shooter plus one fatality.
(CROSSTALK)
BEVINS: So there was one victim of the shooter who was killed. And then the shooter was killed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then the shooter being (inaudible).
BEVINS: Yes, ma'am.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When does the (inaudible) Can you share any details of it if that's what (inaudible).
BEVINS: I've heard those reports as well. And again, we do have a good idea of what the weapon was. But again, that's all part of the ongoing investigation.
And I'm not trying to be cagey about that. You know, when the SAC talked about the need to be very methodical and to be cautious with that scene, we are doing just that. We don't want anybody else getting hurt.
And candidly, there are some concerns that we'll be able to talk more about later on about just what those concerns are and continue to be.
[00:10:59]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) to the shooter's family yet?
BEVINS: That's all part of the investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been through a lot of really angry people. Are you monitoring? Have there been any threats, any response to this? Are you worried about the specific threats?
BEVINS: That's certainly a concern and, you know, we're monitoring that whole situation. I mentioned that, you know, we're bringing a lot of assets to bear.
And so like the FBI utilizing their analysts, we also have the Pennsylvania Criminal Intelligence Center. We will utilize the resources of our intelligence division and the Criminal Intelligence Center to be able to monitor.
For concerns about any threats, regardless of the side of the issue or the political spectrum, we want to make sure that we try and avoid any further violence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But no -- nothing specifics of that?
BEVINS: No, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) identifying by name. Can you say anything about the other folks who were injured or killed and (inaudible) adults, male, female, anything at all?
BEVINS: They were adults and they're male.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All three?
BEVINS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How difficult are the data systems that work at the (inaudible). What are the conversations like? And how do you plan it for that?
BEVINS: We have trained investigators and we're partnered hand-in-hand with the FBI again because we've got some federal violations, some state violations. And so our investigators are going out methodically. We have a large team of investigators that are going out dividing up these interviews and trying to conduct them as quickly as possible. And then there will be follow-ups, you know, with the FBI asking for people to call in tips. I have no doubt that we will receive a lot of additional information that will also require follow-up.
But again, we're working very well together. And it's only a short matter of time until we get through all of those interviews.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) was it for President Trump?
BEVINS: There were no police hit with bullets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From (inaudible) was it for --
BEVINS: I'm not going to speculate or comment on that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have any of you talked to the president? Did any of you have any kind of reaction in the way?
BEVINS: No. No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which law enforcement agencies were the test was securing this particular route? How soundly it is to the Secret Service?
BEVINS: Well, Secret Service always has the lead on securing something like this, but then they work very closely.
It's a -- and I hate to use the word routine, but it is a fairly routine matter for all of our agencies to work jointly with the Secret Service. And it really depends on the venue, on what information is out there, what number of resources are devoted to it.
And we work with them to provide whatever is requested by the Secret Service, but they're the lead in that security.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was there any (inaudible) particular to call to secure?
BEVINS: You know, I would defer to the Secret Service to answer that they would have done the initial assessment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was the rooftop part of what was being secured? Was the rooftop given its proximity to the event part of that process?
BEVINS: It's my understanding that was outside of the perimeter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this (inaudible) previous history?
BEVINS: We're not going to comment on anything about the secret.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The agency denied Trump's team extra security. Any of the agencies that are out there?
BEVINS: Not that I'm aware of.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If Trump had been the nominee already, would he have had additional security for this event?
BEVINS: There again, Secret Service has the lead. And I'm not going to comment or speculate on what may or may not be provided at any given point, depending on their status as a -- as a candidate.
What I will tell you is that in my experience, Secret Service does an excellent job of maintaining security on protectees. They're very cautious. They don't hesitate to ask for resources.
And candidly, we don't hesitate to supply those resources.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (inaudible) you're asking for the public's help, can you elaborate and be more specific about what we'd really like to see from the public in this video, the photo (inaudible)
BEVINS: I think the videos and photos would be very helpful. And I think that once the shooter is identified, anyone that has specific information on that shooter, that would be very helpful as well to help us assess motive.
And again, as I mentioned earlier, we are absolutely not taking for granted that this was a lone wolf attack. And so we would be looking for any additional information. And my point is toward anybody else that may have had a hand in this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, at this point, what is the main focus of the investigation? What's the most important thing for you right now in a few hours?
BEVINS: Well, there's not any one single focus. I mean, certainly the immediate focus was life safety, getting the former president out of there, and to care, getting care to the other victims and trying to secure the scene as quickly as possible.
[00:15:08]
It shifted then from a life safety priority to then an investigative priority. And so our -- I guess if I had to point to where we are right now, the single greatest priority would be to identifying a motive and whether there was anyone else involved.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're just beginning with the political season. Are you guys concerned with all of these rallies that happened and how they're set up? Is this going to change maybe the venues?
BEVINS: Again, I would -- I would refer you to the Secret Service in terms of what they work out with the campaigns. We will continue to supply resources as I'm sure the FBI will and local partners as well. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When this is announced, it was, you know, quite a few days that heads up that people get right (inaudible) from a rally, from a law enforcement perspective, we would announce that they could have like this. All the time to advance it, but we doubt that there's a good people and more time to fight something like this?
BEVINS: I suppose, but there's a balance I would think that any of the campaigns on either side try to weigh. I mean, the point of them announcing it, I suspect, is because they want the crowd. And so it's not up to us in law enforcement to tell them when they should announce or how they should announce or how they should conduct it. We offer our best advice.
Again, working hand in hand with the Secret Service, offer our best advice of how best to secure and protect that venue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, considering how many people were there and you have packed in there and you have somebody in an elevated position with potentially a high-powered rifle.
How lucky is it that we were only talking about a couple of victims? It's sad and tragic as that is.
BEVINS: Well, we're certainly grateful that we don't have even more victims. And again, in terms of how this could have occurred, that it will be part of this after action report and an investigation that occurs, so that we can hopefully ensure that something like this doesn't happen again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does an (inaudible) or is it scheduled?
BEVINS: It has not been conducted yet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (inaudible) have any people back in the rally?
BEVINS: I do not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If somebody has something to go to the vote, where should they send it?
ROJEK: So we have the 1-800-Call-FBI, if you have audio tips. And then we set up a specific tip line for audio and video and that's fbi.gov/butler.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they should send you just like any video or --
ROJEK: Anything that anyone has that is related to this incident that they think may be of assistance investigatively. We'll take anything and we'll analyze it and we'll make the determination of it's -- of investigative value.
(CROSSTALK)
Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So from what you've been raised on, it sounds like law enforcement only moving this up there until shots are fired. Is that what you're hearing?
ROJEK: So that is the assessment at this time. That --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, are you surprised that sniper was able to fire off a handful of shots of former president? I mean --
ROJEK: Again, we're still working through the security apparatus that the Secret Service had in place. What potentially happened? There's going to be a long investigation into exactly what took place and how the individual is able to get access to the location, what type of weapon he had, all that. It is really days, weeks, and months of investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (inaudible) get off like four or five shots.
ROJEK: It is -- it is surprising. But again, to get all the details of that will come out later in the investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go on and back to the (inaudible). I think it's really difficult to people to understand that this building is a very high vantage point. Some hundreds meters away (inaudible). What was into that conversational to what is in and out and why (inaudible)
ROJEK: Again, the Secret Service really needs to answer that question. They conduct the initial site survey. They do the initial security assessments and determine where the different security locations should be. And they're the ones who are in charge of securing the scene.
We, along with other state and local assets, are there to support the Secret Service and their mission.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many troopers and agents were at the rally, obviously, before the shooting? And how is that number determined and should perhaps there have been more?
ROJEK: So I don't have the specific numbers. I doubt you do as well.
BIVENS: No. I can speak just for PSP. We had physically on site. There are probably 30 to 40 members of PSP. But we also have additional resources in the area.
We utilize aviation, for example, and a variety of other resources. Dogs to sweep beforehand that really aren't counted in that. And again, the number is driven by what the request is from the Secret Service.
You know, just the -- in their defense, I mean, what I would want to say is it is incredibly difficult to have a venue open to the public. And to secure that against any possible threat against a very determined attacker. That's a huge lift to try and do it.
[00:20:15]
And, you know, again, the investigation will really give us an opportunity to take a look at where any failures occurred and what can be done better in the future.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) do you know like another briefing might be helped --
BEVINS: We don't have one scheduled, but I would tell you we will -- we will let you know and give you plenty of notice, certainly, as soon as additional things develop, that would be noteworthy or of interest to you. We'll get that scheduled and have another with you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Locally, what can residents' businesses expect to happen with the investigation for the next couple of days? What's going to be going on there?
BEVINS: Look, and the interviews will all be occurring. And so they may see law enforcement in their communities. People came from a wide area to come to this rally, I'm told. So, you know, there's going to be law enforcement fanning out. And as additional calls, photos, videos come in, you know, those additional interviews will result in law enforcement being out in the community conducting those interviews.
But otherwise, they really shouldn't see any other significant impact in the community.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you confirm whether it's a male or female, the homicide, the bystander who died?
BEVINS: It's a male.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A male?
BEVINS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm from a European outlet from Poland. And I'm already getting text messages from, you know, back home, and people are asking, how could this happen? What's going on in America?
I know that it's a philosophical question, but how can you talk to the people outside the United States about what happened here in (inaudible).
BEVINS: Well, again, what I would say is, this is a tragic incident that occurred. We're not in a position to start second-guessing how or why or anything else at this point. Just know that it will be thoroughly investigated.
If there is anyone to prosecute, that will be done. And we'll move forward, but I don't have a good answer for you.
ROJEK: We'll just take one last question.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know the PSA said that you guys are not aware of any additional request from the Trump team for security. What about the FBI?
Was there an additional request for additional security from the Trump team? And was that denied in any way, shape or form?
ROJEK: No. No. There was no additional request for security that was ever denied by the FBI.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What does the FBI do at these events? Like what is your rule?
ROJEK: So we are --we showed up after the fact. We were monitoring the event, but it was once the incident occurred that we come and we take the primary jurisdiction for the investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
ROJEK: Thank you. We'll -- as we have additional information, we'll provide it. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Listen to a press conference with the FBI, local law enforcement. Back with Jonathan Wackrow, Evan Perez, John Miller.
John Miller, let's start out with you. What stood out to you? I mean, not a lot of information. They're not releasing the name. They believe they're confident they have the identity of the -- of the alleged shooter, but -- and they are not any -- saying anything about a motive at this point.
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LEGAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: No. And they're waiting to confirm the identity that they suspect is that of the shooter through DNA. Pennsylvania State Police and the FBI are at the residence about an hour away from where the shooting occurred, where they believe this suspect lives. And they are holding that as they try to get their search warrant, and that will probably help them get the DNA.
As Evan reported, the suspect was found without identification on him. Now, there are a number of ways that they could have gotten to that name, Anderson.
One way would have been through information received through a source. But another way is they might have run the information from the serial number of the gun to who the purchaser was, found out that this person fits that general description and are trying to confirm that. That's a possibility.
One of the other things we learned in the press conference was that they are asking people to call with tips to 1-800-Call-FBI if you have any information.
The thing that you can anticipate by tomorrow is they will set up a digital drop site and their fbi.gov site where people can send their videos in. They know that aside from what we have from our live coverage of the event and other networks have, that there are hundreds of people with cell phones who may have captured things within the fence, like we're looking at now.
[00:25:11]
But also things outside the fence where they may have gotten video of the shooter as he approached that building, as he made it to the roof, as he was taken down.
So typically they set up that drop so that people can send in their videos, their pictures, any other digital evidence that they have. And I think that's going to be the next step you'll see.
COOPER: Evan Perez, I'm wondering if you've been hearing anything else.
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, I think, you know, what John is referring to is some of the work that the FBI is doing right now behind the scenes.
And I think one of the things, one of the very important things is if there are any people who have video from say an hour before the event. People, you know, might have been shooting video of the scene there as people were gathering.
Was there any indication or any sign of the shooter lurking or perhaps casing the area doing his work ahead of time before he gets up on that roof to fire those shots? That's the kind of thing that the FBI is very, very, very much interested in.
Obviously, some of the stuff that we've been airing, some of the stuff that's already on Twitter, that they can ingest and they can bring in and they can start analyzing.
But what they -- what the purpose of that press conference tonight was to encourage the public to help the investigators with things that we have not yet seen surface.
And so you hear there, obviously, that they're still working to identify, to make sure that they have the correct identity for the shooter. That is probably going to be done in the next hour or so.
We're going to probably see -- also, they're going to make an entry to the location where he was known to have lived.
Again, once they have a search warrant, they'll be able to do that. And then the work begins to try to put together a picture of this person over the last few weeks as they perhaps were planning to carry out this attempted assassination on the former president, Anderson.
COOPER: And, Jonathan Wackrow, formerly of the Secret Service, the Secret Service was not at this press conference. Obviously, there's a lot of people have a lot of questions for the Secret Service. Do you think that they will be, you know, holding a press conference tomorrow? Do you think they'll -- how do you think they will handle it? And where does their investigation -- how does that proceed?
I mean, I guess is it part of the FBI investigation? Does it proceed separately?
JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, the FBI investigation, Anderson, is a criminal investigation on the assassination crime, or attempted assassination crime.
But the Secret Service is going to have its own internal investigation. Remember, the Secret Service that has either an officer or an agent involved shooting on their hands right now.
So they need to address that situation as well as, you know, start a protective review that will run in parallel to the criminal investigation to understand, you know, was there a potential lapse in the security structure? What type of vulnerability was potentially not addressed in the initial planning phases of building out that site security plan?
I was a little bit shocked that a representative of the Secret Service was not there because they were the primary, you know, stakeholder and responsible for the security plan of this site. And their agents or officers were involved in the shooting itself. So I left a lot of like questions unanswered that will linger now.
And to answer your direct question, I do believe that they will come out with either a series of statements in response to some of those questions this evening or join in future press conferences, you know, about this matter.
COOPER: I mean, just on the face of it, if there's a building 120 or 150 yards from the place where the, you know, former president is going to be making a speech, does it surprise you that there wouldn't have been somebody on that building?
WACKROW: Yes. There's a lot of things that surprised me around, you know, the close proximity of that elevated location.
As I said earlier, any time that you have a threat that is able to gain the high ground with a long range weapon, you know, that puts them in a position of advantage.
We have to understand how did that happen? Why did that happen? What type of -- you know, was there a lapse in the security plan? Did someone leave a post? Was an area of concern not covered?
Again, all of these will come out during the Secret Service investigation and possibly in the criminal investigation as well. But, yes, it's very concerning that you had this line of sight that was not mitigated.
Now, the Secret Service, in its defense, does not rely on one single, you know, point of failure around a security plan. [00:30:06]
That's why you have the counter sniper team that's there.
So once that threat did present itself, it was neutralized extremely quickly, you know, by the counter snipers and the threat was put down.
So there's a lot of questions here that remain to be answered but we'll start seeing that some of those questions being answered over the next 24 hours.
COOPER: Yes. Jonathan Wackrow, Evan Perez, John Miller, our thanks to everyone at the end of a difficult and traumatic day from what we just heard at the press conference.
There is clearly much more to come in this situation, potentially a lot more repercussions from it.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And, Anderson, as all of this unfolds and it's very, very painful to even be reporting about what has happened, CNN, of course, will be there to bring it all to you.
For now, thanks very much for watching. The news continues right now with Jim Sciutto.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. Quite a day in this country, quite a day in this country's history.
A short time ago, police and the FBI gave an update on the investigation so far. They did officially call this an assassination attempt. The FBI has.
They say they have not identified a motive for the shooter. They say there is no reason to believe at this point there are other existing threats. They have tentatively identified the shooter, but they say they're waiting to confirm the shooter's identity through DNA and other means.
They say they did not receive any threat information prior to this shooting. And when asked about the number of shots, multiple shots that the shooter was able to get off, the FBI said it is surprising. The shooter was able to manage that before being taken out by authorities.
Well, Donald Trump's advisors say he is fine and will be at the Republican National Convention this week after he was shot in this assassination attempt.
It happened at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday while Mr. Trump was speaking and the cameras were rolling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I really see something that said, take a look at what happened.
(GUNSHOTS)
Get down, get down, get down, get down.
(SCREAMS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold. Hold. Are you ready? On you. Move. Move.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go, go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shooter's down. Are we good to move?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're good to move.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're clear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're clear. We're clear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's move, Let's move.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're clear.
TRUMP: Let me get my shoes. Let me get my shoes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got you, sir. I got you.
TRUMP: Let me get my shoes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on in your head.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, we've got to move to close. Move to close.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got to move.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Just shocking riveting moments there caught on camera. As you've heard, multiple shots fired by the assailant and multiple shots then fired by police Secret Service responding.
The former president, you saw there, raised his hand to the side of the head as he was apparently hit by one of those shots. The Secret Service rushing onto the stage, moving him from the stage once they confirmed that the shooter was down.
As he was being taken from the stage, blood on the side of his face was visible. The Secret Service says suspected shooter is dead.
In fact, they said it in those moments you saw there. And this video appears to show the gunman after he was shot on the roof of a nearby building just a couple hundred yards away from the stage where the president was -- the former president was speaking.
The FBI is now appealing for the public's help in their ongoing investigation. They say they are not ready to release the identity of the shooter. They have not yet fully confirmed it. They also say they have not yet determined a motive.
You can see on this map where the shooter was, atop a building there. Trump on stage, marked on the map as well.
Officials also say one rally attendee is dead, two others were critically injured.
Here is part of the statement Trump posted on social media in the aftermath, quote, "I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong and that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin."
[00:35:10]
The FBI and state police in Pennsylvania held a news conference, as I said, just a short time ago. The FBI is now calling this an assassination attempt against Donald Trump. They do also say they are still working to confirm the identity and the motive of the shooter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN ROJEK, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, FBI PITTSBURGH OFFICE: This evening, we had what we're calling an assassination attempt against our former president, Donald Trump.
It's still an active crime scene. As I mentioned, we have a number of agents on scene. We also are working closely with other federal agencies, our state partners, and our local police partners as well.
Again, at this time we are not prepared to identify who the shooter is. We are close to that identification. And as soon as we are 100 percent confident in who that individual is, we will share it with the press.
With that being said also, we do not currently have an identified motive, although our investigators are working tirelessly to attempt to identify what that motive was.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: So many open questions at this point as the police, the FBI, continue their investigation.
CNN's Danny Freeman, he joins us now from Butler, Pennsylvania, was inside that press conference with law enforcement.
They say they have tentatively ID'ed the shooter. They're waiting to confirm that identity. But did I also hear correctly, Danny, that they have identified what they believe to be the shooter's home or where the shooter was staying?
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Listen, I'll be perfectly honest. They were not releasing a tremendous amount of information when it comes to the identity of the shooter, as you were saying. They did say they have tentatively ID'ed the shooter.
But right now what they're waiting on is, as you noted at the top there, biometric confirmation because there was no ID of the individual on this person when he was ultimately, in their words, neutralized by law enforcement earlier this evening.
I will say that that question was asked. Are you going to the shooter's home? Are you looking at all those things? And the understanding is that that is part of this current investigation.
But again, law enforcement here at this press conference behind me were not willing to really give us more information on this shooter.
I just want to also note, in addition to the attempted assassination attempt that the FBI is now officially calling this and that they are investigating, Pennsylvania State Police, they were also going into detail that they are investigating -- well, the federal agents, they are dealing with the assassination attempt, the Pennsylvania State Police, they're dealing with the homicide of one person who was also in the crowd and two others who were also critically wounded at that Trump rally due to gunfire as well. There are so many questions that we have.
At this point, it's too early, according to law enforcement officials, to say if this was just a lone wolf. It is too early to say how long this shooter potentially was up there on that roof that you've been describing over the past few minutes.
And also at this point, it's too early to say what any motive for this particular shooting is. So those are all some of the questions that we are hoping to get answers to in the coming certainly hours and days.
But one of the things that I'll note though is I asked the folks here behind me, the law enforcement officials, if this was a failure of security, which clearly it does seem here that it was a massive failure of security.
And the FBI Special Agent in Charge, who was addressing the media said, it's too early to identify where specific failures were.
But I bring that up because the one government group that was not present at this particular press conference that was, of course, heavily involved in charge of protecting this environment was the Secret Service.
And they were not present for this particular press conference. And a lot of the questions that we were asking of these officials about lapses in security here for this event, they said that you have to put those to Secret Service. And, of course, Secret Service was not present at this particular press conference. So again, there are still, at this point, a lot of questions that we do have certainly about the identification of the person, how long he was there and how in the world this was able to happen.
But the FBI and local law enforcement, they're encouraging people who may have been at that rally to call in, to provide any other cell phone video that they might have taken to give any information if they potentially know who might have been that shooter, to come forward and to help with this investigation.
And I think that we're just getting an incredible look, certainly a first look, I should say, at the massive scale of this investigation that is underway right now from the federal level to here at the local level in Western Pennsylvania.
Back to you.
SCIUTTO: No question, Danny Freeman. As we noted earlier, the FBI is now leading that investigation.
[00:40:02]
And to Danny's point, there were a lot of eyes and ears in the audience. There's some of them taking videos of this and we're seeing one of those right here now. It's another angle of Saturday shooting.
The video itself does not show a lot, but it's what you hear that is more interesting. Take a look. Listen to what people are saying prior to the shooting and during it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And look what happened to what probably (inaudible) and, you know, that's a little bit --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's going down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's on the roof.
(GUNSHOTS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay under here.
(BLEEP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's on top of the roof.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't go over there. He's on the roof, buddy.
(SCREAMS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's dead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just seen his hair go up. They shot him in the head.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy (BLEEP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, if they hit anybody over there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The recoil of the shot?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The number of shots.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought that was --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, that was him. The first few shots were him.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's on the (inaudible). He's right there on the move.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our car is down there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Part of what that video highlights is that prior to the shooting, there were people just outside the security coordinate -- at that event, who saw someone on top of the building, someone who appears to have been the shooter, and were attempting to warn police about it before those shots were fired.
Then, of course, in that video, here when the shots are fired and those same people witnessing when the shooter was taken out.
From there, we go to another angle. It shows a different angle but a revealing perspective.
What you're looking at here appears to be Secret Service counter- snipers on a roof of the building just behind where Donald Trump was speaking. And you can see them reacting to something off camera.
In fact, the snipers, gun, the weapon jerks upward right there at the moment of the first shots. And then you see them firing their weapons as those Secret Service members rushed onto the stage to bring the former president, push him to the ground for safety. Of course, these moments after they were hit.
The point of showing that video there is it appears that the counter- snipers were at least looking in the direction of the shooter prior to the shots being fired.
Retired FBI agency and law enforcement contributor, Steve Moore, joins me now.
Steve, it's good to have you on. You've been in law enforcement. I've covered law enforcement for years. I'm always very conscious of not jumping to conclusions.
Counterterror, you only know about their failures. You don't know about their successes, similar with the Secret Service. They are dealing with constant threats all the time. They snuff out threats more times than we know. But here, given your experience, I wonder what failures you see here.
And particularly when we look at that most recent video, did it look to you like the counter-snipers might have had eyes on the shooter prior?
STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Well, if they did, they didn't have eyes on him for very long. From what I'm seeing on their reactions, it looked to me that they probably, within a second or two, engaged that shooter.
So I think you're right, Jim. I think they had turned their attention to him maybe because of some yelling. I mean, you've got Secret Service all around. You've got other people on the frequency who can say, hey, you know, people are shouting about a guy with a gun, you know, in quadrant, so and so.
They don't just say, you know, over to your left or over to your right. They've got that entire area grid out. So they might say, you know, area five or G2 or whatever. And so they were turning their attention to him.
What I don't know is whether the building that he was on, had a lip around the edge, which might have concealed him until he fired the weapons. And so I don't see the problem necessarily with the -- with the counter-snipers.
[00:45:02]
What I'm concerned about, and what what's I think going to have to really be looked into is the vertical view of the thing.
I mean, we've got drones at Costco now. You have airplanes available. Why did you not have a vertical eye on that entire area?
SCIUTTO: Yes. The distance here, and I think we can throw up the map again that showed the stage relative to that rooftop where the shooter was firing from.
What you see there is -- and you get a sense of what was inside the security cord and where you would have had to pass through the metal detectors. A number of folks who were in the crowd said that, yes, they had to pass-through magnetometers before they entered the immediate area, but that location of the suspected gunman's position was outside that area.
Typically, with events like this, what kind of security is there outside the coordinate? Is it just looking for potential threats? If you're not screening people for weapons outside there, I imagine you certainly focus attention on high points, including rooftops.
MOORE: You would think so, Jim. And, you know, before it comes across that I'm criticizing Secret Service, you know, they have to be right every single time. SCIUTTO: Yes.
MOORE: The bad guys only have to be right once or lucky once.
So you have your inner perimeter, your mid perimeter, and your outer perimeter. The outer perimeter, in this case, would be anything that wasn't in the security zone in the screen zone.
That is frequently an area picked up by local police who are assisting, as you've heard many times during this evening. Local police assist in each one of these things and provide valuable services to the Secret Service.
So that would likely have been an area given over to local police, but I'm not sure that it was an appropriate distance to be out.
I was a -- I was a counter-sniper for two years. And I'm telling you, if that was 100 to 150 yards, which is what it looks like, it's not actually a give-me (ph), but it's close. I mean, that is, if you have somebody trained, that is much too close to have high ground occupied by the bad guy.
SCIUTTO: Yes. And listen, when we speak of close, listen, a bullet grazed the ear of the former president, current candidate for president. And multiple shots were fired. This is extremely close to an even far worse outcome.
I did want to ask a question because Pennsylvania is an open carry state. Is it possible that law enforcement would be less aware of, attune to, or react less to someone carrying, even outside an event with a former president, one currently campaigning for president, in an open carry state?
In other words, that they wouldn't look as alarmingly at that possibility, given that that's the law?
MOORE: Yes. No, Jim. I don't think so in the same way that, for instance, I have a -- as a retired federal agent and FBI agent who was on SWAT, I have a 50 state concealed carry permit. I would never take that weapon anywhere near a Secret Service protected event.
And likewise, if somebody were to show up open carry within eyesight of a Secret Service venue, anybody who ignored that would be committing the grave a stare.
You know, just because the state is open carry doesn't mean every place in the state is. And it doesn't mean that you can open carry in the vicinity of a campaign stopper or rally without being challenged immediately.
And, frankly, in that situation, you'd probably want to aggressively challenge them.
SCIUTTO: Tell us what the FBI who is leading this investigation is focusing on right now. They have a tentative ID, they've said. So they've done some of the work there. It sounds like based on their answers at the press conference, they're holding back on the name out of an abundance of caution now.
They're waiting for DNA confirmation, et cetera. They've got the weapon. And they have a lot of video right of how this played out.
What is the number one question they're looking to have answered right now?
MOORE: Who's helping him or who helped him? And then secondarily, where has this guy been for the last few weeks, months, maybe even a year?
[00:50:03]
SCIUTTO: Yes.
MOORE: When you look at somebody who shoots a candidate or shoots at a candidate at a campaign event, what you find and you found this with Hinkley (ph), you found this with just so many other shootings, that those people have followed the candidate and they've followed him around the United States.
And so what you're looking right now is you want to get all their financial records. You want to find out if their debit card purchased airline tickets, if the debit card, where -- what cities was it used in? Was it used in Milwaukee? Was it used in New York City? Was it used in Florida?
You want to find out all these things about where they've been and you want to compare every single debit transaction and that's just one of the hundreds of things you're looking at. You're going to compare that to the potential targets schedule.
And that's just -- you're going to have so many different teams working on this. You're going to have the team working on travel. Friends, right now, one of the reasons they're not talking about the name is they want to door knock people who aren't expecting them. They want to go and talk to people who can't prepare in advance for the FBI coming to their door.
They want to get to locations where, if there is an accomplice in any way, shape or form, they can't hide evidence.
SCIUTTO: Stephen Moore, thanks so much for sharing your expertise here. It's a difficult moment in this country. It's one that requires --
MOORE: Yes.
SCIUTTO: -- patience and time and calm and we appreciate your analysis.
MOORE: Yes. Thank you.
SCIUTTO: Well, former President Trump's plane landed at Newark Airport in New Jersey just a short time ago. The White House says U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Trump earlier on Saturday following the shooting. And he has now returned to the White House early from Delaware.
Mr. Biden has been calling for unity in the shootings aftermath. He says he is grateful to hear Trump is safe and well. Here's President earlier condemning political violence. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But the bottom line is that the Trump rally is a rally that he should have been able to -- can be conducted peacefully without any problem.
But the idea -- the idea that there's political violence or violence in America like this is just unheard of. It's just not appropriate. I mean, everybody, everybody must condemn it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Charlie Dent is a former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, now executive director of the Aspen Institute Congressional Program. He joins me now from Avalon, New Jersey.
Charlie, it's good to have you on tonight. Those words from the president important. And being echoed by many, not all, but by many across party lines. Representative Mike Lawler, he told me earlier, this level of hatred and violence cannot continue.
Republican, President Biden, of course, a Democratic, he called it sick. Martin Luther King Jr., who knows political violence all too well. He says that political violence has no place in our society.
You're hearing that. And those are important words, are they not? Particularly across the aisle, given -- well, given the precarious moment we're in right now.
CHARLIE DENT, FORMER UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE: Well, of course, Jim, look, political violence is never acceptable.
And sadly in our country, we've had four presidents in the United States assassinated, Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley. Of course, John F. Kennedy. We had the -- RFK was assassinated. Martin Luther King. George Wallace was severely wounded. Reagan shot.
Gerald Ford, there were two attempts on his life. The shooter missed both times, as I recall.
And so sadly, you know, we have this terrible tradition.
In Congress, you know, the threat level against elected officials, particularly in Congress, is intolerably high. Of course, Steve Scalise, Gabby Giffords, and Nancy Pelosi's husband was attacked with a hammer.
This is -- this is out of control. And I think a lot of it has to do with the political discourse that is just so angry, so vengeful, and so much rage. That's -- I hate to say it. And, of course, I hate the social media. You know, a lot of people go on social media and say the most vile things. I mean, I haven't even looked at social media tonight. I can't imagine what's being said right now.
But truthfully, this is a big part of the sickness in our culture right now. And it's translated into this horrific event. And thank goodness the former president is OK. But it's just a sobering moment for all of us.
SCIUTTO: Well, yes, avoid it, right? What social media moments like this, because there is, and I've seen some of it. There's some good things being said, but there's a lot of -- a lot of bad things being said as well.
[00:55:03]
And some of them, by sitting lawmakers. You look at -- look at the comments from JD Vance where you already have attempts to assign blame where there's no direct evidence of blame.
And that is the worry going forward. I mean, we saw this, for instance, following the classified documents search at Mar-a-Lago, fire directed at the FBI, right?
And you must be worrying about similar at this point against the U.S. Secret Service, or even the FBI which has taken over this investigation, that the institutions that are actually trying to respond to this and make things safer might become targets themselves to political ends.
DENT: Of course. And that's why it's important that, you know, we respect institutions like the FBI and the Secret Service. These agencies, they're populated with professionals, you know, who really don't -- I've never found them to be partisan during my time in government service.
I felt that they were professionals and they tried to do their jobs as best they could, but it just seems that so much of our government. It feels like people think that the government has at least much of the bureaucracy has a -- has a partisan inclination. And so many folks don't trust institutions to do their jobs.
And at a time like this, it's important that we have trust in the FBI and the Secret Service to get to the bottom of what happened.
We all want to know what happened. And it's a -- it's tragic that this is where we are. So many institutions that had always been respected and admired are now tarnished with a partisan taint, in many cases unfairly.
SCIUTTO: You heard President Biden say there is no place for this kind of violence in America. He called it sick repeatedly. And he said that people who want to go to a political rally should not face this kind of risk as they go to a rally nor should the candidate, of course. The Republican National Convention is next week. We can be certain that Donald Trump, the target of this assassination attempt, as the FBI has declared it, will be talking about this. He has every right to. What message would you like to hear from Donald Trump in this moment?
DENT: Well, prior to this assassination attempt, I thought the Republican National Convention, where they're going to try to maybe show a softer and gentler side to Donald Trump. Now that this assassination attempt has occurred, I -- you know, it's hard to say what this convention will be like.
Hopefully -- I hope that there will be calls for unity in this country that whatever our difference is, they aren't that great. I mean, we have to stop treating each other. And I hope that this is -- this message is conveyed at the Republican National Convention, that the Democrats may be our opponents. We might think they're politically misguided, but they're not our enemies.
They're our fellow citizens. And, you know, we have a -- we have a debate with them every year, or every -- you know, for every election. And, you know, we hope we win. If we lose, you know, we're going to try to beat them next time.
But it seems that, you know, we've kind of turned this all into a zero-sum game.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
DENT: That, you know, if I don't -- if I don't win, you know, this is the end of the country, the end of the republic, the Constitution is gone. And I think we have to get beyond this apocalyptic rhetoric that so many, frankly, on both sides, are deploying these days.
They deploy this, and so they make the stakes seemingly so high that it might prompt some of these sick individuals to take, you know, these drastic actions like this shooter did tonight.
SCIUTTO: Yes, yes. And sadly a tribal dynamic, right? That anything --
DENT: Yes.
SCIUTTO: -- for your side is good, anything good for the other side is bad, and the reverse as well.
DENT: Absolutely.
SCIUTTO: Former congressman, Charlie Dent, it's always good to have you on. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on this difficult evening.
DENT: Thanks, Jim.
SCIUTTO: Republican Senate candidate, Dave McCormick, was in the front row of the rally. In fact, he was set to speak moments before the shots were fired. President Trump had invited McCormick to the stage. He spoke earlier to my colleague, Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVE MCCORMICK I(R-PA), SENATE NOMINEE: I was in the front row, so the president was speaking out to the -- to the crowd, look like a big crowd. I think I was told 15,000 or so. And I was seated to his right, in the front row. And he had actually just announced me and invited me up to the stage and then said, no, no, I'll have you come up in a few minutes.
And about a minute or so after that, we heard a series of shots, I think seven or eight shots, which is pop, pop, pop. They -- you know, I was a former army guy. They sounded like a small caliber weapon, but obviously, I'm not sure about that.
And, you know, it was like all of a sudden just chaos. The Secret Service immediately covered the president, jumped on top of him. And the crowd, obviously, all went immediately to its -- to the ground, to people on their knees or laying down on the ground.
