Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Trump Injured in Assassination Attempt; FBI Identifies Shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks; Biden "Grateful" Trump is "Safe and Doing Well"; Shooter Killed After Assassination Attempt. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired July 14, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:00:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- with professionals.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: A disturbing and distressing and historic day in American politics. A former U.S. president attempted assassination. I'm Michael Holmes.
Do stick around. Kim Brunhuber will pick up our breaking news coverage right now.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: And this is CNN's Breaking News coverage of the attempted assassination of Former President Donald Trump. I'm Kim Brunhuber.
So, we are learning more about the man the FBI says tried to assassinate Former President Donald Trump. Investigators say he was Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
Public records show he was registered to vote as a Republican and he made a small donation to a Democratic aligned group. The FBI says he opened fire on Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, before countersnipers shot and killed him. Now, as for Trump, he says the bullet pierced his ear and a spokesperson said shortly after the attack that he was doing fine. It all happened while cameras were rolling. Have a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: RIPLEY (voice-over): -- that said, take a look at what happened --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down, get down, get down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold, hold. When you're ready. On you. Move. Move.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hawkeye's here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hawkeye's here. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are we ready? Are we good to move?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shooter down. Shooter down. Shooter's down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shooter's down. Are we 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 FEMALE: We're clear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're clear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got you, sir. I got you, sir.
TRUMP: Let me get my shoes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, we got to get moved to the bus.
TRUMP: Let me get my shoes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Well, as you heard there, there was a series of pops and you saw the former president raised his hand to the side of his head. The Secret Service rushed to the stage and eventually moved Trump from the stage to the armored limousine, as you can see there. And as he was being taken from the stage, you could see there was blood on the side of his face. Officials say one person who was attending the rally is dead and two others were critically injured.
Now, as for the gunman, this video here appears to show him after he was shot by law enforcement. Investigators say he fired from atop a building, as you can see from this map here. Trump was on the stage which is also marked on the map.
Hours later, Trump was seen in this video exiting his plane unassisted in New Jersey. The video was posted to social media by his campaign.
Members of the different law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation updated reporters early Sunday morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN ROJEK, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE IN PITTSBURGH: 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. We do not currently have an identified motive, although our investigators are working tirelessly to attempt to identify what that motive was.
LT. COL. GEORGE BIVENS, PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE: Within about 10 to 15 minutes, a number of sounds were heard and it became apparent that shots were being fired in that direction. It was a chaotic scene. Law enforcement, I believe, acted heroically, quickly identifying, and neutralizing the threat, as well as responding to assist the various victims.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Now, the FBI has established a tip line on its website hoping to get more video and pictures related to the shooting. That website is fbi.gov/butler.
Evan Perez explains what else investigators know about the suspect and what they're still trying to learn.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR U.S. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: We know that they were working to verify the identity of the shooter. His name is Thomas Matthew Crooks. 20 years old, and he's from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
[04:04:00]
Now, that's the scene right now of a massive, massive police presence. Police on the scene there have cordoned off a very large area around the home where he believes -- he's believed to have spent been living recently. And so, that's where the focus of this investigation is now. But you know, it took a little while, as we reported earlier, Jim, and as the FBI said at the press conference a little while ago that, you know, he didn't have any identification him, on his person, when the Secret Service shot and killed him there on that rooftop.
And so, as a result, it took additional work. They had to do biometrics, they had to do DNA testing to be able to verify his identity. And so, this -- you know, the location of where he was living, or at least the last known where -- place where he was living and where the FBI is now, you know, trying to get evidence is in Bethel Park, which is outside of Pittsburgh.
The rally where this incident occurred, where the attempted assassination of the former president occurred is in Butler, which is about an hour away on the other side of Pittsburgh. Again, all of this in Western Pennsylvania. And now, of course, the work begins to try to understand what the motivation was. How long has he been planning this? When did he get the gun? How long has he been working on this? And really, if there was anybody else at all who was connected -- this connected to this assassination attempt. And all of that, of course, is now where the FBI is focused on.
In addition to, obviously, some of the additional questions that we all have from watching that scene, you know, how was this gunman allowed to get to that location, that perch on that rooftop with a clear view of the former president and not be stopped before he got those shots off.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Donald Trump issued a statement via his Truth Social platform Saturday evening, and it says in part, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the rally who was killed and also to the family of another person that was badly injured. It goes on to say, I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard whizzing sound shots and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place so I realized then what was happening.
Well, the shooting happened shortly after Trump began speaking to the crowd of supporters. Now, this video clip offers a unique perspective of what transpired. Have a look, and especially listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And look what happened to our country. Probably (INAUDIBLE). And you know that's a little --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's got a gun.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's on top of the roof. We got to go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay under here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's on top of the rood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't go over there. He's on the roof, buddy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's dead. I just seen his hair blew off. They shot him in the head.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What if they hit anybody over there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he pull up a shot?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He -- number of shots.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought that was us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, that was him. The first two or three shots were him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Blows my mind.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go. He's on the roof right there. He's right there on the roof. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Sources say the former president's Secret Service protection had recently been strengthened. The Trump campaign says it plans to increase its own protective measures with 24/7 armed officers and additional security assessments.
All right. I'm joined now by Charles Marino. He's a former advisor for the Department of Homeland Security and is also a former Secret Service Supervisory Special Agent and is the CEO of Sentinel Security Solutions. Thanks so much for being here. So, just to start, they've identified the shooter. What are the next steps? What are they looking for here?
[04:10:00]
CHARLES MARINO, FORMER DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISER, FORMER SECRET SERVICE SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT AND CEO, SENTINEL SECURITY SOLUTIONS: So, because this was an official assassination attempt declared by the FBI, the FBI becomes the primary investigative agency. They will be looking through a lot of the things that was previously mentioned, they'll be looking at the background of the shooter. Any pre-planning that went into this, which it appears there was pre- planning, any associations. They'll see if this individual was on the radar of law enforcement agencies prior to this act, and they'll make sure that it's not part of some type of larger threat that may still be out there. So, that's the priority.
Now, as FBI investigation, it will also include the planning that took place for this rally on the part of the Secret Service.
BRUNHUBER: Well, let's --
MARINO: They will look at -- go ahead, sir.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, let's talk about that because, you know, the how here, it seems to be a massive security failure. We don't have answers yet, of course. But obviously, one of the key questions is how could someone have clear access to that roof?
MARINO: Yes. So, look, even though this building was outside, what we'll call the secure site, the rally site where everybody that went in there had to get screened for weapons, this building and the proximity and such and the way it was perched and gave a clear view to the stage was still in the game of being a concern. So, there should have been some attention brought to it. There's going to be a lot of investigation regarding this. What did the Secret Service have planned to keep eyes on all of these buildings to make sure that something like this didn't happen.
As far as the reactionary aspect of the Secret Service mission, that was superb. You saw the agents respond very quickly to the former president, get him down on the ground, behind the armor. You saw the countersnipers do what they needed to do to mitigate the threat. The problem we're seeing is something that takes place and should be recognized during the advanced stage of the Secret Service's mission, where they're assessing the totality of the threats that a unique location may bring, such as high ground, high buildings that look down onto a potential site.
So, this is going to get a look. The FBI investigation will not be the only investigation. I assure you, Congress will likely direct the Department of Homeland Security, where the Secret Service reports to, they will direct the DHS inspector general to conduct an investigation. And of course, Congress will hold their own hearings. And they'll likely start by calling the director of the Secret Service to come testify to explain exactly how protection is provided for the former president and others.
BRUNHUBER: You talked about the Secret Service response after the shooting being excellent. Certainly, it was heroic seeing those agents making that wall of bodies there, but they did allow Trump to stop and get his shoes. He says, you know, let me get my shoes. He stopped again to shake his fist. There was another momentary delay in getting Trump into the van while he raised his hand sort of a gesture of defiance. I mean, that seemed like a risky move in context. Will that be examined as well?
MARINO: Absolutely. The totality of the response by the agents, both on the protective detail of the former president, those that were supporting the operation, all the way down to the state and local law enforcement officers that were asked to support the operation, all of that will be looked at.
And look, I think what you bring up is fair to bring up. You know, the important thing here is we don't know what was being communicated both amongst the agents as they were down behind the armor, again, safe, bodies covering the former president, and we also don't know what was being communicated over the radios. So -- but this investigation will pull all of that together and see why there was this delayed movement off of the stage to the vehicle to go to the hospital.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, you bring a good point because it certainly could be that they heard on the radio shooter is down, for instance, and that would maybe minimize the imminent threat to the president. Looking ahead, do you expect -- I mean, this is, you know, clearly a presidential campaign. Donald Trump will have to be out in public again. Do you expect protocols to change, for instance, no more outdoor events like this? What more can they do?
[04:15:00]
MARINO: You know, I got to tell you, it's very hard to limit, especially during a presidential campaign. Having been there myself, it's hard to limit the type of venues that these candidates go to. The name of the game is to press the flesh, right, to be seen, to go to places that may not have a stadium or, you know, another large venue to go to. So, these are pop up venues that go to places like the Pittsburgh area.
So, you know, it's hard to do. And the Secret Service has the job of making sure that all of these sites are protected adequately. So, I expect this to continue. The next major sites we're going to see are the RNC and DNC. They both been designated national special security events. That's the highest designation in the United States for special events. There may be some changes to those security protocols as well. We'll just have to wait and see.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, it's striking the level of the shot that it was at the ear almost perfectly aimed, maybe an inch away from being absolutely tragic. Charles Marino, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.
MARINO: You're welcome. Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: Well, Former President Trump's plane landed at Newark Airport in New Jersey early Sunday morning. The White House says U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with his political rival earlier on Saturday following the shooting, and he's returned to the White House early from Delaware. Mr. Biden has been calling for unity in the shooting's aftermath. He says he's grateful to hear Trump is safe and well. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: There's no place in America for this kind of violence. It's sick. It's sick. It's one of the reasons why we have to unite this country. We cannot allow for this to be happening. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this.
The Trump rally was a rally that he should have been able to 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. Everybody, everybody must condemn it. Everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Reactions to the attempted assassination have been pouring in from across the political spectrum. Here's the Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, posting on X, tonight, all Americans are grateful that President Trump appears to be fine after a despicable attack on a peaceful rally. Meanwhile, Senator Marco Rubio, a top contender to be Trump's running mate, said "God protected President Trump."
Trump's political rivals are also condemning the attack. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he was praying for the former president and that political violence is unacceptable. And that's a statement echoed by a Democratic -- Democrat Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, says he is horrified but relieved that the former president is safe.
Well, one lawmaker who knows all too well what Donald Trump is feeling right now is Steve Scalise. The Louisiana Republican was himself shot back in 2017. Now, it happened when he was practicing with the Republican Congressional Baseball Team. Authorities say the gunman purposefully targeted Republican politicians. Now, serving as the House majority leader, Scalise talked earlier with Fox News about his reaction to what happened in Pennsylvania on Saturday. Here he is. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): A lot of those memories come back. You know, when you hear the video, the audio, especially with the pop, pop, pop, it was very similar. You know, the first one or two shots, you're not thinking it's a gunshot shot. But then by the third one, you know, and beyond it it's clear what's going on.
I was hit early off and went down. In the case of President Trump, you know, you could tell when he was hit. He went down to kind of -- fortunately, as you pointed out, just that one difference, maybe the turn of the head made all the difference in the world, and thank God that he's still alive and OK, but it easily could have gone the other way.
So, you know, this is one of those days where, you know, God was on the ball field with me. I think God was there with President Trump. Sadly, there were, you know, other injuries, casualty of civilians that were watching the rally, but, you know, this was an assassination attempt. Clearly, we're going to have a lot of questions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Well, Republicans aren't letting the shooting in Pennsylvania delay their national convention. It will run from Monday through Thursday as planned, in Milwaukee, and Donald Trump will be there to accept the nomination. Meanwhile, the Biden campaign says it's pausing political TV ads for the time being.
All right. Ron Brownstein is CNN's senior political analyst and the senior editor for The Atlantic, and he joins me now from Los Angeles. So, Ron, violence obviously isn't new to our politics here in this country, you've talked about this country being on a violent path.
[04:20:00]
So, I want to read you what RFK Jr. said in response to this, a man who tragically knows all too much about the costs of political violence. He said, "It was amidst of a time that was probably the most divisive in American history at that time since the American Civil War, and we're back into that kind of milieu today."
What do you think this attack says about the current political climate?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST AND SENIOR EDITOR, THE ATLANTIC: Yes. I mean, you know, we obviously don't know the motive of the shooter or whether there is going to be a motive that is politically coherent. Often in this case, there isn't, you know, we're kind of just looking at a disturbed individual who is kind of acting out on their kind of complex view of the world.
But having said that, there is no question that we are on a trajectory toward greater incidents of threats of political violence and attempts at political violence. You know, you mentioned Steve Scalise, the Republican who was attacked, the governor of Michigan, a Democrat, an attempt to kidnap and kill her. The attack on Paul Pelosi, threats against Supreme Court justices, threats against the judges in the Trump cases.
As the political temperature has heated up and a growing share of voters in each party view a victory by the other side as an existential threat to their vision of what America is. And those differences are real. You are seeing a -- you know, a portion of people at kind of the fringes willing to take that on to violence. And, you know, obviously January 6th as well.
So, there's no question the direction we're heading. The only real issue is do we want to continue going in this way or can we find a way out of it?
BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's the question, but already there's been, you know, so much finger pointing, blaming Biden for saying that it's time to put Trump in the bullseye, which, of course, reminds us of Sarah Palin putting Gabby Giffords in crosshairs in that political ad. I mean, Democrats were very quick to blame Palin after Giffords was shot. So, certainly, one could see this generating more anger as well as fuel for conspiracy theories.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, absolutely. I mean, you know, there's going to be a norm. I mean, we've seen accusations from Trump defenders, really in every venue, you know, on social media, on the air, basically saying that Democrats invited this with the way they talk about Trump.
Trump calls his opponents communists and fascists and vermin and says they are trying to destroy America. And so, like, you know, it's hardly inconceivable that there are going to -- you know, there have been, I mean, threats against election officials and judges in his cases. The whole -- you know, the whole thing is kind of hurdling toward a cliff. And it just feels like this is a moment that can be another escalation or a chance to kind of look at the overall change.
You know, as I've said before on the air, I still was struck by how one of the counterterrorism officials in the Trump Department of Homeland Security said to me after January 6th that they were worried we were headed for a period like the Troubles in Northern Ireland, where threats and actual attempts of political violence become a routine part of our political life. And, you know, you -- this could easily be an accelerant of that. I think a lot will depend on how leaders in each party, including Trump himself, respond to it.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, we might get some answers about the direction this will all go at the Republican Convention. Certainly, this will give the convention a very different tenor. What are you expecting?
BROWNSTEIN: I think it's a real open question. I mean, you know, the extension of where Trump has been going for the last two years would be to kind of echo what we have seen on social media from some of his allies, which is to say, you know, they try to silence him by indicting him, they try to silence him by putting gag orders on him, and now, they've tried to silence him by attempting to kill him. That I think will be an initial instinct. But, you know, there is another opportunity here. I mean, Donald Trump is leading in this race and this may be a moment for him to try to speak to a broader segment of the society than he usually has and to basically, you know, kind of raise the question of whether this is where we want to go.
I think you'll get some of the former, it's possible you'll get some of the latter as well. But, you know, again, how political leaders respond to this I think will have a lot to do with whether we see it as just another turn of the screw or a chance to kind of reverse the trajectory that we're on.
[04:25:00]
BRUNHUBER: President Biden was very quick to come out to denounce this. He stopped the campaign ads. What do you think his response will be in terms of sort of the logistics of campaigning in the wake of this?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think it's going to change the way they -- the way he talks about Donald Trump. I think that's inevitable, at least for a while. You know, I think substantively everything that was true about the way in which Donald Trump has and might in the future interact with American democracy yesterday is still true today. But whether you want to describe it in the, you know, kind of pointed and confrontational terms that Democrats and certainly, you know, Trump critics have moved toward in this environment, I don't know. I mean, I think there's going to be a natural instinct to pull back from that.
Again, I wonder if the parallel is going to be true in terms of Trump pulling back from the way he describes his political opponents. I also think it's going to make it tougher for those Democrats who have been trying to find a way to nudge Biden out of the race. I think these freezes things in a way that helps him, because anything that kind of -- you know, or runs down the clock toward the Democratic Convention makes it harder to move him aside.
It is a big shock, you know, and thinking about kind of the tactical political advantages, I think, is kind of a smaller part at this point than thinking of what it says about the road that we are on politically and why all the different things we have seen from the Scalise shooting to January 6th to the Whitmer threat to this is part of a continuum that is pointing us in a very clear direction that we have to choose whether or not we want to continue careening towards.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, theme I'm getting is that this country is at a crossroads and this is a vital moment in our history right now. Ron Brownstein Los Angeles, we appreciate your insight.
Now, earlier, my colleague Michael Holmes spoke with Irina Bucur, a reporter with the local newspaper, The Butler Eagle, and she was in the crowd during the rally and described what she saw when shots rang out. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) IRINA BUCUR, REPORTER, BUTLER EAGLE: We had a reporter actually in the enclosed media area, but I was with the other visitors and I just heard several gunshots and everyone around me, including myself, we all ducked down. A woman behind me was praying. There is a mother in front of me who is telling her children to crouch down. And soon after that people started standing up and started being evacuated by Secret Service.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Were you -- you know, you went there to cover a rally. I mean, were you in disbelief initially? What went through your mind?
BUCUR: I think I was in shock for the first few moments. Because I wasn't close to the bleachers or where Former President Trump was standing. So, I didn't see what was happening until I got the information in bits and pieces. I was definitely in disbelief and I think everyone around me was well.
A number of people started evacuating before calls for evacuation took place. Other people just started filming on their phones. And as I was talking to some folks, it just seemed like everybody was in a daze. People were telling me that they saw a shooter on the roof. Other people were saying other things. And so, there seemed to be a lot of confusion.
I spoke with a man who performed CPR on the fatally wounded victim. And again, just a sense of -- yes, bewilderment, like you said. Everybody is still reeling from this fairly open large area where different local events are held. The rally was held outdoors, entirely outdoors. And the neighborhood in which the rally took place, I would call it a fairly quiet neighborhood leading up to the rally. You know, driving into the parking lot. You could see neighbors holding lemonade stands. It is really a fairly quiet neighborhood. That's how I would describe it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[04:30:00]
BRUNHUBER: World leaders were quick to express shock and dismay at the attempt on the former president's life. French President Emmanuel Macron said his country shares the shock and indignation of the American people. More than a dozen other countries condemned the attack, with many saying there is no place for violence in a democracy.
All right. For more, let's head over to London, where Nic Robertson is standing by. So, Nic, plenty of solidarity from world leaders. What are you hearing?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: There really is concern, condemnation. It's all there. And I think you only have to look at the headlines in newspapers here in the U.K. today, and I'm sure it's going to be replicated across Europe.
This is something that is clearly getting a lot of attention, clearly getting a lot of concern. And one of the first to express concern was that -- was from Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary. He actually met with president -- Former President Trump last week in Mar-a-Lago. They are pretty close politically. They have the same political style. They're populist.
We also heard from the British prime minister shocked, condemning this violence. We've heard from the Indian prime minister, Pakistan's prime minister. So, many different European figures and leaders, but it's all across the world. This is what the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY ALBANESE, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: Any act of violence is an affront to that and must be condemned unequivocally. This was an inexcusable attack on the democratic values that Australians and Americans share and the freedom that we treasure.
I say with regard to political issues, this isn't a day for politics, this is a day to unite, to express our concern, regardless of one's political views, there is no place for the events that we saw today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: Yes, and in the last hour, we've heard from the Italian prime minister, the German chancellor, the Spanish prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of NATO, all talking about their worries, concerns, offering sympathies and support. And that's what we heard from President Zelenskyy as well, from Ukraine, speaking about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): An assassination attempt on Donald Trump's life, a terrible crime that can only be condemned and which demonstrates how serious the challenges to democracy are globally. Violence in any form, in anywhere, must absolutely not prevail. I am confident America will rise to the challenge. I wish Mr. Trump a speedy recovery, strength, and support to all those who have been affected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: And condolences and sympathies and concern. We've now just heard that coming from Chinese officials talking about what President Xi there has to say as well, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Nic, speaking of concern, I mean, before this even happened, there was already plenty of hang wringing around the world in terms of the state of politics here in the U.S. Certainly, this won't help.
ROBERTSON: It won't at all. Look, I mean, the rest of the world looks at the United States through this prism of this is a country that has a lot of guns. Gun violence is not uncommon. And they also see it through the prism of this very divisive political situation right now. Divisive already in recent years, but now in a heated political campaign with additional pressures on both sides, this is going to raise that level of concern.
Look, Europe isn't unfamiliar with political violence, with attacks on leaders. Just back in May this year, the middle of May, Robert Fico, the Slovakian prime minister, was shot at close range. 71-year-old gunman got just a few feet from him, fired into his stomach, and it was only last week that Robert Fico was actually able to get back on the public political stage, if you will. He also, by the way, is a populist, is sort of pro-Putin, is right leaning and seen as a very, very divisive character.
But then you really have to go back a couple of decades in Europe, and it's sort of -- it's cyclical. The political violence, the assassination attempts. It was the early noughties when there was a spate of shootings, stabbings of political figures, killings in some cases. But it's -- so, Europe's not -- you know, not immune to this. But I think the sense here that it's much more likely to happen in the United States and the sense as well that the current political environment in the United States is volatile. And why do people around the world, why are they concerned? They're concerned quite simply because what happens in the United States, how the United States goes, how the economy fares affects the rest of the world.
[04:35:00]
It is a connected world, and this is why it's ending up as we see today on the front pages of the British newspapers, which, quite frankly, it's almost surprising from when this happened, British time, that they're getting it on the front page, several pages, actually, inside that particular newspaper, featuring the shooting attempt on Donald Trump.
BRUNHUBER: Nic, thanks for putting it all in an international context for us. Appreciate that.
Recapping our breaking news, the assassination attempt on Former President Donald Trump. The suspect, who was shot and killed by authorities, has been identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. Public records show he was a registered Republican.
Now, take a look at the terrifying events that unfolded when the gunman opened fire. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: -- said, take a look at what happened --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down, get down, get down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold, hold. When you're ready. On you. Move. Move.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hawkeye's here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hawkeye's here. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are we ready? Are we good to move?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shooter down. Shooter down. Shooter's down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shooter's down. Are we 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 FEMALE: We're clear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're clear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got you, sir. I got you, sir.
TRUMP: Let me get my shoes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, we got to get moved to the bus.
TRUMP: Let me get my shoes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Now, advisers say Trump is fine, but one man who was attending the rally is dead, and two others critically injured. The FBI is appealing for the public's help in the investigation.
Political columnist Salena Zito was just feet away from Trump at the Pennsylvania rally and she spoke with CNN's Anderson Cooper about what she saw the moments before and after the shots rang out. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SALENA ZITO, COLUMNIST, WASHINGTON EXAMINER AND WITNESS: Just before the president went on, I did talk to him backstage, just for a few minutes. I was set to interview him after the rally. But I think it's just interesting to note that he was very excited, you know, and sort of very happy to be in Pennsylvania. I think he recognizes the importance of this state and the importance of this rally before going into Wisconsin.
And so, I was in the bumper. The bumper is that area where journalists go that is sort of surrounds the stage with the with the audience behind you and the president in front of you. So, I was just feet from him. We had just moved to his left, myself and two photographers from the Washington Examiner. We were just to his -- I think it was his left And I heard the pop, pop, pop. And saw the president go down. You could see this little streak of red on his face and then there were three more shots after that. I don't know -- I haven't seen much reporting because we've there really had was no service out there afterwards. But you know -- just before the president went on, I did talk to him backstage just for a few minutes. I was set to interview him after the rally, but I think it's just interesting to note that he was very excited, you know, and sort of very happy to be in Pennsylvania, I think. He recognizes the importance of this state and the importance of this rally before going into Wisconsin.
And so, I was in the bumper. The bumper is that area where journalists go that is sort of surrounds the stage with the with the audience behind you and the president in front of you. So, I was just feet from him. We had just moved to his left, myself and two photographers from the Washington Examiner.
[04:40:00]
We were just to his -- I think it was his left And I heard the pop, pop, pop. And saw the president go down. You could see this little streak of red on his face and then there were three more shots after that. I don't know -- I haven't seen much reporting because we've there really had was no service out there afterwards.
But you know, I saw him go down. And I don't think he fell down from my vantage point. I was maybe three feet from him. I don't think he fell down. I think that he went down to take cover. And immediately, you saw law enforcement around him on all sides. And he gets back up and I can hear him say two things, something about I need my shoes and then I see him lift his fist up, and people were cheering him and then he kept saying, fight, fight, fight.
And then, the advanced man from the Trump campaign, really interesting, he laid on top of us and kept us -- kept saying, stay down, stay down, don't move. And then they brought the president right past us, his hat fell down right in front of us. And then they took him off.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: And I think we have a picture that -- yes. We have a picture, I think, that -- of you. I think this was posted on your -- one of your accounts. That's, I assume, the advanced man. It looks like there's several people lying around you.
ZITO: Yes, that's actually my daughter and my son-in-law.
COOPER: Oh, my gosh. So, your daughter and son in law were there. That must have been terrifying.
ZITO: Yes. My daughter is a photojournalist. And we were there. We were -- I was interviewing the president today. I was going to fly back to Bedminster with him and do an interview, a long form interview of stories ahead of the convention. So, I had, you know, a photographer with me.
And so, yes. And it's really interesting, and I suspect there's a lot of journalists feel this way, your instinct is to keep covering it.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: Apologies for the glitch that you saw there. Retired FBI agent and CNN law enforcement contributor Steve Moore says now that investigators have identified the suspected gunman, they're going to dig deeply into his life. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR AND RETIRED SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT, FBI: They're going to essentially write his biography. They're going to find out how he has been healthy wise, mental health wise for the last five to 10 years, what he's doing, what he's going -- whether he's going to school, they're going to find out his belief system. They're going to look deeply into his online presence. What he's been looking at, what he's been reading, and who he's been communicating with.
And they're going to look at all of his financial transactions for several years back. They're essentially going to have a book on him that his parents couldn't write. And at the end of this, they'll be able, hopefully, to find out whether, number one, anybody assisted him, number two, what the motive was, and use this as a way to understand better the threat to presidents, the threat to candidates.
What I'm seeing is that they appear to be looking right in the direction of the shooter. I think that they had been alerted to the shooter, whether by radio or by hearing people screaming, they had been alerted to the location of the shooter immediately before they took their shots.
Now, you can't just say, oh, there's somebody over there on a roof and shoot them. So, what they're going to be doing is looking, waiting until they see a weapon. The problem is that in that area, on the roof, there could have been a slight wall covering him, hiding him. And sometimes -- I mean, we are taught as snipers to find rain gutters that go out of those little walls and shoot through those so that nobody can see you on the other side. So, they may have had a very obstructed view.
[04:45:00]
But once they decided to take the suspect out, it was immediate. It was quick. It was accurate. It was textbook. A sniper will tell you that a shot -- if you take a shot 100 to 150 yards, it's not quite a gimme, but it is just about. It is the shot that you are expected to make flawlessly.
And so, the fact that they allowed -- that somebody allowed that roof to be unmonitored, unguarded, that's going to be -- you know, that's not on the countersnipers, it is on the planning or the execution. We don't -- they could have planned for that roof, and maybe something happened in the planning or in the execution of the plan where it was left unguarded. But what I'm thinking, though, is that how did this guy get so lucky that he had decided to take the one place that was accidentally unguarded? That's just going to be something that we're going to have to really look deeply into.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Now, in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, security was increased at Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan in New York. The building, Trump's former residence, where he sometimes stays, is already watched over by the city's police. It's often a gathering place for both supporters and opponents of the former president.
Donald Trump's campaign managers say the Republican Convention will go ahead as planned in Milwaukee starting on Monday. A source tells CNN that it's not clear what impact the shooting will have on the convention's security plans, but Trump's campaign is ramping up his personal security. The former president's advisers say he's doing well and looks forward to attending the convention. Milwaukee's mayor is demanding peace, saying there's no place for this sort of violence in America.
I want to bring in Natasha Lindstaedt, who's a professor of government at the University of Essex, and she joins us from Colchester, England. Thank you so much for being here with us. So, let's start there with the Republican Convention. Obviously, this is going to have a huge impact, not just on security but on the tone of the convention. I imagine it'll be entirely different.
NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Yes, I would imagine that too. And I think this is one of the things that I'm concerned about. As soon as the news broke that there was an assassination attempt, Joe Biden, along with other world leaders, denounced violence. And it will be really important for the Republicans to maintain this, to champion tolerance and to condemn all forms of political violence and to not let the emotions that naturally would run very high after this, as there was an assassination attempt on Trump, to not let those emotions overtake the need to exercise calm.
But I'm not sure that that's what's going to happen at the convention. And we're at a really critical spot in American history, but just with this election as well, where we're incredibly polarized. The nation is heavily armed, and we have a lot of Americans that are very, very upset. And so, we need to have a moment where we all collectively condemn this type of violence so that there's not copycat and retaliation that will take place during the election.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, not just armed and upset, but there's a troubling growing acceptance of political violence as a solution, and that's on both sides.
LINDSTAEDT: Yes, that's true. I mean, there have been a rise in active threats against elected officials. 7,500 threats have been recorded. This keeps going up and up. We've seen attacks on Steve Scalise, a congressman in 2017 and attacks on Gabby Giffords in 2011. And there was a recent survey done by noted terrorist expert last month, Robert Paid (ph) that showed that 10 percent of respondents said that they would support violence to prevent Trump from getting elected, a third of those owned guns and 7 percent of those respondents said that they would support violence to get Trump elected, half of those respondents own guns.
So, we have, I mean, a powder keg, a horrible situation here, where, as I've mentioned, we're politically polarized, we're heavily armed, and the norms of what's acceptable has changed, and some of this is due to the fact of what happened in January 6th, that we've seen political violence, and it's been acceptable, deemed acceptable, in some ways legitimized by the Supreme Court in its decision making, and that's changed the way we think about what is acceptable or not.
[04:50:00]
And I think this is a bigger issue here. This really contrasts with the assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981, where we felt this was more of an isolated incident driven by someone that was mentally unwell. I think this is part of a much bigger problem that we're facing.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. Since you mentioned that, I mean, after Reagan was shot and his press secretary James Brady was seriously wounded, that led to a very successful, you know, effort on gun control. I certainly don't expect this to have the same effects this time, right?
LINDSTAEDT: No, we have 434 million guns in circulation. Gun culture is one of the big aspects of American political culture and that's one of the key tenants of the Republican Party. And I don't think that they're going to be quick to denounce the fact that someone had an access to this type of weapon. But I think it's very clear to see how dangerous it is that you have to cover so many different spots when protecting our lawmakers and our leaders, and this is such a critical time right now, that to have all these different factors out there, it becomes very difficult to predict and to keep everybody safe.
BRUNHUBER: With this tragedy still fresh, it's may seem too early to talk politics, but we are in the middle of a presidential campaign. So, how do you think -- we only have about a minute left, but how do you think this will impact the campaign itself for both Donald Trump and President Biden?
LINDSTAEDT: Well, we've seen a couple things. One, Biden is pulling his ads out of respect to what happened. We see less chatter, less talk about Biden's age and about pressuring him to step down. And I think you'll get a bit of a boost in support for Donald Trump. His supports remain at 46 percent, but I think this only can help him.
BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll leave it there. Really appreciate your insights. Natasha Lindstaedt, thanks for joining us.
LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.
BRUNHUBER: Tim Naftali, CNN's presidential historian and the former director of the Nixon Presidential Library, says violence isn't new to U.S. politics and he warns Americans to learn from similar moments in history when the country faced deep division. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN, FORMER DIRECTOR, NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND SENIOR RESEARCH SCHOLAR, COLUMBIA'S SIPA: We have seen violence like this before in presidential elections. You mentioned RFK, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy, a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination was struck down. 1972, George Wallace, a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination, he wasn't killed, but he was paralyzed for life. 1912, the last time that a former president ran for office, Theodore Roosevelt was hit by a bullet. It did not penetrate his heart. It was actually stopped by his eyeglass case and his speech. And indeed, he continued his speech. He finished it. He said it takes more than that to kill a bull moose. That gave a name to his party, it became the Bull Moose Party.
Violence is not new to our politics. We need to have this stop. We need, as Americans, to remember that in the end we are part of one country. And when we create -- when we spread hatred, when we spread poison, when we demonize those who do not agree with us politically, we are laying the ground for the kind of violence that sadly reappears every so often in American politics. So, sadly, there's nothing new to this. But yet, again, we have a chance as Americans to prevent it from happening again.
We got ourselves out of this. When I say we, I mean, not just famous people who are our leaders, but local leaders, teachers, family leaders of all kinds. We came to the conclusion that enough was enough. And we had conversations about limiting violence. We talked about how to spread freedom. We actually engaged in gun control. We got out of war in Vietnam. Congress investigated abuses by governments. We pulled ourselves out of this.
[04:55:00]
We had a president who resigned when he realized that he was-- he had gotten caught and we had members of his own party say that it was time for him to resign. In other words, Americans chose a country over partisanship. We have done it before and we need to do it again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: All right. Here's where our breaking news stands right now. Donald Trump is recovering after apparently being shot during an assassination attempt. The former president says he was hit in the ear. That happened in full view of cameras at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. Have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Take a look at what happened --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down, get down, get down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold, hold. When you're ready. On you. Move. Move.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hawkeye's here.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER: Well, as you can see there in these pictures, you can see Trump bleeding from the side of his head. Officials say one rally attendee is dead and two others were critically injured. The FBI says the gunman was Thomas Matthew Crooks. Countersnipers shot and killed him. He was 20 years old and from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. Public records show he was registered to vote as a Republican and he made a small donation to a Democratic aligned group.
Trump flew into New Jersey a short time ago and in this video, you can see him walking there, unaided, down the stairs from his plane.
Former U.S. Republican Charlie Dent spoke to us about the need to improve trust in American society and to dial back the anger and political violence. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLIE DENT, FORMER U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ASPEN INSTITUTE CONGRESSIONAL PROGRAM: Political violence is never acceptable. And sadly, in our country, we've had four presidents of 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 out of control. And it's -- I think a lot of it has to do with the political discourse that is -- it is just so angry. So, vengeful and so much rage that -- that's -- I hate to say it. And of course, 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 a sobering moment for all of us.
And 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 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 just -- 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Well, in a new memo, the Trump campaign says it is horrified over the attack on President Trump. Campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita told staffers they are "enhancing the armed security presence around the campaign with 24/7 officers and putting additional security measures in place." They say the highest priority is keeping staff members safe.
The campaign says the Republican Convention will go on as planned in Milwaukee next week, where they will nominate Donald Trump to be "the brave and fearless nominee of the Republican Party." They also said, "In moments of tragedy and horror, we must be resolute in our mission to re-elect President Trump. It's our fervent hope that this horrendous act will bring our team and indeed the nation together in unity, and we must renew our commitment to safety and peace for our country."
I'm Kim Brunhuber. CNN's breaking news coverage of the assassination attempt on Former President Donald Trump continues right now.
[05:00:00]
