Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

FBI Identifies Trump Rally Shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks; Donald Trump Injured in Assassination Attempt at Rally, Suspected Shooter Killed. Aired 5-6 am ET

Aired July 14, 2024 - 05:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: -- together in unity, and we must renew our commitment to safety and peace for our country.

[05:00:07]

I'm Kim Brunhuber. CNN's breaking news coverage of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump continues right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, and welcome to a special weekend edition of CNN This Morning. I am Kasie Hunt on this Sunday, where we are covering breaking news, the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

We just got new video of the moment that people at the rally spotted the shooter. A warning, what you're about to see in here is graphic.

Really difficult. Early this morning, FBI officials identified the shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. This appears to be the shooter lying on the roof of a building close to the rally after he was shot and killed by Secret Service.

He was from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. It's about 35 miles from the site of the rally in Butler.

As for the victims, investigators say they identified a rally-goer who was shot and killed. Two others who were critically injured. They are not yet revealing their identities.

One man covered in blood told CNN crews at the scene he tried to comfort one of the victims seconds after the shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICO ELMORE, RALLY ATTENDEE: All we know is shots were fired, and then I jumped over the barrier and put my hand on the guy's head that was profusely bleeding.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who -- who was it? Do you know?

(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: A spokesperson says that the former president is, quote, "fine." And former President Trump himself posted on Truth Social that a bullet hit his right ear, and just a few hours ago he flew back to Newark, New Jersey, presumably en route to Bedminster, where he has a club.

We are learning more also about the 20-year-old gunman's background this morning. Crooks is a registered Republican in Pennsylvania, but he apparently also made a small donation to a Democratic-aligned group in 2021. CNN's reached out to Crooks' father, who declined to comment until speaking with police, but he did tell us he was still trying to, quote, "figure out what the hell is going on," end quote.

A CNN analysis of the scene shows the roof where the shots were fired and that it's about 150 yards away from the stage where Trump was speaking.

CNN's Danny Freeman went to the scene. And he's got more on just how wide the scope of this investigation is going to be.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Kasie, we're really just now getting a perspective on how massive this investigation is going to be. The FBI confirming overnight that they are officially investigating this as an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump's life.

Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania State Police, they say that they are also taking the lead on the homicide investigation of one of the rally goers at this Trump campaign event and also the shooting of two other campaign rally attendees who are now in critical condition.

Let's get to the biggest question of, of course, how in the world could this have happened? Really, we did not get a lot of answers from this press conference overnight. I asked the FBI specifically, was this a failure of security?

And the FBI representative here said that they are still assessing where there may have been failures in the security process for this particular Trump campaign event. But a lot of the questions that reporters were asking during this overnight press conference were referred to the U.S. Secret Service. But the challenge was, Kasie, that Secret Service did not have a representative at this press conference to take some of these questions.

The other thing I'll note, Kasie, though, is that, again, just to explain and really put a point on the massive scale of this investigation, the FBI, Pennsylvania State Police, other law enforcement agencies are asking the public, please, if you have any cell phone video, any information about anything that may be related to the shooting that happened at this Trump event, please, please hand it in, because they will be looking at all of that as they continue to figure out exactly what led to this horrific and tragic moment on Saturday.

Kasie?

HUNT: Our Danny Freeman, thanks very much, Danny, for that.

So with the FBI taking the lead on this massive investigation, there are still plenty of unanswered questions.

Joining me now to discuss how the FBI, all other agencies, will handle next steps, CNN National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem.

Juliette, good morning to you. I know you've been up late through the night. Let's just bring everyone up to speed about what this investigation is going to look like going forward.

[05:05:06]

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So this is a political assassination attempt, at least, and may fall into domestic terrorism type cases. We don't have a domestic terrorism domestic statute, but we certainly have a federal law that would cover this attempt.

So that's why the FBI has stepped in and is taking lead. They will look at sort of two lanes of possibilities or two lanes of inquiry at this stage. One is, of course, is the shooter who is now dead, is -- were there any others involved? Could this potentially be a conspiracy? The early reporting suggests no, but you still have to determine whether there's an ongoing threat.

The second is, of course, to motives. Yesterday I was on explaining a variety of motives. People want to assume things. I think we ought to be very careful about that.

This seems like a mixed motive assassination attempt that may include support for left-wing causes, support for the Republican Party, and also maybe nothing having to do with politics. We will learn more about that at this stage relatively soon. So that's where the FBI is going to start its inquiry.

And then I have to say there will be a separate investigation, of course, about the Secret Service. There will be an after-action review. You cannot sit here and say that wasn't a security failure.

There's too many pictures at this stage that suggest that people knew what was about to happen and it took way too long.

HUNT: Yeah, Juliette, I mean, I've -- I've covered dozens of events like this, and it is, you look at the roofs around you when you go into this, there are always snipers typically visible that are there to protect the person in question. Obviously, we've seen video of there was a team there to protect former President Trump that had that kind of a role.

But then, of course, the Secret Service did not attend the law enforcement press conference late last night. What does that say to you? Were you surprised by that?

KAYYEM: I was. I mean, part of it is they must have seen that the narrative was beginning to turn on them and they may not have the answers yet. What did the sniper, the Secret Service sniper, know at the time that he knew it?

How was information getting from people who were noticing that the assassin was up on the rooftop and to the Secret Service? We can put together from, you know, the next day -- you know, later in that day, a narrative that fits into, well, obviously, Trump was about to get killed or an attempt on his life was about to be taken, and why didn't they shoot him? We simply don't know.

So that after action, which may expose some liability for the Secret Service suggests why they were not there. They were not prepared to answer them. We've gotten statements from the head of the Secret Service, as well as Secretary Mayorkas, the head of the Department of Homeland Security. But that's -- that's all at this stage.

It was very unfortunate. I don't -- I have to say, given the seriousness of what happened, we cannot forget what happened yesterday. It was a -- it was an assassination attempt against some one of two people who is likely to be the next president. The FBI essentially saying, well, we don't know why it took so long. We don't -- we can't explain the Secret Service is not a good look for federal law enforcement.

We need to keep a unified explanation and be honest about -- about the Secret Services, both prevention efforts, preparedness efforts, as well as response.

HUNT: Right. And we should note, I think that the former president has thanked the officers that were there. You see a number of them in the frame there with him to -- who were willing to jump in there, although, of course, all of your points are well taken about how we have landed here.

Juliette, you've done a lot of work on counterterrorism --

KAYYEM: Yeah.

HUNT: -- domestic terrorism as well. Clearly, the number of threats against our politicians has just exploded in recent years. You know, I think all of us dreaded a moment like this one.

What does it tell you that -- that -- that we are here? Have we seen something like this in our -- in our -- obviously we've had assassins -- political assassinations in the past. What do you see in this particular moment in our history?

KAYYEM: So this is, you know, 2024, many of us were documenting is, it was a year in which violence or the threat of violence was sort of hung over our democratic processes in a way that -- that there might be historical precedent, but it is unprecedented for our modern times. The reason why is because the threat environment wasn't particularly targeted. It was just basically an inflamed threat environment.

[05:10:10]

Now, just based on the FBI, most of that threat came from the right wing towards in particular judges or election officials. And I'm just quoting the FBI numbers at this stage, some of it from the left wing.

What we may have here. And I was, you know, very careful yesterday and admonishing other analysts to try to -- who are trying to fit this into some narrative that we're good, they're bad, they're bad, we're good, whatever it is.

This is likely a mixed motive issue in which we have a suspect who's now dead with -- with alliances towards the Republican Party, a contribution to a left-wing group. Who knows what his mental capacity is? And so we can't -- can't fit.

Don't try to fit motive into your political predisposition. Look at the totality, which is a violence as part of our democratic process that doesn't get cured by stopping one person or having a stronger security perimeter. As I wrote overnight in "The Atlantic," you can't put a security perimeter around democracy, right?

I mean, in other words, this is our democratic institutions that are under the threat environment that is going to take leadership. It's going to take us taking a step back and understanding what we've become. And then also engagement by our citizens condemning it across the board, violence across the board.

HUNT: Yeah. As you wrote in "The Atlantic," quote, "Political violence reveals deep cultural dysfunction. And that dysfunction is what our leaders must address. No security perimeter can shield our fractured democracy."

Juliette Kayyem, thank you very much for being here, as always.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

KAYYEM: I really appreciate it.

All right. Next here. Overnight, the FBI identifying the shooter in the assassination attempt on former President Trump. We're going to continue our breaking news coverage next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:15:49]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: That was President Biden addressing the nation shortly after the shooting last night. Biden was at mass in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, when the incident unfolded.

CNN White House reporter Camila DeChalus joins us now. She is here on set with us.

Camila, good morning to you. President Biden opened those remarks by saying he was -- he had tried to reach President Trump. They -- I am told, eventually did speak. What is the latest in terms of what we know about the President's activities since this happened?

CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: At this point in time, we know that around 10 o'clock later on Saturday evening that he finally made contact with former President Donald Trump and was updated and briefed on the situation.

We aren't really clear or sure what he said during this phone call, but we know that alongside Trump, he also talked to the Butler mayor and also Pennsylvania governor. And it almost, in a sense, reflects what he said at the press conference.

And that was him denouncing political violence, saying that there's no place for this. And he really made this step just to talk about how he's going to be investing resources and doing everything as possible at this time.

HUNT: So let's talk about those resources, because obviously in this situation, the White House has and the administration has a critical role to play because this is going to be a sprawling investigation. And of course, the Secret Service is continuing to protect the President and the former president as well as they both run for office here. So what can we expect in terms of resources?

DECHALUS: At this point in time, Biden just said that he's still looking to get more clarification and more updates on what occurred. We know that the FBI is launching a full-scale investigation into this matter and says that they are going to invest all their resources into investigating what has happened. We know that they opened up a tip line and that they're going to work with the Secret Service alongside state and local enforcement.

And so that is something that we know the FBI is taking the lead role on, but it's still yet to be seen what other resources that are going to be dedicated to this matter.

HUNT: All right, Camila DeChalus for us this morning. Camila, thank you very much.

All right, Donald Trump's campaign says that they are ramping up the security presence at their offices with 24/7-armed security on site.

In a memo to staff, campaign managers also calling for unity, saying, quote, "It's our fervent hope that this horrendous act will bring our team and indeed the nation together in unity. And we must all renew our commitment to safety and peace for our country."

The campaign went on to say the Republican National Convention will go on as planned in Milwaukee on Monday. I'm headed there right after this.

Joining me now to talk more about this Republican strategist, Matt Gorman, CNN Senior Analyst, Political Analyst Ron Brownstein.

Good morning to both of you. Ron, I actually want to start with you because this is obviously an incredibly difficult moment in our history, in American history. I know you've covered campaigns for quite some time.

This security issue that the campaign is dealing with, of course, is kind of front and center in terms of how we're covering this breaking news. But I'm interested in your reflections on this moment, why and how we got here. And where we go from here.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah, I think, you know, that this moment, you know, is the culmination or maybe just another step in a process we have been living through for some time. You know, the threats of political violence and attempts at political violence have become much more common than in earlier generations. It's become kind of a backbeat for our for our politics.

And we have seen it against prominent targets, this being the most, but also the governor of Michigan, you know, the House majority leader, threats about Supreme Court justices. But we've also seen it at the local level, at the grassroots, at the base of American politics with local election officials after 2020 and public health officials and city council members during COVID and the judges and prosecutors working on the Trump cases in the current environment.

[05:20:00]

It is being routinized to an extent that I think is unprecedented since at least the years before the Civil War. In the 1960s, we had the horrifically spectacular assassinations of JFK and RFK and Martin Luther King. But I don't think we had the breadth of what we are witnessing now.

And it is kind of an inflection point, because I think that the clear message is that this is the trajectory we are on, where events like this are going to become more common unless there is a broad consensus to try to step away from this abyss.

HUNT: It is an abyss indeed. And Matt Gorman, I mean, you were recently working on Tim Scott's presidential campaign. Can you kind of let us into how you would think about this on a presidential campaign and how that's honestly changed over the years?

Because I mean, you and I first got to know each other covering the -- when I covered the Romney campaign back in 2012. You obviously worked on campaigns going forward from there in 2016 as well. And I mean, look, I remember talking to some of my mentors on the campaign trail who had started out covering Ted Kennedy in 1980, when this was something that was very, very present for the Kennedy family.

But it's not something that we -- I had to grapple with in this kind of very front and center way or that we as a country had to grapple with in the years leading up to now. But the climate has just changed so dramatically. MATT GORMAN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: You're right. And look, this was full scale Secret Service, essentially nominee protection. Trump's had that for about a decade now.

But there's a time and Trump had it, too, before you have that where there isn't that sort of protection, right, where it might be a, you know, security guard or someone who's hired for that or some team. And, you know, there is a volatility and it's evolved right now in today's day and age, I would say in the last, you know, five or so years, it is something that campaigns have to actually think about from day one.

And let's face it, too. If you're running for president, you're some sort of national political figure. You're likely already getting some sort of consistent threat, unfortunately. It's kind of in today's politics.

And so those have to be taken into account. I know Tim was a sitting senator. So, of course, you're going to get that sort of thing.

Governors that I've worked for, too, the same sort of thing. And so it's always in the front of your mind. But that being said, you can't let it inhibit your ability, especially in primaries, to get really up close and with voters.

HUNT: Right. Well, I mean, and as you can see, I mean, when we look at these pictures, I mean, Donald Trump was not allowing the security situation to prevent him from, you know, being right there in the crowd with his people. And you saw kind of the defiant reaction from them, obviously shock, horror in the immediate aftermath.

But this was a situation where, you know, you saw him, the former president, Donald Trump, start to yell fight, the crowd responding back to him.

Ron Brownstein, I mean, on that note, you mentioned 1968, which, of course, the parallels are just sort of stunning, really, especially with, you know, Democrats about to hold their convention in Chicago in a couple of weeks, the RNC, of course, getting underway tomorrow. Can you sort of dig into and just talk a little bit more about that moment for our country and this one and how they are or are not parallel?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, you know, 1968 was a moment where the scenes really seemed to be unraveling in American life, not only the assassinations, but also just the intense conflict over Vietnam, the -- the urban, you know, the unrest, the riots that followed the death of Martin Luther King, the convention and the violence that happened there.

I look at this as more of a slow burn, you know, that basically we are seeing not only a heightened polarization of our politics, you know, which we've been talking -- I wrote a book in 2007 called "The Second Civil War," did not think it would be quite so literal. That's been going on for a while.

What's been escalating is the sense, I think, that voters feel that many voters in each coalition feel that a victory by the other is an existential threat to America as they understand and appreciate it. And look, there are real differences between the parties. There are real stakes between the parties.

But, you know, unless some of us are going away or we are going to split up this country, we need to find a more productive way to live together. And again, like this is a moment that either allows you to kind of think about how you point the ship in that direction or you kind of further inflame the division.

And I think it's going to be important to see what political leaders on both sides do in the next few days, including Trump himself. I mean, how does he respond to this in terms of his sometimes often inflammatory rhetoric? And how do Democrats respond, you know, in terms of the way they describe him?

[05:25:16]

It really is a moment where we can choose what -- what, you know, what comes next.

HUNT: Yes, we can. Very important point. Ron Brownstein, Matt Gorman, thank you both.

Coming up next here, we continue to get new details in about the assassination attempt on former President Trump. Witnesses telling police that the shooter was moving from roof to roof before the shootings. We're going to have more on all this breaking news, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNT: All right, welcome back. This just in to CNN, according to our affiliate KDKA, a witness at the rally told officers he saw a gunman moving from roof to roof in the moments before the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Video from the rally shows the moment that gunfire rang out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: They said, take a look at what happened -- oh.

(GUNSHOTS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: You see Secret Service rushing the stage, they're securing the former president. They, of course, took him off the stage after that. Former President Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that a bullet hit his right ear. A spokesperson says he is, quote, "fine."

This video shows the suspect who was shot and killed on the roof of a nearby building. The FBI has identified him as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.

Records show he was a registered Republican and that he made a small donation to a Democratic aligned group. The FBI is appealing for the public's help in the investigation.

[05:30:02]

Ron Brownstein and Matt Gorman are back with me now.

Matt Gorman, let me start with you just in terms of, you know, you are a plugged in Republican strategist. We are starting to hear some things from Republican officials. They are, by and large, messages of support for the former president, denunciations of violence.

But it is undeniable that the moment that we saw play out last night is going to change this election campaign fundamentally and is clearly some sort of significant point in our history.

GORMAN: Yeah. I mean, we -- over -- a little over two weeks ago, before the debate, we often kept saying, oh, it's a kind of boring election, a static election. Certainly not that way anymore.

And, you know, it will change. I think it will change this country. It will -- we will remember where we were. We remember, you know, kind of how this changed us. We just don't know, candidly, in what way. And I think in the short term, this will change the convention a little bit. I think you're going to see that kind of iconic image now with Trump and the flag everywhere.

HUNT: Guys, can we put that? That's an image from him.

GORMAN: You're going to see that everywhere.

HUNT: I mean, this is -- this is going to, I mean, Jonathan Martin in "Politico" this morning writes that this is going to be like the enduring image of the election.

GORMAN: Yes, I think you're right. I think certainly that will be the case. You're going to see that everywhere in Milwaukee. When he comes out on what's likely to be Monday night, according to some reports, to introduce the vice president, it's going to be, I think, a triumphant mood. And I think he's going to hear -- it's going to get very loud in there in a good way.

And I think we don't know how this is going to change the campaign, this country, in the days to come. But it certainly will.

HUNT: Yeah. Ron Brownstein, to that point, I mean, you know, my mother remembers where she was when JFK was shot. She was a young girl. You know, I was with my family at the pool last night when this unfolded. My son's about five. I'm not sure if he's going to remember it or not. I struggled with whether or not to say something.

But I also thought to myself, this is the kind of moment where you do remember where you are. And it can be the kind of moment that defines, you know, not just this campaign, but an intense, you know, period in our history.

And you know, the Jonathan Martin over at now "Politico," formerly of "The New York Times," is out talking about just how quickly some of this rhetoric is turning political and how we are remembering these other intensely political moments.

You're just looking at pictures of the JFK assassination. How do you think about this in terms of it being the kind of moment that is one where you remember where you were?

BROWNSTEIN: I think the social impact is going to be more profound than the political impact, the near-term political impact. You know, we are a very dug-in country. January 6th, you know, you can remember where you were. And here we are, you know, a little over three years later, and the lines of division between the parties aren't that different, you know, than they were before.

I think there will be a kind of surge of understandable sympathy for the former president. But I think that kind of the race will look eventually a lot like it did before, except perhaps for greater Republican turnout.

The real impact, I think, is toward the kind of the social question, like the assassination of the 60s kind of made us wonder where we were headed as a society. And I think that this attempt really brings that into light.

As I said, we have seen, you know, an attempt to kidnap and kill a Democratic governor, a shooting attempt at a shooting of a House Republican, threats against local officials. This is being woven into the fabric of our political life in a way that really is unprecedented in its breadth, except perhaps for the 1850s, when we had, you know, canings on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

And I think that is where we will go. You know, it may be that there is no coherent political motive. Often in this case, the shooter's political periscope is so idiosyncratic that it doesn't mean anything to anyone outside of their own head. But this still tells us something about where we are headed as a society. And I think it is not a place where most Americans want to go.

HUNT: Yeah. I mean, you know, I have to agree with you on that in terms of it being just not -- not where we want to be. And Matt, I mean, when I think back on, you know, we were talking a little bit about our careers.

Ron, obviously, has covered many of these campaigns. But when I think back to the things that forged me, while the presidential campaigns did not have this kind of violence, when I remember back, the first time I covered this was Gabby Giffords. So that happened to her.

I covered Steve Scalise --

[05:35:00]

GORMAN: Yeah.

HUNT: -- after he was shot at baseball practice for the congressional baseball game. This is something that has become part of the fabric of how we do this. And it's horrifying. GORMAN: It is. It's unfortunate. But it seems like every couple of years, this bubbles up in a very terrible way. And, you know, this is the unfortunate late iteration of that.

And, you know, it's -- it's often, you know, we know the ending of this story, at least in the short term, you know, being that President Trump, former President Trump's OK. You know, six inches or an inch to the other side.

HUNT: It's a matter of millimeters.

GORMAN: It's a matter of millimeters, and it is a scary, scary thought where that goes. And so, I just -- we were, we thankfully, you know, he's OK, terrible, the rally attender that died, I don't want to minimize that in any other way. But, you know, things could have been different, very different, with just, you know, an inch here or there.

HUNT: All right. Matt Gorman, Ron Brownstein, stand by for me, we're going to -- we're going to talk some more about this throughout this hour.

Still ahead, we are hearing from top Republican and Democratic lawmakers following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. We'll dig into their reactions just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNT: All right, welcome back. Messages of concern for former President Trump are pouring in from leaders around the world and from members of Congress.

The House Speaker, Mike Johnson, posted on "X" saying that the House will conduct a full investigation of the tragic events, saying that the American people deserve to know the truth and that the Secret Service, FBI, and DHS officials will join a hearing in House committees as soon as possible.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also posted saying that he's horrified by what happened and he says that political violence has no place in our country.

Of course, the investigation is underway into what the FBI is calling an attempted assassination, the FBI taking the lead as this investigation is in its early stages.

To put all this into perspective and talk through how this is going to be handled, we are joined now by Presidential Historian Julian Zelizer and Senior National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem. She is back with us.

[05:40:10]

Juliette, why don't I start with you on kind of the nuts and bolts of this in terms of where we're going to go on the coordination, the FBI leading the effort now. But obviously, the focus squarely on the Secret Service. KAYYEM: Yes. So there will be two investigations, essentially one of the attempted assassin or the assassin who attempted to take Donald Trump's life. And then, of course, what we would call an after action regarding what the conduct, the preparation, the planning by the Secret Service.

So let me start with the first. That's an -- it's nothing typical about it, but that is, you know, a motive-based crime of essentially domestic terrorism. There will be federal charges against a federal investigation on charges against him about what in particular about motive and whether there were any co-conspirators. So basically, we need a narrative of what happened.

This could also include, interestingly enough, gun ownership. We've seen in some of these cases extend to access to the gun. How did he get it? Was that lawful? So there's going to be a lot of circles to this investigation.

The second, of course, is the -- you know, what's more of an internal investigation is -- is how could a rooftop so close to the to the target essentially be left so vulnerable?

Look, there's always going to be a security perimeter that ends. There's no question about it. But given what we know about violence, what we know about political violence, it seemed like a big gap to leave those areas essentially unprotected from people being able to access them.

HUNT: Very remarkable.

Julian, we were talking a little bit with Ron Brownstein a second ago about kind of what this -- what this means, what this says about where we are as a country, how this is going to make people feel. I mean, we have seen an alarming uptick in political violence in recent years. The threats have increased.

Of course, there was the January 6th insurrection. There was a kidnapping attempt against the governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, the Republican leader, Steve Scalise, was shot at baseball practice. You can go back to Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic congresswoman, being -- being shot as she campaigned in Arizona.

I'm curious, as -- as a historian, how you have been taking in the events of the last 24 hours and what you think we as Americans should be focused on and talking about in the wake of this.

JULIAN ZELIZER, HISTORIAN, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Well, there's the long term and the short term. The long term is that violence has been part of American political history. The period before the Civil War was filled with violence, including on the floor of Capitol Hill.

1968 saw many assassinations, including Robert Kennedy, who was running for the Democratic nomination. 1972, George Wallace. He was shot and paralyzed. 1981, Ronald Reagan. There was an attempt at assassination. So assassinations and violence have always been part of American politics, even though we don't like to say that's a pretty pervasive part of our history. And then the short term is this uptick we've seen in the last decade or so against federal judges, politicians, where violence has just been increasing as a normalized threat in American politics. So you combine those and that's why this is so, so explosive.

And so that's what I'm thinking about. And now it will be upon our leaders and on all of us to try to tamp down the threats that we've had and real security measures, which are also going to be essential.

HUNT: Julian, what sort of parallels do you see in the past, in the recent past, in terms of the depth of our political polarization that -- that you think we could learn from or draw on as we all try to go forward after this?

ZELIZER: Well, I mean, I think of the late 1960s, where the violence was actually quite pervasive. You had many major leaders over the course of the decade who had been not only attempted assassinations but killed Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy, John F. Kennedy.

It became part of our life, Malcolm X. And, you know, here we are, the Democratic convention will be in Chicago again. And so the parallels are hard to ignore. And I think that decade was very traumatic for Americans. And I hope that we can move into a better place.

[05:45:04]

But I don't think the divisions are going to increase. I don't think the reasons that violence is possible from guns to more is going to disappear very easily. So this is going to be hard work if we're serious about moving beyond these kinds of threat levels.

HUNT: All right. Juliette Kayyem, Julian Zelizer for us this morning. Thank you very much to both of you.

All right. Still ahead, how will this shooting impact the campaign moving forward? Are we going to see more of these large rallies over the next few weeks? What else might change? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNT: All right, welcome back to CNN This Morning. Trump allies, including some who are being considered as potential vice-presidential picks, of course, expressing their support for the former president.

Ohio Senator J.D. Vance said this, quote, "Trump campaign saying the president's OK, thank God."

Florida Senator Marco Rubio, "God protected President Trump."

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, "We all know President Trump is stronger than his enemies."

The House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who was shot in 2017 at a congressional baseball practice, he said this, quote, "There's never any place for political violence."

[05:50:01]

Joining us now -- back with us now, I should say, former Senior Adviser to Tim Scott's Presidential Campaign, Matt Gorman.

Matt, we, of course, are seeing all of these expressions of support for the former president, prayers for him, hopes that he is OK. But we are seeing, some people go a little bit farther than that, including J.D. Vance.

You know, I think the thing I want to focus on is, you know, one of the things that the Trump campaign said in their memo was that hopefully this could in some way unify our country in condemnation of this. I think given the state of our politics, it's honestly challenging to understand how that happens going forward. But I think the bottom line here is, this is clear, this makes it very, very clear that something needs to change.

GORMAN: Yeah, I don't disagree. And I'm very interested in seeing, you know, as we kind of talked about and reported that Donald Trump will probably emerge on the first night of the convention and introduce the vice president. I wouldn't be surprised, I have no background information, but if he gives remarks and his first words on this, does he say something Monday, does he wait until Thursday?

And, you know, I think we heard from Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles that will, I think, likely inform his speech in a lot of respects. I would be surprised if it differed in a large part from that.

And I will say this, it's going to move very quickly, right? So today is the last day before the convention. He'll roll out his vice president likely tomorrow, and then he's going to have his own speech on Thursday. This is going to be a very fast-moving news cycle, so to speak.

HUNT: Yeah, well, I mean, and it's worth noting that this did happen on basically the eve of the Republican National Convention.

GORMAN: Yes. J.D. Vance was supposed to, or maybe was talking about being there. It's right across from Ohio. There was reports he might be there. You're right. And I think there are some reports that he either met with or talked to each of the three quote-unquote, "finalists" earlier that day.

HUNT: Right. And I do have this other tweet from J.D. Vance, where he says today is not just some isolated incident. He says the central premise of the Biden campaign is President Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump's attempted assassination. I'm noting that because of the significance of his position inside and around the campaign. He is very, very high profile.

And the reality is we're seeing less responsible even things from other members of Congress at this point in terms of the back and forth. And I think it's important that we note that the motive here is not

clear in that there seem to be contradictory indicators about who this person was. And we have so much to learn from the investigation.

But, you know, our colleague -- our former colleague here and now at "Politico," Jonathan Martin, he notes the reality of the ecosystem in which we live means that this stuff explodes so much faster. There are already quotes from, you know, there was a congressman that was at the rally talking about, you know, political motivations for this. People do jump to conclusions and they are likely to jump into their respective camps.

GORMAN: Yeah. It is true, right? With social media and everything, these things tend to burn very hot and very quick. I am interested in this. This is a political tactical level. I want to speak about this.

I'm very curious to see how this changes the messaging. You know, for example, right? How much does a Biden campaign lean in on democracy, right, at risk? And how does that, again, how does that affect, you know, kind of what they talk about? And I'm very curious.

And we don't know the answer to that. We don't know how this is going to affect the campaign moving forward. But does this change any messaging from either side? I'm interested to see that in the days ahead.

HUNT: Well, I mean, I think it's also worth noting the Biden campaign was moving as quickly as possible to bring down their political ads.

GORMAN: Yeah. No, I'm not talking in the short term.

HUNT: Short term.

GORMAN: I mean, longer term. Yeah, yeah.

HUNT: Yeah. No, no, for sure.

Matt, how does this, do you think, change what happens in Milwaukee?

GORMAN: Not to -- I want to be careful how I say this. It's going to be a triumphant mood. I think that the tenor of that photo and the strength, you know, one of the things, it's an undercurrent, less about policy, more about tone is, you know, people that really admire and love President Trump, they do, there's always some evoke of strength. They talk about that.

And I think that the photo that we're seeing a lot in the last, you know, 12 hours, it conveys that. I think we're going to -- one of the nights was make America strong again, right? I think the idea of strength is going to kind of, you're going to hear a lot about that in Milwaukee.

HUNT: Yeah. And that President -- the former President yelling, fight, fight, as he was helped off the stage by Secret Service, and that instantly iconic image.

Matt Gorman, thank you very much for being with us this morning.

GORMAN: Thank you.

HUNT: I really appreciate it.

[05:55:01]

All right, stay with us. We're going to have much more on this breaking news, the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

New details on what witnesses are telling police that they saw and where the investigation goes from here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

HUNT: A presidential candidate, injured but safe. An election fundamentally altered. A nation shaken.

Good morning. I'm Kasie Hunt. You are watching CNN's special coverage of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump here on CNN This Morning.

We do have new details at this hour. A witness tells CNN affiliate KDKA he told police he saw the gunman moving from roof-to-roof moments before gunshots started. We have video of the moment people at the rally spotted the shooter.

A warning, what you're about to see and hear is graphic.

Early this morning, FBI officials identified the shooter as 20-year- old Thomas Matthew Crooks. This appears to be the shooter lying on the roof of a building close to the rally after he was shot and killed by Secret Service. He was from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, about 35 miles from the site of the rally in Butler.

Overnight, police blocked off the area of the neighborhood where he lived.

As for the victims, investigators say they identified a rally-goer who was shot and killed and two others who were critically injured. But they are not revealing their identities yet.

One man covered in blood told CNN crews at the scene he tried to comfort one of the victims seconds after the shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICO ELMORE, RALLY ATTENDEE: All we know was shot and fired, and then I jumped over the barrier and put my hand on the guy's --