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Congress Holds Third Day of Trump Shooting Hearings; Police Bodycam Video Shows Assassination Attempt Aftermath; FBI Director Testifies on Trump Assassination Attempt. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired July 24, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

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JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

We continue to follow the big shakeup in the race for the White House. But, first, we are also following three major stories unfolding this hour. Right now, up on Capitol Hill, a House Judiciary subcommittee is holding a hearing on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. It's the third consecutive day of hearings on the botched security that allowed a sniper to get dangerously close to the former president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, we don't know. So, this is the guy that --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Beaver County sniper scene and send the pictures out. This is him.

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ACOSTA: We're also getting this. Take a look at this, our first view of law enforcement on that rooftop in the aftermath of the shooting. This new body cam footage was posted on social media by Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, who is demanding more transparency.

This afternoon, another story we're following, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address Congress to shore up U.S. support for Israel's war in Gaza. Some members of Congress will not attend. The former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, we're just learning in the last several minutes, also will not be attending today.

And tonight, President Biden delivers a rare Oval Office address to the nation. He'll discuss his decision to end his reelection bid and what he plans for his final months in office.

But we begin up on Capitol Hill, where the FBI director is about to testify about the Bureau's investigation into the attempt on Trump's life.

CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez joins me here in Washington and CNN Law Enforcement Contributor and retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Steve Moore is in Los Angeles.

Evan, let me start with you first. I mean, this is another big hearing on what took place at that rally. I mean, one of the things I think we're going to hear from the FBI director is whether or not they've learned anything more about the motive of the shooter. But what are you going to be looking forward to?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right. I think that is the big, big outstanding question, Jim. And I think obviously they're also interested in finding out whether there's anybody who's been found who could have been an accomplice or who could have known about this, anything that they've found in his digital footprints that he left behind.

Obviously, there's a lot of his search -- searches that they have looked at, and also just people around him, you know, whether he gave any indication of carrying this out of his intent to do this. But I do think that, you know, a lot of what we're going to hear is some basic stuff about the police work that has gone in so far.

You know, yesterday we learned some very important things from Christopher Paris. He's the Pennsylvania State Police commissioner, who said, you know, they found eight shell casings at with the shooter, meaning it appears he shot eight times. He got about eight shots off in the seconds that he had to operate.

We also know again from Paris that there was -- that he was probably on the roof for about two to three minutes and that he was essentially in the seconds before he started firing. There was a police officer who lifted up his head above that roof, saw him and perhaps prompted him to fire off much faster than he wanted to.

I want to refer to that video, though, that video that we've now watched a little bit. It gives us some important context.

ACOSTA: Chuck Grassley.

PEREZ: the video that Senator Grassley put out. On the left side, you see the building where two members of the Beaver County Emergency Services unit, the SWAT team, so to speak, two snipers were in that in that building. They were supposed to be watching that roof. Could they have seen something, you know, at a key time? It's very important information there.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, Steve, we're seeing this subcommittee hearing getting underway shortly. There's the Judiciary Committee chairman, Jim Jordan, getting things started there. You see the FBI Director there about to testify. Steve, what are you going to be looking for? And what did you make of that video that was released by Chuck Grassley?

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Well, what I'm going to be looking for today is the amount of actionable information that is released.

[10:05:03] The problem is, you know, the best information you have is probably stuff that you're working on, actionable things, and you don't want to release a lot of that type of information because you're working on it and you could potentially poison the well.

So, Director Ray has seen what happened in the other hearings and knows that he needs to provide information, what we used to call feeding the beast. You have to give them something.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, Steve, just to bounce off of what Evan Perez was saying, I mean, it might be a little unfair for some of these lawmakers to go after the FBI director about talk about security breakdowns by the Secret Service. I mean, he can't answer for the Secret Service. He may get asked about it, but he's going to say I can't answer for the Secret Service. But I do think this question of the motive of the shooter is still very important. We have that video that we can show our viewers once again of this video of what was taking place on that rooftop that was released by Chuck Grassley's office.

And, you know, one of the things that Evan and I were talking about just before we got started here is, you know, this roof, again, when you look at it, it just looks like something where you should have seen you know, a Secret Service agent or some kind of law enforcement official up there.

MOORE: Yes, you should have. And, you know, with the testimony yesterday from the Pennsylvania State Police there were apparently people posted in other buildings who could see this, who could see this roof completely. And it may be that they left their post to go and try to find Crooks thinking that he was very suspicious and needed to be addressed.

The problem with that is if you leave your observation post, some people may not know that they've lost eyes on the top of that building. What they should have done is stayed there, guided somebody to Crooks and maintained their post. These are things that are going to be coming out here.

I think what you're going to find is there's going to be a series of significant but seemingly at times minor decisions that were made that led to everything coming apart. It's like an airline crash. Three or four things have to happen in quick succession before an airliner will ever go down. I suspect you're going to find three or four tactical decisions that made this possible.

PEREZ: Three or four lapses, essentially, overlapping lapses.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, guys, I hate to interrupt, but we want to take some of the comments from the Judiciary Committee chairman, Jim Jordan right, now.

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): -- a wife without a husband and two daughters without a father. Others were injured and, of course, former President Trump, by the grace of God, survived the assassination attempt. There are a lot of unanswered questions about the security failures that day, questions about decisions made before the rally, questions about actions during the rally, and questions about statements made after the event concluded.

Prior to the rally, why was the president's security detail denied requests for extra resources? Why weren't all the buildings secured? There were a finite number of buildings that needed to be secured. Why wasn't that done? Why was the president allowed to walk out on the stage when there was a suspicious person on the property?

During the rally, what exactly happened between 6:09 and 6L14, those critical five minutes? We know from briefings from the director and the deputy director of the FBI and other information we've gathered, that at 6:09, the shooter was identified on the roof. At 6:10, the counter-sniper was notified. Counter-sniper teams were notified about the shooter. 6:11, the shooter fired several shots, injuring and killing one person, injuring others. At 6:12, the counter-sniper took down the shooter. And at 6:14, President Trump was escorted off the stage by Secret Service agents.

We need to know what happened play by play, moment by moment, second by second, the communications that took place, again, during that critical five minutes.

And then finally, after the rally, why did both the Secret Service and Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas lie to the American people? July 14th, the day after the attack, Secret Service Spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said this, quote, the assertion that a member of the former president's security team requested additional security resources that the U.S. Secret Service or the Department of Homeland Security rebuffed is absolutely false. The next day, Secretary Mayorkas said, that is an unequivocally false assertion. We had not received any requests for additional security measures that were rebuffed.

But five days later, top officials repeatedly rejected requests from Donald Trump's security detail for more personnel.

[10:10:01]

And on the 21st of July, The New York Times confirming what The Washington Post reported said, quote, Mr. Guglielmi acknowledged that the Secret Service had turned down requests for additional federal security assets for Mr. Trump's detail, 180-degree change. Why did they initially lie to us in the days after the attack in Pennsylvania?

Finally, we hope to learn more today from Director Wray about the shooter. As you said, the drum, the explosives that were in his car, how he got on the roof, and a host of other questions. It is our hope that Director Wray's testimony can begin to give answers to the American people about all of these questions and concerns.

So, Director, we appreciate you being here, and we trust that you're going to be as transparent with the committee and the country as you possibly can. And I'm sure you understand that a significant portion of the country has a healthy skepticism regarding the FBI's ability to conduct a fair, honest, open, and transparent investigation. And that skepticism is based on what they've witnessed over the past several years.

The American people have seen a Biden-Harris Justice Department. They can't tell us who planted the pipe bombs on January 6th. They can't tell us who leaked the Dobbs opinion, and they can't tell us who put cocaine at the White House, the Biden-Harris Justice Department who raided President Trump's home, the Biden-Harris Justice Department who worked with social media companies to censor Americans, the Biden- Harris Justice Department who let the country believe that the Hunter Biden laptop was misinformation when they knew at the time it was authentic, and maybe most importantly, the Biden-Harris Justice Department who retaliated against whistleblowers who came to this committee and spoke to us about these issues.

Last week, we sent you 12 questions about what occurred on July 13th. We expect you to answer those questions and the others that I've just outlined. And, again, we thank you for being here today and appreciate your willingness to answer the questions that the committee is going to have.

And with that, I would yield to the ranking member for an opening statement.

REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, two weeks ago, our country witnessed a shocking assassination attempt on a presidential candidate. Now, I disagree with Donald Trump on almost every policy area imaginable. I am frequently shocked and outraged at the plans he has for our country and the words that come out of his mouth. I have dedicated much of the last eight years to fighting his agenda. But regardless of my strong feelings about Donald Trump's behavior, I unequivocally and unabashedly condemn with every fiber of my being the attempt against his life.

This was not just an attack on a man, but an attack on our democracy. Political violence erodes the very foundations of our nation. The concepts of freedom of speech, of peaceful transitions of power, of a democratic government at its core, these cannot exist if political violence is allowed to fester and to go unchecked.

And if you think that this one assassin's bullet was a bolt out of the blue and not part of a wave of violence that has threatened this nation for years, then you have missed the point of what my Democratic colleagues and I have been imploring you to hear for some time.

Election workers, many of them working for free, face near constant threats of violence. In one recent instance, an Indiana man pleaded guilty to threatening to kill an election worker who said that there were no irregularities in a recent election. That man said, quote, 10 million-plus patriots will surround you when you least expect it and will, expletive, kill you, close quote. That is political violence.

In another instance, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi's husband who was bludgeoned over the head with a hammer by an intruder in his home who had been there to capture Ms. Pelosi, interrogate her, and possibly, quote, break her kneecaps because of her liberal views. That is political violence.

The death threat surging against Vice President Harris, former President Obama and his wife, Michelle, and Governor DeSantis, as well as many others, including videos online of individuals holding guns, making assassination threats, that is political violence. The plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer and overthrow parts of the state government, that is political violence. The brutal deadly attack three years ago against this very building, with rioters breaking through police barriers to run through these halls chanting, kill Nancy and hang Mike Pence, and even hanging a noose outside the building, these rioters battering Capitol Police officers and forcing members of Congress and their staffs to go into hiding, squatting in spaces under desks, or in closets, that is political violence.

This assassination attempt, as horrific as it is, should surprise no one. And you would think a political party that almost lost their presidential candidate through an act of political violence would have something to say about the way their leaders keep talking about the next election.

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Donald Trump has warned there will be a, quote, bloodbath if he loses. Republican Ohio State Senator George Lang said just last week at a rally for J.D. Vance that he is, quote, afraid that civil war might be necessary if Republicans lose the November election. The president of the right wing think tank and Project 2025 leader, the Heritage Foundation, and Kevin Roberts, said on Steve Bannon's podcast, quote, we are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be, close quote. Republican former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said in August of last year of Trump's indictments, do you want us to be in civil war? Because that's what's going to happen. We're not going to keep putting up with this. We do need to rise up and take our country back, close quote. I could go on, but it's more and more of the same. And I hear nothing from the other side of the aisle in this room about these statements.

Do you support a bloodbath if you don't get the election outcome you want? Do you justify violence if the left does not agree with you? And what exactly has preoccupied this Republican majority while their allies threaten violence to their political enemies real and imagined? We have chased down baseless conspiracy theories designed solely to influence the 2024 election in favor of Donald Trump. We have spent millions of dollars and thousands of hours of staff time in more than 100 transcribed interviews chasing false accusations against President Biden, supporting an impeachment effort that seemed designed to fail, and hunting for a smoking gun that simply does not exist.

And instead of admitting that these investigations found no corruption, coercion, or unethical behavior by the Biden administration, Republicans chose to just dig deeper and spend more money. Imagine what could have happened if we had spent these thousands of hours of staff time and those millions of taxpayer dollars addressing even one aspect of the political violence that now threatens our country. Perhaps, had this Republican majority lifted a finger to help a nation that is awash in guns, the assassin in Butler would not have had such easy access to the weapon he used to fire on that crowd.

Director Wray, your agency is responsible for addressing some of the most serious issues of our time. The Bureau fights gun violence, which claims the lives of 40,000 Americans every year. It protects election security from growing threats from maligned foreign actors who are working tirelessly to influence our elections. It protects against domestic terrorists and violent extremists who have been a growing threat in recent years and have carried out horrific mass shootings and deadly events around the country and so, so much more.

I apologize to you, Director, that instead of supporting you in these missions in the 118th Congress, some of my colleagues have instead hindered your work, maligned your agents, and called to abolish and defund your agency, all for political gain. It is despicable, especially from the party that claims, quote, back the blue.

And I know that you and your many agents and employees have paid the price for these baseless attacks. I know you have faced a barrage of threats, distrust and vitriol from the public as a result of these wild politically-driven conspiracies. I know it has become even more dangerous and difficult for you to come to work each day. I may not agree with you on everything but I sincerely thank you and every employee in your agency who continues to protect our country.

The FBI is vital to keeping America safe, and I pray that today we can focus on the real, substantive work of the agency. It is the least we owe our country in these times. I yield back.

JORDAN: The gentleman yields back. Without objection, all other opening statements will be included in the record. We will now introduce today's witness. The Honorable Christopher Wray has been the director of the FBI since 2017. He previously served as the assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, the principal associate deputy attorney general, and associate deputy attorney general and as assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. Again, Director Way, you've been here many times. We appreciate you being here today. We look forward to your testimony and answering our questions.

We will begin by swearing you in. Would you please rise and raise your right hand? Do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the testimony you're about to give is true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information and beliefs so help you God? Let the record affirm -- let the record reflect that the witness is answered in the affirmative. Thank you and please be seated.

We have votes coming in about ten minutes, but we definitely want to get through your opening statement as far as we can, and this is going to be an interesting day on Capitol Hill with the prime minister of Israel here as well. So, Director Wray, you're recognized for your opening statement.

CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: Good morning, Chairman Jordan, Ranking Member Nadler, members of the committee.

I want to begin by offering my condolences on the passing of Representative Jackson Lee, who served the people of Texas in this body and on this committee for so long.

[10:20:08]

Thank you all for your support of our efforts to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution. I am proud to be here today, representing the 38,000 special agents, intelligence analysts and professional staff who make up the FBI, men and women who every day work relentlessly to counter the most complex threat environment I've seen in my tenure as FBI director, maybe in my entire career in law enforcement.

Before I go any further, I also want to acknowledge and offer my deepest condolences to the victims of the horrific assassination attempt in Butler County. To the friends and family of Corey Comperatore, who, by all accounts lost his life, protecting others from danger, to the other victims, two of whom were critically wounded, and, of course, of course, to President Trump, former President Trump and his family.

As I've said from the beginning, the attempted assassination of the former president was an attack on our democracy and our democratic process. And we will not and do not tolerate political violence of any kind, especially a despicable account of this magnitude. And I want to assure you and the American people that the men and women of the FBI will continue to work tirelessly to get to the bottom of this. We are bringing all the resources of the FBI to bear, both criminal and national security.

Now, there's a whole lot of work underway and still a lot of work to do, and our understanding of what happened and why will continue to evolve, but we're going to leave no stone unturned. The shooter may be deceased, but the FBI's investigation is very much ongoing. To that point, I also want to acknowledge that I recognize both the congressional and the public interest in this case and the importance of this investigation to the American people.

And I understand there are a lot of open questions. So, while the investigation is very much ongoing and our assessments of the shooter and his actions continue to evolve, my hope here today is to do my best to provide you with all the information I can given where we are at this point.

I have been saying for some time now that we are living in an elevated threat environment. And tragically, the Butler County assassination attempt is another example, a particularly heinous and very public one of what I've been talking about. But it also reinforces our need at the FBI and our ongoing commitment to stay focused on the threats, on the mission, and on the people we do the work with and the people we do the work for.

Every day, all across this country and indeed around the world, the men and women of the FBI are doing just that, working around the clock to counter the threats we face. Just in the last year, for example, in California, the FBI and our partners targeted an organized crime syndicate responsible for trafficking fentanyl, meth, and cocaine all across North America. We charged the Mexican-based suppliers who brought the drugs into the United States, a network of Canada-based truck drivers who delivered the drugs, and the distributors in the United States who spread the poison into our communities.

Staying on threats emanating from the border, I have warned for some time now about the threat that foreign terrorists may seek to exploit our southwest border or some other port of entry to advance a plot against Americans. Just last month, for instance, the Bureau and our Joint Terrorism Task Forces worked with ICE in multiple cities across the country as several individuals with suspected international terrorist ties were arrested using ISIS immigration authorities. Leading up to those arrests, hundreds of FBI employees dedicated countless hours to understand the threat and identify additional individuals of concern.

Now, the physical security of the border is, of course, not in the FBI's lane, but as the threat has escalated, we're working with our partners in law enforcement and the intelligence community to find and stop foreign terrorists who would harm Americans and our interests.

As concerning as the known or suspected terrorists encountered at the border are, perhaps even more concerning are those we do not yet know about because they provided fake documents, or because we didn't have information connecting them to terrorism at the time they arrived in the United States.

[10:25:19]

Staying ahead of today's threats demands that we work together, and for the FBI, that means doubling down on our partnerships, especially with state and local law enforcement, whether it's working through our hundreds of Joint Terrorism Task Forces to build out source networks, to identify those who slipped through the cracks or targeting the worst of the worst responsible for the violence that still plagues far too many communities, through our safe streets task forces, or taking the fight to the cartels responsible for trafficking the dangerous drugs, like fentanyl, pouring into our country and claiming countless American lives.

Staying ahead of the threat also means continuing to disrupt the cyber criminals ravaging businesses, large and small, and confronting nation states like China, targeting our innovation and our critical infrastructure. At the Bureau, we're proud to work side by side with our brothers and sisters in federal, state, and local law enforcement, our partners in the intelligence community, and others around the world to fulfill our commitment to keep Americans safe.

On Friday, the FBI will celebrate its 116th anniversary, 116 years of protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution, 116 years of working with our partners to safeguard the communities we serve, 116 years of innovating to stay ahead of the complex, evolving and very real threats out there. I am proud of the legacy the men and women of the FBI have built and all they have accomplished for the American people.

So, if I may, as we approach this week's anniversary, I would just like to say to all those who are part of the FBI family, from our current employees to our formers and to our partners across law enforcement and the intelligence community, thank you. Thank you for dedicating your lives to this country and to his people. It is both humbling and an honor to serve alongside you, and I look forward to the work we're going to continue to do together.

And with that, thank you again for having me, and I look forward to our discussion.

JORDAN: Thank you, Director.

ACOSTA: All right. There's the former -- there's the current FBI director, I should say, Director Chris Wray. He's going to be taking some questions on the Trump assassination attempt. The latest on the investigation, Evan Perez and Steve Moore, our law enforcement analyst, are still with me.

Evan, I mean, with these things, there are a lot of talking points, not a lot of answers. We may get some as this hearing evolves, but your thoughts on that.

PEREZ: I do think he is prepared to provide a few updates about the investigation. But I think one of the things that's really important is the fact that he pointed out that we've been warning that there were -- there's an elevated threat and some of that has to do with the political situation in this country, but also, you know, we know about a threat from Iran against Donald Trump that they were looking at, that they've been investigating.

And so that really does crystallize how bad these lapses were, with that elevated threat that there wasn't more done, that could have been done to prevent that tragedy.

ACOSTA: Yes. Steve?

MOORE: Yes. I think Evan is correct. There's going to be some information here and I think some of it might be surprising to Americans and to the committee. Not that it's going to be earth shattering, but the FBI is going to want to show that it can provide important, actionable intel to the committee, that they're not just stonewalling him sitting behind those big walls and smoking pipes and saying, what do we do with this information? So, I think that leads into it.

At the same time, obviously, they're going to be very careful not to release information where the release itself would compromise the investigation or allow evidence to be destroyed.

ACOSTA: All right. Evan Perez, Steve Moore, thank you very much. We'll be watching all of this, continue to monitor it. Thanks so much.

Still to come this morning also up on Capitol Hill, in just a couple of hours, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will address Congress. Who will and won't be there, the list is growing.

And for just the fourth time in his presidency, Joe Biden will address the nation from the Oval Office this evening. [10:30:00]

What we're learning about his speech, laying out why he's exiting the race for the White House, that's next.

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