Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Event/Special
Trump Rally Shooting Being Investigated As An Attempted Assassination. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired July 13, 2024 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:02]
UNINDENTIFIED MALE: It's something you don't expect. You know, it's like it's a bolt out of the blue, so it's very shocking. It just -- I think a lot of people in the crowd just said it was fireworks going off. I knew immediately it was gunshots. I knew there were close and then when I saw someone get hit and go down that's what I knew it was probably serious.
You know, it's like confusion. It's just massive confusion, you know, throughout the event. I saw Donald Trump get hit. It looked like he had -- he was either -- I had everybody else running my camera at the time, but it looked like he was just turning to the -- he was turning his head to the side and look like he got grazed and the right ear with a bullet, kind of saw that go on and then I looked down, I saw the man died on the bleachers. There's just complete pandemonium like every, you know, there was a bit of a delay like there was a lot of confusion but immediately, it seemed like more gunfire erupted.
I couldn't figure out where that was coming from and then, you know, there's a state policeman there. I believe a SWAT team showed up relatively quickly. They jumped those side, there's a fence. It was next to the bleachers. They jumped the bleachers.
I'm sorry, clear on the bleachers and then I helped carry the body of the man down on the bleachers and I took them to attend behind the bleachers. We put a towel over. He said, but he is deceased.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: You were telling me before when we were chatting briefly that you never had a chance to make it to a Trump rally, that this was your first time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
TREENE: Would you feel safe coming back to another Trump rally?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. You know, it's a very random event that happens. I feel safe generally where I go in the country I think the problem is we have a very -- everyone seems very angry and, you know, it makes you go to a Trump rally again, but will think twice you definitely want to have your head on a swivel. Just seems like there's a lot of angry people are there. I'm not shocked that this happened. I'm shocked that I was sitting there when it happened next to me. Obviously, you don't -- you never anticipate that to happen, but it's -- it's just horrible. We shouldn't be at a level of public political discourse in this country where this is going on, it feels like it's 1960 again. You know, it's horrible.
TREENE: Can you describe for me, Joseph, what happened after you saw the shots and -- I mean, I was there as well. Secret Service was screaming for everyone to get down. They quickly tried to clear the area. I'm just curious what that process was like for you in the aftermath.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very confusing. Like I said, I think everyone who was in the bleachers it was initially confusing on the gunshots erupted. Half I think the crowd thought was fireworks. I think someone thought they were playing a joke and for people were close to the people who got injured and killed. You obviously know it wasn't a joke and it was -- it seemed like there was a push-pull on the crowd and that is one-half of the crowd on the far end of the rally thought it was some type of weird joke. The other half of the crowd knew it wasn't, was trying to push your press for on the rest of the crowd that this is serious.
And I think everyone got the idea of very quickly that it was dangerous situation and everyone just started hitting the deck, and, you know, kudos to the Secret Service again, when you're in these situations, a second feels like its an hour, but it seemed like authorities were there very quickly.
It just seemed to me, like, I was sitting there, it seem like rounds came from behind and they got this. They hit the gentleman in the head. You've got a gunshot wound to the head and I believe was injured and then I saw Trump, President Trump get hit and looked like it was right ear, but it seemed initially everyone was like half the crowd was in shock and the other half plot was some type of weird joke.
And it just -- it took, it took a bit for everyone to get a good understanding what was going on. So --
TREENE: You mentioned that you had spoken with the person who ended up falling. I believe you said -- or he's with his whole family?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, his family watched it happen. So, they were in the bleachers when he got hit any went down, I think they were trying to figure out if people what was going out screaming for help. The body was -- they put a towel over the man's head. The body was removed from the bleachers, then the police came back brief, right after and try to move the family, but they were all in shock. They did quite -- they were processing what was going on.
The man was definitely -- he was dead the minute he was hit. I mean, it was something that reminded me of Zapruder film from Kennedy. I mean, it was -- it was has -- had snapped and that was it. And clouded out of the corner of my eye and then it was just pandemonium.
It's Pennsylvania, you know, you're out in rural Pennsylvania. You don't really anticipate this is going to happen, but it happened. TREENE: You mentioned -- I'm sorry, I know this is very emotional for you as well. You mentioned that this was your first Trump rally. How are you feeling about the election now? What are you hoping to see moving forward? We've already seen a lot of statements of support from across the aisle come in for the former president.
[20:05:02]
I can tell you, too, from our sources that they say that Donald Trump is okay, that he is at a local facility being treated. But I would love just your view on I know you came here today to support the man that -- the former president. I'm curious how you think about this now?
I know it's a hard question given the chaos that were currently and in the adrenaline that we're both feeling right now, but you can share any of that insight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Solidifies my support. I -- you know, I understand people and people believe that Trump's -- well, they know he's bombastic, they don't really like him. He's a very polarizing figure. He has an abrasive personality, but I truly believe he has the best interests of the country at heart.
And, you know, you make a point, you know, the man is a billionaire. He could be sitting in them, like you said, you were sitting at the rally joking about he's like I could be sitting in the Mediterranean at a yacht, enjoying my life, but I'm not, I'm trying to help run the country. It puts in perspective there's a real cost for that. I mean, there are some people that really want him dead.
And to me, this is just ridiculous, like we have a lot of political violence in this country. It comes from all sorts much from, it comes from everywhere. And it just needs to stop. Yeah, JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King, now, you're going to attempt the life of Reagan and now you have an attempted assassination of Trump. It's just ridiculous.
And it just -- you know, I don't think it's a gun problem. I don't think it's a violence problem. I think there's a lot of anger three people that just have too much interest in politics. And it's a zero sum game to them. Politics shouldn't be a zero-sum game where someone every -- but someone wins everything and someone loses everything. And I think this is -- this is a result of that.
People came today, you know, we're very happy. We're here to support Trump but you can, you can sense -- you can, you can -- when you talk to people in the crowd, you know, there's a tenseness. They don't want to -- you know, they don't want to talk to family members about politics because it just -- it gets too angry.
So I don't know what to tell you, but this needs to stop.
TREENE: Thank you so much, Joseph. I very much appreciate your time and I -- stay safe tonight. Get home safe. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. TREENE: There's just one person. We talked too many people today who have been leaving the rally, who are very emotional. They're angry. They're upset.
I think Joseph had a particularly harrowing experience given what he had saw seeing a man be killed here tonight. And so, a lot of emotions. I'll tell you, I'm currently in the parking lot. No one is moving. I think they have put a hold on this everyone from getting out. We've seen cars parked here for a long time.
So, everyone's still who I'm talking to says that they're still processing this. They're still trying to sort through their emotions after what had happened today -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Yeah, Alayna, it's clearly a crime scene right now. That's why the situation is unfolding as it is, right now. We're watching all of this develop right now.
I want to go to Anderson Cooper in New York.
Anderson, help us understand what's going on.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Yeah, Wolf, just 8:07 here on the East Coast, just after 8:00 p.m. in New York, at the end of a deeply traumatic day. Shots fired at Donald Trump, the former president and presumptive 2024 Republican nominee, at his rally, his final rally before Monday's convention in Milwaukee. The suspected gunman is dead, and so is at least one person at the rally.
BLITZER: And Anderson, here in Washington, the U.S. Secret Service and other federal agencies are now clearly in crisis mode, investigating as a possible assassination attempt of the former president of the United States. What happened at 11 minutes past 6:00 in Butler, Pennsylvania, just north of Pittsburgh, awful situation indeed, very scary and very traumatic.
COOPER: Yeah, the foreign president had just begun his remarks when the shooting began.
I want to show you the video from that moment now until Mr. Trump was taken off stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's a little bit old, that chart. That chart's a couple of months old. And if you want to really see something that said, take a look what happened --
(GUNSHOTS)
(INAUDIBLE)
(CROSSTALK)
SECRET SERVICE: Are we good? Shooter's down. We're good to move.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Let me get my shoes. Let me get my shoes.
(INAUDIBLE)
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Wait.
(INAUDIBLE)
(CHANTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:11:08]
COOPER: A couple things about that video. You could hear audio during that time. Most of that was the Secret Service talking to one another and to the former president. You could also hear some words from the former president initially when the Secret Service you saw the former president after the first few shots touch his right ear, then the Secret Service rushed realizing what was happening, rushed to cover him. They held him down on the ground as there were more shots.
It was once you heard some Secret Service agent saying, what -- what are we going? Where we going? Then you heard them saying that the shooter was down. We are clear and the shooter had been neutralized.
They then say, you then hear the former president saying, let me get my shoes. Apparently his shoes may have been knocked off as they knocked him to the ground. And then you here at some point, the former president saying, wait, wait, wait. And that's when you see him raised his fist, and a mouth to the crowd. It seemed the words fight, fight, fight. He was then whisked off again, raising his fist.
The former president has blood on his ear in the side of his head when he was taken away. He was examined at a local hospital. And according to his campaign is fine. But again, at least one person who came to see the former president has been killed. So is this suspected gunman shot by the Secret Service.
Another great attendee we believe has been seriously wounded. We've just gotten the statement from President Biden. He said, quote, I have been briefed on the shooting at Donald Trump's rally in Pennsylvania, and grateful to hear that he's safe and doing well. I'm praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally as we await further information. Jill and I are grateful to the Secret Service for getting him to safety. There's no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it.
Now the president is expected to speak on camera shortly. We will bring it to you live, which has got an a two-minute warning on that. So well bring that bring you that as we wait. I want to bring in CNN's Evan Perez with the latest its information about the shooter.
Evan, what are you learning?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, this is clearly now being investigated by the federal law enforcement by the Secret Service and the FBI and other agencies as an attempted assassination -- possible attempted assassination of the former president. And so that's what is guiding this investigation now as we speak.
We do know also that the shooter who fired the shots, it appears that person was outside of the perimeter, which might explain why perhaps there wasn't something to catch on. Because people are, people are checked by magnetometers before they come into the rally. This person would not have gone through those magnetometers. So again, that's part of the investigation, Anderson, at this hour.
COOPER: We have about a minute warning. We're told that the president will be making remarks.
Evan, there is -- there was an eyewitness. There was a man at the rally who claims told the BBC on camera that he saw.
Here's the president. Let's talk, let's see him.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Based on what we know now, I have tried to get a hold of Donald. He's with his doctors. They -- apparently, he's doing well. I plan on talking to him shortly, I hope, when I get back to the telephone.
Look, 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.
And so I want to thank the Secret Service and all the agency, including the state agencies that have really engaged in making sure that people -- and we have more detail to come relative to other injure -- other people who might be injured in the audience. I don't have all that detail. We'll make that available to you. I maybe able to come back a little later tonight, but we'll put out a statement if we don't, if I'm not able to get -- when it's not convenient for you all.
[20:15:03]
But the bottom line is that the Trump rally, at a rally that he should have when 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.
I'll keep you informed and if I may able to speak to Donald, I'll let you know that as well.
So far, it appears he's doing well, number one. Number two, that there's thoroughly investigating what happened anyone else in the audience. I have -- we have some reports but not final reports.
Every agency of the federal government, and I'm going back to my phone good to speak with the federal agencies that have been put together again, to give me an updated briefings as they happened, they learned any more than the last couple of hours.
So, thank you very much. And I hope I get to speak to him tonight and I'll get to back to you if I do. Okay?
REPORTER: Mr. President, do you think it was an assassination? Do we have that?
BIDEN: I don't know enough -- I have -- I have an opinion, but I don't have any facts. So I wanted to make sure we have all the facts before I make some comment anymore comments. Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: So, President Biden speaking, back with CNN's Evan Perez.
Evan, just in terms of the investigation, who -- who's in lead, is that the Secret Service that is the lead agency on this?
Evan is talking to his sources.
John Miller is standing by with us.
John, talk about what you -- what the latest on what you're hearing.
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So the Secret Service has the lead on this for the moment, which is to protect the president, rescue the president, get air and meet that threat, which apparently is what happened. The gunman who was on a low rooftop outside the event shooting from that low rooftop over the -- over the stands there is dead. At this point, the FBI comes in. The FBI will assume the larger investigation working hand in glove with the Secret Service. They're going to bring in their crisis management team, they're critical incident response group.
A lot of FBI resources are heading to meet the agents from the Pittsburgh field office because they have to go about finding out who is this dead gunman, where does he live, get a search warrant for that residents. Get a search warrant for all his phones, electronics, accounts. They've got to delve into him and figure out, is he acting alone, first and foremost?
COOPER: Hey, John, John? And John, I'm going to come back to you shortly.
I have on the phone right now the Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger.
Mr. District Attorney, I'm sorry we're talking under these circumstances. Can you tell us anything you know about what happened, what is happening right now?
RICHARD GOLDINGER, BUTLER COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Well, thanks for having me, Anderson.
I don't know a whole lot more than what has already been reported. I can confirm that there is one spectator that has passed away. There is a second that is in serious condition that was taken to a local hospital, and that the shooter is dead.
COOPER: And is it clear to you the exact location of where the shooter was, how he was able to get a shot? I mean, it doesn't seem that he would have gone through the magnetometers, obviously.
GOLDINGER: No, he was outside of the grounds, so to speak. So quite frankly, I don't know how he would have gotten to the location where he was, but he was outside the grounds and I think that's something that we're going to have to figure out how he got there.
COOPER: In terms of the scene right now, how many people are still on scene? It's obviously an active crime scene, but I know there's a lot of rally attendees. It's hard to get everybody out of there.
GOLDINGER: Yeah. And it means -- it's chaos. I mean, I have been told it is chaos and it's just -- I can't even give you a number of people that are there, but it just -- it's really crazy right now.
COOPER: And you don't have any information on the identity of the alleged shooter?
GOLDINGER: I have not been given any of that information yet, and I'm not sure that we know that at this point.
COOPER: When you saw this, what -- what did you think? I mean, this is an act like this is not something we have seen in a long time in this country.
GOLDINGER: I was saying, we haven't seen this since Reagan in 1980 and it's just mind-blowing. All right.
[20:20:00]
Maybe we got a little lackadaisical about it. That this wouldn't happen to a president or a former president, but it's crazy. I mean, sadly, maybe it's just the state of our current political situation, but yes, I mean, you just -- wouldn't even think of what happen, especially in where I live in Butler County. You would not expect this.
COOPER: Can you talk a little bit about Butler County? I know it's -- I'm not sure how north of Pittsburgh it is, but could you just talk a little bit about the community?
GOLDINGER: Sure. So I mean, we are literally the county directly north of Allegheny County, which is where Pittsburgh is situated. We are about 65 percent Republicans, is partially rural. So used to be a farming community, but now that has Pittsburgh has moved north. We have some more urban sprawl so to speak, in the southern part of our county. So it's pretty diverse in that sense. COOPER: Richard Goldinger, I appreciate your time. And again, I'm
sorry, it's under these circumstances, but we'll continue to check in with you. Thank you.
Wolf?
GOLDINGER: Thank you, Anderson.
BLITZER: Anderson, thank you.
The Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate, David McCormick, was there at this rally in Pennsylvania. He's an eyewitness to what unfolded. He's joining us right now.
David, thank you so much for joining us.
Give us your eyewitness account of what you saw, what you heard, and what you believe happened.
DAVID MCCORMICK (R-PA), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE (via telephone): Yeah. Well, thank you I was in the front row, so the president was speaking out to the -- to the crowd. Look like a big crowd. I think I was told to 15,000 or so.
And I was seated to his right in the front row and he had actually just announced me and invited me up to the stage and then said, no, no, I'll have you come up in a few minutes and about a minute or so after that -- we heard a series of shots. I think seven or eight shots just pop, pop, pop.
I was a former Army guy. They sounded like a small caliber weapon, but obviously I'm not sure about that. And it was like all of a sudden just chaos the Secret Service immediately covered the president, jumped on top of them and the crowd, obviously, all what immediately to us to the ground to people on their knees are laying down on the ground and then the president got up and was surrounded by the Secret Service.
You see this. You could see him just with a little bit of blood on him. It is sort of fist came out and defiance. And then -- and then over my shoulder behind me, it was clear that somebody had been hit. And so, people around this gentleman were trying to administer first aid and he was clearly this person was clearly injured. It seems severely there was a lot of blood and eventually some police officers came up and carried him to where I hope he got to urgent care and obviously praying for him now.
So that was what I saw. I saw the immediate attack on the president and I saw the fact that this person behind me was injured. But you can imagine what that kind of incident happening. Very hard to know what's coming.
In fact, I'm not sure whether it was one shooter or two shooters. I couldn't really tell it seem like the shots were coming from my front so -- so to the pres -- from the president's left, but which would have made sense why the person behind me was hit. But I'm not sure if there was also shots coming from other directions. So it was as you might imagine, it was chaotic and confusing in the moment.
BLITZER: I can only wonder what you were going through and lead jailed good guy. You and I know each other. Did you immediately drop to the ground to try to protect yourself? Were you standing what was going on from your first row vantage point?
MCCORMICK: Well, you know, I immediately dropped down and then I realized somebody was hit, and then I stood back up to see what whether we could get the right, you know, get the right medical care and then people around me were saying got to stay down because maybe, maybe, maybe there's still more shooters are maybe the shooter has not been apprehended -- the president just literally called me up and made a big deal about me. So conceivably I could have been somebody they would have targeted.
So I eventually got back down as most people did. But my initial reaction was, boy, somebody behind me hurt. How do we make sure they get the right care and it was such a dense crowd getting the right medical assistance back into the crowd was took -- took a few minutes, but that was my initial reaction.
BLITZER: Yeah. We know one of the individuals who happen to have been at this rally was shot and killed.
[20:25:02]
Another is in serious condition, we're told right now -- very, very disturbing developments indeed.
And I did -- I was watching it live and I did hear Trump say nice things about you and invite you to come up on this stage and he said, he'll come up on the stage later and talk. And I'm glad you didn't go up in the stage right away as soon as he mentioned your name, God forbid, you could have been up as well. And I'm sure that's going through your mind, right now.
Were you alone, was Dina there with you or did you have friends with you?
MCCORMICK: I was with Mike Kelly and Dan Meuser, among others who are sitting congressmen and Pennsylvania and some other supporters and friends and, you know, the thing is start to worry about making sure that everybody, everybody has the help they need to be able to get out of there once -- once the panic started.
So we all stuck together for a bit and hopefully people are on their way.
BLITZER: So, what happened after the former president was removed from the stage over there, taken to that vehicle, and we're now told he went to a medical facility and he's okay. Thank God.
But what happened? Did everybody just stay there? Did law enforcement say don't move this, as a crime scene? What was unfolding?
MCCORMICK: Well, I'm still there at the moment, so the traffic is gridlock as you as you might imagine. So I'm still there. They the area where the president left from, they block that whole area off. So, many of the ways that people came in or the way to possibly exit was blocked and then they push the crowd to what the original entry was. So you had people walking and sitting in their cars and you know, I think the general feeling was one of disbelief.
We all witnessed something that we still were trying to process. And it was it was -- it's a Trump rally. I've been this is my second Trump rally, but it was kind of energetic and light and people were you know, it was it had a good feel to it that all of a sudden that was all shattered with the shots, which was obviously very scary for everybody involved.
BLITZER: When I was watching it live on television, David, and I heard that noise. The bank immediately sounded like gunshots to me. And then when I saw the former president raises hand towards the right side of his face and we saw some blood. I immediately realized there must have been gunshots. Did you immediately realize that as well?
MCCORMICK: I -- I knew that whatever it was, it wasn't okay. You know, it was fireworks or something else. I knew something was amiss.
And then when it was more than a couple -- I did think it was gunshots. It was just pop, pop, pop, as you heard when you saw the video. So I concluded pretty quickly. It was gunshots and sadly, I was right.
BLITZER: Yeah, it was sadly gunshots indeed. And the shooter apparently was outside what they describe as the perimeter for security reasons. The perimeter is where they really have heightened security magnetometers. When you went there and you're the Republican Senate candidate in Pennsylvania right now, did you have to go through metal detectors magnetometers to get where you were for front row seats?
MCCORMICK: Yeah, I did. I went -- you know, I screened, I had a metal detector. He was personally, you know, personally screened. I kept everybody had to be so obviously, we'll have to get to the bottom of how this might have occurred.
But you know, when you have a rally of 15,000 people, that's outside, obviously the security challenges are significant, but it was its helped pretty tight to me and I'm surprised somebody could have been outside the perimeter.
BLITZER: How are you doing right now, David?
MCCORMICK: I'm okay. I'm processing and trying to be a voice of reason and make sure that we look at this moment is the kind of political violence is just cant be tolerated and you know, and recognize that this is a line that's been crossed here that is just horrific and unforgivable, and we need to have cooler minds prevail.
BLITZER: Yeah. Well said.
Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate David McCormick, who had a front row seat over there. He was an eyewitness. Appreciate your joining us very, very much. And glad you're okay right now. Thank you very much.
MCCORMICK: Yeah. Thank you.
BLITZER: Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: Wolf, I want to go next to a former Secret Service agent, Jonathan Wackrow also CNN national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem.
Juliette and Jonathan, before I talked to you both, I just want to replay what happened. And just for our viewers, who are just joining yes, but also because I want to talk over some of the details, particularly with you, Jonathan, of what we see the Secret Service do in terms of covering the former president, not immediately evacuating him until -- and also just remind viewers that the audio that they're going to hear is largely Secret Service agents talking among, each other while they are covering the former president.
[20:30:11]
And you hear some words from the former president about his shoes. And then saying, wait, and then doing the fist in the air. So let's -- let's play that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's a little bit old, that chart. That chart's a couple of months old. And if you want to really see something that said, take a look what happened --
(GUNSHOTS)
(INAUDIBLE)
(CROSSTALK)
SECRET SERVICE: Are we good?
Shooter's down. We're good to move.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Let me get my shoes. Let me get my shoes.
(INAUDIBLE)
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Wait.
(INAUDIBLE)
(CHANTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: A number of things. First of all, the shots, it seems to me that the shots come in sort of three separate volleys, there's the initial ones in which the former president feel something on his ear, touches his ear, it seems like there's a space than a second volley of shots, then once this Secret Service actually have him on the ground, there then seems to be one much more audible shot in particular, screaming from the crowd to the left behind the former president and screamed from that crowd over there.
And I'm wondering if that may have been the shot that killed somebody behind the former president could.
Talk a little bit about the Secret Service why -- it's interesting that they did not move him until they got the clear that there's shooter was down.
JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yeah. Anderson, there is a lot going on in just a few seconds and it just speaks to how dynamic and unpredictable these situations are. But this is something that the Secret Service constantly trains for and as you said earlier, there are people who their agents who were on that stage that I worked with that I trained with. And I can attest that we have practiced for these situations thousands of times.
And what we saw was a flaw -- near flawless execution by not only the Secret Service that were seeing but what we don't see. So, let me first talk about what we are seeing. We're seeing the Secret Service react very quickly upon identification of a threat.
Now, at that moment, they may not know that it's an actual -- it's actual gunfire, but it's a perceived threat and they're going to action offer that. They're going to go to the protectee as we saw, the president was already moving down which was probably an instruction for a given to him a long time ago, even as president, to get down in the moment of any type of threat.
But the Secret Service agents quickly came in. They put themselves between the former president and any type of potential threat again, basically creating a body bunker around the former president. While they're down on the ground, they're doing a rapid assessment. There's a lot of information coming into their earpieces about what's going on around the perimeter was it a shooter? What the situation is?
We heard the verbal commands. Again, you have to think they weren't screaming and yelling at each other. They were very composed. Their instructions to each other were very clear.
Again, that all comes down to their training tactics and experience. The president was not moved until they confirmed that the shooter was down and you actually heard an agent say, safe to move, most likely that was the detail leader for the former president, giving the instruction that it's safe to move.
The Hawkeye team, as you hear Hawkeyes up, Hawkeye is around.
[20:35:03]
Hawkeye is the tactical team. That is the counter assault team. Again, they're there to support the shift, address any secondary threats that may present itself and make sure that the president's move -- movement from one terrain feature the podium to the armored limousine is done in a safe and efficient manner. So they will move along with them.
So once all those components were in place, that's when we see the president moving off stage. What we don't see though, is exactly how the Secret Service responded to the threat and the shooter and how they neutralize that. So what we assume at this point in time since it was a threat from outside of the security perimeter that this was a long-range threat, probably a lot long-range rifle that needed to be addressed, again from another long-range mitigation, most likely from either the counter sniper team or from other types of tactical units that were on-site, from the Secret Service.
So there's a lot going on in a short amount of time, but again, I can't stress enough. This is what the Secret Service does. When the bell rings, they are prepared to react this way. And we saw the successful outcome of moving the president off of the X, off of this environment to a safe location.
Then the secondary assessment starts around medical concerns, making sure that the president doesn't have any secondary injuries. They then move the president to a safe location away from this site, most likely a hospital where a full medical evaluation would be underway, ensuring that the safety of the former president, that he is in good health.
COOPER: Jonathan, are you surprised? You know, they're not rushing him off this I mean, the former president tells them, wait, in order for him to address the crowd they listen to that on two occasions. It seems. Is that unusual?
WACKROW: Well, I'll say like that's what we heard like that's not what's happening, what the president is saying -- the former president is saying in that moment really isn't important other than if he's identifying injury. The Secret Service has its protocols. They are going to move the president on the stage to a secondary location, only when it is safe.
The worst thing that they could do is move from one terrain feature into another terrain feature that is de-stabilizing, like, right? They don't do not want to move of the president, the former president, off the stage to the limousine where there could potentially be a secondary attack. That's why these tactical assets were also very important. Again, being able to immediately address a secondary threat as they're moving the president.
So, yes, we heard the audio, but again, I know the way that these agents train. I know the way that I was trained for these -- these moments. There were going to do things very systematically. They practice for this, you know, thousands of times. And what we actually witnessed was the near flawless execution of all of that practice in overtime. COOPER: Jonathan, also, I mean, obviously, the Secret Service has
snipers in events like this. I assume they happen the highest vantage points at any place that they are.
How would it be possible for somebody to have gained even if it's off the -- you know, not in the actual close enough to go through the metal detectors. But just off-site to gain a sniper position.
WACKROW: Again, I can't -- I don't want to speculate how the shooter got to that location. That will come out throughout the investigation.
But again, when you think about the concentric circles of protection that the Secret Service protective methodology applies, what we're seeing on the video is the working shift. Those are the closest ones that are around. The next layer out are those tactical elements. It's that the counter snipers, the counter assault teams that are there to address the near horizon long-range threats that may present you to one of the protectees.
So what we do know is that the time to exposure, the moment that that threat was identified again, after probably that first shot, the almost immediate engagement of that threaten that threat was neutralized within seconds from the audio that we heard, and then from CNN's own reporting.
COOPER: And, Juliette, obviously from an investigation standpoint national security standpoint, a lot obviously now goes to who was this individual who did it, was -- were there more individuals involved, motivation, method, everything?
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yeah. So there's going to be -- it's going -- to be very clear. There'll be two pieces of this.
So first is who the individual is and whether he was part of a larger group. And I know there's a lot of politics involved with this, so I'm going to just relate how an investigator would look at this. So there would be -- is he alone individual or was he planning with others? And then they're going to look at social, his emails, any contacts he had.
[20:40:02]
Look, this is not a random -- I mean, this is this is not someone who woke up and thought I want to shoot at Donald Trump. What the pictures we have seen has shown a person who knew where the security perimeter ended and where he would have a good shot of President Trump.
That is a serious -- I'm going to call it assassin. That is a serious assassin. That is someone who knew exactly what he wanted to do.
And however, Donald Trump got the blood marks, whatever the reporting is something came very close to seriously harming Donald Trump, the former president, and the nominee for the Republican Party. So that's the first part.
The second part is, of course, motives. So you're going to look at three different pools. And again, I am stating what an investigator would do at this stage. There's lots the politics going on around right now.
I condemn -- everyone condemns violence and the extension of violence as a political display, we have to deal with this issue, this democracy cannot survive if violence is utilized as part of our Democratic processes. You're going to look first to ideological enemies of Donald Trump, this is obvious, right? Is it the left-wing or remember, someone who feels that he's a threat to either cause of movement or whatever else.
The second is you're going to look at a psychological reason for. This is the John Hinckley reason that someone wanted to maybe impress others, become famous or whatever. And there's actually no known ideological reason.
Then the third is, was it a former supporter of Donald Trump who feels or is focused on a certain issue or certain reason. I think the third possibility is the least likely. But if you are an objective investigator at this stage, you are looking at those three potential motives based on under basic understanding of how the world works right now.
What I want to know at this stage is twofold is what was the threat environment specifically for this rally. They're always going to be high for Donald Trump rallies as they are for President Biden rallies. Our threat environment is higher now. We know that.
But we we've been told by the FBI for a long time that that threat was generally right-wing focus. That is me just now narrating reality now that that the threat had come from the right-wing, did the FBI miss left-wing terrorism, if that's what this is or is it something different?
The second thing I want to I want to know is the basically what Jonathan was asking is, how do you miss a roof and a sniper on the roof? I mean, what were the security protocols for a rally like this? It's a fair question to ask.
The Secret Service response was terrific. Obviously, but do we need to extend our security perimeters for the time being given what we know, the threat environment is. So that's basically where it stands. It's a lot.
COOPER: Yeah. CNN senior national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem, former Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow, appreciate it. Well talk to you throughout the evening.
A short time ago, the president offered brief remarks in the shooting from the Delaware shores.
CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is at the White House for us.
Priscilla, what are you -- what are you learning?
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Anderson, the president saying repeatedly that he has tried to reach Donald Trump, was unable to do so just yet, but that he would continue to try over the course of the evening, the president thanking Secret Service, but also saying quite bluntly, quote, there is no place in America for this kind of violence. It's sick.
So the president condemning this incident and noting that rallies should be held and they should be held peacefully.
Now, Anderson, what I'm also learning is that Biden campaign officials huddled only minutes after this incident unfolded in Pennsylvania, where they decided that they would stop all outbound communications and also pull down TV ads.
Now, the campaign also sent a note to staff telling them to refrain from commenting on social media. So, the campaign responding also quite rapidly this afternoon as we were learning details of what occurred there in Pennsylvania.
Now, I will also note Anderson as a reminder to viewers, the president is not here at the White House. He is at Rehoboth, at his Delaware residents. That is where he delivered remarks.
He was in church when this incident unfolded, leaving only moments after when at the time reporters asked him if he has been briefed, he had said no, but we know now that he has been briefed and briefed repeatedly by senior U.S. officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
But again, I will note that the president's resounding message tonight is that this violence should not can stand and that he is trying to get a hold of Donald Trump this evening.
BLITZER: Priscilla Alvarez at the White House for us, thank you.
Wolf, back to you.
BLITZER: Anderson, I'm here with Karen Finney, Pamela Brown, Dana Bash, Scott Jennings, and Jim Sciutto.
I want to get some serious analysis of this horrible situation that unfolded, an assassination attempt against the former president of the United States.
[20:45:02]
KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's beyond horrible. And you know, watching the Secret Service jumped to actually -- when you're White House staffer, you actually have to go through training so that you know, its going to happen when you were there as, but actually she had been in person is just stunning.
I can imagine. And obviously the additional injuries and loss of life, it's absolutely horrible. I agree with what has already been said. It's completely unacceptable.
And we have to say that over and over again. BLITZER: Pamela, you're doing a lot of reporting and you're getting more information.
What else are you learning?
PAMELA BROWN, CNN CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I've been in touch with the Butler County district attorney who is getting information from his lead investigators. Right now, we're trying to learn more. But what we are learning is that you have one spectator there who was killed or died. I should say, we don't know how, so I want to be careful on that. We know another spectator was seriously injured.
And of course, Donald Trump himself, former president, Republican presidential nominee also injured. We know the Secret Service took out the gunman.
There's a lot of questions though, Wolf, is information she comes in, how did that gunman get on that roof unobstructed and able to fire? I mean, I know the Secret Service certainly deserves praise on jumping in and protecting the president right away inside the perimeter. But I have so many questions on how that shooter was able to get there and pull this off and that's going to be certainly the center also of this investigation as well.
BLITZER: There will be a full full-scale commission of inquiry investigation. I am sure to determine how this happened and make sure it never happens again and take whatever steps are necessary.
I thought, Dana -- Dana Bash is with us, that President Biden delivered a very strong statement, which we all saw. He made the point that he's been trying to get in touch directly with Donald Trump, wants to speak with him, but he's relieved to hear that he's okay.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, I do think that this is a moment as we are still gathering information and the country -- the world is trying to absorb what just happened. To go back, you know, half an hour or so to President Biden, the two of them are in the most intense competition right now to be president and to win the presidency in November, and he came right out and said that Trump, Donald Trump has a right to be able to have a rally and conduct it peacefully. And violence is not appropriate.
That is what he should say -- again, the fact that he came out right -- as soon as he got out of church, and as soon as he could while he is in Rehoboth is critical.
I just want to make one point. I've heard a few people say just to put this in historical context, that this is reminiscent of 19 -- in the 1980s when Ronald Reagan was shot and that is true when you look at the highest office of the land, or if somebody who was going for the highest office in the land.
But political violence has been -- we've seen political violence in a very nefarious way, just in the past few years. I mean, Nancy Pelosi's husband was at home sleeping and somebody went into his house with a hammer and hit him on the head with it.
In 2011, 6 people died, 13 injured, including the congresswoman who is just holding an event for her constituents. I'm talking about Gabby Giffords.
And so this is obviously a much different scale, a much different point in time. This is a man who was president, who wants to be president again. But the notion of violence and the rhetoric and the intense anger that people are feeling bubbling up into violence is something that has been happening over the years and it's not just going back to '80s, to the '80s or even to the '60s.
BLITZER: Yeah, it's true.
And President Biden said it well. He said political violence is not appropriate. Everyone must condemn it and he once again said he hopes to speak with former President Trump very, very soon and get a sense.
Kaitlan Collins is joining us right now. I understand, Kaitlan, you have some new reporting.
What are you learning?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Yeah, Wolf, the president has actually -- the former president is actually just issued a statement moments ago on Truth Social. I'm going to read you just a full quote of it because we're just getting it in moments ago.
He says: I want to thank the United States Secret Service and all of law enforcement for their rapid response on the shooting it just took place in Butler, Pennsylvania. Most importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the rally who was killed, and also family of another person that was badly injured.
Trump says: It is incredible that such an act can take place in our country.
[20:50:00]
He said nothing is known at this time about the shooter who is now dead. I was shot with bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong and that I heard a whizzing sound shot and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin, much bleeding took place. So I realized then what was happening.
Then in all caps, he says, God bless America.
Wolf, I do want to add to that that we did just get a statement from his son, Donald Trump Jr., as well, who just got off the phone with his father who said that he's in great spirits, he said it will never stop fighting to save America no matter what the radical left throws at him. That's again a statement from Donald Trump Jr.
But these are the first comments that we're hearing from the former president of the United States and since this shooting happened, Wolf, obviously and understandably the his entire campaign apparatus is deeply shaken by what happened today. They're all still reeling from it, and also just trying to learn more information about what exactly unfolded.
BLITZER: Yes. So, so scary, of course, I speak for all of us when I say we wish the former president a very, very speedy recovery from his injuries to the right side of his face from this gunshot.
Thank you very much, Kaitlan, for that.
You know, Jim Sciutto is with us as well.
Jim, you're doing a lot of reporting. People are watching this all over the world. You're watching the United States right now, including leaders all over the world, and you're picking up reaction.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Right. Well, it's interesting. At the NATO summit earlier this week, when I -- when I asked officials there about their concerns about the U.S. role in the world going forward, of course, you have to some degree, it's participation in the world, participation in NATO, et cetera, on the ballot in November.
Many of them said to me what they truly worried about is division this country. They worry about division breaking out in this country. It is interesting that listen, that's 48 hours ago when they were voicing that.
To Dana's point, the idea being that this division and even the violence in this country, you don't have to go back to the '80s, for incidents. And of course, there's January 6, just a few years ago.
But as you hear from international leaders, for instance, Justin Trudeau, here's the Canadian prime minister. He said, political violence is never acceptable. Similar statement a short time ago from Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, just for a number of days. They are saying similar words to what we are hearing from U.S. officials. Of course, you heard President Biden say it's sick, it's sick.
I've been hearing from a number of lawmakers, Representative Mike Lawler, Republican from New York. He says this level of hatred and violence cannot continue. Representative Mark Green in Tennessee, Republicans, such violence has no place in our country.
You were hearing those words, not just I think because they believe that's the right thing to say, I think we were hearing those words because lawmakers in this country, but world leaders feel that there is a genuine risk that breaking out here. And, of course, today's events as we see, the former president there at assassination attempt, you get, you get an understanding as to why those concerns are so real.
BLITZER: Last thing we thought would happen. A lot of developments, political developments, unfolding, but an assassination attempt against the former president, I don't think any of us thought that that was about to happen, especially knowing that the U.S. Secret Service, the FBI, local law enforcement, U.S. military, they protect the former president very, very closely.
SCIUTTO: No question. To Pamela's point earlier, there are a number of national security officials have raised that question to me about how a shooter could have gotten onto a -- the top of a building nearby because we all go to events like this frequently. You know, the Secret Service is fantastic at his job is always looking not just at the location itself, but locations around it, and often position people position people to respond to the possibility of threats.
BLITZER: Yeah.
SCIUTTO: Lots of questions to answer. It's way too early to go --
BLITZER: They got to do a full investigation to learn from what happened as I keep saying, to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Scott Jennings, the president in that statement, and you heard Kaitlan Collins reported, says he was hit by a bullet in the upper part of my right ear. He says he knew immediately that something was wrong and that I heard a whizzing sound, shots and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin.
It's awful. This is a former president of the United States.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And you think about what you just said, we are one inch, one inch from something far more terrible tonight. I mean, the country has already shocked and we are in bad need of healing and unity in this country, but we are one inch from something far worse.
Republicans, I'm hearing from tonight are shocked. They are worried about our country. They are worried about Donald Trump. They're worried about the rhetoric around Donald Trump.
I mean, I hate to say it, but the rhetoric around him over the last few weeks that if he wins an election, our country will end, our democracy will end. It's the last election will ever have.
These things have consequences, okay? I don't know what the motivations of the shooter are. I don't know any of the details.
But I know the rhetoric around Trump has grown extreme. You mentioned some other violence.
[20:55:01]
You didn't mention the Supreme Court -- attempted murder of a Supreme Court justice or the congressional baseball game, where Steve Scalise was nearly murdered, one a conservative, the other a Republican.
But we have people in this country who are dedicated to telling half the country that if Donald Trump wins an election, the country will end. The Constitution will go away, and so on and so forth.
What I want to hear from all elected officials is this kind of hyperbolic extremism has consequences and it must end. Yes. We're all shocked and yes, political violence has no place. Where does it come from? It's got to stop.
BLITZER: But we're also hearing from Trump very, very strong statements of condemnation of Biden, the worst president, the most dangerous president, and all of that. He's speaking very, very strongly against President Biden.
JENNINGS: Who's in the hospital?
BLITZER: Well, we do -- this as an assassination.
JENNINGS: Look, I agree with you --
BLITZER: You say calm things down. I agree both sides should calm things down.
JENNINGS: This moment is -- if there was -- if we -- what other wakeup call could there be for everybody in this country right now? I am -- I am mortified.
I mean, this will live on forever. These pictures were seeing today will be in the history books of our children and our grandchildren. We're living through a historical moment.
And we have to recognize it for what it is, and we have to change.
BLITZER: You have to cool the rhetoric on both sides.
JENNINGS: We have to change.
BLITZER: Because it's really dangerous and it foments what we've just seen over the past couple hours or so, and it's a really, really scary situation.
You want to add a point, Dana?
BASH: You just said it, Wolf.
Scott, your point is so well taken, that the escalation of rhetoric is something that if you just look back in history, it doesn't take a lot to dig and find that people take cues from not just leaders, but from people around them. And when, when violence happens, sometimes things are uncorked and it is important for leaders across the board as we are seeing today, to tamp things down.
FINNEY: And I think there's -- I think that's an important point. Scott, I can feel your anger from here.
I've felt that same anger, too, from some of the rhetoric I've heard from the former president. So what I would hope in this moment to what you said, and we are seeing it, across the board, let's all say, stop it.
BLITZER: Yeah.
FINNEY: Just stop it. You can stop it and I can stop it. That's a place to start. BLITZER: This is a very, very dangerous moment in American history right now that we're watching.
FINNEY: Yes.
BLITZER: Very dangerous moment.
Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: I want to go to CNN's Evan Perez, who has more details from the Secret Service.
Evan, what have you learned?
PEREZ: Well, Anderson, this is a new updated statement from the Secret Service.
They're giving us a fuller picture of -- confirming some of the reporting we already put out. I'll read you that full statement from Anthony Guglielmi, the spokesman for the chief of communications for the Secret Service.
He says that during President Trump, former President Trump's campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13th at approximately 6:15 p.m., a suspected shooter fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue. U.S. Secret Service personnel neutralize the shooter who is now deceased.
The Secret Service quickly responded to -- with protective measures and former President Trump is safe. One spectator was killed, and two other spectators were critically injured.
This incident is currently under investigation by the Secret Service has notified the FBI.
Anderson, we know that the FBI is now at the scene. The ATF is at the scene. And now, what we have is a full investigation as to how this shooter managed to get in a position that is an elevated position according to the Secret Service statement.
Now, confirming some of our earlier reporting that this shooter was not inside the venue. This person fired a shot from out -- or shots from outside of the venue and managed to get to the former presidents.
So, now, the question is, how did this happen. Was the Secret Service aware of this position that obviously posed a risk to the attendees, to the former president, all of those things are now part of this investigation. And of course, the nature of the injuries to those people who are injured inside, including the person who is additionally dead.
But the Secret Service did shoot and killed the shooter who was outside it of the venue. And it answers some of the questions and the concerns that you've heard on our air in the last hour is, obviously, everybody who goes into that venue, Anderson, has to go through a magnetometer. So, this person clearly didn't do that. They were able to fire a shot or a multiple shots according to Secret Service from outside of the venue.
