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State of the Union

Interview With Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA); Interview With Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH); Interview With Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA); Interview With Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI). Aired 9-10a ET

Aired July 14, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:49]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Hello. I'm Jake Tapper live at the site of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the state of our union is deeply shaken.

We begin this morning with our breaking news. Former President Donald Trump is safe and a 20-year-old shooter is dead after a shocking assassination attempt on the former president in Pennsylvania yesterday afternoon.

Former President Trump described the attack in his own words, revealing that a bullet had ripped through the upper right part of his ear, saying -- quote -- "I knew immediately that something was wrong, in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place" -- unquote.

This morning, former President Trump added -- quote -- "It was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening." He added: "It is more important than ever that we stand united."

This was the closest call on a president or former president's safety since President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. Authorities say they have identified the gunman as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old man who lived in nearby Bethel Park, north of Pittsburgh in Western Pennsylvania.

Crooks was killed by U.S. Secret Service agents, and the FBI says they are working to learn his motive. Public records suggest Crooks was a registered Republican. He made a small donation to a Democratic- aligned group in 2021.

One person attending the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally was killed in the attack, and two others are in critical condition. President Biden is set to be briefed again this morning at the White House. He spoke with President Trump last night and joined the condemnation of political violence, as law enforcement confronts a deeply unsettling security failure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (R) AND CURRENT U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Take a look what happened.

(GUNSHOTS)

(SCREAMING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: CNN's Alayna Treene was there covering -- covering the rally last night.

Alayna, tell us more about what we're learning about the suspected shooter.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Right.

Well, I'm just going to walk you through some of those details again, Jake. Now, we have learned that authorities have identified 20-year- old Thomas Matthew Crooks as the attempted assassin of the former president. As you noted, U.S. Secret Service had shot and killed him shortly after he had fired a series of bullets into the venue.

Now, he lived, we're told, in the suburb of Pittsburgh, Bethel Park. That's about 35 miles south of where we are here in Butler, Pennsylvania, just where the rally was. And it was interesting. We actually were able to connect with his father last night.

I'm going to read you a quote of what he told us. His father told us -- quote -- "What the hell is going on?" He was trying to figure out -- quote -- "what the hell was going on," but said that he wanted to speak with law enforcement first before sharing more.

Now, Jake, I can tell you, actually, if you look behind my right shoulder there, that's actually the AGR building. That's not the exact building where the shooter was on top of the roof, but that is the complex.

So we went to the site last night directly in front of the scene where the shooter was heavily armed, heavily guarded. And it was remarkable to me to see how close the shooter was to the stage where Donald Trump was speaking.

I was in the venue itself, but if you look at where the shooter was on that roof, it was about 500 yards or so. It was outside of the fenced- in perimeter of where the stage was, but, again, an incredibly close location to the former president. Continues to raise questions about what exactly happened and why that area itself was not secure -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Alayna, thank you so much.

I want to go to see an senior justice correspondent Evan Perez.

Evan, the FBI has been warning for years of the rise of domestic terrorism. What are you learning about this investigation?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, it is being considered a domestic terrorism attack. Obviously, the fact that someone targeted the former president, the person who is the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party in the presidential election, all of that is part of this investigation now.

[09:05:08]

Now, at this point, the FBI -- obviously, the fact that the shooter, the suspected shooter, is dead, the FBI is going to have to put together motive and other things that led to this. They're going to have to do this the old-fashioned way.

Last night, we know that they went to the home where he has been living. There were family members have moved out of there now, but they're being talked to. There's also search warrants being issued to be able to gather some of the evidence.

Again, one of the things that the FBI is trying to do is put together a picture of the shooter in the last few weeks, in the last few days. How long has he been thinking about this? How long has he been plotting this? Did he go to this site to do some kind of reconnaissance before he did it? Where was his training from? Where did he get the gun?

All of these things now are part of this investigation. Of course, the fact that, as Alayna pointed out, this person got to about a football- field-and-a-half distance from this podium, that's another part of this investigation.

We anticipate that there's going to be some very, very important questions that the Secret Service is going to have to answer, Jake, because, obviously, there was some heroic actions by the snipers, the countersnipers, that took him out seconds after this incident began, but the question is, why wasn't that roof, which was within, obviously, within a shot of the former president, why wasn't that swept, why wasn't that cleared beforehand?

Those are big, important questions that have to be answered in the coming days -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Evan Perez, thank you so much.

Joining us now, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman. He's a Democrat from Western Pennsylvania.

Senator, thank you so much for joining us on this horrible, horrible day.

What is your reaction to what we saw in Pennsylvania last night, the attempted assassination of former President Trump?

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): Well, it's shocking, and it's a dark day for our nation, absolutely. I mean, I was in stun.

I was actually close by that at the time. And, sadly, I was actually in that region to attend a vigil for a trans teen that was murdered there. And it was just a very sad night. And then, of course, I immediately was like I'm just so glad that Donald Trump is going to be OK.

And my heart goes out to people that have lost their lives and all of that. And it isn't about politics or anything, other than just condemn and the strongest kinds of terms about this kinds of violence and where we are at.

TAPPER: Yes.

You know this part of Pennsylvania very well. The shooting happened about an hour north of where you live. What are you hearing from federal, state and local law enforcement, if anything?

FETTERMAN: Nothing specific or anything like that.

But I just would like to remind that, for me, this isn't about an opportunity for politics or strategy or how this might play out or the visuals or anything like that. This was an incredibly dark day for Pennsylvania, but for our nation as well too.

I can't believe that we're actually in that place. And it's that same kind of a shock. I mean, I was in a campaign back in 2018 when the Tree of Life, this kind of shock and this kind of violence. And my instinct was seriously like, hey, this isn't about politics, and suspending that kind of traditional politics and just condemn the kind of tragedy that happened here today.

And just so sad that this is the kind of place where we could be at in our nation.

TAPPER: Obviously, the fault of what happened is the shooter's and the shooter's alone, on assassination attempt on a former president, one innocent person killed, two people wounded.

But, beyond that, this was obviously a security failure, whether it was the police or the U.S. Secret Service. Obviously, that roof should not have been a place where somebody with a rifle should have been able to go, only 500 yards away from where the president, the former president was. Do you think Congress needs to investigate what went so wrong here?

FETTERMAN: Well, of course that might be necessary to find out if there was any kinds of security failures or anything.

But that's going to -- that answer, we have -- to be investigated, but what we can't forget is that we can't assume that these kind of things can't happen again. And we just have to turn down the kinds of -- the temperature on this. And this election is going to be the biggest kind of election in our -- in our lifetime.

And we have months ahead of us. So much more can happen, but I just want to remind us, for this week, I just know we're focusing on the tragedy, what happened here. And I'm not going to make it about politics, where it is. And I'm just grateful that the former president now is making a full recovery, and so sad for anyone that was killed.

[09:10:19] And I hope that the two people that have been critically injured are able to be OK.

TAPPER: For those who haven't been following your career as closely as Pennsylvanians like myself have, you have nine dates tattooed on your arm.

Those dates commemorate the violent deaths that happened in Braddock, Pennsylvania, when you were the mayor. So the idea of violence and gun violence are part of you and who you are in your career and trying to rid this nation of this epidemic.

And I just wonder what goes through your mind when you see yet another horrific incident of violence like this in Pennsylvania?

FETTERMAN: It's just heartbreaking again, and what you're -- what you're referencing, yes, there -- there. No, it is.

And violence, whether it happens because of a gun or because a child was beat -- was beaten to death because of -- she -- what she -- how she identified and all that, and it's just heartbreaking.

I mean, my drive back home last night from Northwestern Pennsylvania was just -- I was just incredibly sad. And I wasn't in -- I just -- I just can't believe that this is the place where our nation is there. And I -- because we have this election coming up, I just -- it's hard to really understand.

And here we were, I guess, some -- the Kennedy -- Bobby Kennedy, and that could have been how this could have been, a couple inches more, how that could have happened in there. I'm just so grateful that former President Trump is OK.

And, again, being right there and seeing what's happened, it's something that we have to process on this. And I don't think politics or blame or the kinds of who or this or that. This is just needing for all of us to turn -- turn down any kind of the temperature and just be grateful that fewer kinds of people were -- have lost their lives.

And now we have -- can't remember that all the kinds of countless events that are going to be part of this gigantic election, that we have to make sure that this can never happen again.

TAPPER: Yes.

Senator John Fetterman from the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, thank you for joining us today.

We're going to have much more in our breaking news coverage. How is former President Trump recovering from this shocking assassination attempt?

A close ally of the president's, the former president's, joins me right here in Milwaukee next.

And coming up: How could this have happened? The latest in the investigation, that's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:16:45]

TAPPER: Welcome back.

We're live in Milwaukee at the site of the Republican National Convention, which kicks off tomorrow.

Just in, we're learning that a source briefed on President Biden's call to former President Trump after the assassination attempt Saturday night against Donald Trump described the call between the two rivals as good and short and respectful.

Other than the debate two-weeks-and-plus days ago, the two have not spoken in years, we're told. The Trump campaign says the show will continue as scheduled this week here in Milwaukee.

And joining us now to talk more about everything is the former chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin.

And let's just start with the horrible news. Your reaction to what happened yesterday.

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): Well, here's a little bipartisanship.

I think what Senator Fetterman said, he said well. It was shocking. It's sad. You know, my tweet was, pray for President Trump. Pray for America. Pray for the family of the deceased, the rallygoer, and the two individuals that were grievously injured.

We -- if this moment can turn into a moment of healing and unity, if people can understand what's at stake and the road we're going down -- as President Lincoln said, a house divide against itself cannot stand.

I have been saying for quite some time, as much as we're not addressing our debt and deficit issue, I think the greatest threat to America right now is the fact that we're horribly divided. But the good news, Jake, is, there's no reason for us to be divided, honestly.

If you consider the main goals in life, most Americans, most people globally are in agreement. We want safety. We want security. We want enough opportunity so we can provide for ourselves and our family. Let's focus on those areas of agreement. Let's turn this moment into a moment that helps us down that path of healing and unity.

That's certainly what President Trump tweeted today on TRUTH Social.

TAPPER: Absolutely, there needs to be more unity.

In terms of what went wrong -- and, again, obviously the fault lies entirely with the shooter, full stop.

JOHNSON: Right. TAPPER: But, that said, there is an entire agency, the U.S. Secret Service, who is charged with keeping people like President Trump safe, obviously, law enforcement as well in Butler County. There are questions about what was done.

As the former chair of the department -- I'm sorry, of the Committee of Homeland Security in the Senate, do you think there need to be hearings? Do you think there need to be questions raised about what went wrong? Because if it is true that the shooter was at an elevation in a farm area, so there really weren't that many buildings, and only about 500 yards away from the president, that does seem like a failure.

JOHNSON: It was a failure.

There will absolutely have to be congressional oversight hearings. I mean, I think, first, you let the investigation proceed, conclude, and then the Department of Justice, Secret Service, FBI need to be completely transparent. I mean completely transparent.

They haven't been so in the past -- so that we can take a look at that and so the American people can have comfort that this has been fully investigated and we know exactly what happened here.

TAPPER: We have learned that the shooter was 20 years old. He's from Western Pennsylvania. His name was Thomas Matthew Crooks. He was a registered Republican. He gave $15 to a Democratic-aligned group.

[09:20:05]

Other than that, we don't know much more about him, other than what's in the public. Do you know anything more?

JOHNSON: No.

But one thing I do know, and this was one of my first reactions. It happened so fast. I turned on the TV, the incident was over. You could see that President Trump was OK. We didn't know about the deceased person at the time.

But my first thought was, President Trump knew exactly the risks he was taking, running for reelection. He knew he'd be vilified. He probably didn't understand the full extent of lawfare. He realized his life would be at risk. But he did it anyway.

And you know why, Jake? Because President Trump loves this country. And that's the other thing I would say about his supporters, those rallygoers. That's -- if there's one attribute that Trump's supporters have in common, they fervently love this country.

And so if the rest of America can understand that about Donald Trump, about the people who support Donald Trump, I think they love this country as well. There's a good place to start the healing and unification of this country. We need to understand that about each other. TAPPER: You were already concerned about the security situation at

the convention this week in your home state here of Wisconsin. What additional precautions are you urging the Secret Service to take? And are you confident Milwaukee will be safe this week?

JOHNSON: Well, they already did respond to the concern we had with the gathering area. They have moved that away. They have listed out parade routes.

I know there's a lot of manpower here, and that's the first step to security. You have to have people, law enforcement present to deter any kind of violence. So, again, Wisconsinites, I told you before the show, Minnesota nice, Wisconsin even nicer. We're nice people. I'm not concerned about Wisconsin citizens.

I'd be concerned about outside agitators. But, obviously, I think this is just going to heighten security, and it needs to be heightened.

TAPPER: You said something about how we all love our country. And I think it's generally true. Most Americans do love their country.

One thing that I have found upsetting, if I can editorialize for one second, is the degree to which so many Americans claim to love their country, but hate their fellow Americans. And I'm not talking about Republicans or Democrats. I'm just -- I see it everywhere, everywhere.

And I'm wondering if that's something that concerns you too.

JOHNSON: It does. That's what I said. The greatest threat to our nation right now is, we're horribly divided.

But, again, in general, we share the same goals. So why are we so divided? Well, there are political figures. There are political groups. I would argue that's what identity politics is about. That's what Critical Race Theory is about.

So there are people who are purposely trying to divide us for political advantage. Resist it. Don't let them get away with it. And again, start talking to each other. That's part of the problem with social media today is, we have lost that sense of community.

These civic organizations, they're not as robust as they used to be. And everybody -- it's awful easy to get pretty nasty on social media. And that ends up being kind of how we socialize. We need to get out in our community and, again, find the areas of agreement, acknowledge the fact that we do love this country, that there's -- America is something precious.

It needs to be preserved. But the only way to preserve it is if we can unify and heal it.

TAPPER: Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, thank you for being here. Come back. We will be here all week and hope to see you again. Thanks for joining me.

JOHNSON: Thanks for having me. TAPPER: Good to see you.

I'm going to turn right now to the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, because the FBI is working to learn more about the motive of the shooter. Obviously, we know what he did was sick and twisted, but perhaps there's more information they're finding.

The FBI is also encouraging anyone with information who might be able to assist in the investigation to call the FBI.

And joining us now, Chairman Mike Turner, congressman of Ohio, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

Mr. Chairman, thanks for joining us.

REP. MIKE TURNER (R-OH): Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: Have you, as the Intelligence Committee chairman in the House, have you been briefed on what happened yet? How do you view -- what was your response to the attack?

TURNER: Sure. So, no, we have not yet been briefed, Jake.

Jake, one thing we know -- first off, thank God Donald Trump is alive. As we look at those iconic photos of him rising again at that podium, we learned two things immediately, one, just the strength of his commitment to his cause and his desire to serve America.

And the second is that, along with Donald Trump, our democracy dodged a bullet yesterday. We know -- we give our condolences to the family that lost a loved one, but we had a countryman who went to a political rally and lost his life yesterday. We have those who are struggling today, and, certainly, our prayers are with them.

But the one thing that we have to focus on is that former President Donald Trump has called on national unity, and he is absolutely right. Our focus needs to be on national unity as we move forward in this election, because we can't let this violence win and divide us.

TAPPER: We do know the identity of the shooter. I'm not going to give his name again, but he's 20. He's from nearby Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, outside Pittsburgh.

What more do you want to know about this individual?

TURNER: Right.

So, as you indicated, and rightly so, the only thing that we know about him currently is from the public record. And as the investigation goes on, we will learn a number of things. One, what were his affiliations? What were -- what activities was he involved in? What other individuals did he have contact with? Was there anyone else involved?

[09:25:14] How did he get on that roof? Was this something that he spontaneously planned, or was this something that he had a long-term plan? Are there others that were involved in that planning?

The other aspect, which you have indicated, is just the security failure that occurred that day. How is it that someone could get on a roof with a superior position, with a weapon, and attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump? It's just unthinkable, unfathomable. We need to know, is this a protocol failure? Is this a resources issue? Or is this just a failure of those who were on site that day?

TAPPER: We did not hear from the U.S. Secret Service last night at a law enforcement press conference.

Speaker Johnson already vowing hearings in front of Congress. The House Oversight Committee chairman already scheduled a hearing for next Monday.

What is Congress' role here, do you think?

TURNER: Well, we do have an extreme role, because, in this, again, both the resources that are utilized and the protocols that are utilized, we have oversight, scrutiny, and responsibility for.

We got to see yesterday the most unbelievable commitment of the Secret Service to protect former President Donald Trump's life, and that they -- how they put their own lives at risk. But at the same time, we also saw the failure of the overall broader net where the -- that is supposed to provide protection for the president.

The fact that we're hearing that people knew that there was a man on this roof with a gun, and were trying to get police attention while the president was up at the podium is just incredibly cause for concern and, I think, very frustrating for everyone, because we believe that our presidents and former presidents, our candidates for presidents, have the highest degree of protection, and something so simple seems to have been lost.

TAPPER: What is your view of the threat level from here? And do you have confidence in the U.S. Secret Service to coordinate security here at the Republican National Convention this week?

TURNER: Well, Jake, you and I have talked before about this.

I am with Director Wray of the FBI, where he said we're at the highest level, threat level, that we have had since 9/11. I believe that the threat is continuing. It's not just this one individual's assassin's attempt. Both also the -- those who have crossed the border of -- southern border of the country, who have terrorist ties remain a threat to the president during this election cycle and to former President Trump and President Biden.

I think we have to be very, very cautious. And, certainly, the Secret Service has to significantly increase its attempt to secure the areas where they attend. TAPPER: Chairman Turner, thank you so much for joining us. We really

appreciate your time.

TURNER: Thank you.

TAPPER: My next guest was sitting in the front row at Trump's rally yesterday in Butler, Pennsylvania.

What he saw, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:32:08]

TAPPER: We're live from the site of the Republican National Convention here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Several Republican members of Congress were in the front row of Trump's rally last night in Pennsylvania.

Let's talk to one of them now, Congressman Dan Meuser from Eastern Pennsylvania.

Congressman, thank you so much. And we're so glad you're OK. You were in the front row of this rally when the gunfire broke out.

What can you tell us about what you saw? And what is your general reaction now that you have had a little time to process it?

REP. DAN MEUSER (R-PA): Sure. Thanks Jake.

Hey, first and foremost, we lost an individual yesterday. An innocent bystander at the rally was shot and killed by the shooter. They were no more than maybe 15, 16 rows behind me, so real, real, real tragic day. It started like a typical rally does.

And we did our pre-speeches, and the president showed up. A picture line was done. The president was in great spirits. We were rolling through it. Only six or seven minutes into his -- his remarks, he actually had called -- said that -- Dave McCormick, a U.S. Senate candidate who was standing beside me, asked him to come up.

And then he actually said, hey, you know what, we're going to bring you up a little bit later. Dave started moving up there. No sooner than a minute later, the shots rang out. And the first couple of shots, actually Dave and Mike Kelly, a U.S. House member as well, we looked at each other. And then the next shot, we knew that it was gunfire.

And we just fixated on the president. And it was just at that moment when he grabbed his head and hit the deck -- you could see he didn't fall down. He deliberately went down, and just highly concerned. We sitting here watching the assassination of a president.

And so it was certainly chaotic. But, at the same time, initially, people were screaming, very upset, people crying, ducking, a lot of ducking. The -- some Secret Service came over, told everybody to get down. But, of course, most of the Secret Service was completely focused on the president.

They were on him like white on rice, and they protected him. And then, fortunately, the president, amazingly, had the fortitude and strength of character to lift up his fist and let everybody know he was OK. And that really calmed things.

Then it became more controlled, and people felt they were going to be OK. But let's face it. We -- one person was killed. A couple of others were injured. As a matter of fact, my other -- another colleague of mine, Ronny Jackson, had his member from Texas, his nephew, was hit in the neck. And I saw him.

And he's -- to the best of my knowledge, he's absolutely fine. But I was with him. I walked with him for a couple of minutes into a back tent.

[09:35:07]

So -- but, yes, so just a bad scene.

TAPPER: Congressman, thank you so much for joining us.

And, again, we're so, so comforted that you're OK. And it is so horrible about that innocent person who was killed and the two other individuals who are -- who are critically wounded.

Thank you for joining us.

Here with me now for more on the investigative side of this horrific assassination attempt, the former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and the former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe.

General Clapper, as a former director of national intelligence, what's your reaction to what happened last night? What questions do you need answered right now?

JAMES CLAPPER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I have lost sound here. I have no audio.

TAPPER: OK.

I'm going to go to Andy McCabe, then, while we wait for General Clapper's sound to be fixed.

Former FBI Deputy Director Andy McCabe, let's start with this part of the investigation that a lot of people are finding rather unsettling. Let's bring up the map if we can. You can see where the shooter was in relation to Donald Trump. It's estimated to be about 500 yards.

We have seen and heard accounts and videos of bystanders who said they were trying to alert authorities to the fact that they saw somebody with a rifle on the roof before the shots rang out.

As a former deputy director of the FBI, what questions do you have about what went wrong here from a security perspective?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, Jake, there's a lot of questions that come up from those facts that you just referenced.

I guess, foundationally, it's one of the most basic elements of site security, especially a site that's outside and largely uncontrolled, is that you eliminate sight lines to the space where the protectee will be either speaking or just occupying.

And so, when you look at that map, it's so clearly points to those buildings that are within -- clearly within shooting range, although outside the traditional designated perimeter of the event. Nevertheless, there's all kinds of things that law enforcement does in this situation.

They either put people on the roof to take up that space and ensure nobody can get up there. They put people around the building to make sure nobody gets access to it, or you can simply move obstacles in between that position and the space where your protectee is going to be just to block the line of sight. Simply by doing that, you eliminate that position of advantage.

So I think, preliminarily, there are going to be a lot of questions about why those steps weren't taken here. And there's potentially a lot of answers to that, right? It could be a resource issue that maybe they didn't have the folks to be able to do it. It could just be a mistake, that there was coverage -- a piece of the coverage was not completed according to the plan.

Or it could be an issue with the folks who were in that area, likely not Secret Service law -- representatives, but representatives of local law enforcement. Maybe they weren't properly prepared. Maybe they couldn't communicate back to the command post or to the Secret Service folks who were on the countersniper team.

So there's a lot of different ways it can play out. I think it's important that we don't jump to conclusions at this point. But, yes, there's many questions to be answered in light of what we now know how this attack played out.

TAPPER: General Clapper, my understanding is, your audio is functioning now.

What questions do you have? What more do you want to know about the shooter? There's very little we know about him right now. He's 20. He's from Western Pennsylvania. He's a registered Republican. He gave money, a small amount, to a Democratic get-out-the-vote group, a Democratic-aligned group of some sort.

What more, as an intelligence professional, do you want to know about him?

CLAPPER: Well, one thing which I kind of doubt, but I think it's worth running down, is whether there's any kind of foreign nexus here or are there others involved? It doesn't appear that way now, but we -- there's a lot of this, we just don't know.

Obviously, I'm sure they're looking at if he engaged in social media, family, friends, anyone that could cast light on what his motivation might have been. Was he inspired by a foreign source? Or is this a lone wolf act? So, all those questions are the ones that come immediately to mind.

TAPPER: And, General Clapper, you were a fresh -- freshly assigned lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.

[09:40:10]

Do you see any parallels in the country, in the United States, in the zeitgeist, in the dialogue and the rhetoric at that time that we are experiencing today?

CLAPPER: You know, Jake, it's -- all those memories came flooding back. They're very, very indelible, even though that was over 60 years ago.

And I remember exactly first learning about the assassination of JFK, and it had the same sense of uncertainty, of being shaken, of the grief and wondering what's happened to the country.

The difference, though, is, in this case -- back then, we were all united in grief. And I'm not so sure that's the case. Many have called for and previous speakers here have called for unity. Former President Trump has done that, which is exactly what we need to have.

But I don't know about that, given the state of polarization in this country, which did not exist back in 1963, when JFK was assassinated.

TAPPER: General Clapper, Andy McCabe, thanks to both of you.

An assassination attempt on the Republican presidential presumptive nominee four months before Election Day.

We're going to talk with our political panel next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:31]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We noticed a guy crawling, army -- you know, bear- crawling up the roof of the building beside us, 50 -- 50 feet away from us.

So we're standing there. And we're pointing. We're pointing at the guy crawling up the roof.

QUESTION: And he had a gun, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He had a rifle. QUESTION: A rifle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We could clearly see him with a rifle, absolutely. We're pointing at him. The police are down there running around on the ground. We're like, hey, man, there's a guy on the roof with a rifle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: An assassination attempt on former President Trump's life. A political rally became a crime scene.

My panel's with me now.

And let's just go around the table and get your reactions to this horrible moment.

David.

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, listen, I'm a little older than some on this panel. So I lived -- I was a kid during the '60s. I remember all of that. I remember the Reagan shooting. And it had that feeling of surreality.

On the other hand, we have been kind of rumbling toward these kinds of events recently. The rhetoric has been heated up.

One thing, Jake, I thought was -- we also better hold off and see exactly who the shooter is before we draw too many conclusions. And I think we're learning that that is probably true as well.

TAPPER: Yes.

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I feel like, on the one hand, this feels so shocking. And yet I look at data all the time that says Americans are getting angrier and angrier about what's going on in this country, that they are getting more and more frustrated, that they think traditional ways of solving problems are no longer working.

And I feel like, when you take that into context, maybe it's not so surprising, that with all that kindling out there, it only takes a little bit of a match to start a big fire. And so I -- it's -- in some ways, it's so shocking, but, in other ways, it's not.

TAPPER: Yes.

ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I was on a flight when I got the news. And I got sick to my stomach, not because of the turbulence, but because of what the news said.

There's no secret that David and I's politics are not the same and Trump's and I's politics are not the same, but I'm a person. And so is Donald Trump. And so, in Washington, D.C., you have D's and R's, but I think today we need to all have A's behind our name, because we're Americans. And we shouldn't be blaming one side or the other. We should just be saying, how do we move forward? I was glad President Biden called President Trump and that they had a conversation, short and respectful, but we have to find a way forward, because we're in a pressure cooker. And we're lucky that we didn't have more people lose their lives.

So I'm glad President Trump is OK. I send my condolences to the family. But there's a better version of this for us. And we all are going to have to -- even when we disagree, we're going to have to work together to figure out a path forward.

TAPPER: David?

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, so Jake, I'm sad, sad for America, sad for our country, sad for fellow Pennsylvanians, sad for the people who lost their lives there yesterday.

People want to celebrate democracy. They want to celebrate and participate in the democratic process. And, as Ashley said and Axe said and Senator Johnson said earlier, it's a time for unity in our country. Look, we disagree on everything. Ashley and Axe and I, we don't agree on many things, but we sit and do it civilly.

We engage. We -- it's a marketplace of ideas. That's what our country is supposed to be about. It's not supposed to be about rhetoric, mean- spirited rhetoric on your social media that's easy to hide behind, right?

So I think let's try to use this as a turning point, as a moment to sit and reflect about our better angels and how we can become better Americans and put down the rhetoric, put down the vitriol for a little bit. We're all Americans. We all want the same thing. We may disagree about how we're going to get there, but we all want a great country.

We want a better future for our kids. We're going to make sure that no kid goes to bed hungry at night, right, and that old people get taken care of and our nation's protected and you're safe when you're walking around at night. That's what we all want.

TAPPER: Yes.

URBAN: And so we should all just join together today and make sure we understand that we're not looking to point fingers and say, this person's words cause that or that person's words caused it.

As Axe says, we don't know what caused this person to do this. We should just -- and let's dial it back a little bit today and pray for President Trump, pray for the victims. There's a GoFundMe page, victims of Butler, Pennsylvania. I'd encourage people to go there and donate.

TAPPER: I tweeted it out.

URBAN: Yes, I -- Yes. TAPPER: If you want a link to it, just go to the -- on Twitter, Jake

Tapper. I tweeted it out. The campaign, the Trump campaign put it out there.

URBAN: Yes.

TAPPER: President Biden did come out last night and forcefully condemned the remarks. Let's run a little bit of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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.

[09:50:00]

We cannot allow for this to be happening. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this. There's a rally that he should have been able to -- be conducted peacefully without any problem.

But the idea, the idea that there's political violence or violence in America like this is just unheard of. It's just not appropriate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: It is sad.

And yet, as you noted, this is shocking, but not surprising. And there's a new NPR/PBS/Marist poll, a shocking result in March. The question was, do Americans have to resort to violence in order to get the country back on track? Seventy-nine percent said no. Twenty percent said yes.

AXELROD: Yes.

TAPPER: Twenty percent of Americans say Americans might have to resort to violence in order to get the country back on track.

SOLTIS ANDERSON: And it doesn't take 20 percent. It just takes one individual.

TAPPER: Yes.

SOLTIS ANDERSON: And one millimeter the wrong direction, and we could be having a very different, even more horrifying day today.

Americans are fed up, and it is going to take leadership to fix it. I am wondering, where is our George Washington figure? Where is somebody who can be a selfless leader who is not interested in, how do I try to stir up voters so that I win this or that, but somebody who is willing to say, voters say we're divided, but we don't know how to get out of it?

We need leadership to get us there, and I just don't know where it's going to come from. TAPPER: Well, let me ask you, Axe, because J.D. Vance and Tim Scott,

both senators, both Republicans, both possible running mates for Donald Trump, put out some statements on Twitter.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: J.D. Vance says: "Today is not just some isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump's attempted assassination."

Just to reiterate, there is no evidence, none...

AXELROD: Right.

TAPPER: ... that -- of any reason why this horrible crime happened.

AXELROD: Yes.

TAPPER: Tim Scott said: "Let's be clear. This was an assassination attempt aided and abetted by the radical left and corporate media incessantly calling Donald Trump a threat to democracy, fascist, or worse."

AXELROD: Yes, listen, one of the things this underscores is why vice presidents are important.

I know, when I was -- we were talking about nominating a vice president with then-Senator Obama, the first thing he said was, table stakes is, this has to be someone who could plausibly be president, who I could feel could be president.

So, it is important that these folks are temperate and sober. The fact that these guys couldn't wait -- this literally -- they put these tweets out literally seconds after this happened, or minutes -- really is a window into them. And you have to ask yourself, should they -- do you want someone like that a heartbeat away from the presidency?

Because as you pointed out, as I pointed out, the evidence right now is far from -- we don't know.

(CROSSTALK)

AXELROD: Yes, we don't know.

TAPPER: We just don't know. We have no -- we have no information.

URBAN: Yes, Jake, I would just say, you heard Senator Johnson out here, right?

I would encourage Republicans to echo Senator Johnson's -- his message, the same thing, unity. And let's just dial it back a little bit.

TAPPER: Yes. URBAN: Dial it back.

(CROSSTALK)

AXELROD: This is a big question for this convention, by the way.

TAPPER: This panel is going to come back at noon.

The show is going -- we're going to be live again at noon. So, stay tuned. And if you want more of this panel, they will be here.

Coming up: We keep hearing from politicians that there's no place for political violence in America. Is that true? Is there no place?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:56:39]

TAPPER: I keep hearing from politicians this morning that political violence has no place in America.

Would that that were true. We are living in an era of political violence. Last night, as you all know, horrifically, a shooter opened fire and tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally. This was the closest call, in terms of a major assassination attempt on a U.S. leader on that level, in more than 40 years, since Ronald Reagan in 1981.

We do not yet know the specific motivations behind this would-be assassin, sick and twisted though they assuredly are.

But, sadly, this is not the first time we have seen this kind of repugnant and un-American violence. In 2011, then-Democrat Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was shot in the head and nearly killed by a gunman at a constituent event. Other innocent people were killed.

A 2017 shooting at a Republicans' congressional baseball practice left Congressman Steve Scalise in critical condition. Then, of course, there was the Unite the Right white supremacist rally in Charlottesville that year. In 2020, violence exploded in protests after George Floyd's horrific murder, then, on January 6, 2021, an attack on the U.S. Capitol and that aftermath, which left multiple Trump supporters and Capitol Police officers dead.

An individual who left pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee buildings, that individual has still not been identified. In 2022, former Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul, was attacked with a hammer in his own home by an intruder searching for the former speaker.

Another man with a gun, a knife, and zip ties was arrested outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, to say nothing of lesser attempt, Cesar Sayoc, who sent pipe bombs to Democrats and members of the news media, including CNN, in 2018.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned of a high threat of violence from radicalized individuals, lone offenders or small group attacks that occur with little warning and said that the 2024 election cycle will be -- quote -- "a key event for possible violence" -- unquote.

The assessment warned of violence against -- quote -- "government officials, voters, and elections-related personnel and infrastructure, including polling places, ballot drop-offs locations, voter registration sites, campaign events, political party offices, and vote counting sites" -- unquote.

There is something troubling the American soul right now. Too many Americans see those with whom they disagree as the enemy, to be shunned, to be banned, to be ostracized, to be threatened with violence, or even to have that violence carried out.

As with so many prior acts of violence, we right now see too many awful responses out there to this hideous attack on former President Trump, responses that are part of this trend. That includes those who, without evidence, are blaming this act of violence on those with whom they have disagreements.

We are praying for former President Trump's recovery today and praying for his family and for those victims of the attack.

And we urge in the strongest possible terms that this election and all our political differences must be determined by ballots and votes, not by bullets, and that this rhetoric of dehumanization stop.

[10:00:09]

Political violence has no place in America? I wish that that were true.

We will be right back at noon with live updates. Thanks for spending your Sunday morning with us.

CNN's breaking news continues next.