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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Suspect In Apparent Assassination Attempt Faces Two Federal Gun Charges; Biden Decries Apparent Assassination Attempt on Trump; Authorities Update On Apparent Trump Assassination Attempt; False Claims About Migrants Eating Pets Spark Threats; Dow Closes At Record High. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired September 16, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Pamela Brown, in for Jake Tapper.

And we start with breaking news. Any moment now, we expect an update from law enforcement officials on what is now the second apparent assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. The latest yesterday at his Florida golf course in West Palm Beach. A Secret Service agent spotted a suspect with a rifle and scope and then shot at him, the entire incident within 500 yards from the former president.

This morning, that suspect appeared in court and was charged with two counts, including possession of a firearm while a convicted felon, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

[16:00:03]

And sources say he could face more charges as the FBI continues its investigation.

Also new today, body cam video of the arrest showing deputies taking the suspect into custody after he tried to run and according to new court documents, cell phone data indicates that suspect was near the golf course for more than 11 hours.

Earlier this afternoon, President Biden strongly condemned the apparent attempt to take Trump's life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me just say, there's no -- and I mean this in a bottom of my -- those who you know me, and many of you do, no place in political violence -- for political violence in America, none, zero.

In America, we resolve our difference peacefully at the ballot box, not at the end of a gun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And we start with CNN's Randi Kaye, who is following the investigation. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ryan Wesley Routh may have been laying in wait from his spot in the bushes at Trump International Golf Club for nearly 12 hours. That's according to court documents unsealed today, showing Routh's phone was in the vicinity of the area, starting as early as 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning.

Prosecutors also revealed in court documents that the serial number on the rifle recovered from the area where Routh was spotted was unreadable to the naked eye. Just before 2:00 p.m., Secret Service notice the barrel of a rifle, poking through a fence at Trump International Golf Club. Trump was somewhere between the fifth and sixth hole at the time.

CHARLES RAMSEY, FORMER PHILADELPHIA POLICE COMMISSIONER: When you look at the map, you see a roadway very close to holes five and six, which it would make sense that that would be a location if you're going to try to take a shot of be closer and would give you an opportunity to do so and also give you an escape route.

KAYE: The Secret Service fired on the man with the gun before he fled a quick thinking witness at the scene provided authorities with a description of the suspect as well as a picture of the car and license plate.

Martin County deputies detained Routh a short time later. CNN obtained this body cam video of Routh's arrest.

SHERIFF WILLIAM D. SNYDER, MARTIN COUNTY, FLORIDA: The witness from the incident at Mar -- at Trump International so was flown to the scene by the Palm Beach County sheriffs office and he was able to make some positive ID.

KAYE: In the bushes at the golf club, authorities recovered an SKS style rifle with a scope, two backpacks equipped with ceramic tiles for a makeshift bulletproof vest, and a GoPro.

Since then, a complicated picture has emerged of Ryan Routh, of 58- year-old small business owner from Hawaii. CNN has learned that Routh supported Trump in 2016, but later dismissed him as a buffoon and a fool. Routh also mentioned Trump in his book titled "Ukraine's Unwinnable War".

Routh traveled to Ukraine in 2022 and encouraged others to sign up to fight. He did an interview with AFP news agency from Kyiv in April that year.

RYAN ROUTH, SUSPECT: Putin is a terrorist and he needs to be ended.

KAYE: Court documents also detail past run-ins with the law, including felony convictions in North Carolina. In 2002, he pleaded guilty to felony possession of a weapon of mass destruction, and carrying a concealed weapon.

Other charges over the years included possession of stolen goods, driving without a registration, and failing to pay his taxes on time.

Still, unanswered questions remain, including how safe is Trump and others, given the current political environment.

ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: Everywhere the foreign president goes and the current president and the other candidates go, they're going to have to start thinking differently about the threat assessment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And, Pam, as we wait for this press conference to start, one other quick note from court, we know that Ryan Routh told the judge that he has zero funds. He was making about $3,000 before his arrest. And the only two the things he has in his possession are two trucks that he has in Hawaii.

So the judge did assign him a public defender who made no comment to CNN.

Pam, back to you.

BROWN: All right. Randi Kaye, thank you. And again, we're waiting for law enforcement to give us an update on this second apparent attempted assassination attempt against Donald Trump.

Thanks, Randi. And with us now is CNN national correspondent Kristen Holmes, CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller, and former Secret Service agent, Jason Russell.

Kristen, to bring you in, there's some new reporting that Trump is supposed to be meeting with the acting director of the Secret Service today. What more do we know about this meeting?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're still trying to learn details as to whether or not that meeting has wrapped. We originally told it was happening early this afternoon, but there are still a lot of questions that the campaign in has for the acting director during this sit-down.

Now whether or not those senior advisers are also going to be present or if it's just going to be the acting director and Donald Trump, we don't have a clear read on that, but there are a lot of questions as to how exactly this could happen. Again, another part of this, is how exactly something like this could happen when Donald Trumps schedule was not public, how is it possible that someone was able to lay in wait for 11, 12 hours on a property which Donald Trump was going to attend one of his properties. How was that not spotted beforehand by either local law enforcement or by Secret Service?

[16:05:04]

Now, I assume some of this will also be asked during that press conference, but there are a lot of real question since as to how exactly Donald Trump is going to be protected moving forward, particularly as we know that after that first disaster nation attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump got a very big increase in his security apparatus, not just from Secret Service in terms of agents on the ground, in terms of a counter assault team that was traveling with him, a bigger motorcade he now includes a van as well as potentially a counter assault team, as well as an ambulance, but also in terms of local law enforcement, they have closed down streets. They have had more local law enforcement. President at his various campaign events and here in West Palm Beach, and yet this was still able to happen. So there are still a lot of questions as to what exactly Donald Trump's campaign and his life security look like moving forward.

BROWN: All right. And, Jason, on that note, I want to bring you in because as Kristen noted, we learned that the suspect was apparently in the area for more than 11 hours, up until he was spotted by the Secret Service agent. It raises the question why he wasn't spotted sooner by law enforcement. Thankfully, he was eventually, but today, President Biden said the Secret Service needs more personnel.

Is that the issue at hand here? What do you make of this?

JASON RUSSELL, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT: I think, you know, it is a personnel issue in one -- in one respect, the other issue is they were treating this like an off the record movement, even though it really wasn't an off the record movement, he typically goes and golfs. So it was a very predictable off the record movement.

I think part of it is a staffing issue. Part of it is just adjusting the way they do protection based on this new threat level that we're seeing today with former President Trump.

BROWN: Just to follow up on that, what is the difference between an off the record movement and, you know, one that's on the record?

RUSSELL: Well, off the record is not on the schedule.

BROWN: Right.

RUSSELL: So, the theory behind that is if somebody doesn't know where you're going. They will be able to set up and plan for an attack. But this particular golf course is, of course, he plays all the time. So even though it's technically an off the record movement, it's a very predictable off the record movement.

I think that's what allowed this attack or to be able to get their weight for 12 hours and essentially guess that former President Trump will be playing golf that day and was able to be in that area.

BROWN: But just -- I'm going to get to you in a second, John, just to follow up. But I mean by that is what is the difference in terms of the security apparatus for an off the record movement? I mean, that's on his schedule like what happened yesterday? And something that is an event that's on his schedule. What is the difference of the security measures?

RUSSELL: Yes. So for an off the record moment, there's going to be no advanced done, right? Of course, it's going to be very limited. They're going to show up just ahead of time. One that's on the schedule, there's going to be, you know, four to five, six days of an advanced done, multiple different groups doing advances motorcades, for the site, for an off the record movement, that's going to be just a very brief advanced right before rival, you know, big cursory search is there not nearly as in-depth as something that was on the schedule.

BROWN: John, to bring you in on this, police found evidence of this government in the bushes around the golf course and SKS style rifle with a scope, two backpacks that had ceramic tiles to augment a bulletproof vest or GoPro.

What does all of that tell you about the suspects planning?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: It tells us that the suspect was planning. He came prepared where he set up his rifle and rested it in-between the links of that chain link fence to steady his shot. The two backpacks that had the ceramic plates, which are the plates you put in front of a bulletproof vest to stop a high caliber round were on either side of the rifle. Basically, he had created a ballistic bunker for himself as a sniper location.

BROWN: John, I'm going to interrupt you because we're going to go to this law enforcement press conference office.

MILLER: OK.

SHERIFF RIC BRADSHAW, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA: OK, just a couple little housekeeping things here in case you haven't been with me at a press conference. We, meaning the gentlemen that are up here, which is the U.S. attorney, FBI, Secret Service we're going to give you everything that we have. We're going to give you the latest updates. They're going to tell you what's going on with the investigation, everything.

And then we're going to do, a limited amount of questions. So, make 'em good, right. Don't get into what if and all of this get, legitimate questions. We got it?

PRESS: Yes, sir.

BRADSHAW: OK. Everybody, ready?

OK. We're here today to give an update on the investigation in regards to the incident at Trump International. With me is the U.S. attorney, the FBI, and the Secret Service.

Just to give you a little information, as you well know, the road down there on summit still blocked off it will be blocked off probably for the remainder of today, and probably a good portion of tomorrow until some of the investigative things need to be done and finished.

[16:10:00]

But we're accommodating people in and out, getting them to the library, getting them to the post office. So the public is not going to be that far inconvenienced. The security level at Mar-a-Lago is the highest it can possibly be now. The road closures are back in place and will remain there. The checkpoints are in place and my commitment to the Secret Service is to give them every possible resource from PBSO. Once they determine the level of security that they need, they will get all the resources as possible.

So having said that, I'll let you talk to the U.S. attorney.

MARKENZY LAPOINTE, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA: Thank you, Sheriff,

Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us today. My name is Markenzy Lapointe. I am the United States attorney for the southern district of Florida.

I want to start by expressing my deep gratitude to Sheriff Ric Bradshaw of Palm Beach County sheriff's office for hosting today's press conference and for his department's assistance with this matter. I'm truly grateful for your leadership, sir.

I'm also pleased to be joined by our partners and federal law enforcement from the FBI and the United States Secret Service and also from ATF.

Joining us today for comments and announcements are special agent in charge Jeffrey Veltri of the FBI Miami field office and acting director of the U.S. Secret Service, Ronald Rowe.

I want to also thank the men and women in law enforcement who have been working around the clock in the initial phase of this ongoing investigation.

Our partners include federal and local authorities who effectuated the apprehension of the defendant and have aided in ensuring federal charges were filed against him, this morning.

We are here to announce that Ryan Wesley Routh, 58-years-old of Hawaii, has been charged by criminal complaint in the southern district of Florida, with firearms offenses related to an incident which occurred yesterday at Trump international golf course right here in West Palm Beach. Routh was charged federally with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession and receipt of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

He had his initial appearance today before Magistrate Judge Ryan McCabe in the federal courthouse in West Palm Beach.

According to the allegations in the complaint, a U.S. Secret Service agent walking the golf course perimeter saw what appeared to be a rifle poking out of the tree line after the agents fired his service weapon in the direction of the rifle, a witness saw a man later identified as Routh, fleeing the area in the tree line.

Routh was later apprehended by officers from the Martin County sheriff's office in coordination with the Palm Beach County sheriff's office. The complaint alleges that in the area of the tree line from which Routh fled agents, found a digital camera, a backpack, a loaded SKS style rifle with a scope and a black plastic bag containing food. The serial number on the rifle was obliterated.

According to the complaint, Roth was convicted of felonies in North Carolina in December 2002 and March 2010, and therefore was prohibited from possessing a firearm. The FBI is leading this investigation, this ongoing investigation. As the attorney general stated earlier today, the FBI is continuing its investigation of this incident as an assassination attempt upon the former president.

The investigation remains in its early stages. The entire Justice Department, including the FBI, the United States attorney's office for the southern district of Florida and national security division are coordinating closely with our law enforcement partners to fully investigate and prosecuted this matter. The charges were announcing reflect a strong collaboration of the agencies represented here. The U.S. attorney's office, the Department of Justice would be unable to carry forth our mission without the invaluable assistance of our federal, state and local law enforcement partners.

I'd like to thank the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and we have Chris Robinson here, special agent in charge, and your Secret Service for the invaluable assistance they are providing, they have been providing.

I would also like to recognize the Palm Beach County and Martin County sheriff's offices for operating the defendant. Again, without the local authorities to assist in those things, it would be literally impossible to accomplish the things we able to accomplish on the federal side.

[16:15:03]

I want to personally thank -- I want to personally express my gratitude to the attorneys with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida and the counterterrorism section of the Justice Department's national security division for their non-stop work over the last 24 to 30 hours. Together, we will continue to work tirelessly to ensuring accountability and the pursuit of justice.

At this time, I will invite FBI special agent in charge, Jeff Veltri, to the podium. After special agent in charge Veltri completes his remark, acting director of the U.S. Secret Service, Ronald Rowe, will provide remarks before we open the floor for a few questions.

On our end, given that this is a pending matter before the court and the investigation is ongoing, all comments will be limited.

Thank you very much.

JEFFREY VELTRI, SPECIAL AGENT IN HCARGE, FBI MIAMI FIELD OFFICE: Good afternoon. For a quick introduction. My name is Jeffrey Veltri, FBI special agent in charge for the Miami field office.

The FBI immediately responded to the scene here in West Palm Beach, Florida. And we are investigating this matter as an apparent assassination attempt of former president Trump. We view this as an extremely serious and are determined to provide answers as to what went up to the events which took place.

I want to emphasize, we're just a little over 24 hours into this investigation were going to provide as much as we can publicly while our investigation is still ongoing. We must also stressed that the United States attorneys office is pursuing charges and that limit some of the details that we can discuss publicly.

Yesterday afternoon, Martin County sheriff's office took custody of Ryan Routh and he was transported back to Palm Beach County sheriff's office. Our FBI agents than attempted to interview him and he invoked his right to an attorney.

In the last 24 hours, the FBI and our partners have been dedicated to investigating the incident and utilizing all available resources. These efforts have included our investigative team and the United States attorneys office for the southern district of Florida in conjunction with DOJ's national security division, are actively working hand in hand two pursue and subsequently execute search warrants.

Thus far, the warrants include a video recording device, subject's cellular devices, a vehicle and other electronic devices located at previous known addresses. We are coordinating with the United States Secret Service to complete numerous interviews of agents on-scene.

We have also interviewed seven civilian witnesses at the scene. And that is just the beginning.

Our FBI's Honolulu and Charlotte field offices have initiated interviews of several family members, friends, and former colleagues of the subject. FBI has deployed several specialty teams to -- and assets from FBI headquarters, and our lab division in Quantico to include evidence and critical incident response personnel.

The evidence response team is collecting and processing multiple evidentiary items. These range from the rifle, which is an SKS model with a scope and obliterated serial numbers, to two bags the subjects electronics and what appears to be ceramic tiles. DNA has also been collected from those items which are being sent to Quantico for testing.

We will also process the subject's vehicle for evidence. The cellular analysis survey team what we refer to as cast conducted thorough analysis of the subject cellular device locations. The cast analysis aligns with witnesses' account of the subject's presence at the scene both before and around the time of the incident on September 15.

More specifically, were continuing to conduct analysis and will be compiling the subjects movements and the days and months, leading up to September 15.

Cellular data shows that the subject was in the vicinity of the golf course roughly 12 hours before the engagement with the United States Secret Service. Our investigative teams conducted a neighborhood canvas in an effort to collect and obtain relevant video footage. The subject had an active online presence and we are going through what he posted and any searches he conducted online.

[16:20:04]

In addition, we're going through media reports and public statements he made that he wanted to recruit Afghans soldiers and others to fight for Ukraine.

The FBI has sent multiple requests to companies for returns on the subject's phone and social media accounts. We received several returns and are waiting on additional responses from other companies as well. Our investigative team is completing analysis of the returns and actioning leads as needed, and we anticipate continuing until the FBI knows the full totality of the subject's social media presence.

By way of his background, in 2002, as the United States attorney mentioned, the subject was charged and convicted in North Carolina for possession of a weapon of mass destruction, law enforcement checks also revealed that from 1997 to 2010, the subject had numerous felony charges for stolen goods.

I can also share with you that he was the subject of a previously closed 2019 tip to the FBI where it was alleged he was a felon in possession of a firearm. And following up on the tip, the alleged complainant interviewed was interviewed and did not verify, I repeat, did not verify providing the initial information. The FBI passed that information to local law enforcement in Honolulu.

On behalf of the FBI, I would like to thank the Palm Beach County sheriff's office and Martin County sheriff's office for their incredible work in actioning the witnesses' information and rapidly apprehending the subject I would also like to thank the United States Secret Service, the United States attorneys office for the Southern District of Florida, the Department of Justice's National Security Division, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and our FBI field offices in both Honolulu and Charlotte who had been conducted additional law enforcement activity related to the subject, your continued partnerships have been invaluable.

Oftentimes in law enforcement, we tell citizens to be vigilant and aware of their surroundings. Yesterday, a citizen provided remarkable assistance, which led to the arrest of this subject. We appreciate the public's diligence and passing potential tips and information regarding the subject and this incident to the FBI.

If you have any information, please call 1800-CALL-FBI or go online to tips. That's TIPS.FBI.gov.

With that, let me turn it over to the United States Secret Service Acting Director Ron Rowe.

RONALD ROWE, ACTING DIRECTOR, UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE: Good afternoon, everybody. Yesterday afternoon. This country was reminded of the heightened and dynamic threat environment the United States Secret Service and its protectees face on a daily basis. Immediately following the assassination attempt of former President Donald J. Trump on July 13th, the Secret Service move to increase assets to an already enhanced security posture for the former president.

In the days that followed, President Biden made it clear that he wanted the highest levels of protection for former president Trump and for Vice President Harris.

The Secret Service move to sustain increases in assets and the level of protections sought and those things were in place yesterday. At approximately, 1:30 p.m., former President Trump was playing golf during an off the record movement to the Trump International Golf Course.

A Secret Service advance agent supporting the front edge of the agencies layered approach to protection and encountered an individual attempting to secrete himself and the wood line. This happened the alleged gunman was on the public side of the fence near the sixth green, a layered approach of security is integral to the Secret Services protective methodologies, and it's also the key to our success.

As former President Trump was moving through the fifth fairway across the course and out of sight of the six green, the agent who is visually sweeping the area of the sixth green saw the subject armed with what he perceived to be a rifle and immediately discharged his firearm, the subject who did not have line of sight to the former president, fled the scene. He did not fire or get off any shots at our agents.

With reports of gunfire, the former president's close protection detail immediately evacuated the president to a safe location. The protective methodologies of the Secret Service were effective yesterday. The former president's protective apparatus allowed for the early identification of the thread and led to a safe evacuation. The increased assets directed by the president -- by President Biden were in place yesterday.

These included the counter sniper team elements, counter surveillance place and counter surveillance agents on the exterior, counter assault teams partner with local tactical assets from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and counter unmanned aerial system elements. All of these entities were present yesterday.

And while all of these assets were in place, as I've said publicly, we must satisfy the basic requirements of the Secret Services protective methodologies. In partnership with local law enforcement, we did just that and the agent's hyper vigilance and the details swift action was textbook, and I commend them and our partners for an exemplary response and keeping former President Trump safe.

And I will tell you, having served and local law enforcement and Palm Beach County, I can state that I am tremendously impressed and appreciative for all the efforts of the Palm Beach County sheriff's office and Sheriff Snyder with the Martin County sheriff's office.

But what was critical to this was the quick reaction, the response, the hyper vigilance of the men and women of the United States Secret Service who since July 13, have been rising to meet in unprecedented and hybrid dynamic threat environment, and they are rising to this moment. And I could not be more proud of them, and the way they have executed not only yesterday, but what they're doing today, and what they are doing tomorrow and what they will always do because it is their duty. Thank you.

BRADSHAW: Okay. All right. Well, go slow here, folks. I don't want everybody do it once.

Asked who you want to answer the question, then get the question.

REPORTER: I have a question for you director. Is there any evidence to suggest that the suspect knew that Donald Trump would be on the golf course at that time? And was the golf course searched thoroughly before the former president's arrival?

ROWE: So, at this time, it was an off the record movement, meaning it was not on the former president's official schedule and what I go back to is the layered approach. The elements and the methodologies of the Secret Service. You know, there was a front element. It did its job in sweeping ahead of the president.

That's what identified this individual who was in that wood line and the swift action of that agent doing his job, pushing out ahead, sweeping while the president was behind him, several hundred yards and several holds away out of sight from the gunman, did his job, and that was what alerted the detail, and the swift action is what triggered that.

REPORTER: On the first question, was there any evidence to suggest that the suspect knew that Donald Trump was going to be on that golf course at that time?

ROWE: Based on what I know now and it's an active investigation, I don't have any information on that -- on that.

(CROSSTALK)

BRADSHAW: Perry Parker.

REPORTER: How many times did your agents go around the perimeter and scope out the golf course during the 12 hours of this guy was holed up --

ROWE: So we -- this was an off the record movement. It wasn't a site that was on his scheduled -- it wasn't part of his schedule. So there was no posting up of it because he wasn't supposed to have gone there in the first place.

(CROSSTALK)

ROWE: Garrett Haake? REPORTER: How do you brief President Trump on your findings so far? And has his campaign asked for any changes in his security going forward after yesterday?

ROWE: So -- sorry -- so I've had a conversation with the former president. You know, we've explained and we've worked with the campaign. The president is aware that he has highest levels of protection that the Secret Service is providing him.

(CROSSTALK)

ROWE: We constantly evaluate based on threat and yesterday, what we show is that our agents and our protective methodologies, and there's a lot of tactical assets in place, things that have been put in place as a result of what happened 60 days ago. Those elements are working and that demonstrates the redundancies that we have.

And so, we constantly evaluate. We'll, of course, look at this and see what lessons learned from it but as of right now, we are constantly evaluating that threat. And if we need to ratchet up, additionally, we will.

Yes, sir?

REPORTER: Do we know when Routh arrived in Florida in general when he arrived in Palm Beach, the area?

ROWE: That's a question probably for the FBI.

REPORTER: -- then at the golf course prior to this scoping it out.

VELTRI: We're in the process collecting a lot of evidence and that will be part of that investigation to determine his whereabouts going back quite some time.

(CROSSTALK)

VELTRI: That's part of the investigation as well. Again, that's going to be a little bit challenged until were able to determine the serial number on that gun. So were hopeful to be able to do that.

(CROSSTALK)

REPORTER: -- history of mental illness.

[16:30:02]

VELTRI: We're still looking into that.

(CROSSTALK)

REPORTER: -- the highest level of protection that they would lock down the golf course? Was that a miscommunication then, meaning that President Biden ordering the highest level of protection?

ROWE: Do you want to -- BRADSHAW: Go ahead.

ROWE: OK. So here's the deal, when it comes to Secret Service protection, we provide the highest level.

So, for example, yesterday, counter assault team elements. I'm not going to go into the number of personnel that we have out there, but we have the highest levels from Secret Service. When we work with the Palm Beach County sheriff's office, like, for example, yesterday during that emergency action response, we had their local tactical team assets partner with our local tactic tactical team assets. We had their helicopter up in the year, providing us 360 and situational awareness the overhead for any, if there were any potential threats coming to add us.

So what we did yesterday was exercise our emergency plan based on the number of tactical assets and the highest level of protection that we are providing. The sheriff and I have talked. Now, clearly, when you go down southern boulevard right now and you're tried to get over to Palm Beach?

And you see the robust presence that's existing outside of Mar-a-Lago, the heavy uniform presence, the additional assets of the Secret Service, for those of you that were here in 20 -- in 2017 when the president was in office, when you look at that footprint now and you look at it today, there's not much difference there. There's heavy uniform presence out there. And again, when I go back to as yesterday was an off the record movement, off the record.

And the president wasn't even really supposed to go there. It was not on his official schedule. And so we put together security plan and that security plan worked.

(CROSTALK)

REPORTER: Special agent Veltri, in terms of him being in the vicinity, based on his phone records, is there any evidence to show that Routh was in this -- in the vicinity in the area before Sunday? And when you say in the vicinity, does that mean right there at that spot, in those bushes or could it have been down the street at a restaurant?

VELTRI: It was in very close proximity to where he was spotted by the Secret Service. In terms of your first question, whether he was there earlier. Our investigation is still working to determine that.

BRADSHAW: Whoa, we're going to do two more, you get one.

REPORTER: Thank you.

BRADSHAW: All right? Only two more, you get one.

REPORTER: Okay. We understand that the Secret Service has asked Congress for additional resources since the Butler rally. Have you received those resources yet?

ROWE: So thank you for that question. So we are working.

Look the Secret Service operates under a paradox of zero-fail mission but also that we have done more with less for decades and this goes back many, many, many, many decades, right? What I can tell you is that we have immediate needs right now and we have great support not only from President Biden and you saw his public statement today where he said that, you know, he's going to direct his staff to make sure that the Secret Service has the resources, it needs.

We're having fantastic conversations with members of Congress. I've been up to the Hill last week. We're continuing to have those conversations.

But the long and short of it is this, coming out of Butler, I have ordered a paradigm shift. The Secret Services protective methodologies work, and they are sound. And we saw that yesterday.

But the way we are positioned right now in this dynamic threat environment, it has given me guidance to say, you know what, we need to look at what our protective methodology is. We need to get out of a reactive model and get to a readiness model. There could be another geopolitical event that could put the United States into a kinetic conflict or some other some other issue that may result in additional responsibilities and protectees of the United States Secret Service.

And so we are working, we are making information available to all of our partners. And I just want to say that the commitment of Congress to the Secret Service throughout the years has been tremendous, and we will continue to work with them. And Secretary Mayorkas, who support and making sure that we were getting what we need has been phenomenal. He is one of our biggest champions in our advocate.

And so we're having these conversations and I feel confident that we will get what we need. We have immediate needs, we have future needs, too.

I need to make sure that our counter snipers are the best trained counter-sniper in the world but they are exactly doing what we need them to do, and that they match counterparts in the military in tier one forces. And right now, we are working with Congress to make sure that we get those for our training facility.

We also have unnecessary need for -- to make sure that we're getting the personnel that we have and that requires us to be able to have the funding to be able to hire more people. You can't just give me money and say, hey, we're going to make sure that everybody gets overtime because the men and women of the Secret Service right now, we are redlining them.

[16:35:02]

And they are rising to this moment. And they are meeting the challenges right now. And if you look back out with their body of work over the last 60 days, Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, the Republican National Convention in Chicago. A visit of Prime Minister Netanyahu to Washington, D.C. and to West Palm Beach, which Palm Beach County sheriff's office supported.

Then we go into the presidential debate in Philadelphia last week. And for those in the media that had been to a national special security event, if you saw the National Constitution Center last week, what you saw was pretty much a mini national special security event with the number of assets that were on that perimeter.

And so, our folks are rising to this moment but it requires all of us to be able to have good conversations and make sure that we're getting the Secret Service where it needs to be. And I'm confident that we will achieve that because we don't have an alternative. Success we have to have it every day. We cannot have failures and in order to do that, we're going to have some hard conversations with Congress and were going to achieve that.

BRADSHAW: Last question, one more.

REPORTER: Special agent in charge at the FBI?

VELTRI: Yes, sir.

REPORTER: Did he act alone? Did he have some kind of help?

VELTRI: At this point, we're still exploring that, investigating that. Our investigation will determine that. We do not have information that he's been acting with anyone else at present.

REPORTER: Do you know how long he's been in Florida when he arrived?

BRADSHAW: Oh, you snuck on that there.

VELTRI: Our investigation is still determining that. Thank you.

BRADSHAW: All right. Anyhow -- that's it. We're not going to were not going to do anymore. All right? You got a lot of information there.

The last thing I will tell you is like the director of the Secret Service says, you know, the president called me last night, President Trump, he thanked me for everything that we did along with two Secret Service. He knows we work great together. And he feels safe.

That's important because he is and what we did yesterday proves that the system can work because the suspect didn't even get close to getting around off and we apprehended him and brought them to justice.

So we're -- we're very, very proud of that. Thank you, folks, for being here. I appreciate it.

BROWN: An update there from the Secret Service, the FBI, and the palm beach county sheriff's office, also the U.S. attorney talking after yesterdays assassination attempt to Donald Trump and answering some questions.

Let's bring back CNN's John Miller.

Certainly stood out to me, when you heard there from one of the law enforcement officials that Donald Trump was not in the line of sight of the suspect yesterday, but none -- nonetheless, the suspect, as we learned, was there around 12 hours close to where he was when he was initially? When he was caught by the Secret Service and he was within 500 yards of Trump.

What stood out to you, Trump -- John?

MILLER: It raises a lot of question. Why would he be there 12 hours? I mean, this is based on cell phone tracking.

So we have to ask ourselves a couple of questions, which is that's based on his phone was his phone there? So it was transmitting for the GoPro cameras so he could make his observations and reconnaissance from nearby in the car or was he there that whole time?

The plastic bag of food they found in the car indicates that he might have been holed up there, you know, camping out waiting for it. But I mean, he knew that Trump wouldn't be playing golf at 2:00 in the morning, or 6:00 in the morning, or 8:00 in the morning.

So there's a real question of what was he doing there all that time? Was it reconnaissance? Just trying to figure out where's the best spot? Where's he going to get through? Where's he going to get away?

So we learned some things today in the press conference about where they'll find those answers. But we also learned they don't have those answers yet.

BROWN: We also learned that -- from the FBI that there was a previously closed tip about the suspect. The FBI said that they had followed up with the person who brought the tip forward and they couldn't verify, so they just pass it along to local law enforcement in Honolulu. What did you make of that?

MILLER: I make of that that they found the person who probably gave the tip and the person said it wasn't me and therefore, I can't give you any information which the question is going to be. Did they do the follow-up they needed to do? Did they go to him and say, do you have a gun? And if so, where is it or did they close the case saying we have no complainant?

That's something that's going to be reviewed, I'm sure.

BROWN: Right, because the tip was that he was a felon with a firearm. That was the initial tip that came through according to the FBI, and then, you know, it didn't go anywhere.

I also wondering -- I'm wondering what you think about what we heard from the acting director of the Secret Service when he said, we need to shift to react -- from reactive mode to readiness -- to readiness model.

What did you make of that?

MILLER: I made of that that he was saying the model we saw that prevented this attack. If that's what was about to happen, is one that's working, but he also gave a nod to the idea they need more people.

[16:40:07]

BROWN: All right, John Miller, thank you so much.

MILLER: Thanks.

BROWN: Well, the security concerns for all candidates in light of these assassination attempts. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, moments ago we learned the FBI is interviewing people who knew the suspect charged in the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump yesterday.

Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware joins us now. He is also co-chair of Vice President Harris's presidential campaign. We learned a lot in this press conference from law enforcement officials. In terms of the assets that have been given to Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in the wake of the first assassination attempt against Donald Trump. And that it's at the highest level, it could be for Donald Trump right now.

What is your reaction to all that were learning?

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Well, my first reaction, Pamela, is that, of course, violence has no place in American politics. And I think it's important that President Biden and Vice President Harris, myself, and many others in the Senate, in the House and national leadership of different kinds have called for an end to the aggressive rhetoric of this campaign, have called for there to be more resources for the Secret Service. As you just heard in that press conference of former president Trump, is being provided with the highest level of protection.

[16:45:08]

And I think it's important that we work together to make sure that anyone who's got Secret Service protection is protected successfully. This is a difficult time, and I pray that we don't have another assassination attempt on either candidate.

BROWN: Today, Trump blamed rhetoric from Biden and Harris on his Truth Social platform. He said, because of this communist left rhetoric, the bullets are flying and it will only get worse.

Your reaction?

COONS: Well, we know that's not true. We know that frankly, rhetoric has been heated on certainly former President Trump side. And I don't think that we can ascribe any particular motive to this -- the person who's just been arrested, the person who is the alleged attempted assassin here.

He registered as a Republican and I think voted for Donald Trump in 2016. He's gone back and forth with a variety of rantings from an unhinged person. And I don't think we can ascribe his motives in this attempted shooting in West Palm Beach to any particular view or political agenda.

BROWN: Do you think there's appropriate sense of urgency about what is happening to attend to the assassinations? You know, is this a new era of political violence we're in?

COONS: Unfortunately, it's not. As you know, in the years that I've served in Congress, we've seen way too many acts of political violence. I'll never forget my friend Jeff Flake coming back to the capital splattered in the blood of Steve Scalise, who had been shot and nearly killed in an incident here in Washington.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer was the target of a kidnapping and intended assassination attempt. Speaker Pelosi, her husband was attacked at home and hit with a hammer so hard and that nearly killed him. So in the brief time, I guess not so brief, 14 years that I've been in Congress, there have been too many close calls and too many incidents of potential political violence here in our country.

And I think we've had too many close calls and that's why we need to both tone down the rhetoric of this campaign and provide greater resources to those who are productive.

BROWN: Senator Chris Coons, thank you.

COONS: Thank you.

BROWN: Up next, the governor of Ohio and what he makes of Trump's running mate igniting false claims about Haitian migrants in his state.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:51:14]

BROWN: Springfield, Ohio, has unexpectedly become a center of a political debate due in large part to this moment from Donald Trump in the presidential debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In, Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats.

You'll have seen people on television --

MODERATOR: Let me just say here. This is --

TRUMP: The people on television say, my dog was taken and used for food.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Ohio's Republican Governor Mike DeWine joins us now.

Governor, thanks for coming on. You have called the false claims ridiculous and said they need to stop. How dangerous are these lies? And do you place the blame on Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance?

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R), OHIO: Well, first of all, you know, the immigration issue and the border issue is a very, very legitimate issue. And I think president certainly vice presidential candidate have obligation to talk about and they're in fact talking about it.

BROWN: But this is separate from that.

DEWINE: But my job I think is to reflect exactly what's going on in Springfield. So the mayor tells us, the chief of police tells us there's been no -- no evidence at all if anyone eating a dog or any Haitians doing any of that. These Haitians that are there are legal. They worked very, very hard.

I met this morning with a number of business people who are employees, Haitians, and they tell me that they are really essential to them getting the job done. They worked -- they worked hard, their family focused the culture in Haiti respects education a great deal. So those are just things I think we need to point out.

BROWN: Do you place any blame on Donald Trump or his running mate J.D. Vance?

DEWINE: Look, I'm not here to place blame. I'm here to tell what -- what we're seeing on the ground. And look, there are challenges we've got 15,000 extra people in a town you know, of about 58,000.

And there's some real challenges in regard to health care. There's challenges in regard to driving and other things, but were working very, very closely with Mayor Rue and the city council and others in Springfield to really work on these problems every single day. So that's -- that's what I like. The attention to be is on the real problems that we have, challenges we have.

Springfield is a great city, and, what we've seen is a city that has come back a great deal. And because they've come back, they've created a lot of jobs and they did it very fast. And so, there was not really the capacity for -- to get the employees other than the Haitians who were available after -- after the pandemic. That's when they really saw the great need, and that's the story. That's what's happened.

BROWN: I understand you don't want to place blame on anyone, and you're talking about the challenges there and you are asking for more resources for things like health care. I understand that. But I do want us to listen to what J.D. Vance, Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio told our own Dana Bash yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I have to -- if I have to --

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: But it wasn't just the meme, Senator (ph).

VANCE: -- create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do, Dana.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: He seems to be drawing this direct line between the Haitians who are in Springfield legally to the suffering of Americans there. Is that fair?

DEWINE: Well, I don't think he was talking about fabricating a story. I mean, he --

BROWN: Right.

DEWINE: -- he had information. But my job is, you know, to tell what we're seeing on the ground. And that's -- that's what I do as a governor. We deal with these real problems. There are problems connected with a great deal of surge in migration but, you know, I think they're trying to use that maybe as a way to talk about the bigger, bigger issues.

And all I'm saying is there are legitimate issues. I don't think that border has been protected and these big issues, frankly, given the way of us having a discussion, the failure to control the southern border gets in the way of a legitimate discussion we should be having this country is who should be coming in here legally.

[16:55:13]

That's a -- every country has the right to decide that and make those choices quickly.

BROWN: Quickly, last question, I want to take a moment to get your response to the fact that we've now seen two assassination attempts against your party's presidential nominee. What do you make of this?

DEWINE: Well, that's horrifying. I mean, it's absolutely horrifying. You know, I know Congress will be looking at this again. You know, it seems to me that they don't have enough resources, they don't have enough people.

And I think Congress, you know, will provide the Secret Service with whatever they need to protect the presidential candidate.

I mean, you have a unique situation. You have Donald Trump, who has been president who is running again. He deserves the same type of security that the incumbent president does, and that the Democrat vice president does who's running -- who's running for president.

They all need this great support and it looks like to me they're just not enough in there. Secret Service people do a great job. They're phenomenal, but it seems to me there's not enough of them.

BROWN: All right. And just to be clear, we just learned from that press conference that both Trump and Kamala Harris have had the highest levels of Secret Service at the direction of President Biden since that first assassination attempt.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, thank you so much.

DEWINE: Thank you.

BROWN: We're back with more of the breaking news in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Breaking news in the money lead. The Dow closed at a record high today at more than 41,000 points. This as investors await the Federal Reserve's decision this week on cutting interest rates, possibly by half a point.

On Friday evening, and on Saturday, CNN aired a number of segments that briefly showed an image of former president Donald Trump and Laura Loomer taken from social media. On review this image had been digitally altered by a third party and should not have been included. We regret the error.

The news continues on CNN.