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Interview With Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, Mayor Jondavid Longo; Assassination Attempt Investigation Continues; Judge Aileen Cannon Dismisses Mar-a-Lago Documents Case. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired July 15, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:01:23]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: I'm Boris Sanchez live in Milwaukee at the site of this week's Republican National Convention. My colleague Brianna Keilar is live for us in Washington, D.C.

And we're just minutes away from the start of the convention as major developments are unfolding. Today, Donald Trump scored a big legal win, as a judge dismissed his classified documents case. This comes less than 48 hours after the former president, rallying in Pennsylvania, survived an attempted assassination.

This hour, we're also learning a flurry of new details about the gunman and new information about the troubling security failure at that Pennsylvania rally.

Plus, one of the most anticipated announcements of the entire election season, two sources telling CNN that Donald Trump will name his vice presidential pick in the next few hours.

Let's get the latest now from CNN's Kristen Holmes.

Kristen, what are you hearing from sources?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We had long anticipated that this announcement was going to come today, the first day of the convention, but there was some hesitation whether or not that was going to change, given what we saw on Saturday.

But we are told by sources that they do expect that announcement to come this afternoon within the next couple of hours. And when it comes to who is the potential pick, we still are being told by senior advisers that they do not know, but we believe it is limited down to the three people we have been reporting on for the last several weeks, which is North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, and Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio.

Now, I want to show you some video here. This was taken just moments ago. We see Senator J.D. Vance leaving his house heading to the airport, where he will take a flight here to Milwaukee. Now, obviously, when you look at this, you might notice something kind of interesting. J.D. Vance is not just in a regular car. He is in what looks to be either an armored vehicle or he has his own motorcade. Obviously, we are just speculating right now, reading tea leaves about

this. I will note that we are told that all three of those top contenders were given extra security after that shooting on Saturday. But, nonetheless, obviously, here, this is his motorcade leaving.

Anything that we glean on who that candidate will be, Boris, we will be back here sharing that with you.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it could wind up meaning a lot, in retrospect, if Vance winds up being the nominee.

And, Kristen, what is Trump saying about Judge Cannon's decision?

HOLMES: Boris, he's celebrating, as is his campaign. He posted to TRUTH Social. I'm just going to read part of it here.

He says: "As we move forward in uniting our nation after the horrific events on Saturday, this dismissal of the lawless indictment in Florida should be just the first step, followed by the dismissal of all" of what he calls witch-hunts. And he goes on to name the various cases against him.

But let's talk about the larger reality here because there's a reason that they are celebrating. It is twofold. One is legal and one is political. When you look at the legal side of this, they truly believe, and this is Donald Trump, his inner circle and many of his legal advisers, that this was the strongest case against him.

We have seen all of the evidence. There is actual recordings of Donald Trump saying that he knew he had classified documents and shouldn't be showing them to people, but was still going to do so anyway. They had -- they were under the impression that this was going to be the strongest case brought, so obviously a celebration there that this is being dismissed, even if there is an appeal here, which we expect there to be.

The other is political. Donald Trump has long said that all of the legal cases against him were political. Now they believe this helps cement that case. Now, just to be clear, Donald Trump has obviously tried to link these cases, the four cases brought against him, to President Joe Biden, which there's absolutely no evidence of.

[13:05:01]

But if you look at this ruling, Judge Aileen Cannon says that it was unconstitutional to appoint a special prosecutor. That is something Trump's team has been saying for quite some time, so now this gives them extra backing to use that argument, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes, and it could have implications for other special counsels.

Kristen Holmes live outside the Fiserv arena here -- the Fiserv Forum, I should say, in Milwaukee, thanks so much.

Let's get to CNN's Katelyn Polantz now. Walk us through this ruling and this dismissal and what it means.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Yes, well, it means that the case against Donald Trump and his two co-defendants in Florida for mishandling classified records obstructing justice, that's over as of now.

Judge Aileen Cannon is closing that case, dismissing it, no more proceedings there. And the reason, she says, is because it's not constitutional for special counsel Jack Smith to have brought this case, to investigate it and to bring it against Donald Trump pursuant to trial.

She says that because she says Smith was a private citizen the Justice Department brought in from outside the government and he is operating with very little oversight as special counsel. He was never Senate- confirmed and thus this is not a valid prosecutor in the way Congress has set this up and that the Justice Department, the executive branch, should allow.

She also has issue with the funding behind the special counsel's office they have been using. Much of this is very untested in a way where there has been law established. Judge Cannon is ruling on something other judges at her level, the trial level, have looked at across the country and have said, sure, special counsel cases can go forward.

But it's very likely now this issue is going to be appealed. And Justice Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court even teed up this question of the constitutionality of the special counsel's office two weeks ago.

He wrote in a concurrence on the presidential immunity decision related to Trump in his other case: "There are serious questions whether the attorney general has violated that structure by creating an office of the special counsel that has not been established by law. Those questions must be answered before this prosecution can proceed" -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: So, Katelyn, what are the options for the Justice Department now?

POLANTZ: Appeal. They are very, very likely to appeal. We have not yet heard anything from the Justice Department yet.

It's possible they say something. We don't know for sure if they will appeal, but that is in their plane of possibility from now on -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much.

Brianna, I want to send it back to you. I know you have two legal experts with important perspectives on a decision that could impact other special counsels, not just this case against the former president.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes, exactly right, Boris.

I'm joined now by John E. Jones III,who is a former chief federal judge for the middle district of Pennsylvania. He is now president of Dickinson College. Also with us is Tim Parlatore, who is an attorney who represented former President Trump in the classified documents case. He left the team in May of last year for personal reasons.

Tim, obviously, a win for Donald Trump. How do you see this victory?

TIM PARLATORE, CNN LEGAL COMMENTATOR: It's interesting, and I'm still going through the opinion myself. It does seem that she's tried to make a good-reasoned -- reasoned opinion of it.

It's something that, as Katelyn just mentioned, it hasn't really been tested. It is something that a lot of judges have allowed at the trial level, but it's never really been tested at the higher level. And I think it's something that does make sense.

Oftentimes, you have situations like this where the government will do something. They will take existing regulations and they will stretch it a little bit further and a little bit further, and judges will kind of allow it. And, at some point, it should be ruled upon by the higher courts to either say conclusively, yes, this is permitted or, no, that it's not.

And by creating this kind of split between the courts, that is what will bring it up to the higher court.

KEILAR: Yes, and, Judge Jones, that is the expectation, as we just heard Katelyn lay out, that an appeal is likely here. How do you see that appeal playing out?

JOHN E. JONES III, FORMER FEDERAL JUDGE: Well, it's interesting, Brianna, because what Judge Cannon did is, she looked back at a case that's exactly 50 years old. That's the United States v. Nixon case.

And in that case, the Supreme Court appeared to put its imprimatur on the special counsel and the appointment of a special counsel. And legions of federal judges since then have relied on that particular decision by the Supreme Court to green-light prosecutions by a special counsel across the country.

What Judge Cannon said, Brianna, is that is dicta. In other words, in layman's terms, it's surplus. It wasn't presidential. No court has found that before, as Tim knows. And so it's kind of back to the drawing board. She said it wasn't adequately argued. It doesn't mean a thing in terms of precedent, and, therefore, she proceeded to get into the merits of the argument.

[13:10:06]

It's a very long opinion. One other thing in the opinion that I find notable is that it took about 15 pages, less than 15 pages, for Judge Cannon to cite to, as Katelyn Polantz just said, Justice Thomas' concurrence.

I think it can be fairly argued that he created a little bit of a road map for her, at least emboldened her, in terms of her final decision.

KEILAR: Yes, and that's what, looking at what he wrote at the time, a lot of folks said earlier this month.

Judge, I wonder, do you see DOJ perhaps opting to refile this case under the U.S. attorney for Florida? How else could this look?

JONES: Well, they'd have to do that if they want to proceed with the prosecution or obviously win on appeal.

And it's a mess now, Brianna, because you have got various other prosecutions, including the January 6 prosecution. Judge Chutkan has that. You could have a circuit split. This is going to go to the 11th Circuit if it's appealed. There are various ways.

You're right. The idea behind the special counsel was to create some modicum of independence, particularly in a prosecution that could look political in its nature. But all bets are off at this point.

KEILAR: Tim, the reference to what Clarence Thomas said in his concurring opinion, because it was a point that he made alone, right? And I wonder ultimately what you think that might portend as this moves its way through the court.

PARLATORE: Well, I mean, I think it is certainly a signal that the justice is interested in -- and the judge is correct about what he's saying about the difference between dicta and holding. And so that is something -- Justice Thomas' statement is also dicta.

It's something that wasn't argued by either side. It is something that courts can listen to and take guidance from. But one thing to remember is that, from Nixon until today, as Judge Cannon laid out, there was a whole different statute that was enacted and then sunsetted.

And so even though that has been in place for a very long period of time, we had different statutory scheme. One thing -- and the judge made a great point that this could be brought back by the U.S. attorney. It could be brought back by a main Justice.

This case, when I was involved, it was investigated by the National Security Division. When Donald Trump announced his candidacy, they appointed Jack Smith as the special counsel. But, from our perspective, that seemed to be window dressing for several months, because the National Security Division kept doing everything. It was the same people, same signature blocks.

They were still sending out subpoenas, grand jury subpoenas signed the National Security Division. It was only when actually I think CNN pushed them on why are you not using special counsel signature blocks that they all of a sudden got new e-mail addresses and started to fold Jack Smith into the decision-making process here.

So Judge Cannon did not dismiss this with prejudice. So it certainly is something that they can find a way to go back and just kind of remove Jack Smith from the process and rebring in a more -- in a more normal way. KEILAR: Yes, we will have to see the shape that this takes, but very

insightful to hear what you gentlemen have to say.

Judge Jones, Tim Parlatore, thank you to you both.

JONES: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: Boris.

SANCHEZ: We want to turn now to new evidence in the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, eyewitness video showing the gunman at least one minute before he opened fire. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, look, there he is.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (R) AND CURRENT U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Because we have millions and millions of people in our country...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Officer.

TRUMP: ... that should shouldn't be here, dangerous people, criminals. We have criminals.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's on the roof!

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right here, right on the roof. He's standing up now. He went flat on the roof again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: You can clearly hear those witnesses alerting police officers at the rally. Here is what one witness shared with CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE DIFRISCHIA, WITNESS: They had no line of sight. And they even looked at us and said: "Where's he at?" And we were pointing to him. He's right there.

They just -- they were too close to the building. One officer did try to climb up on the building, and he got all the way up, and he just went to get up on top, and then he just kind of let go and fell to the ground. I don't know if the guy startled him or what exactly happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's take you now live with the scene with CNN's Danny Freeman, who's in Butler, Pennsylvania. Also joining us, CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem.

Danny, first to you. What more are we learning about what transpired?

[13:15:03]

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Boris, we're learning a lot more information about the shooter over the past couple of hours.

The first thing I will note is, we're learning from John Miller. He learned from law enforcement sources that the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, purchased 50 rounds of ammunition at a local gun store likely just hours before the shooting itself. So that may speak to part of the premeditation of this, or perhaps lack thereof.

The other thing that we're learning overnight, Boris, is that the shooter here, Thomas Crooks, was actually a member of a sportsman club. And why that's important is because apparently, in this sportsman club -- and, again, we're confirmed this by an attorney for that particular club -- there was a 200-yard rifle range at that club.

And if you will remember, the distance roughly between where the shooter was and where former President Donald Trump was just under that, maybe about 150 yards or so.

But the other thing that I want to note, Boris, that we are learning just in the past few hours is, listen, the FBI has said from moment one, really, they're trying to figure out what the motivation might have been behind this attack.

Well, CNN's Mark Morales is reporting that one of the key answers that we were -- or, I should say, the FBI was looking towards to hopefully find out motive was the shooter's cell phone. CNN's Mark Morales reporting that the analysis of that cell phone is now about 70 percent done, but, still, law enforcement officials are no closer to finding out exactly what caused that shooter, Thomas Crooks, to go up on that roof behind me and open fire at the president -- the former president, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Juliette, just given the facts that we have right now, it's obvious that this was a premeditated attack. I'm wondering what you make of the fact that, just hours before the shooting, the gunman went out and bought 50 rounds of ammo. What does that tell you?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So, it was less sophisticated than, like, sort of a paid assassin-type -- type of scenario.

I mean, basically it appears, right, a not very good shot. I mean, he did -- he was an exceptional shooting. He had no military training to speak of. Maybe he'd been in a club, almost kills the former president of the United States.

And he does so in a way that, just looking at the images, is like sort of J.V. He's like sort of walking around, people are noticing him. He then decides to get on a rooftop, probably because it's vulnerable, and then take his shots. And so the fact that he bought them right before speaks to that this

may been a very short period of time in which he was envisioning trying to kill the former president of the United States. And he -- and so I guess the point to remember then is the Secret Service, therefore, does exist to stop this kind of sort of random behavior.

This is what -- exactly what you want to stop is someone who thinks that they can just show up and try to kill the former president.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

And, Danny, you're learning new details about the actual building the shooter was perched on, and what security was like around it. Tell us about that.

FREEMAN: So, Boris, we heard directly from the Secret Service today, a spokesperson telling our own Whitney Wild that Secret Service did not sweep the building over my shoulder where the gunman was perched, where he opened fire on the former president.

The spokesperson for the Secret Service saying that there was supposed to be local law enforcement in charge of sweeping that particular building. And remember, Boris, that's because that building was outside of the specific official perimeter where the Trump campaign event was happening.

But the Secret Service said they did not know who was responsible for securing that building. Now, I will say we have been reaching out to a lot of the local law enforcement officials here on the ground to get more understanding after Secret Service put that information out there.

I can tell you that the Pennsylvania State Police, they said that they were not responsible for that particular area. And they also doubled down then after I followed up, saying that not only did they have about 40 troopers on scene making sure that parts of the area were secure, but they were saying that they were very much following the direction of Secret Service and that Secret Service was in charge of this operation.

So it's challenging, Boris, at this particular moment to figure out exactly what happened, because there, frankly, does seem to be at this point a lot of finger-pointing in the aftermath of this assassination attempt.

SANCHEZ: Juliette, I'm curious to get your thoughts on that. We're talking about a building that has rooftop access only 150 yards away from the former president.

What do you make of this back-and-forth between the Secret Service and local law enforcement?

KAYYEM: Ultimately, it's the Secret Service that's in charge, because they would have set the security perimeter, which seems shocking that they would have left the building outside the security perimeter. So, in a normal instance, state and local law enforcement are always

going to help the Secret Service. They simply -- they know the streets, they know the neighborhood. So imagine if this was in an urban environment. You would need local police to close the streets.

In this instance, someone from the Secret Service determined that the building, only a couple hundred yards away from the president, with a clear line of sight, was going to be outside the security perimeter. That decision, that decision alone is basically what began this cascade of really bad coincidences that led to Saturday.

[13:20:21]

So the back-and-forth that you're hearing now is, because it was outside the security zone, the Secret Service says, oh, these guys have it, the State Police. The State Police say it is still part of, of course, the secure protected event and the Secret Service ought to have been in charge.

I will say the tell, as I keep saying, is this. The Secret Service knew that there could be a sniper threat because they had anti-snipers deployed to the rooftop in front of the president. If you are going to deploy anti-snipers capabilities, you ought to look around -- this is just basic security planning -- and determine whether a sniper might have a good shot from another building.

To me -- and I haven't been there, but, to me, just the mapping suggests they essentially forgot about this one building. And then, because it was vulnerable, the assassin is able to get in. It's not secured. It's not swept. No one's walking around it. There's lots of other issues about communication and timing and pace.

But this fundamental decision made probably weeks before last Saturday that that building would be outside of the security perimeter is the sort of main cause of everything that unfolded on Saturday.

SANCHEZ: Yes, no question that will get immense scrutiny as this investigation is under way.

Juliette Kayyem, Danny Freeman, thank you both.

(MUSIC)

SANCHEZ: So you may hear the music that just started behind me. When former President Donald Trump takes the stage here at the Republican National Convention in a couple hours, it's going to be his first time since Saturday's assassination attempt.

We're going to talk to a local mayor next, a combat veteran who was there in the front row when shots rang out. We're going to ask him what he wants to hear from the soon-to-be Republican nominee for president.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:26:28] SANCHEZ: We are back live in Milwaukee at the site of the Republican National Convention, where former President Donald Trump will take the stage for the first time after surviving an assassination attempt.

In an interview with "The New York Post," he said -- quote -- "I'm not supposed to be here. I'm supposed to be dead."

Our next guest was at that rally in the front row when shots rang out.

Joining us now is Mayor Jondavid Longo, the mayor of Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, who was a speaker at that Trump rally.

Mayor Longo, we're so grateful to have you here and for you to share your story with us.

I imagine that it's been a very emotional time. I know that, when you were there, you actually jumped on your wife when you realized that something had gone wrong. Walk us through what was going through your mind at that time.

JONDAVID LONGO (R), MAYOR OF SLIPPERY ROCK, PENNSYLVANIA: Yes, sir.

And let me just start by saying this too. Every father, every brother, every man that I saw in that crowd rushed to the aid of their families in that moment. I saw a lot of good. So I don't just want this to be about my particular story. We were all doing what we were supposed to.

And what was going through our mind at that time, of course, was shock. It was disbelief. But, mostly, it was a concern for our loved ones and a concern for President Trump. We were in disbelief that something like this could happen in our backyard.

And we're especially sorry in grieving with the families of fire chief, Corey Comperatore, a hero in his own right. And he was well- known for being a hero as it was, as a firefighter and (INAUDIBLE) and my thoughts are also, of course, with the individuals who were injured and still in critical in condition, as understand it.

So I just want to let them that know that the world is praying with them. And Slippery Rock (INAUDIBLE) praying with them as well.

SANCHEZ: Yes, our hearts go out to them and their families.

I'm wondering what -- at what moment did you realize exactly what was happening, that someone was trying to assassinate the former president?

LONGO: It was difficult. When I heard the first round go off, I didn't want to believe that it was a round, but my ear recognized the sound of gunfire.

I spent time in the Marine Corps (INAUDIBLE) know what a round likes like whenever it impacts. The second, third, fourth shots came in quick succession after it. And that's when I confirmed what it was that I was hoping it was not, and that was that there was an active shooter. Immediately, you begin to scan your surroundings, because you want to

find out where exactly it was that it was coming from. And it was obvious to us all that it was coming from behind us. I was sitting stage left.

So, if you were the president, you would have been looking over your right shoulder at us, that (INAUDIBLE). We understood it was coming from behind us.

What we didn't know, of course, was that it was going to continue and that the -- the intended target, of course, was President Trump, but what we didn't know, of course, was that those rounds were landing (INAUDIBLE). Unfortunately, Corey lost his life (INAUDIBLE)

So, again, everybody just concerned about each other's safety. And, again, I want that to be the focus of this story, is just that Corey lost his life, but he lost his life doing what he thought was right, and that was being there and protecting his loved ones, and understand that he was a hero in that moment as well.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Were you able to see President Trump when he got up, when the Secret Service agents moved to the side and allowed him to stand up, and he addressed the crowd by raising his fist in the air?

LONGO: Yes. Yes. I was looking at President Trump from his right profile.

So I watched this all unfold.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

LONGO: I saw the Secret Service pounce on top of him to protect him.

I saw him rise from -- from the huddle and kind of wrangle his -- his arms and his head from them, so he could show everyone that he was up and standing and he was strong. He raised his fist in -- in what I could only describe as a triumphant resistance.