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Soon, Biden Speaks After Briefing On Trump Assassination Attempt; RNC To Proceed As Planned After Trump Rally Shooting; Bipartisan Demand For Answers From The Secret Service. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired July 14, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: Hello. I'm Kaitlan Collins in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the Republican National Convention is scheduled to begin tomorrow. Already, delegates and surrogates are starting to arrive here as they are still reeling from the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world.

We're continuing to follow the breaking news today as we are learning more information about that stunning assassination attempt that left Donald Trump bloodied at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania last night. This hour, we are expecting to hear from President Biden live from the White House after he was briefed by top national security officials on the investigation in the attack. We will bring that to you live when it happens. It's expected to happen in just a few moments from now.

But this also comes as we're learning troubling new details about the gunman who was killed by the Secret Service moments after they opened fire on the former president. Law enforcement sources are telling CNN the shooter had explosive material inside his car and his residence. Authorities have identified him as 20 year old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who lived in nearby Bethel Park, a suburb in the Pittsburgh area.

Donald Trump confirmed in a post last night, he said a bullet ripped through the upper part of his right ear while he was on stage. We know, of course, that one person attending that rally was killed in the attack. Two others are in critical condition. And today, the Secret Service is now facing serious questions about the moment that this attack happened and how.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- said, take a look at what happened --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: We have a team of correspondents covering these fast-moving developments. Evan Perez is covering the FBI investigation. Danny Freeman is near the home of the suspected gunman. And M.J. Lee is live at the White House.

I want to start with you, Danny Freeman, in Bethel Park where the gunman lived. We are now learning more about the shooter, including explosives that he had in his vehicle. Danny, what have you heard from sources today?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kaitlan, I'll get to the shooter and exactly where we are in just a moment, but I really actually want to talk about something that we just got in over the past hour. It's a statement in a press conference from Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. And, really, what he offered for the first time on camera since this attempted assassination was a plea to take the temperature down on all sides and to rise above the hateful rhetoric that exists and search for a better, brighter future.

Like I said, this is the first time that we've heard from the governor on camera since last night's attack. And he did not actually take questions in this very recent press conference on the investigation and some of the concerns about security that we've been talking about, of course, 24 hours or so, but he did give us more information about one of the victims.

Kaitlan, I'll remind you that one of the rally goers was killed by the gunfire and we learned from the governor today that his name was Corey Comperatore. He was a husband, a father of two and take a listen to how he describes how his wife described this man after he was killed yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D-PA): Corey was a girl dad. Corey was a firefighter. Corey went to church every Sunday. Corey loved his community. And most especially, Corey loved his family. Corey was an avid supporter of the former president and was so excited to be there last night with him in the community.

Corey dove on his family to protect them last night at this rally. Corey was the very best of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Governor Josh Shapiro saying, in addition to that, that the prayers of all Pennsylvanians are with Corey and his family today and those other two shooting victims.

[03:05:01]

But, Kaitlan, I want to get to your original question now. You're right, we're here in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. This is where the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, lived and was from. And we're learning a little bit more about him. I actually just had an opportunity to speak with a young man who said he was in the same high school as Crooks, even though Crooks graduated just the other month.

Now, I will say, or rather a couple years ago, this man was Jason Kohler (ph), who we spoke with. He said he wasn't in any of the same classes, but he did describe remembering Crooks as he walked through the halls having really no facial expressions. He described him as almost a bland face in terms of how he presented himself in school. And also he said that he believed that Crooks was bullied in high school and that he had, quote, a target on his back because of that.

So, again, we're in the neighborhood right now. There's a large police presence here. A lot of the roads in this rather normal suburban neighborhood just outside of Pittsburgh are closed off. It just shows you that this investigation still very much ongoing, as law enforcement agents are really working to figure out what led to the shooting yesterday here in Pennsylvania. Kaitlan?

COLLINS: Yes. And, of course, our thoughts and our condolences with Corey Comperatore's family, and to hear the governor describing him as a girl dad and how he shielded his family in that moment of terror for so many at the rally last night. It's just remarkable. Our thoughts are with them. Danny Freeman, thank you for that report. Keep us updated with what you're learning.

We also have CNN's Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez here. Evan, I know the FBI director was just in the Situation Room with President Biden as they are trying to learn more about the investigation into the shooting itself and how someone was able to get this close to the former president of the United States to be able to be in his line of sight at this rally. What are you learning?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kaitlan. Look, I'm in the -- there's two pieces of this investigation. One is being handled by the FBI, which is focusing on trying to figure out this gunman, his story, what brought him to that rally, how long has he been planning this, all of those questions are still now the focus of hundreds of FBI agents from both in Pittsburgh and also from Quantico that have been brought up there to the scene.

Now, what we know is that one of the reasons why you, we took a little while last night, you and I were texting last night as to why is it taking so long to even know the identity of the gunman who was by that point dead for hours was he wasn't carrying any identification, but the investigators were able to trace the firearm, the rifle, the AR- 15-style rifle that was found there with him that he allegedly used to fire at the former president, that that gun was traced back to his father. And so that's how the police work began over the next few hours overnight.

We know that investigators also found explosive materials both in his vehicle and also at his home. We also know that the law enforcement had encountered him outside of the venue, outside of the perimeter. You know that the Secret Service uses magnetometers to screen everyone who was going into the rally. He did not enter, but they had an eye on him and they were concerned enough about him that they did alert Secret Service.

We don't know exactly what happened after that. We do know. That there are witnesses who say that they spotted him and acting suspiciously and also saw him later on closer to the time before the president took the stage, when he was up on that roof where he took those shots.

Now, as you pointed out, important questions, the other part of this investigation is going to be an internal one for the Secret Service and the Homeland Security Department to determine what happened here, what went wrong. The protocols, as you know, Kaitlan, from attending so many of these rallies, is that the Secret Service is in charge of the perimeter that is for the venue, where the former president was going to be speaking.

Outside of that, you have local and state law enforcement who handled the outer perimeter. We know from some of our reporting from John Miller and others that there were at least four tactical groups. These are like countersniper groups, that were at the scene, two from Secret Service and two from state and local law enforcement.

We know, of course, that Secret Service countersnipers were the ones that took him out. The question is was anyone supposed to be guarding or making sure that the access to that roof, which has a clear line of about 500 feet to where the former president was speaking, whether anyone was supposed to be in charge of securing that area. Those are the important questions, of course, for the Secret Service and for the State Police of Pennsylvania.

COLLINS: And, Evan, have we heard anything from the Secret Service? I mean, we were watching that briefing that happened about midnight last night with an FBI special agent, Pennsylvania State Police. There was no Secret Service representative on hand to answer any questions from reporters. I saw a statement from them today denying that Trump's request -- Trump's team's request for more protection, enhanced protection, was denied.

[13:10:06]

They said actually it was strengthened in recent weeks. But had they said anything else from the Secret Service yet?

PEREZ: Look, I think the silence from the Secret Service, the silence from any of their leadership really is one of the most jarring parts of this, that they -- we have not heard from them, and that's very unusual. Obviously, some of the biggest questions are for them.

And you saw that at the press conference last night, the FBI and the state police were having to take questions that are really more directed at the Secret Service. So, no, we have not heard from them and we already are seeing some very tough questions being asked by members of Congress who want more answers as to what could have gone wrong here.

We know that the Secret Service obviously has a lot of on their hands 'cause they're now trying to secure the Republican National Convention, where you are, Kaitlan. But, yes, I mean, the fact that they were not at the press conference last night, we know they were present. We know they were right there. But the question is, why weren't they part of that press conference? That's a question that we don't know the answer to right now.

COLLINS: Yes, there is obviously a huge security perimeter here at the Republican Convention. You go through the magnetometers. We just passed the Secret Service agents on our way in here. Evan Perez, keep us updated on what you're hearing, if anything, from them. And, of course, the Secret Service director was just also in that briefing with President Biden in the Situation Room at the White House. That's where CNN's M.J. Lee is. M.J., I know we are now hearing that we are going to hear from President Biden in a few moments from now. He came out briefly last night. He had not yet gotten in touch with Donald Trump at that point. They have since had at least a brief phone call. What are we expecting to hear from the president in these remarks shortly?

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We'll be hearing from the president in the next hour or so. This will be the second time that he is speaking directly to cameras since that assassination attempt on Donald Trump last night. He has been in the Situation Room, as you said, getting briefed by various law enforcement agencies.

He's been in there with the heads of the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and notably, as you just pointed out the director of the U.S. Secret Service, which is going to be so key given what you were talking about just now with Evan about the many outstanding questions about the Secret Service's role in everything that led to the tragic events of yesterday.

Last night, the president did speak briefly after what happened at this Trump rally, and he said he was condemning all kinds of political violence. He used the word, sick. But at that moment in time when he was speaking, he had not gotten this full briefing. So, we are really watching very closely to see whether the president can help shed any new light on this federal investigation that is currently underway and paint a fuller picture than everything that we do know so far, as Evan was just laying out.

You noted, Kaitlan, that the president also did speak with the former president briefly last night. Sources had described that call as having been short and brief and respectful. The president, in that phone call, apparently did reiterate to the former president that he doesn't see a place in this country for any kind of political violence.

I should also note, Kaitlan, we are already seeing the Biden campaign sort of recalibrate in the aftermath of the events of yesterday. They are pausing all T.V. ads, for example. They are putting a pause also on any kind of political outbound communication. Vice President Kamala Harris was set to travel to Florida. That trip has been canceled for now. So, I do think in the coming days for President Biden, there is going to be a bit of a delicate balancing act. He needs to sort of meet the gravity of this national moment, but also has to account for the fact that there is a political path that he needs to chart forward, given that we are still in the middle of an important general election.

So, when we hear the president speak any minute now, he will be addressing something that happened to his political rival yesterday. But, again, we expect that this will also be a speech that sort of tries to meet this national moment and where he forcefully calls for national unity in this moment as well, Kaitlan. COLLINS: Yes, we'll be listening very closely for any updates that came out of that Situation Room meeting. M.J. Lee, thank you for that. We'll be checking in with all of our reporters throughout the hour as we are learning more about the investigation, what President Biden knows.

Joining me now is Juliette Kayyem, who is a former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security and is now a CNN senior national security analyst.

And, Juliette, I was looking at that photo that we were just showing, President Biden in the Situation Room. He's surrounded by his top national security advisers, the attorney general, his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan himself, but also the Secret Service director as well. She's a 30-year veteran of the Secret Service and was returned and recently appointed as the director. I mean, there are major questions right now that that everyone, from lawmakers on Capitol Hill, to everyone just has for the Secret Service about how this could have happened.

[13:15:04]

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes. I think -- and those are absolutely fair questions. It would be absurd to call this a security success. The former president and potentially future president of the United States was nearly assassinated. I mean, the gravity of this, you don't want our democracy to come down to luck, right, that he had moved another inch. And so the Secret Service with state and local law enforcement is going to have to determine who decided in terms of their security perimeter planning that it would end essentially at a sort of a metal detector on the ground.

Why if they were worried about snipers, they clearly were because they had people ready to take them out, as we saw, were those buildings essentially left pretty vulnerable, seems like he just was able to walk in. And then where was that gap in communication or situational awareness between lots of people looking at this guy and thinking this is not right, and either following him or detaining him, which you can certainly do, and then apprehending him before he could get on the roof.

COLLINS: Yes, so many questions about that. And those flags that we are hearing from multiple witnesses at the scene about that. We're waiting to learn more about that. Obviously, we know they're looking into it. But the other question I have for you is on this FBI investigation and what we just heard from Danny's reporting that a former classmate of the shooter, I believe he graduated in 2022, he said that this person had a, quote, target on his back in high school, was describing him as someone who did not. Of course, this is one classmate of his at their school. What does what does that information do for the FBI? How are they using that as part of their investigation right now?

KAYYEM: And this is going to be a little bit of a caricature, but when you think about these types of political violence, you sort of put them into the Lost Boys and the Proud Boys, the Proud Boys being very aggressive, very public, organized around a group. And so he does not have that demographic. He does not have that background.

So, chances are he was, in fact, acting alone. The Lost Boys, as we would call them, are 20-something-year-old men. They have access to guns, generally white, who find a cause, and it could be a bunch of different things that they then view as sort of an existential moment for them and that they will use violence to defend themselves.

He does not look like he was very politically active. There's a little random pieces of information about him. He's not someone who's showing up at a lot of places, it appears. And so that sort of that designation of him, as someone who was isolated, bullied, without a community, would suggest that he got radicalized or made -- became more violent, possibly without more likely than not, without an outside network. That's what that's where the FBI would look at this given his background.

And the fact that, honestly, he had the gun from his father, he had explosives, those are things that that generally -- that one can do by themselves. And so, I mean, this isn't good. A single person wanting to take out the past and potentially future president United States is bad. And that's the violence part of this that we have to discuss, which is, honestly, Kaitlan is not about a security perimeter. It's about our democracy. It's about violence.

COLLINS: What about, before we go, the explosives that were found in his car and at his residence? Does that change the thinking of and the approach of whether or not he was acting as a lone wolf?

KAYYEM: Yes, so not necessarily. So, I mean, look, if there were lots of explosives in different places that look like it was sophisticated, you would be worried about someone else. It is more likely than not as it is true in the school shooting cases. People may have heard or worried about him. We wonder about the father and others, and that will come out. It always does in these investigations But there's also a martyrdom aspect to these individual, the loner boys, as are often called, that they want a dramatic end.

We saw this and we've seen these in a couple of instances, and one of them would be either having first responders blow up because you have a detonation, or they believe that they can get away with this and they have another attack in mind. So, that's what we know right now in terms of both his political background with his apparent sort of high school background, isolation, lack of community, and that this fits a model of a certain type of a violent actor that doesn't fit into our model of he's a political activist or a mastermind.

It's something -- given the gravity of this, in some ways, it's something rather unsophisticated in many ways.

[13:20:02]

COLLINS: Yes. We'll be tracking it all closely as we are learning more by the minute, it seems. Juliette Kayyem, thank you for that analysis.

And we are going to have more of our continued live coverage ahead as we're looking into how this assassination attempt changes what's happening right here on the ground in Milwaukee. We do know Donald Trump said this morning he repeated, he is still coming here to speak as planned. But there are questions on what it means for the security, what it means for what we actually hear on stage.

And, of course, we are also waiting to hear from the White House. President Biden will be speaking on this shooting. He is scheduled to speak in about 15 minutes from now. We will be taking that live. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: We are still in our continuing coverage of the now investigation of the attempted assassination on former President Donald Trump last night. That shooting just happening two days before one of those important events of the presidential race, the Republican National Convention, which is taking place here in Milwaukee, in which former President Donald Trump still plans to attend and speak at, as he reaffirmed on Truth Social this morning.

[13:25:01]

CNN's Senior Crime and Justice Reporter Shimon Prokupecz is here with me. And, Shimon, obviously, there is a major question about how this impacts the security here. There's already this massive perimeter here. You have to go through the magnetometers to get in. There's a lot of Secret Service here anyway. How is this changing it so far based on what you've heard?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right, Kaitlan and that security is only going to increase as we get closer to tomorrow. You mentioned that perimeter. We're outside one of the main perimeters. You probably have to walk through here just to get to where you are now.

But the Secret Service is running the operation here. You see these barriers here, there's magnetometers. We in the press have to go through this. We have to get our cases, anything that we bring in, we have to get searched. So, this is the main entrance into where the former president is going to be speaking. This is the Pfizer forum. This is the arena where everything is happening.

Outside of this, there are other perimeters that right now are not set up, but come tomorrow, it's going to be a much different situation. And, obviously, a lot has changed here in terms of how law enforcement is feeling about the week. There is certainly more anxiety. There are certainly a lot more preparation now.

We spoke to the mayor's office this morning. Right now, they're saying on the perimeter, the outside, not the interior here, they're not making a lot of changes. They're waiting for the Secret Service to tell them if there are any changes that need to be made. The key thing for outside this perimeter are the protests that are planned here for tomorrow, and, really, just perhaps any counterprotests that may happen.

And so that's what the local police department, they brought in resources from other states. We've seen state police here from Michigan this morning. We've seen police officers from Fresno. So, you really have a surge of law enforcement officials that are already coming into this area.

But you could certainly -- Kaitlan, I came here yesterday, you can see and you can feel things are already different here. There's just a certain level of anxiety in the air here. Secret Service, we are seeing a lot of them out here, and the feeling is that, at least in the coming days, we're going to see a lot more of them increase their visibility. And then, of course, it's the security around the former president, how that's going to change.

We are unlikely to see much of him out in the streets or in person. He's going to be closely guarded. There are areas for him to go in to the arena where he doesn't have to have exposure to the public. And, certainly, I think security around him is going to be much different. But everyone here right now says they're ready as they get ready for the next week here, Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Yes. It was remarkable to see him last night when he was getting off his plane in New Jersey, where he is now walking down the stairs by himself, obviously, and the hours after that had happened, after he'd been released from the hospital.

Shimon Prokupecz outside the perimeter of the Republican Convention, keep us updated on what you're seeing on the ground.

Before we get back, though, to what is happening here on the ground in Milwaukee, I do want to note that we do now have a photo of Corey Comperatore. That is the man who was killed during that shooting last night, that assassination attempt on Donald Trump's life.

We just learned heartbreaking details from the Pennsylvania Governor, Josh Shapiro, in the last hour, who had spoken with Corey's wife. Corey had just turned 50 years old, according to the Post Gazette, and the governor said he was a girl dad, he was a firefighter, that he went to church every Sunday and noted that he lost his life protecting his family. Obviously, may his memory be a blessing. And we're thinking of his wife and his two daughters in this moment.

Joining me now here on set, CNN's Senior Political Analyst Mark Preston. And, Mark, obviously, I mean, this is 24 hours ago, not at all what Republicans who were preparing delegates to Trump campaign were preparing to confront here, and this has completely changed the entire landscape of this convention.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It has for the convention, but it has, I think, all across the country. We haven't seen something like this, certainly in our lifetime, certainly not your lifetime. And I was very young when, when it occurred for President Reagan. But I got to tell you, just talking to the Trump officials, they say they're going ahead with the convention.

They're going to still try to push forth their themes and have their speakers. But the reality is, this whole convention now is going to be really colored by what happened the other day, and just the images of him pumping his fist and fight, fight, fight, I think we're going to see a lot of that happen here over the next four or five days.

COLLINS: Yes. It was remarkable to see him do that immediately after, to kind of understand and read his supporters who were there and obviously understandably so concerned. And as I was looking at, we've seen the reaction from some Republican lawmakers, the campaign memo that came out from Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, Trump's two campaign co-chairs, basically urging people to make sure that they weren't commenting on this, to keep the temperature low, to carry on with what they were planning here in Milwaukee.

[13:30:05]

PRESTON: Yes. You know what, look, if there's any silver lining and there is no silver lining, that can come out of this, is to see both sides, political sides, not necessarily pour gasoline on what's happening. We have seen it in a few cases. J.D. Vance seemed to pour a little gasoline onto the fire with his tweet and pointing blame about this. But the fact is we've seen both sides try to come together.

We'll see if President Biden can maybe work on that and perhaps do a little bit more when we see him speak here shortly, but this is very much a nation divided. And I think that we are only headed for even more problems as we head into the election.

COLLINS: What does this moment look like for President Biden? Because when he came out last night, it was it was only a few moments. We had not learned a lot yet. He was still being asked if he believed it was an assassination attempt. He said he had his opinion for all of the facts and the information to come in. This will be the first time we've heard from him with a fuller scope of what exactly happened in Butler, Pennsylvania.

PRESTON: It's a no win situation in many ways. I mean, I'll just be very crass. Politically, it's a no win situation. You had his rival, someone tried to assassinate him, failed. The rival pops back up off the stage, shows that he has the vigor. And isn't this whole election about vigor and even I was talking with David Axelrod about this, with the strength about the candidate. So, again, you have Trump popping up off the stage and then you have all these questions about whether or not President Biden can fulfill a full day. This is really politically not a good situation for him.

COLLINS: The entire campaign has changed from what we've been covering to what it is now. It feels like the entire campaign has shifted.

PRESTON: You know, it's crazy, it could change again in the next week or two.

COLLINS: We'll be watching closely. All the surrogates and delegates are arriving here. Mark Preston, thank you for that.

President Biden is going to be speaking soon from the White House on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. He was just briefed inside the Situation Room by his top advisers. We are minutes away from those remarks. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:35:00]

COLLINS: We're learning more right now about how last night's attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump is impacting the White House schedule. We just learned President Biden has canceled a trip tomorrow that was planned to go to Texas. Of course, he was going to speak from the LBJ library and talk about civil rights as part of that. He was also expected to give an interview to NBC's Lester Holt.

It is not clear if that is going to go forward. We haven't heard otherwise yet. But these are fast-moving developments as we are seeing changes in the vice president's schedule, the attorney general's schedule, and now President Biden's schedule himself, as we are waiting on him to speak live from the White House any moment, the second time he will have spoken since this happened in Butler, Pennsylvania last night.

And as this has all unfolded, there is now a heightened police presence around Trump Tower. Several officers can be seen with dogs carrying rifles outside near the entrance of that building on Fifth Avenue. The New York Police Department says, this is out of an abundance of caution, even though Trump seldom visits his former residence. He has been there at times. He is not there at this moment.

But I do want to go to CNN's Gloria Pazmino, who is outside Trump Tower. And, Gloria, just how much has this changed from 24 hours ago to when this shooting happened last night?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kaitlan, it was shortly after the incident in Pennsylvania that the NYPD said that they were deploying additional resources, not just here to Trump Tower but to other sensitive locations around New York City, including Foley Square, 40 Wall Street, also a Trump property, as well as City Hall. This happened shortly after the shooting yesterday in Pennsylvania.

And as you said, it is important to highlight that this is all out of an abundance of caution, that there are no known threats to the building or to any of these other locations. But just as a protective measure, the NYPD has increased its presence.

Now, the scene here is pretty calm so far. There are a handful of Trump supporters that have gathered in front of the building. They have been waving Trump flags. They're all wearing Trump shirts and hats and they have been gathered there for a while. There are also a lot of passersby and curious onlookers who are just taking a look around. This building always was a tourist destination, but, of course, it has taken so much added significance since the presidency of Donald Trump.

And in recent days, as you mentioned, the former president is not here right now and he actually doesn't live here full time anymore. But we have seen that Trump Tower continues to be a base, not just for Trump, but also for his family. This was the place where he traveled from downtown to the court when he was standing trial. So, the significance of this place remains.

The lobby of Trump Tower is, of course, where he launched his presidential campaign forum. The area is open to the public, and that continues to be the case this afternoon. As I said, people going in, taking pictures, trying to look around, all of it done under the careful watch of the NYPD. Kaitlan?

COLLINS: Gloria Pazmino, continue reporting and keep us updated. Thank you for that.

We do have more of our life coverage ahead as we are waiting to hear from President Biden, who is expected to address the nation from the White House at any moment after getting a briefing in the Situation Room by his top national security team, including the director of the Secret Service, as major questions are facing the agency right now. We'll continue to bring you live updates. Stay with us.

[13:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Right now, congressional lawmakers are demanding answers from the Secret Service after what happened yesterday in Pennsylvania, the attempted assassination of the former president of the United States. The chair of the House Homeland Security Committee has now sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, calling for documents related to the rally security plan and also wants a hearing on the incident.

The chairman, Mark Green, writing in that letter, quote, the seriousness of this security failure and the chilling moment in our nation's history cannot be understated.

CNN's Washington Correspondent Sunlen Serfaty is covering all of this. Sunlen, what are we hearing from lawmakers about what they want to know from DHS?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, serious questions, Kaitlan, coming from Capitol Hill about this incident, wanting to know what happened, wanting to know how this could happen, and they want the information to prove it. Now, we heard from Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, and he vowed that there will be a thorough investigation into this incident and likely that includes calling in the Secret Service director, appropriate representatives from the FBI and DHS to testify about what exactly happened, what went wrong.

[13:45:16]

And certainly in the statements that we're hearing from lawmakers are also expressions, condemnations of the political violence, saying it has no place in politics.

Here's more from Speaker Johnson this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. MIKE JOHNSON (D-LA): America awakens to a rather surreal morning. This is a horrific act of political violence. It ought to be roundly condemned. Obviously, we can't go on like this as a society.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: And you mentioned the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Chairman Green, already requesting an immediate testimony and calls for answers from the Secret Service director by the end of this month. He wants not only documents but their testimony to happen in just a few weeks.

And other Democrats to saying that they want a thorough review of what happened. We heard from Ruben Gallego, Congressman Gallego, who's running for the Senate, and he said he wants a full accounting from the Secret Service director, quote, this was a security failure at the highest level, not seen since the attempted assassination of President Reagan. This cannot happen, and I demand accountability.

There also has been an additional bipartisan call for legislation to potentially enhance the protection of all presidential nominees, and certainly, Kaitlan, many, many comments from lawmakers about the need to lower the temperature, lower the tone, especially going into this week's convention. Kaitlan?

COLLINS: Yes. And we'll wait to see what the Secret Service says, whether or not they will appear at that hearing. Sunlen Serfaty, thank you for that report.

We do have much more of our breaking news coverage just ahead as world leaders are responding to that attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. And we have just learned of a conversation that Donald Trump has had this afternoon with another world leader. We'll tell you the details right after a quick break.

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COLLINS: CNN has now learned that the new British prime minister, Keir Starmer, has spoken with former President Donald Trump this afternoon following his assassination attempt last night in Butler, Pennsylvania. A source confirming that to CNN that that conversation did happen just this afternoon, of course, as Donald Trump has been out of the hospital recovering from what happened last night, but also preparing to come here to Milwaukee for the Republican Convention.

CNN's Nic Robertson joins me live from London. Nic, obviously this is notable for two reasons. One, this is one of the newest leaders that Donald Trump would be interacting if he is put back in the White House by the voters. But also this is a conversation as we're watching every conversation Trump has had since last night. This is one of the few that we have learned about that is confirmed that has happened today. What else are you hearing from 10 Downing Street about this call?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. I mean, for people in the U.K., look, they woke up to headlines like this and their newspapers here today. This was sort of a late edition capturing very graphically what's been happening in the United States, and Downing Street yesterday was one of the first to actually issue a statement condemning the violence completely. But this is the first time that we are aware of, that the new prime minister has spoken with Donald Trump. He wished him a speedy recovery. He offered his condolences for the victims and again condemned the violence.

So, this is, of course, Keir Starmer, who was in Washington just a few days ago having his first ever meeting with President Biden as well. So, this is for the British prime minister, a big deal for the British public. It's a headline and it's a very big deal here. They get the severity of what's happened.

COLLINS: Yes. And, obviously, world leaders all over were watching this last night. We were seeing the reactions pour in. We heard from President Zelenskyy and Ukraine on this. What else are you hearing? What are other world leaders saying about this?

ROBERTSON: Yes, noticeably, one of the first to speak out and issue a statement was offering his good wishes for a speedy recovery, praying for him. And that came from Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, who actually met with Donald Trump just last week in Florida. So, the two are good friends. They share a lot of political similarities. They have a lot of political traits, the same both very populist, both powerful orators.

But we've heard across the whole spectrum, from the Indian prime minister, Japanese prime minister, the, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Pretty much every European leader has condemned this, and hearing today as well From President Zelenskyy, saying that violence must not be allowed to pay.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: An assassination attempt on Donald Trump's life, a terrible crime that can only be condemned and which demonstrates how serious the challenges to democracy are globally. Violence in any form and anywhere must absolutely not prevail. I am confident America will rise to the challenge. I wish Mr. Trump a speedy recovery, strength, and support to all those who have been affected.

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ROBERTSON: You know, we've heard from the Chinese leader as well, offering his condolences. Interestingly, from the Kremlin, their spokesman, really trying to play up this issue and make it look as if America is horribly, horribly divided, and give the impression that Russia is a much better place.

COLLINS: Nic Robertson, of course, Putin taking advantage of this tragic moment, thank you for that report, as we continue to see international reaction pour in also here at home.

We are continuing our live coverage because we have just learned news about what this convention here in Milwaukee is going to look like, including that one of Donald Trump's former opponents in the Republican primary race, Nikki Haley, is now expected to speak at the convention.

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Initially, she was not, but a source has confirmed that Nikki Haley will be here on site in Milwaukee.

All of this still comes as we are waiting any moment to hear from President Biden at the White House. Stay with us.

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