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Biden To Address Nation From Oval Office Tonight; Secret Service To Hold Briefing In Milwaukee Next Hour; Trump Leaving Bedminster To Head To Milwaukee, Aired 3-4p ET
Aired July 14, 2024 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:01:01]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Kaitlan Collins live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin this hour the site of the Republican National Convention.
Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. We are covering some grave news and a call for unity from the White House as President Biden addresses the nation after that shocking assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump.
He spoke from the White House just a few moments ago and said he was genuinely grateful that his predecessor in that office survived that shooting attempt last night, and also offered his condolences to those who were killed.
Corey Comperatore, and also the two who are critically injured during that shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is no place in America for this kind of violence or any violence for that matter. An assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for as a nation -- everything. It is not who we are as a nation. It is not American, and we cannot allow this to happen.
Unity is the most elusive goal of all, but nothing is important than that, right now -- unity.
We will the debate and we will disagree -- it's not -- that's not going to change, but it is going to -- we are going to not lose sight the fact who we are as Americans.
Look, Vice President Harris and I were just briefed in the Situation Room by my Homeland Security team, including the director of the FBI, the Secretary of Homeland Security the attorney general, the director of the Secret Service, my Homeland Security adviser, the National Security adviser and we are going to continue to be briefed.
The FBI is leading this investigation, which is still in its early stages. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: President Biden will address the nation again tonight, this time in a rare Oval Office address, he noted that as he was leaving the Roosevelt Room, just a few moments ago. He also announced that he is ordering the Secret Service to conduct a review of the security measures in place here at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
The Secret Service is already here on hand. You go through magnetometers to get inside the perimeter. It is quite a wide perimeter around the area, but President Biden says he wants them to review it, to check on those precautions.
He also, and this is notable, given he just met with the Secret Service director in the Situation Room of the White House, says he wants an independent review of the security at that Trump rally and what measures were put in place that allowed 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks as the name of the suspected shooter to open fire before he was ultimately killed by counter snipers who were on the roof outside of that arena or outside of that perimeter where Donald Trump was speaking.
In the last hour, we heard from former President Trump himself. He will be leaving his Bedminster home this hour, flying here to Milwaukee for the Republican Convention after considering a two-day delay, but ultimately saying he decided against it because he did not want a shooter to determine his schedule.
We have a team of correspondents who are covering all these quick moving developments this hour. MJ Lee is at the White House, but I want to start with Danny Freeman, who is near the home where the gunman lived in, and obviously, Danny, this has been a lot of the questions that people have.
President Biden himself, noting that the FBI has not determined a motive yet for this shooter, not one that they are ready to take public for that matter.
What have you learned being on the ground?
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kaitlan, let's just re-rack and tell viewers exactly what we do know about this shooter.
We are right now in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. It is about 35 miles south of where that Trump really happened. It is just outside of Pittsburgh. This is where Thomas Matthew Crooks is believed to have lived just behind me down the road right here. We've seen a heavy police presence all throughout the day. Much of the neighborhood actually is cordoned off because there is still investigating going on.
Here is what we do know. We do know that Crooks was a registered Republican. We do know that a few years ago, he donated a small amount of money to a Democratic-aligned group.
[15:05:01]
We also know that he had an AR-style rifle, that is from law enforcement sources and that that rifle was actually traced to his father and that's ultimately how they were able to connect Crooks to this shooting, because after US Secret Service killed Crooks, they were not able to find any identification on him, so the rifle, as we understand from law enforcement sources, is how they got back to their suspect.
And then we also learned from law enforcement sources that there were explosives found at Crooks' residence, and in his car, and a person who knew him in high school told us just outside here a little while ago that he may have been bullied when he was in high school.
But again, Kaitlan, all of that really pales in comparison to what we do not know and you heard the president say, we heard other state official say it last night and the FBI, we still do not know the motive.
We still do not know if this was truly just a lone wolf situation. And of course, we are still waiting for an answer to the question of how could all of this have happened. Now, Kaitlan, I just want to note one more thing.
We heard from Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro in the past few hours and while he did not give very many details about security or what went wrong, he deferred those questions to other law enforcement agencies. He did describe the man who was killed, the rally-goer who was killed, he identified him as Corey Comperatore, and he described him, Kaitlan, as a husband, a father of two daughters, a girl dad, and also noted that his family considers him a hero because during that rally, when those shots went out and struck that man, struck Corey, he according to Governor Josh Shapiro, dove on top of his own family, saving their lives in this shooting.
So again, it is just a human element that we are reminded of today while we are all still waiting for answers on this larger investigation, again, as to answering that question, how could all of this had happened -- Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Yes. It is just heartbreaking to hear about the impact on that man, his family and of course, our thoughts and condolences are with Corey Comperatore's family and his daughter and his wife who were there at that rally with him.
Danny, thank you for that update.
MJ Lee is at the White House tracking this. President Biden, we just heard from, MJ, of course, after meeting with his top advisers, then he said he was going to deliver a rare Oval Office address tonight.
What are you hearing about what that could look like?
MJ LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, first of all, Kaitlan we heard from the president again in the last hour and when he started speaking, he started out by talking about his brief conversation with the former president yesterday. He said that Donald Trump is doing well and is recovering and that it was a good conversation.
He also paid condolences to this rallygoer that you were just talking about describing him as a father who died while trying to protect his family from the bullets that were flying by.
He of course, was just coming out of a briefing in the situation room from by the heads of various law enforcement agencies, the heads of the DOJ, DHS, FBI, and the US Secret Service and he said that the FBI is now taking the lead on this investigation and he expects this investigation to be fair and swift.
He also said that there was nothing that he could share at this moment when it comes to the motives of the would-be assassin and he sent a stark message. He said, "Don't make assumptions about his motives or affiliation right now," and essentially said, we need to let the federal agencies do their jobs.
This clearly was a president that wanted, Kaitlan, to temper the rhetoric, the speculation and the misinformation that is unfortunately so rampant on social media and elsewhere right now. Just one other thing that is worth really stressing is that the president did also say that the Secret Service is going to be doing a thorough review of the security measures that are in place at the RNC where you are right now in Wisconsin.
We already knew that there was going to be serious ramifications for the RNC given the events of yesterday, but the president, again, confirming for himself that that is going to be incredibly heightened heading into this crucial week.
Tonight, the Oval Office address, I mean, you know better than anyone, how rare it is for the president to use that room, that setting to speak to the nation. So I think that just captures the gravity and the seriousness of the moment that we are in.
You know, we heard the president two times now calling for America being a place where there is just no room for political violence of this kind. So we certainly expect that to be, again, a central theme when he speaks from the Oval Office tonight at eight o'clock.
COLLINS: Yes, if anything warrants an Oval Office address, it seems like this is that moment. MJ Lee, we will continue to check in as we learn more out of the White House and as we are waiting for the former president to leave his Bedminster Club for Milwaukee this hour.
We have also just learned that the Secret Service is going to be holding a briefing in the next hour that will happen at 4:30 PM Eastern live. Of course, there have been major questions for them, and so CNN will bring that to you live when it happens.
[15:10:06]
Joining me here outside the Milwaukee Convention are Jeff Zeleny, CNN's chief national affairs correspondent and Mark Preston, a CNN senior political analyst.
And Jeff, obviously, I mean, this has upended the entire convention and how we were going to be -- what we were going to be looking for, what we were going to be hearing, who we were even going to be hearing from.
We know Nikki Haley has now been added to the list. What have you been hearing from sources?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Look, the 114 days between now and election day are now entirely different. This is a script that has not been written in modern American history with social media, with disinformation, so this now its super charged, everything that has been building up to this point.
But talking to people close to Nikki Haley, that is one example of the changes we will see in the Convention Hall behind me here.
As of last week, she was not invited. She turned over her delegates just a few days ago, some 97 delegates; in that, she issued a call for party unity. Now, she is invited. I am told by her aides that she is working on her speech because this annotation is just coming, but she will deliver that call for unity for Republicans, and indeed Americans.
Why does that matter? In some counties here politically speaking, she did considerably well. Right here in battleground, Wisconsin in Dane County, 124 percent of the primary vote, just a few months ago. So the Trump officials believe that she is a unifying voice for the party, but beyond that to American suburbs.
But all week long, I think we will be sort of talking about the politics on one side and then the country and a broader look at things.
So yes, she will address the politics, but I am told she will also use this as a bigger moment to address the fissures and deep tensions and divide in this country.
COLLINS: Yes, and Republican Conventions period used to be kind of a moment of surprise. You didn't always know what was going to happen at the end of them. They've become more routine and just more about messaging for the candidate now, Mark Preston, but I mean, obviously this is going to shift what we are hearing from every single person who takes the stage.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I am that just about everyone who stands behind that podium is going to talk about how strong President Trump is and how he is able to fight back against his enemies and nothing can take him down and that is the narrative right now that is really developing and it is really helpful to President Trump.
We talked about this a couple of hours ago and there was reaction on social media to our conversations saying that the fact of the matter is, Donald Trump doesn't deserve sympathy. You know, there is anger. He doesn't deserve sympathy. You're wrong. You know, he is the wrong person for office.
It is really interesting that the divide is still there. There is going to be calls for unity. But I really do believe that that divide is so dug-in on each side.
COLLINS: Yes, I mean, we are already seeing it from Republican representatives, whether its Senator JD Vance, Representative Collins who is also posting things online about blaming the left and President Biden for some of the -- for this attempted assassination even before -- we still don't have a motive, but even before we had identified the gunman last night.
ZELENY: Look, that is an example of in this moment of American history with technology being such, we don't wait.
Thinking back as I flew here to Milwaukee this morning and being washed in last night. This is a 9/11-like moment for the country, but boy, the country is in an entirely different place.
I remember very well the feelings of unity there more, and of course this is different. This is in the middle of a presidential campaign, but I still think the tone that is struck inside this Convention Hall will be so interesting and important and what does former President Trump do? This is a moment for him, his advisers do believe, to try and reach out, and obviously, President Biden is doing that tonight as well.
But Democrats now are scrambling to sort of figure out how did they adjust their campaign week. They were obviously going to use it to attack him and draw distinctions. That clearly now is not quite as easy.
So a different moment for the country, but beyond, yes, it is political, but it is more than that.
COLLINS: Yes, and I mean, we are already seeing that, people pulling out moments of what President Biden has said where he is being figurative. Obviously, we've seen the reverse happen with Republicans as well, but it is going to be an entirely new political terrain for everyone, but for this White House.
PRESTON: For everyone, for this White House, and every Democratic candidate, because how do you go out now and attack your opponent and in turn, your party can say, listen though they are stoking violence or what have you, to Jeff's point as well, I think that Donald Trump comes in here in the next four days and he is able to fight his own impulses and urges to go off and do his own thing, and if his advisers can keep him on the straight and narrow, I do believe that this is a huge political plus.
I know that sounds course and ugly and awful, but this is a huge political plus for him.
COLLINS: Well, we just haven't really heard from him. I mean, he has posted on Truth Social. We've not heard from him directly to camera since this happened. [15:15:01]
And Jeff, you and I covered -- we both covered the White House. It is rare for a president to give an Oval Office address. But this, it is safe to say is going to be unlike any other. I mean, the president is going to be coming out after his political opponent was nearly assassinated last night.
[15:15:16]
And you know, the eyes of the country will be watching that address.
ZELENY: They absolutely will. It's an opportunity, I think for President Biden just in the last 24 hours, his reaction to this. Let's not forget, if you step back just before this happened, he was on a very tense phone call with Democrats, House Democrats who are asking him about his capacity to serve. He got off that call, went to Saturday evening mass as he does every week, and then all of this happened.
So this is a new moment for his job as president and never mind presidential candidate, but this is an opportunity for him to obviously also be engaged and by calling for that independent investigation, I think that is something that only presidents know what it is like, I am sure to have that threat.
As we reported last evening, former President Trump has always been nervous about this, former President Barack Obama's supporters, certainly were, so this is something that cuts deep.
But for the Oval Office address tonight, this is a chance for President Biden to assert his control, and I guess, in his day job, but I am not sure if it changes anything in the long term for his candidacy.
COLLINS: Yes, and he said, I will make sure Trump has whatever security precautions and protection he needs and also that he is genuinely grateful that he survived, that he is okay.
Mark Preston, Jeff Zeleny, thank you both for that.
Of course, we are watching this all closely. We will be watching that Oval Office address tonight and yes, the specter of political violence is not new in American politics, but a quite shocking moment last night, revealing just what the consequences of something like this can be and how staggering it is.
We are watching all of this very closely live here from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:21:06] COLLINS: We are continuing to follow all of the developments surrounding the undergoing -- underway investigation into the assassination attempt on former President Trump at that rally last night.
Any minute now, we are expecting to see the former president, for the first time, leave his home in New Jersey. He will be traveling here to Milwaukee for the Republican Convention that is underway where he is expected to pick a running mate, to be around delegates and surrogates and also, to ultimately deliver his speech on Thursday night on the Republican Convention that surely has been altered by what happened within minutes of him taking that stage last night.
In the aftermath of that, of course, we are reminded political violence is not unheard of here in the United States. Actually, it is far from it, unfortunately.
Here tonight -- here today joining me is historian and CNN political analyst, Julian Zelizer.
Julian, it is great to have you here because I do think we look in this moment and people think, how can this happen? And how does, you know -- regardless of the Secret Service questions that we are already know, a lot of questions for them, just put this in the historical context for us of the last time we saw a presidential candidate in this situation, I believe it was George Wallace, but please tell us just the historical perspective of this.
JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It is unfortunately a long history of violence. George Wallace, the infamous governor from Alabama was running in 1972 for the presidency and he was shot and paralyzed.
Of course, in 1968, Robert Kennedy, a Democrat, was running in the primaries and he was shot and killed and there is a long history that goes back, of course, to Abraham Lincoln being assassinated.
And violence is very much part of our history and these are the moments that remind us how easily we can get to this really horrendous place.
COLLINS: Yes, and I think in this moment, people look to political leaders to see what President Biden is saying, what former President Trump is saying, if he says anything when we see him leave his New Jersey golf club soon.
We also heard from House Speaker Mike Johnson, who was saying today, talking about language that President Biden has used, saying that he should be called out for his attacks, that they've contributed to this heated political environment, but obviously, if people see that and say, okay, well, we also see that from Republicans.
We've seen it from Donald Trump himself in past situations, and I think if you're just a regular person and you're looking at that, you're wondering where that leads us next. ZELIZER: Yes. It won't lead us very far. I think the important message is that this kind of rhetoric from leaders is dangerous because it can tap into this element of our culture, and it could also inspire people who are unstable to take actions as we just saw last night.
So the message can't just become one more partisan talking point. I think ultimately, it has to be a bigger conversation about our political culture and then all of the other elements that are part of this, from security and securing our elected officials, down to poll workers, and also issues involving guns and weapon.
So it is a broad conversation if we are actually going to be serious about it.
COLLINS: Well, when you look at the Oval Office address tonight, I mean, I cannot think of when in recent memory, obviously, when a president has had to go to the Oval Office with an address like this one, where his political opponent just the night before was nearly assassinated by someone who somehow made it onto a roof.
What kind of message does President Biden bring to the Oval Office for a moment like this one?
ZELIZER: Yes, I mean, look, this is the most unique set of things that has happened over the past few weeks. It is an election unlike anything we have seen.
[15:25:02]
But obviously, he does have to, at some level be the consoler-in- chief. He has to be the person who tries to take down the temperature. This is part of the political role of the moment.
He is still in the middle of a campaign and that campaign is going to accelerate. So I don't think somehow tonight, he has to back down from his main message or the theme that the Democrats want to pursue, but tonight is one of trying to calm things down and remind the nation that we can have intense political differences and debates without resorting to this kind of action.
COLLINS: Yes, Julian Zelizer, it is a worthy comment at this time. Thank you for joining.
And ahead, we are going to have new details on the investigation into the shooter behind this attack on the former president. CNN has just spoken with his former employer, we will tell you what we are now learning in just a few moments. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:30:23]
COLLINS: Welcome back to CNN's continued live coverage of yesterday's shooting in Pennsylvania, an attempted assassination of the former president of the United States. It is now under investigation by the FBI and having real-time impacts on what is happening here in Milwaukee.
The Republicans are scheduled to begin their convention as soon as tomorrow. Donald Trump expected to arrive here as soon as tonight after saying he considered delaying his trip, but no longer will.
Right now, we are hearing that no major changes are being made to the convention schedule, but you can imagine, speakers are tweaking their speeches and the conversation is going to be completely different than it would have been 48 hours ago. But before this gets underway here tomorrow, we are going to hear again from President Biden in a rare Oval Office address that is scheduled to happen at 8:00 PM Eastern tonight, as he attempts to calm the nation following that attempted assassination of his political opponent.
The shocking moment has led many lawmakers to unite in calling for an investigation into what is underway. CNN's Danny Freeman is in Pennsylvania and Danny, obviously, what lawmakers in Washington want is an investigation into what happened.
They want to hear from the Secret Service. The House Speaker Mike Johnson is promising congressional investigations, all of that is to come, but of course right now, there is very much still this FBI investigation underway. They still haven't determined a motive yet for this shooter.
And now CNN has now spoken with the gunman's former employer for the first time. What are you learning? What was the job? And what are they saying about how he was?
FREEMAN: That's right, Kaitlan.
So we just got this new information in the past hour or so. We are talking about Thomas Matthew Crooks. This is the 20-year-old suspected shooter and we learned that he is a or I should say, was an employee at the Bethel Parks Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Its only about a five-minute drive from where we are in Bethel Park, right by where Crooks lived.
Now, I should say the center confirmed that he was an employee. Specifically, he was a dietary aid at this particular center. The organization said that they were shocked and saddened to hear this news, but also noted in their statement that Crooks performed his job without concern. I just want to make sure I get this quote correct, and that his background check was clean.
They went on to say that they are fully cooperating with law enforcement officials at this time. And of course, our thoughts and prayers go out to former President Trump and the victims impacted by this terrible tragedy.
But again, we are just getting more of a picture of this suspected shooter, this would-be assassin who took shots at former President Trump yesterday afternoon. That is in addition to some of the things we already knew that he was a registered Republican, that he may have donated to a Democratic-aligned group a couple of years ago, and that he had an AR-style rifle that was actually traced back to his father, which is how initially according to law enforcement sources, law enforcement officials were able to identify Thomas Crooks in the wake of this particular shooting.
But of course, Kaitlan, as you noted, as the president noted, just earlier this afternoon, the big question that we still do not have an answer to is, what was the motive?
We understand a little bit more about what he -- what his job was. We understand a little bit more about his -- how he was in high school, a classmate who knew him said that he was a bit of an outcast. He was not really in the in-group and because of that, he may have had a target on his back. He may have been bullied, but still we don't have that all-important question, what made him get into a vehicle, go-to Butler, go to this former President Trump campaign event and opened fire. Clearly, it seems at least from the FBI's perspective, trying to assassinate the former president -- Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Yes, Danny Freeman. Obviously, we are watching all of this very closely. Keep us updated on anything you're learning about this shooter.
Also right now, Capitol Police are holding a virtual briefing with the chiefs-of-staff and district leaders from members of Congress. This comes ahead of a virtual caucus meeting that is set for House Democrats tomorrow according to a source familiar with the calls.
CNN Washington correspondent, Sunlen Serfaty joins me now.
Sunlen, obviously this is also having major impacts on Capitol Hill. We are learning from countless lawmakers, Democratic and Republican leaders. What more are you learning about these preparations that are underway?
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: All right, Kaitlan, serious concerns coming from lawmakers on Capitol Hill, these slew of congressional briefings and calls with leaders surrounded around the security of this incident, what exactly went wrong?
I think all of this really underscores that Congress knows that they have a role to play in the oversight of this incident and many members are calling for more transparency.
[15:35:00]
Now, we did hear from Speaker of the House Mike Johnson earlier today in which he said that he expects that the Secret Service director at some point would testify, in addition representatives from the DHS and FBI in front of appropriate committees there, but in doing so, he also really called for there to be an end to the divisiveness that we are seeing in politics right now.
Here is what he said earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): America awakens to a rather surreal morning. This is a horrific act of political violence that ought to be roundly condemned.
Obviously, we can't go on like this as a society.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: Now, a few other moving parts on Capitol Hill. Chairman Green of the Department of Homeland Security Committee on the Hill, he has called for more information. He wants documents, he wants a briefing from the Department of Homeland Security. He says, in a rather scathing letter today: "The seriousness of the security failure and chilling moment in our nation's history cannot be overstated."
In addition, the House Oversight chairman, they have called for -- he has called for the director of the US Secret Service to testify by July 22nd, that just in a couple of weeks. So all of this, Kaitlan, certainly speaks to the seriousness of the issue and how lawmakers, they want to have a role in its oversight.
COLLINS: Yes. They want a lot of answers here from the Secret Service. I think a lot of people do.
Sunlen Serfaty, thank you for that report from Washington.
And up next, the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, maybe leading to security changes happening right here on the ground in Milwaukee. I can tell you, the Secret Service is already here, set up. There is a perimeter, but we are learning about new potential changes as the former president is set to leave this hour to come here to Milwaukee. We will have that for you live in case he speaks. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:40:52]
COLLINS: Back to our breaking news coverage now of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
I want to go back to CNN's Danny Freeman, who is in Pennsylvania, not far from where the shooter lived because Danny now, we are learning more about the survivors of yesterday's shooting.
Obviously, we talked about the victim, the dad, the girl dad, as Governor Josh Shapiro, referred to him, as who was killed at that rally yesterday, but also two people who were critically injured. Have we gotten any update on how they are doing?
FREEMAN: We do, and frankly, Kaitlan, at the moment, I am happy to report that we do have some good news about those two other people who last we heard critically injured, both of these men are stable now, that's according to the Pennsylvania State Police.
The two other men who were injured in this shooting yesterday evening was 57-year-old, David Dutch from New Kensington, Pennsylvania. He is stable at the moment. And the second victim was 74-year-old, James Copenhaver from Moon Township, Pennsylvania, and he is also stable. Basically, both of these men are from other suburbs of the Pittsburgh area, both from not too far from where we are right now and not too far in terms of the grand scheme of Pennsylvania from the actual event in Butler.
The other thing that I will note though, 57-year-old, David Dutch. The Marine Corps League of Pennsylvania identified Dutch as a commandant in their organization's location in Westmoreland County. So a servicemember was one of the ones who was injured and we learned from the Marine Corps League of Pennsylvania that Mr. Dutch underwent two who surgeries after being shot, both in the liver and the chest. So again, truly miraculous that both of these men were able to survive after getting hit.
And then of course, Kaitlan, you mentioned it initially, Corey Comperatore, 50-years-old. He was the man who you described as a husband, a father, a girl dad as Governor Josh Shapiro noted, he is the one who was a rallygoer at this event. He was the one who died though from the gunshot wounds.
But his wife told Governor Josh Shapiro who relayed this in a press conference early today, his wife said that he was hero because he dove on top of members of his family as the shooting started to ring out to protect them from this oncoming gunfire.
So now we know the identities of the three rally goers who were struck by gunfire in this shooting. Again, 57-year-old, David Dutch, 74-year- old James Copenhaver, they both were able to survive this shooting, an incredible story and incredible that after they were critical last night, they're stable now -- Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Yes, and of course, we are praying for them to have a speedy recovery and to fully cover. And also just thinking of Corey's family, his wife and his two daughters and so many who clearly loved him in this moment.
Danny Freeman, thank you for that report.
We are also learning more about how what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania is impacting what is happening here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
A source familiar with the discussions that are underway says there are conversations happening about adding more federal law enforcement agents here at the Republican Convention where Donald Trump is expected to arrive in just a few hours from now.
CNN senior crime and justice reporter, Shimon Prokupecz is outside the perimeter tracking all of this. And Shimon, our understanding is that these new agents would potentially be added to some positions in the perimeter, but can you just walk us through where they would go and kind of what the calculus is for making this decision ultimately.
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right and that is where we are.
We are on the perimeter, the outer perimeter here in Milwaukee. I want to show you, Kaitlan how this is going to work here.
These are all of the metal barriers right now that are in place. They've been in place for several days. Once the freeze goes in, gates will start to close, cars will not allow to proceed this way. They have barriers here.
We are already seeing a massive police presence here that has increased here in the last 24 hours. You could see officers here, they are from Michigan. You have officers over this way that are from New Jersey, State Police from New Jersey and all along here, there are metal barriers that are going lead -- leading into the area of where the convention is going to take place.
[15:45:15]
So this entire area at this point is going to be shut down once the Secret Service -- now, the Secret Service is running the security here and once the Secret Service decides to put the freeze in, that's when everything here changes.
I've been talking to someone, the law enforcement officers here from New Jersey, from Michigan and they all say they are waiting for the Secret Service to decide here on what the next steps are. There is a plan in place, but they are waiting to see if anything is going to be enhanced.
Now, the new reporting that we are getting from our Whitney Wild is that there is a chance that federal officials will bring in more resources here, more federal law enforcement officials because of what in part happened yesterday.
The other thing, the FBI just did a conference call with reporters and one of the things the assistant director said was that the rhetoric is up. Stuff that is going on in the online world is certainly concerning for them, the rhetoric was already up, but since yesterday, they are seeing even a further increase, and that is certainly going to concern law enforcement officials.
And that is perhaps why, as you look here, there is continuing to be activity why there is this opportunity here now, this discussion to increase law enforcement presence. The other thing I want update you on is in about an hour, in about an hour here in Milwaukee, we expect to hear from the Secret Service. They are going to update us on security here. That is certainly going to be a significant moment because we really haven't heard on camera from anyone from the Secret Service, so that is going to be significant and that should happen in about an hour and that is where I am going to head after this live shot.
COLLINS: Okay, great. Shimon, we will follow you there and continue to track that because a lot of key questions for them about how it does impact what is happening here in Milwaukee. Thank you for that, Shimon.
And we do have new reporting coming in to CNN about this FBI investigation into the shooter. We are learning something it seems every minute now. There are new efforts to get access to his phone and what they have known about whether or not he was acting alone. Another key question, we will fill you in right after a quick break.
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COLLINS: We are getting new details just in to CNN about this FBI investigation that is underway into the gunman who attempted to shoot former President Trump yesterday during that rally. Agents are working to learn more about him from his phone as its investigation takes shape.
CNN's senior justice correspondent, Evan Perez is tracking all of this.
Evan, what exactly is it that they are trying to do and what are they trying to learn from his phone?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kaitlan, at this point, they are still searching for a motive. They have been looking at some of his activity online, some of his text messages and so on, and so far they have not been able to discern any kind of ideology. That is one of the things we learned at a briefing that just happened a short while ago with the FBI.
We heard from FBI Director Chris Wray and from Attorney General Merrick Garland, both of them described this attack, this attempted assassination of the former president as an attack on democracy itself and the biggest update of this investigation is simply that right now, at this hour, they are trying to get access to the shooter's phone. The phone has been brought to the FBI lab in Quantico, and that is where some of the experts, the FBI experts are going to break into it and they believe they will be able to get access to get a better picture of exactly what he was doing in the last few days, in the last few hours before this event.
We know according to Kevin Rojek, the head of the investigation, he is the special agent in charge in the field office in Pittsburgh, he says that what they have been able to find out right now is that the shooter acted alone, but as far as ideology, they have not been able to figure that out from any of his activities online.
Now, one of the things that they are still also doing is they are examining the suspicious device, the explosive device that was found in his car. There is also some explosive material that was also found at the home. Those are things that have been taken again to the lab in Quantico for further processing so they can try to figure that out.
As far as whether there was any indication, any indication that he might do something like this, they said that they had found no evidence that he had had any interaction with police. The FBI had no prior knowledge of him, so no threats or anything like that. No indication of a mental health situation that could, again, explain some activity before this happens. So the FBI is still doing a lot of the legwork, the hard work that really will take for them to figure out what may have happened here, especially because obviously there is no shooter to interview as a result of this.
They also noted, Kaitlan, real quick that his family has been cooperative as part of this investigation. This is something that is now clearly going to take days, perhaps weeks for them to put together a clearer picture of this shooter -- Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Yes. His dad seemed to be kind of in the dark of a lot of this last night when Danny Freeman said they reached him.
Evan Perez, thank you for that report. Keep us updated on what you're learning.
And I do want to talk about that reporting that Evan just brought us, of how this investigation is shaping up. The former FBI executive assistant director for intelligence, Joshua Skule here who is also the CEO of Bow Wave, LLC, also joining me is retired FBI special agent, Bobby Chacon.
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And Josh, let me start with you because what you just heard from Evan there, they are trying to get access to the gunman's phone. One, how difficult it is that in the age of smartphones? And two, what could they potentially learn from that? Is that going through text messages? His notes? Photos? Search history? What could that look like?
JOSHUA SKULE, FORMER FBI EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR INTELLIGENCE: So getting access to his phone is going to be critical. It is going to give access to friends that the investigation may have not have revealed, postings on social media, any notes he may have taken, geolocational devices.
It depends on how the phone is secured will determine how hard it is to gain access to that cellphone, which is why it is at Quantico.
COLLINS: Yes, and so, obviously, is it surprising to you, quickly, Joshua, that they have not yet been able to access that phone?
SKULE: It is not surprising to me. It depends on how the phone is secured, and what form of security and how long the passcode is. Clearly, they don't have the shooter alive to access it for them and this kind of thing takes us to the very difficult discussion on ultimate security versus ultimate privacy.
COLLINS: Yes, obviously we saw that happen in California as well.
Bobby, you know, with what we are hearing about the shooter acting alone and their understanding of that as it is right now, what Evan was saying, we just heard from the FBI special agent, who is in charge of this investigation, the one that was briefing us late last night around midnight. When that is the question and they find explosives in his car and at his residence, how were they certain that that is actually the determination here.
BOBBY CHACON, RETIRED FBI AGENT: Well, so far as of yet, they are not certain and I was on that same call with Evan and AG Garland and Director Wray, and so far they haven't established any links to anyone else that was involved. That's what they stated in the call, but they are going to look through the phone. It is going to be the main thing -- that is how we contact everything, that's where we live our lives, right? Contacting everybody -- family members, friends -- through our phones. So the phone is going to be crucial to do that.
But so far, it looks like he acted alone. There is no obvious outward signs that he was involved with anyone else and that the investigation is ongoing into that. I am sure they have been family members and friends, co-workers all of those things, some of this is just going to take a lot of interviewing once they get into the phone, that will also be a treasure trove of that kind of data to kind of make those connections.
COLLINS: Did anything else stand out to you, Bobby, from that phone call with AG Garland and Director Wray?
CHACON: Well, they are pretty emphatic about saying and making sure they knew, they both said that this was a direct and significant attack on our democracy, which leads me to believe that they're going to throw every resource in to this investigation as they did say, on January 6. I would think that they are going to go to the ends of the Earth to find out how this happened and was anybody else even peripherally involved in helping him or unknowingly assisting him in this endeavor.
And so, it is very important that this its very thorough, the Bureau will do a very thorough job on this because it is very important to know if there was anybody else even tangentially involved in this activity going forward because we are now in the height and now we are entering the final stretch of the political race that ends in November and so, nothing but concern is going to be put forward.
COLLINS: Yes, Joshua, what about what Evan reported on the family cooperating right now? Obviously, we heard about the father last night being reached, saying he was still trying to figure out what was going on after they traced him using that gun because the gunman wasn't carrying any ID. How helpful is that when the family is actually cooperating?
SKULE: It is extremely helpful, Kaitlan in understanding what was the mindset of their relative, understanding that his network of friends, colleagues, and associates and we need to understand, this is an expansive investigation. There is a massive amount of cell phone video that needs to be he collected. There are thousands and thousands of interviews that need to be done.
And as we knew last night, as soon as this happened, the FBI began to mobilize evidence response teams from across the country.
So the family is critical, but all of the other pieces to this are as important because of all the interviews, digital evidence collection, both on the cellphone, but as well as his computer and any other insights the family can provide that leads investigators down a road.
COLLINS: Yes, obviously, so many questions and it feels like we are learning a new development every minute here as this investigation is going on.
Josh Skule, Bobby Chacon, thank you for being on that call and hearing what the attorney general and the FBI director both had to say about this.
We are watching every development here. As you heard from that call, they are trying to get access still to the gunman's phone, something that you've just heard from our experts could be very valuable as this investigation is underway and as President Biden himself emphasized earlier, there is still no known motive yet, at least none that the FBI is ready to put out there for this shooter who carried out this attempted assassination on the life of former President Donald Trump.
We are continuing to monitor all of the news here live from Milwaukee. Our coverage continues right now with Wolf Blitzer and Erin Burnett. Thank you for joining us.
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