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FBI: Motive In Trump Rally Shooting Still Unknown; Secret Service Faces Scrutiny After Trump Rally Shooting; Bipartisan Calls To End Political Violence After Shooting; Biden, Trump Call for Unity after Assassination Attempt; Biden Urges Americans to "Cool Down" Political Rhetoric; Trump Assassination Attempt: Gunman's Movements; World Leaders React to Assassination Attempt on Trump. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired July 15, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[01:00:00]
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company. It is just after midnight in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where former U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing for the start of the Republican National Convention after surviving an assassination attempt over the weekend.
In a new interview, Trump says he has rewritten his convention speech to focus on unity following the shooting at his rally in Pennsylvania, saying he believes this is a chance to bring the country together. And despite the shocking violence over the weekend, the Secret Service says there are no plans to further tighten security of the Convention, which kicks off in the hours ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AUDREY GIBSON-CICCHINO, U.S. SECRET SERVICE RNC COORDINATOR: We're confident in the current plan that we have, it is based off of technical assessments, protective intelligence, and we are continuously monitoring information related to the event. So we're confident in the plans that we have, and we're moving forward with those plans.
MICHAEL HENSLE, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: So as I said, there's no known specific articulated threat to the RNC or any specific individual attending. As you'd expect after the event yesterday, we've seen an uptick in social media chatter, people talking about what happened. And we, as the lead for all intelligence matters related to the RNC, the FBI, we evaluate all of that to make sure that if it trends into criminal activity or threat based information, we evaluate that and again disseminated out to our federal and state partners for action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The FBI says the motive for the shooting at this stage still unknown, analysts working to gain full access to the gunman cell phone as part of the investigation.
U.S. President Joe Biden condemning the violence in an address to the nation from the Oval Office, he said it is time to tone down the heated political rhetoric.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's time to cool it down. We all have responsibility to do that. Yes, we have deeply felt strong disagreements. The stakes in this election are enormously high. I've said it many times that the choice in the select that we make this election is going to shape the future of America and the world for decades to come. I believe that with all my soul.
Disagreement is inevitable in American democracy. It's part of human nature. But politics must never be a little battlefield and God forbid, a killing field. I believe politics ought to be an arena for peaceful debate, to pursue justice, to make decisions guided by the Declaration of Independence in our constitution. We stand for an America not of extremism and fury, but a decency and grace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now the 20-year-old shooter at the Trump rally was set to vote in his first presidential election this November. CNN's Danny Freeman with more on what we do know about the gunman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Take a look at what happened.
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Moments after former President Trump came under fire Saturday evening, about 500 feet away on a rooftop just outside the security perimeter, the would-be assassin himself was shot and killed by Secret Service snipers. The suspected shooter identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All units operating on Butler Farm show grounds, facility's on lockdown. Everyone stay inside.
FREEMAN (voice-over): A source tell CNN that local law enforcement spotted Crooks near the event metal detectors on Saturday, he appeared to be acting suspiciously and an alert was put out over the radio to keep an eye on him. Later, just before Crooks opened fire, the Butler County sheriff tells CNN that an officer encountered Crooks on the rooftop but was forced to retreat after Crooks pointed his rifle at the officer. This video taken from his high school graduation in 2022.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's got a gun.
FREEMAN (voice-over): Law enforcement officers still have not announced a potential motive for the shooting.
BIDEN: I urge everyone, everyone please don't make assumptions about his motives or his affiliations. Let the FBI do their job and their partner agencies do their job.
FREEMAN (voice-over): CNN has learned, Crooks was a registered Republican and federal election records showed he made a $15 donation to a Democratic Alliance group back in 2021.
TRUMP: This is a big crowd.
FREEMAN (voice-over): This presidential election would have been the first the gunman would be eligible to vote him. In his Bethel Park neighborhood just south of Pittsburgh, a heavy police presence remained Sunday as investigators processed his home. A law enforcement official familiar with the investigation told CNN the shooter had explosive material inside of his car and his residence.
Other law enforcement officials told CNN, the gun used in the attack was an AR style weapon. The rifle was traced to the shooter's father Matthew Crooks. When reached by CNN, Saturday, Matthew Crooks said he was still trying to figure out, quote, what the hell is going on, but would, quote, wait until I talked to law enforcement before speaking about his son.
[01:05:18]
FREEMAN: What was your reaction when you heard the news that this was the shooter?
JASON KOHLER, ATTENDED HIGH SCHOOL WITH THOMAS CROOKS: Crazy. Unbelievable.
FREEMAN (voice-over): Jason Kohler went to the same high school as Crooks. He remembered him as an outcast who was bullied.
KOHLER: Just because like he was, it wasn't like what the clique, so he was always had a, I guess, target on his back. When I would see him he was just very, very bland, didn't show no facial expressions is very, very, very to himself.
FREEMAN (voice-over): On Sunday, Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation confirmed Cooks worked at the center as a dietary aide. They said they were shocked and saddened to learn this news, adding Crooks performed his job without concern, and his background check was clean.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FREEMAN (on camera): Now there are a few more notes that I'll mention here that we learned from the FBI late Sunday afternoon. First is that the FBI believes at this point that Crooks was working alone. They also said that there was no indication that Crooks had any mental health issues. Also, the FBI said at this point, they still don't have an idea of ideology or a motive for this attack. But they do believe that this answer might lie in his cell phone.
However, at this point, the FBI has not been able to access the cell phone so that cell phone is on its way to Quantico, Virginia FBI headquarters to get further analysis. Danny Freeman, CNN, Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
HOLMES: Well, the Secret Service is facing intense scrutiny over the security at the Trump rally on Saturday, specifically, how the shooter was able to gain access to that rooftop roughly 120 to 150 meters from Trump's position at the podium. Anderson Cooper spoke with two CNN analysts about the questions and concerns.
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JONATHAN WACKROW, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT: The Secret Service bears the responsibility for the security plan, they own it, they go in, they develop it through a threat based methodology. I've talked about this, their methodology and how it's applied time and time again. So they own that -- the full accountability for the situation, let's talk about the secure perimeter. But when we talk about that secure perimeter, all we're talking about is the bifurcation of individuals that have been cleared through magnetometers.
So attendees, guests, it's really basic access control, that is setting up the secure perimeter, that doesn't mean that the threat environment goes away once you go over that barrier, that threat environment extends out, you know, thousands of yards. And every Secret Service agent knows that line of sight is in -- mitigating line of sight is a basic tenant of every single site agent that's out there, whether you're new on the job, or you have 25 years on the job, you need to eliminate that line of sight.
So there are some significant questions that need to be answered right now by the Secret Service as to why was this area of vulnerability and, Anderson, it's important to note that by the fact that the counter sniper teams were there, it means that in the preliminary assessment.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And looking in that direction.
WACKROW: And looking in that direction, by the fact that they're there meant that there was a likelihood that someone made that determination that there was a likelihood that this long range threat may present itself. So why on this day, was that area left vulnerable. And the final mitigation to address that threat was the CS teams. There's a lot of questions that need to be answered.
ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It's just a series of really unfortunate decisions. And it had that -- that -- had that property, that point of vulnerability been addressed initially, by simply posting one officer on that roof or even putting drones up in the area to give you a kind of a real time feed of -- as to what's going on, you know, we'd net -- we would not have been misjudged.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe was asked there if there is usually a trail of writings or conversations that authorities find after a shooting like the one in Pennsylvania.
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MCCABE: To some degree, we're a little bit desensitized on this issue, because it is so common that mass shooters leave some sort of an official statement, and they leave it someplace wanting it to be found after they're dead. But not all of them do that. And of course, the best example is Stephen Paddock who's the Las Vegas shooter whose motives and intents were never determined through a multiple year investigation. I think it's likely that we'll learn more about what he was thinking about maybe the sorts of searches he was conducting online.
Hopefully, if he was interacting with other people and sharing his views, will understand who those people are and we'll have an opportunity to investigate them as well but you've got to get into those electronic devices first. You've got to look very closely at things like social media. You got to talk to family, friends, relatives, people who he interacted with at work. It's a slower process than 20 -- I mean, it takes longer than twice of course.
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COOPER: Yes.
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HOLMES: In the aftermath of the shooting, U.S. Congressional members on both sides of the aisle are also saying it is time to cool the heated rhetoric and put an end to political violence. And while debate is raging over how this happened, some see the assassination attempt as perhaps a chance for the nation to reset and come together.
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SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): Being right there and seeing what's happened, it's something that we have to process on this. And I don't think politics or blame or that kinds of who are this or that this is just needing for all of us to turn down any kind of the temperature, and just be grateful that fewer kinds of people were have lost their lives. And now we have can't remember that all the kinds of countless events that are going to be part of this gigantic election, that we have to make sure that this can never happen again.
DAVE MCCORMICK, U.S. REPUBLICAN SENATE CANDIDATE: We have a big conflict. We have a conflict of ideas. President Biden and the Democratic Party, in my opinion, and I think in many Republicans are taking the country in a direction that is not good for America. And we think as Republicans that we have a vision that's much better than that, and we need to have a real debate and fight and argument conflict about the right direction of the country. But it need not be dehumanizing. It need not lead to violence, and in fact, it can't.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, there's been an abrupt shift of tone from the Trump and Biden campaigns following Saturday's events. The political rivals both now calling for national unity. Salena Zito, a U.S. politics reporter with The Washington Examiner says she was supposed to interview the former president during a flight after his rally, she wound up speaking with him by phone and she told CNN's Abby Phillip about that change in tone.
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SALENA ZITO, U.S. NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: I asked him if I could interview him just talk to him about those moments and about how this changed him. And that's when he said, well, I was going to do a speech that was going to be a real humdinger. I think that's were his exact words. But, you know, everything changed in that moment. And Abby, you have covered his events before. When you watch him at a rally, he always looks forward always looks forward. He never looks to his right or to his left.
And he had put a screen up that showed a chart also never does charts. And he looked to his right, something he never does. And as he looked to his right, the bullet grazed right past his face. And I was standing right there when it happened. And he said in that moment, he understood that everything had changed for the country and for himself. He said he was going to focus on bringing the country back together.
He thought that it was very, very important that in that moment, when that happened to him, he understood this is what he was -- he -- what he wants to do what he's supposed to do. And he talked a lot about when he stood up, and there's that sort of iconic moment when he puts his fist up and he told me that he really wanted to project to people.
He said it wasn't about him at that moment. He wanted to project it as people and he says he loves these people. And they are the backbone. This is a Rustbelt area. This is a blue collar, white working class, mostly crowd and he wanted to project to the -- he thought it was important to project to the country in that moment that everything was OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Leslie Vinjamuri joins me now. She is head of the U.S. and Americas program at Chatham House and international think tank based in London. Thanks so much for making the time. What did you first of all, think of President Biden's address to the nation? And do you think it will help or is that a little Pollyannaish given the state of discourse at the moment?
LESLIE VINJAMURI, HEAD OF U.S. & THE AMERICAS PROGRAMME, CHATHAM HOUSE: Well, it was certainly absolutely essential. He of course, had immediately made a statement and that speaking to the nation in his role, not as the Democratic nominee but as the President of the United States acknowledging an assassination attempt on a former president, hard to see how he could have done anything other than that. So it was essential. It was interesting to note that he called out a series of violent attacks over recent years and condemned them all cited a pattern in the United States he referred to the January 6th attack on the Capitol, the assault on Nancy Pelosi's husband. And of course, he talked about what happened to President Donald Trump. [01:15:19]
So he did link these events to a broader trend and made that call for unity. And we've seen that across the Democratic Party, we've seen this from President Donald Trump himself with -- which I think is going to be the singular, most important factor in really dialing down any direction that might lean towards a violence or incite more violence, that the words that come from Donald Trump himself are going to be tremendously important.
But again, we've seen this from leading members of civil society from the Open Society Foundations, which has been very much opposed to Donald Trump's leadership style came out really condemning the attack. There have been a few leaders, elected officials who have tried to make this a partisan issue who have blamed the Democrats and their campaigning rhetoric. But so far, and this is, you know, the essential moment, it's very early days, it's only more than a day since the attack, maintaining that call for unity.
HOLMES: Yes.
VINJAMURI: And ensuring that doesn't turn into a moment for blaming and inciting more violence is absolutely essential.
HOLMES: Yes, several Republicans and members of Congress, it must be said House and Senate are directly blaming Joe Biden and his campaign. What do you think the impact is going to be politically with the Republican convention about to get underway? I mean, Trump says he's going to call for unity. But do you think among his base, there will be anger politically? And also, do you think this whole event could help Trump politically at least for a while?
VINJAMURI: Well, there is anger amongst a Donald Trump's base. That's been a very significant problem for several years. And as we know, some of that coming from Donald Trump's rhetoric. And so he is the leading figure that needs to really turn that around. The signs and the immediate aftermath of this attack have been positive, the fact that he reached out, Nikki Haley has been a competitor for that nomination and has invited her to speak that she's agreed as a very good sign.
If he can open up the tent, bring people on board. But the signals that come from Donald Trump will be absolutely essential. And him sustaining that message, again, in the context of a base that includes extreme elements includes a signs of violence, acts of violence and rhetoric that is inflammatory. If he can take that and turn it around, it could be a very significant turning point for the nation, but it will require daily, hourly, minute by minute work and no backsliding. This is a phenomenally important moment and really needs to come from Donald Trump.
HOLMES: Yes. The thing is with him whether he can maintain it, despite good intentions with the Democrats, a lot of planning, of course, goes into counter programming, a political convention Democrats, they initially pulled their advertising after the attack. But how are they going to have to temper or tweak their strategies during the Republican Convention, so that they can continue messaging but not leave themselves open to criticism, it's a delicate dance.
VINJAMURI: It's a delicate dance. And as we know, they stopped campaigning, President Biden has canceled two of his trips in the aftermath of that attack. And this is a very significant challenge coming on the heels of a few weeks of deep division in the Democratic Party of real challenge from many within as to whether President Biden should continue to be the nominee.
Now the party needs will feel and does need to come together again, around a message of unity. But in the last two days before this attack, that the strategy coming from the Democrats have really gone pretty targeted on the, you know, the idea that has been there throughout the campaign that President Trump represents a threat to America's democracy. I think we will see a real change of tone now necessarily, again, a focus on the need for leadership for unity, focusing on the issues that matter to Americans. And moving away from this being a campaign that is really about the opponents and about the attack.
You know, in the best of all possible worlds, I think we need to see and would hope to see a joint press conference from President Trump and President Biden. That's a lot to ask for. I think it --
[01:20:09]
HOLMES: Yes.
VINJAMURI: -- would be a significant thing to do. And it would demonstrate that the nation matters more than the election, that would really, I think, be a meaningful, meaningful signal.
HOLMES: That now, that would be something, you know, my initial reaction is good luck with that. I wonder if she does this, though too, in terms of the general climate, polling before this happened, you know, many Americans thought political violence was likely. What are the risks that in this massively polarized divided political environment that in fact, despite these calls for unity, there could be an escalation of things unrest or something else.
VINJAMURI: There's a very significant risk, people have been looking at this, I'm very deeply concerned about this, since at least 2016. There's certainly a history of violence in the United States. It's linked to a number of variables. And one of them is to leadership, which is why again, not only the messages that come from Donald Trump, from President Biden that -- but that come from all of those who surround them that have leadership roles across the party, it will be absolutely essential and embedding that throughout society.
This is a very tall order, when it's taken so many years, to really embed that message of hatred, division and polarization, unwinding it is extremely difficult. It's a very tall order at a very compressed time. But we are still several months away from that election. There is, yes, significant scope for violence. But there's also a -- we are at an inflection point. And at a moment like this, there is extraordinary potential. Donald Trump's base are so deeply loyal to him. And the words that he chooses, moderate a tremendous amount, they won't wish to defy the words that he chooses. If he chooses a language that pushes back against violence and hatred, and creating the sense of an deep enemy within the country, then that will go a significant way towards making a difference. But we know the deeper problems in America, the guns, the alienation that so many people feel. It's not only a question of voting, versus using violence, it's all the things that take place on an everyday level, to bring people into communities that they feel more inclusive and productive and where they can make a meaningful contribution to a leadership that pulls them in the right direction.
HOLMES: There are many ingredients in that pot. Leslie Vinjamuri, thank you so much with Chatham House. Appreciate you.
VINJAMURI: Thank you.
HOLMES: While dramatic reactions from within the audience on video from the Trump rally on Saturday, that's when we come back.
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[01:25:20]
HOLMES: New video into CNN shows the reactions of the crowd at the Donald Trump rally immediately after that assassination attempt on the former president in Pennsylvania on Saturday. Some are seen waving and pointing to where one of the audience members was hit by gunfire, others still cowering in fear. Now after that shocking attack, some who attended the rally are fearful of what might happen, next. CNN's Alayna Treene spoke to a couple who were there.
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ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: More than 24 hours after a shooter attempted to assassinate the former president, the area around the rally venue as well as the building where the shooter was ultimately killed by counter snipers continues to be cordoned off. There's still a very heavy police presence here in Butler, Pennsylvania. But I do want to share with you some of the conversations I had with some of the rally attendees after the shooting yesterday. The conversations were very emotional. They had shared that they couldn't believe something like this could happen in America.
I spoke with one couple, Joan and Jim Riemenschneider. And they told me that they were disappointed that politics in this country has become so divisive, that they can't come out and support the candidate they want to choose for the presidential election. They also said that the shooting made them fearful that another politically violent attack could be on the horizon. Take a listen to what they told me.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOAN RIEMENSCHNEIDER, RALLY ATTENDEE: I'm sad that we've come to this in America. Really sad. And this is not how we want to see our golden years, you know. JIM RIEMENSCHNEIDER, RALLY ATTENDEE: Yes.
JOAN RIEMENSCHNEIDER: So much for that. But hopefully we can get it straightened out. And I appreciate you talking to us. It makes me feel a little better.
JIM RIEMENSCHNEIDER: I'm a little fearful on what's going to happen now.
JOAN RIEMENSCHNEIDER: Yes. We are.
JIM RIEMENSCHNEIDER: Because I --
TREENE: What do you mean?
JIM RIEMENSCHNEIDER: I'm afraid that after an attempt on Trump, that some of the extreme right may look the same thing.
JOAN RIEMENSCHNEIDER: We know -- never know.
JIM RIEMENSCHNEIDER: I don't know.
JOAN RIEMENSCHNEIDER: You never know what's going to happen, we just never know.
JIM RIEMENSCHNEIDER: Tit for tat. And that's what I'm afraid might try to happen now. And that -- that's scary.
JOAN RIEMENSCHNEIDER: Sad.
TREENE: You mean an attack on Joe Biden?
JIM RIEMENSCHNEIDER: Yes.
JOAN RIEMENSCHNEIDER: Well, anyone.
JIM RIEMENSCHNEIDER: Anyone. You know, but Joe Biden --
JOAN RIEMENSCHNEIDER: I was wearing Trump shirts. I mean, it's -- it can be anything. And so I'm not going to stop wearing it because of that.
JIM RIEMENSCHNEIDER: No. We can't be afraid.
JOAN RIEMENSCHNEIDER: If he's brave I'm going to brave with him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TREENE: Now, as you could see, there was a very emotional and raw time for the people who were physically on the ground on Saturday. But Joan's final words were also hopeful. She told me that she would refuses to let the political violence that played out stop her from coming out and showing her support for Donald Trump in the future.
Alayna Treene, CNN, Butler, Pennsylvania. HOLMES: And joining me now from Butler, Pennsylvania is Julie Carr Smyth. She's a government and political reporter for the Associated Press. It's good to see you. And I know you were there. Take us back to the moment. Tell us what you saw and heard as this all began.
JULIE CARR SMYTH, GOVERNMENT & POLITICS REPORTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Yes, and thank you for having me, Michael. I am -- I was there I was in the press area which sits in front of the stage but somewhat back and this was a lovely day, it felt like a very family day, people had picnic blankets and couples were coming with holding hands or bringing their children of everybody was very calm. It was hot, 90 degrees and sunny. And then these shots rang out.
And I think initially there was more confusion like maybe it was a firework or something or backfire from a car. And then all of a sudden, it was just a rally of what sounded and definitely like bullets. And Trump was hit and that was visible. And so he dropped and then everyone dropped and there was screaming and fear and just people going what's going on, did he get hit? Did he get killed? What has happened? And so eventually, as everyone has seen, you know, he was -- he stood back up very defiantly, it was taken away and the whole crowd then was sort of ushered off the fairgrounds in a rapid of rapid succession --
HOLMES: What did the -- what did they tell you? I mean, I'm just -- no, I'm just curious what the people were -- was saying to you then and their reaction.
[01:29:46]
SMYTH: Well then -- yes. People were scared, confused, and mainly just still I think fearing kind of for their safety. And there were some low-rent rumblings that maybe there was still another shooter there or something else would happen. And so people were trying to rapidly get out of there.
After things have calmed down. And I was talking to people who were leaving, they said that, you know, this was so scary and disappointing. And there were -- you know, there were some conspiracy theories already starting. This was before both Trump and President Biden have talked about, you know, trying to quell all this.
There were people saying this was the radical left. This was, you know, other things.
HOLMES: I know that you, as part of your reporting you sort of got back in the saddle and you were at the shooter's home, I believe, covering that aspect over it. I'm sure it's not what you thought you'd be doing when you went to cover the rally. What was that like? The atmosphere there?
CARR SMYTH: Well, it's a quiet sort of blue-collar neighborhood south of Pittsburgh and I was there today. And it was -- you know, the police had blocked almost everything off. There were more journalists there than anybody else really. But there were a lot that at one point a bomb squad did go then and
there were various law enforcement, you know, moving in and out of that area.
So you know, we did talk to one of the neighbors who just expressed this idea that maybe America needs three parties or well, more than two at least because some of this frustration is coming from the fact that, you know, there's been a buildup that people don't like either of these candidates and there's a growing frustration that the voters are not being represented by those who are being run for office.
HOLMES: There's been an increased threat environment for a while in America, particularly with the political side of things, the threat of political violence, the vitriol, the anger. I mean, for you as a reporter, I mean, how precarious do you think the timeframe between now and the election is?
CARR SMYTH: I think that it's going to be very important to see what happens with the rhetoric, whether it gets dialed back and whether the Trump supporters, as your previous guest had mentioned, whether they will take his cue absolutely to the letter.
And so if he comes out and he says, we're going to all be kind to one another and we're going to preach love, you know, they'd do that. If he says, this is time for, you know, fighting then that might be what they do.
Now, he did sort of chant, fight, fight, fight as he left that stage. But some you know, I don't feel that that was a call to any kind of violence. I think that was more of just his own fight too, that he had gotten up and was feeling that he was going to be ok.
HOLMES: Yes. Yes. Yes. I'm sorry you went through it, you know, as a fellow reporter. But thank you so much for sharing your insights on that, Julie. Julie Carr Smyth.
CARR-SMYTH: Thank you for having me.
HOLMES: We'll have more on our breaking news when we come back.
What President Biden said during a rare Oval Office address, just about 24 hours after that attempted assassin of Donald Trump.
[01:33:25]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Michael Holmes. Thanks for being with us.
Want to return now to our breaking news coverage of the assassination attempt against former U.S. President Donald Trump. He is now in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention, where the Secret Service says there's no plans to tighten existing security. Meanwhile, investigators are trying to figure out how the gunman at Saturday's rally got to that rooftop there, you can see the gunman there, less than 500 feet away from Mr. Trump.
Now that video shows the moments just before he fired. He's got the gun, he's crouched in a shooting position.
The Butler County sheriff says a police officer saw the gunman on the roof before the shooting. But when he climbed up, the shooter pointed his gun at the officer forcing the officer to duck down below the roofline to take cover. The FBI says the suspects motives, meanwhile, still unclear.
Earlier, President Biden made a rare address from the Oval Office calling on Americans to lower the temperature in politics.
CNN's MJ Lee with more on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Just one day after an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump shocked the nation, President Biden, using a primetime Oval Office address to offer a forceful condemnation of the events of Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania. Saying that political violence has no place in America, no exceptions.
The president using the speech to connect the dots between some of the more recent moments of political violence in the country, including an attack on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, the January 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill, as well as what happened on Saturday at this Trump political rally.
The president in his remarks called on Americans to take down the political rhetoric saying that that had become much too heated in recent years.
Take a listen.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: there's no place in America for this kind of violence, for any violence ever, period. No exception.
We can't allow this violence to be normalized. You know, the political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated. It's time to cool it down. We all have a responsibility to do that.
LEE: The president will continue to be briefed on the ongoing federal investigation into what happened on Saturday. The White House saying that on Monday morning he will be back in the Situation Room being briefed by the various heads of federal law enforcement agencies.
And while the White House has postponed the president's trip to Texas that was supposed to take place on Monday, he will still travel to Las Vegas in the afternoon after sitting down with Lester Holt for a sit- down interview. Of course, even until recently, we had expected that the interview
would focus a whole lot on the President's age, his fitness to serve, and the moment of political peril that he is in. And now, of course, the backdrop of that interview is very different.
MJ Lee, CNN -- at the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, it will be anything but business at used as usual at the Republican National Convention this week. But the event is proceeding as planned.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny with more details on what we can expect.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: The Republican National Convention will formally open here in Milwaukee on Monday. Former president Donald Trump arriving in the city Sunday night with one of the biggest decisions yet to unfold. That of course is who he will name as his running mate.
That is expected to take place Monday afternoon when Republican delegates from across the country gathered in the Pfizer Forum here behind me to formally start nominating and voting for the delegates.
Now there is no question this campaign has changed dramatically given the events of the weekend. One question hanging over all of this convention and indeed the rest of the campaign is, will there be a sense for more unity from both sides?
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ZELENY: That was the plea of President Biden delivering an Oval Office address on Sunday night. And former president Donald Trump is conveying through his advisers who would also like to invoke themes of unity.
Of course, that remains a very open question, given the tenor and tone of this campaign so far.
But there are some indications the program here is changing somewhat. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, one of the longest- standing rivals of Donald Trump in the primary campaign. She has now been invited to give a speech here on Tuesday night. I'm told she will be invoking themes of unity for Republicans and indeed the country as well.
There is no question that this is an entirely different moment in this campaign because of the assassination attempt. Former President Donald Trump will be greeted here as a hero by Republican delegates.
Yes, it's his third Republican convention, but the one four years ago, of course, happened during a pandemic. And eight years ago when he first won the nomination, the party was still divided.
Now this Republican Party is unified behind him, and they believe he's on a good track to defeating President Joe Biden.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN -- Milwaukee.
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HOLMES: And we know more now about the moments of the gunman -- the assassination attempt. We'll have more on that and more questions about security when we come back.
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HOLMES: Investigators still working to learn more about the man they say was behind the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. They've identified him as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. He of course, was killed by Secret Service agents and while investigators search for a motive, we're learning more about what he did before the shooting.
CNN's Brian Todd with that.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have new information now on the shooter's movements just before and during the assassination attempt against former president Donald Trump.
CNN's analysis shows that the shooter was roughly 150 meters away from where Trump was standing at the time he started opening fire. That's less than 500 feet away from the former president.
We're also told by Butler county sheriff Michael Slupe, that law enforcement officers, local police officers, got word of suspicious activity on the rooftop around there and went and investigated it.
At that point, according to the sheriff, one officer hoisted himself up to the ledge of this rooftop here, saw the gunman. The gunman saw the officer according to the sheriff, and pointed his weapon at him.
At that point, the sheriff had to drop down for his own safety because he was clinging to the ledge of the roof and did not -- he was not able to draw his weapon to engage the shooter. So he had to drop down for his own safety.
Also we're told by a senior law enforcement official that just before the shooting, the shooter was seen acting somewhat suspiciously in the area of magnetometers. They would presumably be in these areas here, not clear exactly where he was around these magnetometers. But according to a senior law enforcement official, he was acting somewhat suspiciously around the area of the magnetometers.
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TODD: The key question is, what was he doing? Was he probing for a possible shooting position? Was he on a recon mission. That will be brought out in the investigation.
Another piece of information that we're getting here is that, this is according to Ben Macer (ph), who is a witness who told CNN affiliate KTKA of the shooter's movements just before he took that position.
According to Ben Macer, he saw the shooter move from roof to roof to roof in the moments before he took that position to take shots at the former president. So these had to have been these roofs here because these buildings are all seemingly attached.
If this witness saw the gunman moving from roof to roof to roof, it would have been right about there. And these buildings right there.
Also, we have some video of the gunman in the moments just after he was neutralized by law enforcement, the body of the gunman lying on the -- on the roof of the building where he was.
And as we look at the post shooting scenes here what I can show you is there are some scenes here of the chairs and the debris. But when we take a look at the grandstand, I'm going to pause the video for just a second here, you take a look at the grandstand. We have new information also from the governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, who told us about the deceased victim, Corey Comperatore, a firefighter from Butler County. Corey Comperatore was in these grandstands. He might've been in this one here. We're not sure if he was in that one or possibly this one. But he was hit with gunfire and was killed.
But according to the Governor Josh Shapiro, Corey Comperatore committed a very heroic act during the shooting. He dove on top of his own family to protect them from the shooting and of course was killed by a gunshot in the process.
Again, were trying to find out which of these grandstands Corey Comperatore was in when he was shot and killed.
As we go back to the scene here, we were told that President Biden has ordered an independent review of the shooting and according to our law enforcement analyst, Andrew McCabe, the most basic elements of securing an outdoor site, especially outdoors, is that you have to eliminate the sight lines to where a protectee is standing or speaking.
A key component of this investigation is why was that sight line so close to the former president, not eliminated.
Brian Todd, CNN -- Washington.
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HOLMES: And now on more on that video that a couple attending the rally captured of the gunman on the roof. We do want to warn you it is disturbing.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's turning this way. He's getting -- (END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Earlier my colleague Erin Burnett spoke to the people who captured that video.
Here's what they said.
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MIKE DIFRISCHIA, CAPTURED VIDEO OF GUNMAN FIRING SHOTS: A minute or so before I started filming my wife had nudge me and said what's going on?
And there was -- there were somebody running through the crowd behind us. And that's when we initially realized somebody was up on the roof, somebody there watching the rally trying to get a better viewpoint. And I didn't think nothing of it for a few seconds.
And then shortly after that, a guy behind me said that he had seen him, he had a gun. And then when he said that I moved over a couple of feet and I was able to get a perfect -- I was able to see him perfectly and I'd seen he had a gun and that's when I started to film.
Now, this was before I started to film, but we said he's right there and 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 wanted 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 but one officer did make eye contact with him. Then that was shortly before he started to shoot.
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HOLMES: Now, a mother and son at Saturday's rally say they were just three rows behind former President Trump when the shots rang out. Well, show you some photos now captured by Donna Hutz (ph) while she and her son Joe ducked for safety. They describe the atmosphere as complete shock
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JOE HUTZ, WITNESS: We hear the three shots in this is where seconds turn into minutes and I just remember looking around and no one's going down.
So I screamed, "gun, get down" and I grabbed my mom and I inched her towards the grass because we were so low and she was on top of an 80- year-old woman and I was on top of her. And I remember checking her for blood and everything and four more shots rang out.
DONNA HUTZ, WITNESS: We had a fear that there was more shooters there because if this was happening right in our section, we were the section that everybody sees on TV that everybody is still sitting there and looking, our section was that. [01:49:47]
D. HUTZ: Personally I'm still afraid of civil war, but I'm hoping that maybe this will bring out the good. Something good comes out of everything bad.
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HOLMES: Now the two say they found Trump's response quote, "empowering". Joe Hutz said he wants to attend another rally. Donna said she would too but would prefer an indoor venue.
Reaction meanwhile pouring in from leaders around the world. When we come back the global response to the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.
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HOLMES: In the aftermath of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump leaders in New York gathered to speak out against political violence. In a Sunday news conference, Reverend Al Sharpton and New York City Mayor Eric Adams both condemned the attack, saying that despite political differences, violence is never acceptable.
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REV. AL SHARPTON, FAITH LEADER AND ACTIVIST: There is no secret that I've been an adamant opponent of him on many issues. And he and I have debated and fought for 35 years.
But violence is wrong. No matter who you oppose, we must have a nation that celebrates the diversity of our views and the democracy of our decisions.
MAYOR ERIC ADAMS, NEW YORK CITY: It was a chilling, chilling visualization as I watched what happened yesterday, inches away from the former president losing his life. It's unimaginable that his children would have to experience that, his wife, those who loved him, and his family, and those who are politically aligned with him to watch that in horror or to see the history of what bullets have done, how it has reshaped our past, and it could reshape our future.
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HOLMES: World leaders also condemning the attempt on former president Trump's life. Here's what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had to say.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE PRESIDENT (through translator): An attempt on the life of Donald Trump, an appalling crime, one that can only be condemned and which shows how serious the global challenges to democracy are right now. Violence in any form and anywhere must never prevail. BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We all watched in shock yesterday, the criminal assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump's, a U.S. presidential candidate.
This is not only a heinous crimes, it is also an attempt to assassinate American democracy.
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HOLMES: Now in his address from the Oval Office on Sunday, U.S. President Joe Biden urged Americans to tune out voices from abroad that he said worsen the country's divisions.
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BIDEN: Here in America, we need to get out of our silos. When we only listen to those with whom we agree or misinformation is rampant or foreign actors fan the flames of our division to shape the outcomes consistent with their interests, not ours.
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HOLMES: CNN's Marc Stewart joins me now from Beijing.
You know, Marc, the U.S. has accused China of interfering in the past in its politics. Tell us about the responses being going on there and how it plays into that.
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Michael, in fact, you just referred to those remarks by President Biden, referring to foreign actors.
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STEWART: That certainly has an intersection when we talk about the reaction from China, because on the surface the Chinese government is playing this very safe, very sterile.
Expressing concern and sympathy to Donald Trump. Yet at the same time, this is an issue that is highlighting Chinese social media. It's also highlighting some of the reporting and commentary that we're seeing in Chinese state media, which you could argue would be a vehicle or messenger service for the Chinese government.
Hence, President Biden's comments about foreign actors trying to have an influence over the American election.
Let's first talk about Chinese state media and some of the response that we are seeing there. And I want to first point to an example, an editorial from "China Daily". It's an English publication, again by Chinese state media.
The headline there saying "Trump incident reflects us polarization, divisions". This is commentary and it appears to promote this common theme of political discord in the United States. Another headline, this time from China's "Global Times" also state media. The headline there shooting at Trump rally shows rising political violence as U.S. divides further. This, again, all a tool for China to discredit the American political system on a global stage and, of course, to the Chinese population.
And of course, a lot of chatter on Chinese state media, which is typically heavily-censored, but on this topic, we are seeing a very healthy and robust conversation about how this is portraying the U.S. especially in a negative light.
For example on Weibo, which is China's version of X or Twitter. One comment says, "What democracy and freedom? I now really think elections in other countries are not so different from talent shows. The world is but a circus."
Another comment discrediting the American political process.
Some comments are a little bit more benign, a little bit more general. One talking about a House of Cards. We've seen remarks about gun violence in America and how this may bolster Trump's chance in the election coming up.
Some people felt he came across looking strong. Others are calling him Lucky.
Michael, this is just a collection of some of the remarks we are seeing on Chinese social media since this all unfolded early Sunday morning in the United States.
HOLMES: All right. Marc, appreciate that update there. Mark Stewart for us in Beijing.
And thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Michael Holmes.
CNN NEWSROOM continues with my friend and colleague Rosemary Church in just a few minutes.
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