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Biden Addresses the Nation After Trump Shooting; Republican National Convention Begins Today; Trump Responds to Assassination Attempt. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired July 15, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A former president was shot, an American citizen killed. There's no place in America for this kind of violence, for any violence ever. Period. No exceptions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no question this campaign has changed dramatically given the events of the weekend. Former President Donald Trump will be greeted here as a hero by Republican delegates.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He thought it was important to project to the country in that moment that everything was OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers. Joining us from the United States and around the world, I'm Jim Sciutto. In today for Max Foster, it is Monday, July 15th, 4 a.m. here in Washington. 3 a.m. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where former U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing for the start of the Republican National Convention set to begin in the coming hours and less than 48 hours after a brazen attempt on his life.

Trump could be seen pumping his fist as he exited his plane in Milwaukee on Sunday just a day after narrowly surviving an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania. While Monday's theme at the convention is expected to focus on the economy, there is no doubt the shocking violence seen on Saturday will loom large for the four-day event and beyond.

Trump says one of the bullets struck the upper part of his right ear during the shooting. One man in the crowd was sadly killed, two others wounded. New video into CNN shows the gunman on a nearby roof before the shots rang out.

We do want to warn you some viewers may find those images disturbing. There are the images now. You can see just above there is the gunman.

The FBI has now identified him as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks and says the motive for the shooting remains unknown.

U.S. President Joe Biden is among those condemning the violence. In a rare address to the nation from the Oval Office late Sunday, he said it is time to come together and, quote, cool down the political rhetoric.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to speak to you tonight about the need for us to lower the temperature in our politics and to remember while we may disagree, we are not enemies. We're neighbors. We're friends, co-workers, citizens, and most importantly, we're our fellow Americans. We must stand together.

Yesterday's shooting at Donald Trump's rally in Pennsylvania calls on all of us to take a step back, take stock of where we are, how we go forward from here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: We're not enemies. We're friends. Do not expect to hear one of Trump's signature firebrand speeches about why Joe Biden isn't fit for another term in office, according to reporting from the Washington Examiner. He has now rewritten his speech for the RNC. Trump told the outlet his speech is a chance to bring the country and he hopes the world together. Here's more from the reporter who spoke with the former president on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALENA ZITO, U.S. NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: 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 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 to those people, and he says he loves these people.

And they are the backbone, but this is a rust belt 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, that he was OK and the country was OK.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Despite the attempt on Trump's life, the Secret Service says there are no plans to tighten security for the Republican convention. Officials say they trust the preparation they have already done for this event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) AUDREY GIBSON-CICCHINO, SECRET SERVICE COORDINATOR: So we are confident in the security plans that are in place for this event, and we're ready to go. It's been an 18 month process. It's the -- we've worked together over that 18 months to develop operational security plans for any and all aspects of security related to this event.

We're not making any changes to our operational security plans for this event.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:05:00]

SCIUTTO: Those agents, the Secret Service says they're doing all they can to make sure the convention happens without any security issues.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more on the convention's packed schedule.

(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 gather 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?

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 he 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Well, President Biden spoke to the nation in a primetime address calling for an end to the politics of demonization, a call for unity. MJ Lee has more on what he said.

(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 6th insurrection on Capitol Hill, as well as what happened on Saturday at this Trump political rally. 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.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BIDEN: There's no place in America, this kind of violence for any violence ever. Period. No exceptions. We can't allow this violence to be normalized. You know, the political record 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)

SCIUTTO: Quite a different backdrop to that interview. Joining me now from England is Natasha Lindstaedt, professor of government at the University of Essex. Natasha, it's good to have you. This is a deeply, deeply difficult time in this country. An assassination attempt quite close to taking the life of a former president and a candidate for office once again. And you are hearing certainly from President Biden and it seems a change in message from Trump as well.

Do you see this as at least potentially an inflection point in what has been a deeply, deeply divided and heated period in American politics?

NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Definitely. This is probably one of the craziest, most traumatic just weeks. And that's on the back of many different weeks in the past in U.S. politics that where there have been really huge moments.

[04:10:02]

So, right after the assassination attempt took place, there was a lot of heated rhetoric coming from really huge moments. So, right after the assassination attempt took place, there was a lot of heated rhetoric coming from Republicans, particularly from Donald Trump Jr. and from potential vice president nominee J.D. Vance, blaming Biden. Also, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene referred to the Democrats as an evil party.

Since then, I think we've seen the rhetoric has toned down quite a bit from Speaker Mike Johnson. You've also, of course, as you already mentioned, heard from Joe Biden talking about there's no place for political violence in U.S. politics. And you also had even Trump himself saying that he planned to unite the country at the convention.

And this convention is going to be one to watch, and it will be one of the most interesting conventions, at least in my lifetime, because of what has happened. And what I'll be looking for is what the tone is. Is it going to be preaching?

Are Republicans and Trump going to be preaching about norms of civility and tolerance, forgiveness, the need to reach across the aisle, bipartisanship? Or is the tone going to get nasty? Now, we have already heard that Trump says he does want to unite the country, but I think he needs to take things a step further than that.

I think he needs to agree that he would accept the election results no matter what, because that's one of the norms that he has shattered. And when you have these really high stakes elections in other countries where you don't have norms of accepting election results, you see political violence follows. So I think he has to go even further than just changing the tone.

SCIUTTO: It will be a test for Donald Trump because let's be frank, the record shows that his own rhetoric has been incendiary. And there have been times when he has refused to explicitly reject acts of violence. You think of the delays on January 6th as those many hundreds of people were assaulting the Capitol.

You think of the way he's described the attack on Paul Pelosi or dismissed the plot against Democratic governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer. This will be a test. And I imagine it's not just a test of one day or one tweet or one speech.

It's a test of whether that change is lasting.

LINDSTAEDT: Right. Will this change the rhetoric that he uses? He has, to quote David Frum from The Atlantic, he's rejoiced when violence has affected other people.

He's encouraged violence by telling his protesters to beat up those that don't support him. And of course, there's the infamous January 6th where, you know, he incited a siege on the Capitol and five people died. So he has a lot of work to do, excuse me, in changing the rhetoric, in changing the tone, because his supporters are used to him being very defiant.

As he left, he was even screaming, you know, fight, fight. And he has a lot of work to do to changing the tone. And it's really -- he who leads the party that can set an example.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Let me ask you about President Biden's message, because so central to his campaign message has been the argument that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. We saw quite a muted and deliberately non-incendiary message from the White House last night. Do you expect President Biden's campaign message to change as well as it regards Donald Trump?

LINDSTAEDT: It's definitely going to be toned down. We already had heard that Biden had dropped to, you know, some of his campaign ads that they weren't airing, that he has tempered the attacks on Donald Trump as being the biggest threat to democracy. And I think that the language, at least in the immediate aftermath of this assassination attempt, will change.

I don't think the Democrats can completely change their whole strategy, which would be to, you know, continue to emphasize that Donald Trump doesn't accept democratic norms. He doesn't accept democratic institutions. And he shattered many of our norms and he poses a threat to democracy.

But they may have to change the way they talk about this, because even just words that Biden used metaphorically have been used by the right, by Republicans, as evidence that it was Biden who incited this attack. Now, we know that the shooter was a registered Republican. Maybe that helped to temper things a little bit.

But the Democrats will have to change the tone at least. But I think it's too difficult to completely revamp what their campaign strategy is. And the idea that Donald Trump poses a threat to democracy is the cornerstone of that strategy.

[04:15:02]

SCIUTTO: We'll be watching closely. Natasha Lindstaedt, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: Well, the U.S. Secret Service is facing intense scrutiny over the security at the rally on Saturday, specifically how the shooter was able to gain access to a rooftop less than 500 feet from Trump's position at the podium. One CNN law enforcement analyst weighed in on the shooter's location, though it was outside the security perimeter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN WACKROW, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT: 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 -- 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: And there is, of course, an investigation underway. We will get the latest now on the investigation from CNN's law enforcement correspondent, Whitney Wild.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: It is not clear exactly how this happened, but the questions are certainly centering on the Secret Service's preparation and response, as well as many questions about the shooter.

What we know right now is that this building where the shooter had climbed up onto and shot the former president from was outside the security perimeter. This building was about 150 yards from where the former president was speaking at the podium.

And multiple law enforcement sources that I have spoken with have expressed real concern, real shock that a building that close, 150 yards or so from the podium, was not included in the what they call the hard perimeter. Which means it would have been subjected to an extensive security sweep that it would have required anybody trying to enter that building to go through a magnetometer. So many more questions there.

Additionally, the big question, again, centering on this building, is in what way this building did factor into the overall security plan. So another question is whether or not the building was left out of the perimeter, because for whatever reason, the Secret Service decided that it did not present a security risk. For example, did they determine that the building could not be accessed, that the doors were locked, that no one was inside, no one was likely to go inside?

These are the questions that the service would have been asking as they assessed the site, as well as continuing to ask themselves in this extremely pivotal moment.

The investigation is also shifting to the gunman here. This is 20- year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. What we know now is that he was not known to the FBI. He was not in any databases. That he used an AR- style 556 rifle that belonged to his father that was purchased legally. And that law enforcement has his cell phone. And what they're trying to do now is get into that cell phone and get some insight into what his motivation was. That is the big question. And at this moment, it is not clear why he did this.

Whitney Wild, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: It's remarkable that Trump's would-be assassin raised suspicion among those at the rally before the shooting. So why wasn't he stopped more quickly? We're going to look into it when we come back.

And later, how leaders around the world are now responding to the attempt against Donald Trump's life.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: We are learning new details about what people at the rally saw before the shooting on Saturday. Video captured by one of the attendees shows the moment before the gunman fired at Trump. And it appears they saw the gunman on the roof of that building.

We do want to warn you the video is disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Run! Get out of here!

(SCREAMS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nope he's turning this way. Be careful, guys.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Note they were directing attention to the top of the building before you heard the gunfire. Before he opened fire. Earlier my colleague Erin Burnett spoke to the couple who captured this video.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE DIFRISCHIA, CAPTURED VIDEO OF GUNMAN FIRING SHOTS: 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 feet and I was able to get a perfect -- I was able to see him perfectly and I seen he had the gun. And that's when I started to film.

My wife ran up to law enforcement, was trying to tell them, you know, where he was. But they couldn't seem to see him because they weren't in the right spot to see him on the roof. They were too close to the building. So it just got very hectic very fast.

AMBER DIFRISCHIA, CAPTURED VIDEO OF GUNMAN FIRING SHOTS: It was just chaotic. It was so fast. First thing is find coverage. And it was just the scariest thing. You know, there's not a lot of places you could hide there. So we were like, granted, where we were, there was only like 50, 70 people.

So it was sort of a small crowd, you know. And we literally were trying to hide behind two trees just to make sure we weren't going to be, you know, hit by the bullets. It was why it was so insane.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Investigators are now working to learn more about the man they say was behind the assassination attempt. They have identified him as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, killed by Secret Service agents on the scene. And while investigators search for a motive, they still don't have one, we are learning more about what he did before the shooting.

CNN's Brian Todd explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[04:25:00]

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 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.

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, who is a witness who told CNN affiliate KDKA 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 roof of that 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 have 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, we're 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SCIUTTO: And just how much freedom the shooter had prior to taking those shots, freedom of movement. U.S. lawmakers have been reacting to this attempted assassination. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said that he's been worried about this type of violence for some time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I wish I could say I was surprised, but I've been worried about this for a very, very long time. You know, if he wins, democracy is not going to end. He's not a fascist.

He represents a point of view that millions share. The rhetoric is way too hot. But I was just grateful that he made it. I mean, fate stepped in. God, the hand of God, call it whatever you like.

But let's don't forget, there's a man who lost his life by attending a political rally. He's dead. His life came to end. Other people are hurt. Who to blame? Let's blame the shooter. But let's all try to do better.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): In this traumatic moment, it's time for all of us to take a deep breath. Remember what this country is about and what political campaigns are about. And they're about serious discussions of serious ideas as to how we address these serious problems facing this country.

So let's use this moment. If there's any silver lining in this tragedy, it's to figure out how we go forward peacefully, constructively and intelligently.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: We'll all be watching.

Still to come, we are just a few hours away from the official start of the Republican National Convention. More on what the party hopes to accomplish this week when we return.