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Trump Safe Following Gunshots In His Vicinity Says Campaign. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired September 15, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:00]

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: There are lots of video, there are lots of security video all around and all you have to do is go in the direction of that shooting and you will find more and more people who heard it, and you can pinpoint it that way. Once you get there, it is going to be a matter of picking up all the doorbell cameras, all the security cameras you possibly can and knitting it into a mosaic here.

At the same time, I would be very surprised if they didn't have the air assets overhead looking for any kind of indication that somebody was using the golf course or shooting into the golf course.

And you know, when the shots go off, there are going to be people very close to the gunshots calling 911. So there is a lot of information out there I suspect.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Yes, I wonder, Chief, could you help underscore the complications of -- you know, already it is very difficult and challenging for his detail, especially after an attempted assassination, but now were talking about on a golf course.

You know, obviously he has his own security there at his International Golf Course there and that in addition to his own Secret Service detail, but give us an idea about the complications of trying to provide security anticipate any and all things while the former president is playing golf.

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I mean, the Secret Service is trained in that area. I mean, we know he was on the golf course. I don't think we know yet whether or not the shots were fired from the golf course or not. It could have been outside the golf course. We just don't know.

And as Steve said before, you know, one of the keys is to find out where did the shots occur? I mean, you need to track down either through eyewitnesses, ear witnesses, looking for shell casings, all the kinds of things you would normally do.

Now, if they had technology there like Shot Spotter or something like that, they could pinpoint within a very small area where the shots actually took place. I don't know if they have that kind of technology or not, but it is a challenge. It is difficult, especially when you have someone who likes to get out play golf, going to a lot of rallies, indoor, outdoor. It is incredibly challenging, but again, Secret Service are trained for that and they will be very aggressive in taking action to protect Mr. Trump and any of the other candidates.

WHITFIELD: All right, gentlemen, thank you so much. Hold on for a second. It is the top of the hour.

We just want to remind folks if you're just now tuning in with this breaking news that we are following. Former President Donald Trump's campaign says, he is safe after gunshots were fired in the vicinity of where he was playing golf a short time ago. We are just now learning that the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office will speak shortly at about 3:15 Eastern Time. Of course, we will monitor that, if not be able to take it live.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is joining us, back on the phone now, helping to first report this out.

So the statement coming from the Trump-Vance campaign site. What have you since learned?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via phone): So, we have learned exactly where this took place. We are told by sources familiar with the event that had happened today while Donald Trump was playing golf, he was at his Trump International Golf Course, which is in West Palm Beach, Florida. This is a different location than his Mar-a-Lago resort, which is in Palm Beach.

We are still trying to get the details of what exactly this looked like, but we are told that the club went into immediate lockdown. We've also now gotten a statement from Secret Service that says the Secret Service is investigating what they are calling a protective incident following Trump and following those gunshots being fired.

So this is clearly an evolving situation.

We are still trying to understand what exactly the gunshots look like. And I heard you talking to one of your former guests about his security and just to explain as somebody who has followed this closely since that shooting and assassination attempts in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump has had an extraordinary amplification of the security around him that includes when he has those at home with local PD, as well as traveling with local PD, as well as with Secret Service.

That means that he has people traveling with him at all times. I have seen him on the golf course. I've seen the videos of him on the golf course he has. He goes around one cart. He has Secret Service in the cart behind him.

The amount of people traveling with him has also gone up since that assassination attempt. They have been amplifying that, again, both with local PD and with Secret Service.

The other thing to keep in mind that they have done is they have tried to block off specific roads. Now, what is interesting about that, Fred, is that a lot of the roads that we know that they have blocked off are actually at his Mar-a-Lago resort, making it impossible for people to get close or to stop. Not clear what they have done, if anything, around this second property.

[15:05:10]

So that will be interesting to figure out what exactly they had in terms of security protocols in place.

Just a reminder, even regardless of what exactly happened, the idea that gunshots could be fired within the vicinity close (AUDIO GAP) the Secret Service is investigating now that the campaign put out a statement saying that they were -- that he was safe. It is pretty extraordinary, given the level of protection that he has right now and the fact that there was an assassination attempt on the former president earlier this summer.

Again, of course, we are still learning the details. We are learning. We are trying to figure out exactly what they mean when they say fired within the vicinity. But you have to take into account the fact that the Secret Service says that they are investigating this incident. That is not a random statement.

They are going to be investigating an incident in fact that occurred near a protectee. So not just any old incident that maybe happened miles away. It would have had to have potentially some kind of rubber caution on their protectee or some kind of relation to their protectee. And I will tell you that I was also told that the course went into immediate lockdown after for this happened. Obviously, that is protocol as they tried to figure out what exactly happened.

I've talked to a number of law enforcement sources who are still piecing together the details. I am assuming that we are going to learn more about this, as you said, in about 10 minutes when those -- when we finally hear from the law enforcement on what exactly they have uncovered. But it does seem to still be -- the details are still coming together -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right --

HOLMES: So what we know now again, just to reiterate, is that shots were fired. The Secret Service is investigating. Donald Trump was on lockdown. He was playing golf in West Palm Beach at his Florida International Golf Club when this happened.

WHITFIELD: Kristen Holmes, thank you so much. We will get back with you.

I want to bring back my law enforcement experts now and also add to the mix formerly of the US Secret Service, Jonathan Wackrow is with us and again, Charles Ramsey back with me, as well as Steve Moore.

I wonder, Jonathan, if I could go to you first and talk to me about, you know, the role of the Secret Service in this investigation at the same time, continuing to offer protection to the former president?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST (via phone): Well good afternoon, Fred. You know, I just want to expand a little bit about -- a little bit on what Kristen Holmes just reported about the enhanced Secret Service protection around the former president. I think that is really important here because what we have seen recently in the expansion of the protective agents that are around the former president is around really the outer perimeter, that early warning --

You know, in the Secret Service they refer to it as the counter surveillance, and they work oftentimes with local police especially around golf courses. We've done this for years dating back to you the Bush administration, where we've had golf course protocols that were put into place, thinking about the -- thinking about like the concentric rings of protection away from the protectee.

So what we have here is we've most likely have shots that were fired in the vicinity, probably on the perimeter of the golf course, probably recognized by one of these -- either local police departments or Secret Service agents, which initiated that lockdown that we heard.

The Secret Service has well-defined protocols who take the protectee and move them immediately in the open air spaces into armor. So ideally they move them into the protective limousine, the armored limousine, or into a safe location at the clubhouse.

All of this stuff is practiced by the Secret Service time and time again. In here again, out of an abundance of caution. Whenever they hear that there are shots being fired within the open-air environment of the protectee, they are going to take the proactive measure of immediately moving them into a safe location.

From an investigative standpoint, that protective intelligence agents that are now assigned to the former president are working with local law enforcement to identify the shooter, and they will want to conduct a field interview immediately to assess was this a targeted attack against the former president or is this a criminal act within the region that actually had no factor to the former president himself.

WHITFIELD: Okay, thank you so much, Jonathan.

And so Chief Ramsey, to you, there will be this coordination we just heard underscored by Jonathan Wackrow there. The coordination between local police and the Sheriff's Office and Secret Service. How will they parcel out, I guess duties, directions into this investigation?

RAMSEY: I would imagine the local law enforcement would be the lead until a point in time or unless a point in time where it looks as if there was an actual threat toward the former president. If that's the case, then of course the Secret Service would take over.

[15:10:30]

But right now, I don't know what they have, and until we have a press conference to really explain what took place, a lot of it is just speculation. I mean, John is absolutely right in terms of the procedures and the process that takes place, no question about that. But we don't know what we have yet. I mean, and until we do, it is hard to really draw any real conclusions, but they did the right thing. You've got to get him to a safe location. You have to immediately, it doesn't matter until you sort things out, and eventually they will sort it out.

But at this point in time, it is just ongoing maybe they'll have enough to tell us something concrete at 3:15, maybe not at 3:15. But the bottom line is, Mr. Trump is safe. That's the bottom line and that is what is important at this point in time.

WHITFIELD: Very important.

CNN is now learning from a law enforcement official that a car has been stopped in that general area as it pertains to this investigation. John Miller is also with us now and John, I understand you have some reporting you're learning from your sources about the weapon that may have been, the type of weapon that may have been used here and where the suspicion or the motive, the direction of it is going right now?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So, I mean, I will caveat this with this is unfolding rapidly. So all of this information is preliminary and it may shift and change as we've seen before.

But what we are looking at is starting to come into focus a little more sharply, so this is what we have right now from law enforcement sources who have been briefed on this and it appears that around two o'clock, shots were fired at the golf course, possibly coming from the tree line while former President Trump was playing golf.

The Secret Service identified the direction and the shooter returned fire at that gunman who fled. Witnesses were able to provide a description of an individual and a vehicle. We are told that a vehicle that is close to that description has been stopped by Palm Beach County Police possibly in Martin County, just over the line, and that they are holding that individual for the purposes of identification to see if the witnesses can identify that person or there is evidence in that car that may connect him.

In the meantime, in the area of the shootings, sources say they recovered a backpack and a semiautomatic rifle that was described as an AK-47 in the preliminary reporting, and a GoPro camera. the last piece is very interesting because it suggests if there was such a camera there, that this individual may have wanted to record himself in the first-person doing the shooting.

So a lot of questions to be answered. Is the suspect, do they have the right person? Is that the right car? The weapon that they have has to be processed for evidence and ballistics. If there is video on that camera, if in fact it was recovered as we are told, what will that tell them, but that is what we are seeing right now.

So what is the direction here? The direction here is the same as we saw in Pennsylvania, which is if this was a directed assault against former President Trump, the Secret Service and local law enforcement have had the handle on that in the immediate sense, but it would become an FBI investigation as an assault on a former government official who is under protection and we are going to be seeing and hearing a lot about this in the hours and days to come.

WHITFIELD: Well, all of those details are quite extraordinary, John. And just for clarity, to make sure I heard everything properly. When you say a backpack and a semiautomatic weapon, AK-47 were recovered, that semiautomatic weapon, the inference has not been made that it was necessarily used in this incident, but that one has been recovered and an individual has also been stopped, when we say just one person, we are not saying that that person was also in the company of any others, correct?

[15:15:00]

MILLER: That's right. Although as I am getting it from sources, the weapon was recovered at the scene and again, we know this information can shift and change, but the presumption is that that would be the weapon that was used in this assault.

WHITFIELD: Steve Miller, formerly of the FBI, we heard you know, John talking there about Steve Moore, rather talking about how the FBI would be involved here, if not leading the investigation, I guess, fill in some of the blanks on how that would happen.

MOORE: Well, as John said, once the crime has occurred, that was directed at the president, then the Secret Service steps back and gives the FBI that investigation, so they are not encumbered, providing ongoing security. They can't just be doing all of these things at the same time.

The information John gave us obviously just kind of startling. It goes back to what we were saying about getting aerial assets out there to see what might have been left on the course by the shooter.

I am stunned by the fact that there were shots returned and this has gone from something that appeared to be coincidental to something that is going to be remembered for years.

WHITFIELD: I mean, it is really extraordinary and Chief Ramsey, yes, to hear John Miller also reveal there through this information that these shots were fired through the tree line, that there was a return fire coming from the Secret Service. Of course, we don't know or unless John, you've learned this, too, what kind of distance we are talking about.

Have you heard anything about the distance involved here?

Okay. No.

All right, so Charles Ramsay, I mean, give me your reaction here to this kind of detail that we are hearing. Again, preliminary, but startling.

RAMSEY: Well, first of all, John has incredible sources and he just does it time and time again. He is able to get information very quickly, and if those sources are correct, I have no reason to believe that they are not, if it is coming from John, he double checks things, this changes everything. It changes everything.

And the way in which they go about investigating this now is going to be different. And again, like Steve said, if there was an exchange of gunfire where the service agents or some law enforcement actually fired at a suspect, again, this is rapidly unfolding. Information does change.

Sometimes the first information you get is not 100 percent accurate, but it is close enough to know that this isn't just some random thing where two gangbangers shooting at each other outside the golf course. This sounds like much more than that and it will be handled accordingly. So we will find out more information. They will be having a presser at some point in time, but this may delay the presser.

This is a lot of information that they're going to have to go grow and do as much as they can to substantiate before they actually go before the public.

WHITFIELD: Right, and John, with any investigation, eyewitness accounts is huge. I mean, it is paramount, and talk to me now about likely what is happening now with law enforcement trying to work together to talk to as many people as they can from all of these angles, if we are talking about a vehicle on a road, in the periphery, a tree line, it would mean someone getting out of the vehicle, someone possibly eye-witnessing this person walking through the woods.

I mean, there are a lot of potential eyeballs that might be involved here well.

MILLER: Well, there are and I mean, we are seeing that literally unfold in action as we kind of go through these accounts, because we've heard accounts from witnesses who called into the police saying that there were individuals shooting at each other on the outside of the perimeter of the golf course.

What is coming into focus now because that story kind of took it away from, oh, well, these weren't shots at Donald Trump. These were shots being fired between two other people is, it is most likely that that was the Secret Service agents pursuing this subject and shooting back and forth or returning fire, which caused those witness statements to emerge.

I also think you're seeing the law enforcement action here between the rapid engagement of the Secret Service, returning fire with apparently more than one agent, possibly more than one agent and a description of a car, Palm Beach County and its law enforcement partners then kind of clicking on those technology switches. What do we have for cameras? What do we have for license plate readers? Do we have a license plate on that car or a partial? Can we scan those readers and put that over the air and alert more units for a stop?

[15:20:09]

At any event, they did stop a possible suspect and a car matching the possible description and they are sorting through that person now and trying to get those witnesses who saw him, to look at him and again possibly in a field show up and see if they can confirm, is this the person they saw fleeing?

And of course, then there is going to be the matter of that automobile. Whether they go through it in the course of exigent circumstances for safety reasons or lock that down for a search warrant. All of this will -- all of this is still unfolding as we are talking about it.

WHITFIELD: Again, we -- oh, was that you, Chief, somebody was about to say something?

Okay. Sorry. Just all of these interesting signals crossing. All right, thank you so much, John Miller, hold on gentlemen, because I want to bring in CNN's Sunlen Serfaty at the White House because I understand that the Harris campaign, and of course the sitting president have all been informed of what is going on. What are you learning?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right, Fred.

Both Vice President Harris and President Biden have been briefed on this incident and they are expressing that there are relieved that former President Trump is safe. Now this just in from a White House officials saying in a statement: "The president and vice president have been briefed about this security incident at the Trump International Golf Course, where former President Trump was golfing. They are relieved to know that he is safe. They will be kept regularly updated by their team."

So that notable coming from the White House in this ongoing situation as we continue to learn more, Fred, and notably, the vice president and the president are both here in Washington, DC. President Biden is here at the White House and they both have no events on their public schedule.

And, we, of course, well keep you updated as they learn more here at the White House.

WHITFIELD: All right, Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much for that. We will keep tabs with you. Appreciate it.

Back to my law enforcement experts who are back with me now and I wonder, Steve Moore, to you, if you could speak to the need or the urgency for West Palm authorities. We heard that they were going to have a press conference possibly at 3:15 Eastern Time, but talk to me about the possible urgency of getting out information that it does know or the importance of delaying information because this is so early in the investigation.

MOORE: Well, both are necessary, Fredricka, because number one, you need to ensure that there are not any additional follow-on attacks planned, and you do that by quick searches, by quick investigation. And as John said, you have to make hard decisions like, do we want to search that car without a warrant under provisions that allow you to search a vehicle because it is movable and easily taken, or do you want to wait for a warrant which would make your findings there much more secure in court.

I think that is the direction we are going to have to go. And you know, just to put something else in the mix here. If that gun, the rifle that was found is an AR-15 or I am sorry, an AK-47, that is kind of interesting because every other shooter we've seen recently have AR-15s, a lower caliber. I have been trained on both and the AK-47 is a ridiculously powerful weapon and there are many fewer than the AR- 15. So that is going to be a lead and an interesting aspect of this.

WHITFIELD: And then I wonder Charles Ramsey, Chief, how will law enforcement investigate even if they confiscate this AK-47 perhaps, to later wait for a warrant for the vehicle, what kind of information might they be able to extrapolate from these two things and use it as it fills in the blanks on this investigation?

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, if this is the suspect in this particular incident, there will be search warrants, whether they get one immediately for the car or for a home, or wherever. I mean, they will be doing -- there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes to try to identify this person. You've got to check his social media footprint. There is a lot of things that will be going on as part of this investigation.

I would imagine before they actually search that car, at the very least, they will get bomb dogs to check it out just to make sure that there are no explosive materials in the car. So in my opinion, they would be better off getting a search warrant because once they get him out of the car, check it out, to make sure there are no explosives, but then be careful because all of that evidence is evidence you're going to need later on in court, once -- if this is in fact the person responsible for the shots fired.

[15:25:12]

WHITFIELD: And then we were told that West Palm Beach sheriffs might have a press conference about 3:15. Now, we are being told that the Sheriff's Office in concert with the US Secret Service will have a briefing shortly. So unclear exactly what time that will be, but then John Miller, perhaps this underscores the importance of speaking on one accord. What do you expect?

MILLER: That is the best way to go, which is everybody who has been involved in this, it has been a team effort that rapidly unfolded between multiple police agencies and the Secret Service to get together and do that first briefing. Number one, it will help us sort through the details that we have and which ones have shifted or changed if any.

But number two, for the general public, it gives them that flash brief, which is here is what we know, here is what we don't know yet and here is when we are going to get back to you with more, and I think that is very helpful as they try to put that together. You know, your goal is to get it together within the first hour. That is really hard to do, but that is your goal and I think they are moving towards that.

WHITFIELD: Steve, in addition to further investigating a weapon that was recovered, looking at the vehicle, questioning the suspect, it also means descending on that person residence whether they've even learned a place of work. Talk to me about those things that are probably happening right now.

MOORE: Well, they definitely are happening right now. There is a command post right now firing off leads to different agencies. They are trying to get traction on this pretty quickly. They will be talking to family members, friends, co-workers, as you said.

And then from those people, they are going to get secondary names. Say, oh, he hung out with this person at work. You're going to get that secondary wave of interviews and it is going to mushroom out to where you are going to need probably a hundred to 200 investigators to hit this really hard, really fast, so that you can get all of the family, all the friends, plus you're going to have to have the forensic computer people come in and just find every bit of IT hardware and software he has and mirror it and get it -- have people looking at it as fast as you possibly can.

WHITFIELD: And John Miller, I'd love to put you on the spot one more time because from your sources, we are learning all of this new information from the shots being fired shortly after 2:00 PM. I am wondering if you wouldn't mind one more time telling us what you're learning from your sources based on the sequence of events that they are reporting what happened.

MILLER: So again preliminary information is that the former president was on the golf course playing golf, being guarded by his Secret Service detail, that shots were fired coming from the direction of a tree line, we are told. That Secret Service returned fire towards that shooter and pursued an individual and shots were exchanged and that witnesses say an individual was seen fleeing apparently in a car. A description was given and put out, license plate readers were searched and a car stop was made by local law enforcement where an individual is being detained.

We do not know whether that individual is the shooter or just someone who fit the description or was in a similar car. They were in the process of trying to get witnesses who saw the individual who was shooting and fleeing to make that identification, and of course, they are investigating that individual and his background.

The gun that was recovered was recovered with a backpack and we are told a GoPro camera, so those things are all going to have extreme relevance. What is in the backpack? What other things may be there that could be evidence? Additional ammunition, perhaps maps or directions? What is that weapon? That will be the job of ATF, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to determine the serial number on that weapon and trace it at least to the point of sale and then at that retailer, they can find out to whom it was sold and when. [15:30:10 ]

Florida gun laws are relatively lax in that once you obtain a weapon, you are able to sell it to other people, so they will be going through that to see if it connects to the gunman as we saw in the last attempt on President Trump's life, the gun actually led them to the identification of the gunman because its point-of-sale was to his father and then to him.

So a lot of wheels turning right now.

WHITFIELD: Yes. All very fascinating.

MILLER: I would also say that --

WHITFIELD: Go ahead.

MILLER: -- a good deal of this reporting also comes from Kristen Holmes, who of course, covers the Trump campaign and all of his movements with us and was confirmed by my sources. So we are getting this from a couple of directions.

WHITFIELD: Exactly. And she is doing additional reporting, so shell be joining us again a very soon as well, so back to the backpack and the AK-47 that were recovered while we just had the conversation about a warrant would be needed most likely to best preserve and protect what information is garnered from the vehicle. In this case, it was left behind, if I heard you correctly, the first time around, it was left behind.

There wouldn't be a warrant needed, but there could instead be a search conducted right away in that backpack and that kind of tracing of information of the AK-47 can happen immediately, correct?

MILLER: It can, but they're going to be very careful in the handling of these things. I mean, depending on where that gun was found. Right now, we are operating on the information that it was found near the scene. If it was found in the car, that would be one further thing tying that individual to the alleged crime, but that is not what we have right now.

And again as Chief Ramsey pointed out, and Chief Ramsey, he has been around a long time and he has lived this experience, the first story is never right. But we believe that the information we are getting from our sources, which is the flash reporting coming from law enforcement on the scene, is going to be a pretty close composite to how this unfolded.

That gun will have to be processed for DNA, for fingerprints. So the practice that I have always used at the scene that my colleagues always use at the scene is, if the gun fell with the serial number of facing up, you know, to take a picture of it, and then not to handle that weapon at all because you don't want to add any biological material or disturb it before the lab people get to it. You want to give it to them as pristinely as possible. WHITFIELD: Gentlemen, thank you so much. I want to bring in senior justice correspondent Evan Perez, who is with us now. You have more information on someone detained?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (via phone): That is right, Fred.

The authorities there, Secret Service on the scene were able to detain that person. Now obviously, as John was just making reference, a lot of this is very early information from law enforcement, and a lot of times, it is just the heat of the moment and they are trying to report what they have at the scene, but at this point, what they're saying is that they have detained a person.

Now, they believe this is a person who was connected to the scene, and the reason why there were shots fired from the Secret Service side is they believe that this person was poised to fire shots, perhaps in the direction of the former president. They were trying to -- they were trying to prevent this from happening. And so they -- obviously, given everything that has happened in the last few weeks, they are obviously very much, much more on guard and making sure they are aware of any possible threats.

And so that is what they decided to do here. We don't know if that person was struck by anything. But now begins the harder work of trying to figure out everything about this person, what if any, connection they had to any political views that could have influenced what happened -- all of those things, the motivations and how long they've been planning this -- all of this stuff is of course now a big part of this investigation and keep in mind, down in Florida where the former president lives and where he spends a lot of this time other than in New Jersey, his club there. You know, he has great deal of protection.

And so that is one of the things that seems to have come into play here, is the extra layers of protection, especially when he is in his home golf course.

WHITFIELD: Evan Perez, thank you so much.

If you, folks at home are just now joining us. We want to let you know the breaking news that we are following, former president Donald Trump's campaign saying he is safe after gunshots were fired in his vicinity while he was on his golf course a short time ago, just after two o'clock Eastern Time.

[15:35:09 ]

We are learning that Trump was playing golf at the club, the Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach, Florida when this took place. Sources are telling CNN that officials believe the shots were intended for Trump and that an AK-47 was recovered near a tree line area there at the golf course.

Law enforcement officials saying that a car was also stopped nearby in relation to the shots being fired. A press conference from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and the US Secret Service will be taking place soon. Of course, we are going to continue to monitor it and take it live. If we are able to do that, my law enforcement panel is back with me now -- John Miller, Charles Ramsey, Steve Moore, Jonathan Wackrow.

And you know, John, you made a great point about just tracing the serial number off that AK-47 and any way they are able to do that without compromising any evidence that is on there. How long might it take if they were able to retrieve that kind of serial number information without compromising any forensic evidence on that weapon before they are able to get a confirmed identity of the person who may have purchased it and any kind of activity that may have happened with that weapon?

MILLER: So the gun tracing system that the ATF uses is computerized. They can trace that gun from the manufacturer to the store it was sold to, but that is where things can slow down because they then have to go to that merchant, they have to get that merchant to open their books and say, here is this serial number. When did you see it? When did you sell it and to whom? And that doesn't tell us if that person sold it to somebody who sold it to somebody.

So it can be a time-consuming process, or it can unfold very rapidly. It is a Sunday. Is that store open? Are they there? It could take some time, but in the context that they have a description of a vehicle, they have a vehicle stopped, they have possible a person in custody who is being investigated to determine whether he was the person involved in this. The tracing of the gun might become less critical if that suspect turns out to be a good suspect in this case.

If that suspect turns out to be not the person involved, then the tracing of the gun, of course, and all of this will happen simultaneously becomes more critical.

WHITFIELD: Steve Moore, what about what we would see seemingly simple cross-referencing of fingerprints?

I know we talked about not compromising the weapon, but if you have someone detained, you have a vehicle and possible fingerprint on this AK-47, might those be lifted right away with a cross-referencing or comparison?

MOORE: Well, the problem with fingerprinting the gun right away is if you do it quickly in order just to get fingerprints, you're possibly destroying DNA evidence and other evidence that would be crucial.

The DNA is the stuff that is most perishable, while the fingerprints will survive a lot of handling. So that would be the last thing they want to pull off the rifle. So they are certainly going to try to avoid that.

I mean, if the gun had say, a scope or something like that, number one, it would tell you that he wasn't out plinking. It would also be a possible source where you could go to try to find a fingerprint which wouldn't compromise the rest of the whole gun. If it were my case, I wouldn't want them doing that because as Chief Ramsey pointed out, every shortcut you take now, and by shortcut, I don't mean illegal actions, but every avenue you take to allow you to obtain information without a warrant or without properly processing is evidence that is at risk when you go to trial.

WHITFIELD: And Chief, it sounds like a lot of information thus far that we are learning, but of course, at the same time, it is not enough information. What are your thoughts right now?

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, it is still early, so, you know, it is a lot considering it has only been slightly more than an hour, so this is a lot of information and more will come out over time.

But again, there are still a lot of unanswered questions. I mean, was the suspect actually able to fire a shot or did the Secret Service see him prior to him being able to do that, maybe getting in position, and then the shots that you heard were actually the Secret Service taking action against the perspective shooter. We don't know the answer to that.

[15:40:15]

That is the kind of stuff we will find out at this press conference. So there is a going on right now. A lot of information.

But the fact that it has been this long now, they said 3:15, now it is about 3:40. It tells me there is more again to this story than just again, just random shots being fired outside a golf course and had nothing to do with the president.

They are actually trying to -- they are either trying to get their timeline, trying to get as much information as possible. So what they give you is accurate as it can be considering the fact this is early in the investigation, they don't want to speculate. They want to just give you as much concrete facts as they possibly can.

WHITFIELD: Right, and then Chief, I know you've been in this position so many times, you know, with local jurisdiction also working with federal authorities. So in a case like this, when there is a lot of information, of course, a lot of blanks still have to be filled, there is a conscientious decision making process with this coordinated effort about what kind of information should be made public.

So, I wonder if you could take us through that right now. How US Secret Service, how Palm Beach Sheriff will try to make a determination about what is the information that the public needs to know, what is information that they need to keep close to the vest so as not to compromise the investigation which is ongoing?

RAMSEY: Well, that is going to become more of a challenge like John said, this individual that they have right now, that they are detaining turns out not to be the person, just someone who happened to be driving the same kind of car, for an example, and you still have someone who is out there that they are looking for. But when they get together and they go through the investigation, they make a point determination as to what can be released, what should be held back, either because it hadn't been verified yet, or you know, that there are other people that may be involved in this and they don't know yet.

And so there is going to be some information withheld, but there will be a lot of information I think they will be able to provide us that at least lets us know that this wasn't just some random incident, this was actually a threat to the former president or not.

WHITFIELD: John Miller, that is likely happening at the Trump International Golf Club right now? It was under lockdown for a period of time. I have not learned any information as to whether that has been lifted, even though they have this kind of information to lead them in the direction of the vehicle and a person detained, but what likely is happening there with the investigative phase in terms of interviewing and looking at cameras, videos, et cetera?

MILLER: So immediately, the golf course itself is a crime scene, and that means where the shooter was shooting from, whether that was on the golf course or whether that was from outside the golf course at a perimeter, that is a crime scene, where the Secret Service returned fire, where their shell casings fell in the grass, that's a crime scene; where those bullets may have struck and be embedded in a tree or somewhere else, that's a crime scene.

So the golf course has to be sealed now and that is going to be likely FBI evidence recovery team, the ERT and Secret Service, and local law enforcement because there's going to be a lot of ground to cover and basically a grid search, that is going to remain a crime scene for some time. And I am talking about through tonight possibly into tomorrow, while they literally cover all that ground.

As Chuck pointed out and Steve, they are going to want to look at every camera. They are going to look at who has been there. They are going to want to look at cameras going backwards to see do we see that person doing some reconnaissance in the days leading up to the shooting as we saw with the suspect in the Pennsylvania case. They are going to want to look at the license plate readers and see what cars passed by there and whether or not any of them are connected to the individual they have stopped.

So there is a giant set of wheels that are turning now and as Steve pointed out, it is better if they turn slowly as long as they have that crime scene locked down. They will be looking to interview those witnesses and re-interview them.

This is going to be a big deal in terms of investigative resources.

WHITFIELD: And Jonathan Wackrow, formerly of the US Secret Service, are you still with us? I know we don't see you, but can we hear you still?

WACKROW: Yes, Fred. I am with you.

[15:45:08]

WHITFIELD: All right, very good. So Jonathan, I wonder if you could help underscore the importance of this coordination between the US Secret Service and Palm Beach Sheriff's in what is expected to be a briefing that we hope to be able to carry live.

It was scheduled for 3:15, but now, we understand it will just happen momentarily. And there we are now looking at a live shot, if we can show that again, of them preparing the microphones and that arena for that upcoming briefing.

And I wonder -- I know its early. This allegedly happened just after two o'clock based on the reporting that we are receiving. But I wonder if you are able to help us discover whether the Secret Service will feel like it is compelled to have the best timeline possible.

Because remember, shortly after the Butler, Pennsylvania attempted assassination, the US Secret Service got a lot of heat for now not having a timeline. Granted that was a shortly like days, if not weeks after that incident, but today, do you believe they are probably piecing together the best kind of timeline possible to reveal publicly?

WACKROW: What they are going to try to do is reassure the public, and unlike what we saw with the incident in Butler, Pennsylvania, when local law enforcement had their first press briefing, the Secret Service was not there and that was a fatal flaw by them. Why? Because right now, the Secret Service, along with their local and federal counterparts, need to reassure the general public one, that the former president is safe, they took the appropriate action. They had the right structure in place to protect the former president.

Two, they need to address to the extent that they can that there is no additional threats. Right now, the former president was shot at in a protected environment. They need to ensure the public that there are no additional threats to the extent that they know that now, if they can't confirm that, they need to describe what actions are they doing to ensure the public safety.

As Commissioner Miller said, this is just an initial briefing. They're going to talk about what they know right this second, the actions that they are taking. There is a lot we don't know. There is a lot we don't know about the suspect potentially, the motivation behind the shooting, the intent. We definitely know the capabilities of the shooter because they launched the attack.

But in the world of the investigation, we ae only in its infancy. So we are not going to have every single answer and I just want to make sure that the public sort of level set expectations of what we are going to hear.

But the fact that the Secret Service is going to do a press briefing jointly with local law enforcement is extremely important in starting to be very transparent about what happened, what is going on, and what the future looks like in terms of this investigation.

WHITFIELD: Steve Moore, formerly of the FBI, what are you looking to hear from this briefing?

MOORE: So much. You know, in their command post, the information is coming in even faster than it is coming into us. So what I would want to know is were shots fired downrange or as I think, what Chief Ramsey said, was there no shots fired by the shooter and just shots fired by the Secret Service? That would be fascinating to me.

I would also like to know whether the rifle had a scope on it, which would indicate that he was out there shooting long distance. I would like to know about the suspect himself. Is he from Florida? What are his allegiances? His alliances? His social media? And I'd to find out whether he is involved in any organizations.

There is much there that you we haven't even scratched the surface yet of all the information, but those are the things I want to know right now. How many rounds were fired down range? And they can estimate that by how many casings and whether or not this person engaged the Secret Service agent afterwards, which would mean that if he had left the AK, maybe he had a pistol with him to defend himself, which is another indicator.

If you remember, Lee Harvey Oswald after he got -- after he left -- after shooting a rifle, he killed a policeman just down the way with a pistol. So I mean, this would indicate this seriousness of the attempts.

So I guess what I am looking for is, is this a crackpot amateur or are we looking at a long-term plan?

[15:50:10]

WHITFIELD: All right, thank you so much for that.

Sunlen Serfaty is at the White House and Sunlen, I understand you have a statement now coming from Vice President Kamala Harris.

SERFATY: Fred, this just in, a new statement now coming From Vice President expressing that she is glad that former President Donald Trump is safe. This was sent out just moments ago from the vice president's account on X, formerly twitter, and she says in full: "I have been briefed on reports of a gunshot shot fired near former President Trump and his property in Florida, and I am glad that he is safe." She ends with, "Violence has no place in America."

Now this comes as we are also learning that President Biden has been briefed just in the last hour here at the White House, both Vice President Kamala Harris and current President Biden are here in Washington, DC. They are not on the campaign trail. They have no events on their public schedule.

We received a statement from a White House official early on in this incident, just in the last hour, expressing similar that they both had been briefed and they both are relieved that he is safe.

Notably, that statement did not express what Vice President Harris did in hers, she added at the end, "Violence has no place in America." So certainly, it signifies as we learn more about this incident, potentially what happened, potentially what the motive is, notable that the vice president here reiterating that violence should not be in politics in America at this time -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Sunlen Serfaty at the White House. Thank you so much for that.

Back with me now, my law enforcement my panel -- John Miller, Charles Ramsey, Steve Moore, Jonathan Wackrow and I wonder Chief Ramsey what are your expectations in this briefing that could happen momentarily involving a Palm Beach Sheriffs and US Secret Service?

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, the first brief normally, you don't necessarily get all of your questions answered. They may not have all the answers to all the questions, but I think you'll get a lot of information.

If this is actually a suspect in this case, you'll get a pretty good sense. Now whether or not they release a name, that's another matter because they've still got locations they have got to secure -- a home, maybe if he has got a business, they want to interview relatives because the minute that name is out there, media and every else is going to be all over it. So you want to do as much as you can before that takes place. So there is a lot of stuff that still has to happen.

But my sense is that you'll get quite a bit of information to know whether or not, was this an attack directed at the former president or not? And I believe that they will be able to at least answer that.

And I think Steve raised a good point with this exchange of gunfire. If the AK was actually left at the scene, he had a secondary gun. Did they recover any other weapon out of that car? I mean, there are all kinds of questions that they may or may not be able to answer, but I suspect they are answer quite a few.

WHITFIELD: Jonathan Wackrow, formerly of the US Secret Service, we can hear you, we can't see you. I am wondering what are your expectations will be from this joint briefing?

WACKROW: Well, my expectations are very similar to what the rest of the panel is discussing, which is we want to know what the facts are right now, right? This is a very dynamic and rapidly evolving situation.

I mean, I think we are less than two hours from when the reported initial shots were fired. We do understand that they have a suspect in custody, but again, as that interview process and investigations starts, it may not be the person or it may be one of many other people.

Again, we need to hear from the Secret Service and local law enforcement. Again, what do we know now? And what does the future look like in terms of this investigation? We do know that some items of evidentiary value to include the weapon was recovered.

We want to be able to understand how that investigative process is going to utilize those items again, to either confirm the identity of the shooter or start pointing to others that may be involved.

Again, the Secret Service, local law enforcement, and the FBI, who will now be taking over the lead role in the investigation of again, another attempted assassination potentially of the former president, what are all of those entities doing? What is their role and responsibility.

Again, if you think about what the reporting has been to date, we also understand that Secret Service agents returned fire and potentially pursued the suspect.

Again, now we have another complexity which is an agent-involved shooting. That is another investigation by the local prosecutors in the US Attorney's Office that will also open up.

[15:55:13]

So again, very complicated landscape, not too different than the early hours around the attempted assassination in Butler Pennsylvania just a short time ago.

So the expectations coming out of this is that there is a plan to investigate this shooting, reassure the public that they are safe, and be transparent about what does the future hold in terms of the investigation.

WHITFIELD: All right, I want to thank everybody -- John Miller, Charles Ramsey, Steve Moore, Jonathan Wackrow -- appreciate all of you.

We are going to continue to follow this breaking news. Former President Trump's campaign saying he is safe after gunshots were fired in the vicinity a short time ago at his West Palm Beach Golf Club. Officials believe an armed individual intended to target Trump, a person was detained following the incident.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I am Fredricka Whitfield.

Our breaking news coverage continues after this.

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