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Trump Safe As FBI Investigates Apparent Attempted Assassination. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired September 15, 2024 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:00:24]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to CNN's breaking news coverage of what the FBI says, quote, appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump, the second attempt on his life in as many months. One man is now in custody. CNN has identified him, and we'll have more on that in a moment. Today's attempt occurred as the former president and a donor were golfing at his club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Specifically, authorities say they were walking between holes five and six, which we're going to show you on -- on a map. The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office says it received calls of shots fired by the Secret Service at about 1:30 p.m. Secret Service spotted the engaged man. They've now detained as an agent was walking the course ahead of the former president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF RIC BRADSHAW, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA: The Secret Service agent that was on the course did a fantastic job. What they do is they have an agent that jumps one hole ahead of time to where the President at -- was at. And he was able to spot this rifle barrel, stick it out of the fence, and immediately engage that individual, at which time the in -- individual took off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, authorities say that the Secret Service agent fired at the man, unclear at this moment whether the man they detained fired any shots. The man was later apprehended after help from a witness who saw the person drive away. Now, authorities released some photos, these photos earlier today of what they say was found in the bushes where the man was seen an AK-47 style rifle, two backpacks and a GoPro video camera.
Sheriff Bradshaw told reporters today that the man they have detained was about 400 to 500 yards away from the former president when he was spotted, whoever he said that with the rifle and the scope, quote, that's not a long distance. The former President later said in a fundraising e-mail that he is safe and well. We've got a team of reporters on this tracking all of it for us tonight. I want to bring in first, Kristen Holmes, who's been in contact with the Trump campaign tonight. So Kristen, Trump's campaign managers releasing a letter after this apparent assassination attempt targeting Donald Trump, what are they saying?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. They're reaching out to staff similar to what we saw after the first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. This comes from the campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles. I want to read you part of what they sent to their staff today.
It says, today, for the second time in two months, an evil monster attempted to take the life of President Trump. Thankfully, no one was injured at the golf course. This is not a matter that we take lightly. Your safety is always top priority. We ask that you remain vigilant and your daily comings and goings be observant, maintain a constant level of situational awareness.
Now, when it comes to what the campaign is doing, we know shortly after this now second appearance of an assassination attempt. They did lock down the West Palm Beach campaign headquarters for quite some time. They opened it back up. That's something we also saw after the first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, multiple of those various campaign offices across the country were shut down, were put on lockdown, and staff was told not to go in.
Just in terms of what is coming out of the campaign, like questions, they have a lot that they are still trying to figure out. One, they still don't have all the details as to how this happened. You're looking at pictures of the golf course now. This is about 15 minutes from his Mar-a-Lago home. He was there, apparently, according to a one source, it was a last minute decision that he wanted to play golf.
A lot of questions as to how exactly the suspect would have known where Donald Trump was at this time when several of his advisers and allies, people I spoke to today on the phone did not even know that he was in Mar-a-Lago or specifically that he was going to be playing golf today.
Just a reminder, it is incredibly hot in Florida, and it's not something that he does every single day when he's down there during this time of year. As you noted, he was down there with a donor and an ally, Steve Witkoff, who was on the golf course with him. And just one security note here talking to his various campaign advisers and allies, people who have spoken to him in recent hours.
There is a sense of celebration in terms of the Secret Service's actions and engaging with this potential shooter, this potential suspect. Remember, there was a lot of questions around the first assassination attempt as to why the Secret Service did not engage quicker. Now we know that Donald Trump was being in front of, excuse me, in front of Donald Trump was what they called, essentially an advanced Secret Service Team.
They were the ones who were about a hole or more ahead of Donald Trump on the golf course who noticed that rifle and engaged shooting, putting out shots towards that suspect. So that part, there is a lot of -- they're very happy with the way that that response happened. But there still are a lot of questions as to how exactly this happened, how this man was able to get so close on the property, and particularly as to how exactly this man would have known where Donald Trump was and the timing of all of this.
[21:05:13]
I'm sure we will learn more details as authorities learn more details, but right now, those are some of the biggest questions as we have that they have as we move into this next chapter of the campaign. I mean it really is remarkable, Anderson, that we are, as you said, looking at the second assassination attempt in the same number of months.
COOPER: Kristen, just to clear, I mean, the you said the golf course is -- is a short drive away from -- from Mar-a-Lago, if somebody, a civilian, wanted to hang around outside the golf course or somewhere between Mar-a-Lago and the golf club -- golf course to ascertain the movements of the former president, would that be possible for that -- for them to do if they were kind of loitering in the area?
HOLMES: Yes and no.
COOPER: Again -- and again, we don't know how this person --
HOLMES: Right.
COOPER: -- figured out where the -- where the former President.
HOLMES: Just to give you a layout of how exactly security is right now at Mar-a-Lago since that first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, several of the roads are closed around the Mar-a-Lago resort, so it's not entirely possible to set up and watch from nearby the Mar-a-Lago resort itself, just because of these road closures that they put into place because of this first assassination attempt.
There's even some highway exits that are closed off at various points when Donald Trump is in town, which, of course, obviously he was. Now that doesn't mean that people couldn't potentially spot the motorcade traveling. He now travels with a full motorcade. It wasn't always the case before the first assassination attempt. That includes a large van, that includes, generally a CAT team, counter assault team. It also includes an ambulance. That is not something that is generally given to a former president, but they have beefed up the security around him.
So there is potential there that someone could have spotted the motorcade driving along various routes in West Palm Beach, keeping track of his movements that way. Obviously, the other thing we know is that Donald Trump flies in a very branded plane that is put onto the tarmac pretty front and center in Palm Beach. You can see it from the side, driven there myself, around the side of the private Air Force -- airport area where he lands that plane. You can see it from the road.
So -- so there are obviously indications that you would know he was in town, that you could know his potential movements. It would have to be someone who is paying very close attention. Another reminder here is the fact that he is a former U.S. president, not a sitting U.S. president, which means that he doesn't put out a schedule. He doesn't have to have any sort of daily schedule. And on top of that, he doesn't travel with a press pool.
So it's not as though any reporters are 100 percent aware of where he is at all times that we know who he's playing golf with the way we would with a sitting president, they release those names, generally. They release if he's going to play golf. None of that would be something that would be information that needs to be disclosed with a former sitting -- former president.
So all of this to say that, yes, of course, there are potential ways that someone could surveil the former president, but it would have to be, would be more difficult given the scenario, given the street closures, given the expanded security, and just the fact that he doesn't have this public information that is easily accessible to any civilian/.
COOPER: Right. Kristen Holmes, thanks. We'll check in with you shortly. Evan Perez is following the investigation for it as it progresses tonight. So what -- what are you hearing from law enforcement about this person who's detained right now?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, we know a lot about Ryan Routh, in part because he seems to be very, very active on social media. I'll start with what we have heard officially from law enforcement. There was a press conference this afternoon with the sheriff, Rick Bradshaw. And he said that this person, the person that's -- that Brian Routh, who is under arrest, is someone obviously they believe is connected in some way to the shooting.
They did not name him or identify the -- the suspect in the shooting, but that's what we're told is -- is -- is a situation at this -- at this point. They arrested him this afternoon, Anderson, up several miles north of Palm Beach County there after he had fled. Now what happened was there was a witness who saw him reach, go -- run to a car and flee the scene after the Secret Service had fired these shots.
Now what the Secret Service says is that they saw, an agent saw a rifle barrel sticking out from near the bushes, and they fired shots in that direction. We don't know if he was struck. It appears that he may not have been. But what they found there at the scene was a backpack. They found a GoPro camera, which appeared part of his intent was to film his attempted assassination of -- of the former president.
And of course, they've also found an AK-47 variant there at the scene. Now we've learned a lot more from some of his social media, Anderson. He's very active supporting Ukraine, obviously. And -- and he's also been very, very critical of Donald Trump. At one point in one of his social media postings, he -- he copied President Joe Biden's social media account and called the MAGA movement, the former president's MAGA movement as MASA, which is Make America -- make -- Make America Slaves Again.
[21:10:26] That's one of the comments he has on one of his social media. He's a -- he owns a affordable housing company in -- in Alaska, I'm sorry, in Hawaii. And he's believed to be sort of self-employed. Now we did -- one of our reporters did talk to his son, Anderson, this evening. And I'll read you just a part of what this person, his son, whose name is Oren, said in defense of his father. He says he believes, he hopes, that everything has just been blown out of proportion.
It is not like my father to do anything crazy, much less violent. He says he is obviously he doesn't know everything that happened in Florida, but it doesn't sound like the man I -- I know to do anything crazy, much -- much less violent. He's a good father and a great man, and I hope you can pray -- portray him in an honest light.
Obviously, a lot more information is going to emerge about Routh in the next couple of days, Anderson. He's probably going to be facing federal charges, perhaps as soon as tomorrow. He's now obviously being held by the -- by the Palm Beach County Sheriff and -- and the FBI who's investigating. One of the things that they're looking into are those social media posts, which might give us obviously a -- a motive of -- as to why he carried out or attempted to carry out this attempted assassination, this apparent attempted assassination, according to the FBI, Anderson.
COOPER: Evan Perez, stay with us. I want to bring in just a few more folks. Daniel Brunner is a retired FBI supervisory special agent. Juliette Kayyem is a CNN senior national security analyst. Juliette, let me just start off with you, just in terms of, there's a lot we do not know. Can you just -- I mean, I think in the situation like that, there's what we know and what we don't know. Can you just tick off the things which we don't know at this stage, which obviously investigators will be trying to find out top of the list?
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: OK. So we'll start with motive. Obviously, we're trying to determine it. But he -- he -- he lived out loud, so presumably, through social media and colleagues and others, we will determine that. Number two, we don't know right now how he determined that today would possibly be available to him to do this assassination, looking at what I see now, that -- that -- he's -- he made a mistake, but he was not unsophisticated.
This is a very sophisticated attempted assassination. He's got defensive gear. He's got the GoPro. He wanted this to be a performative assassination. So -- so how did he know, and -- and how did he acquire that knowledge where Trump was. And then -- and then third is access to being so close. We -- we are all familiar with security perimeters now, because we have gone through this just a few months ago in Butler, Pennsylvania, the -- the area was not part of the security perimeter because it was not a public event and -- and how did he get there? How did the car remain there?
Those are the questions I have. This was great act by the Secret Service agent who took advantage of his mistake, because he was showing his -- his rifle. And -- and -- and the closeness by which our -- our election, our democracy and Donald Trump all change. It's just -- it's not reassuring, honestly.
COOPER: Daniel, there's been concern about this golf course before, about Trump on a golf course, which is, you know, open to -- to public members, and he's, you know, clearly been photographed on it. We've seen him on it before, and people seem to have access to him on the golf links. I'm wondering how -- how difficult a challenge a golf course is. And now that the FBI has taken over the investigation, what -- what do, I mean, what is their top priority right now?
DANIEL BRUNNER, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: Anderson, those are great questions, and one of the biggest problems that throughout history, as presidents love to golf, is securing the golf course. Obviously, President Trump is a former president. He's not the president or vice president current sitting, so he gets a different theater or of coverage from the Secret Service. Whereas a sitting president or sitting vice president will get an additional coverage surrounding the area.
It's very difficult to protect that area, that golf course, because of the roads that are out there surrounding the golf course, very public roads. But there's a lot of questions that need to be answered. How did this vehicle that was parked there? How did it not get seen with such proximity to the sheriff's office, which is right down the road? And if he was parked there, and a law -- how long he was in the bushes? How long -- these are sort of -- these are the sort of questions of the FBI, their investigation is going to be doing.
[21:15:11]
It's two parts. It's the Secret Service analyzing what could be done or what may have been addressed differently. And then the FBI is going to be an investigation of why -- what his motivations were, what he was doing, how long he was in the bushes. There's a tremendous amount of electronic evidence here. He's very active on social media. He was very active doing interviews, being on the social media network. He was very vocal.
So there's going to be a tremendous amount of electronic data that the FBI is going to be able to collect. And there -- the agents are going to be able to analyze it. The evidence left on scene, that's going to be tremendous. The GoPro, the -- the ballistic plates, the -- the weapon, ATF I'm sure, will be involved in finding out where the -- with the AK-47 was obtained, how he obtained it, and what training he did. So there's a lot of questions that both Secret Service and the FBI are going to be investigating. And the FBI will come to a conclusion and finding out where these gaps were.
COOPER: Evan, the evidence there was at the scene, in -- including those ceramic tiles, which are hanging in the backpacks on the fence and the GoPro. It certainly seems to indicate and -- and I heard somebody earlier on -- on television theorizing that he was going to take the ceramic plates out and put them on himself. It seems to me, I'm just from that. It looks like he's creating blockage, essentially, from any incoming fire. He's a great -- it seemed to me, and maybe I'm totally wrong, that he wouldn't waste time taking those plates out, putting them on, you know, into a vest around him that he -- he's using, he would -- it seems like he was set up to use those as a shield, because those ceramic plates, as we all know, those are for -- that for rifle fire. It's not just -- it's not just for pistol fire.
PEREZ: Right, Anderson. And I think one of the things that obviously that this is going to be part of the investigation, but what it -- what it suggests, as you pointed out, is that, look, he knows exactly what happens once you fire shots, right, if he were -- were able to fire off a shot. And at this point, it does not appear that he was able to -- to fire a shot. But he knows that if he does, that immediately brings gunfire from the protective detail.
And so he was trying to figure out a way. This suggests, Anderson, for a way for him to at least be able to survive those first rounds and perhaps fire get -- get more shots out. Now, the variant of the AK-47 that he had, he had a scope, it is possible that he could have been able to -- to get to the former president, so especially as the former president was coming towards him, the -- the distance, according to the police, was about 300 to 500 yards.
And so the -- the closer the former president gets, and because of the vantage point of where the person was, it is possible that just a -- a little while longer waiting there, the former president would have been within the distance to be able to be struck by a bullet. And so that's what's so scary about this particular situation.
And -- and as you pointed out, Anderson, this person seemed to at least be prepared enough to be able to -- to -- to survive those first initial response shots from -- from the Secret Service, if he had been able to fire a shot.
COOPER: Juliette, if it's true that he, you know, was scouting out this location and trying to figure out, you know, when the former president might be there. And again, we -- we -- we don't know how he picked this location, how long he may have been in the area, but if he had been in the area for a while, I would assume part of what law enforcement is doing now is looking at cameras all over this place, this entire area, for any sign of his pickup truck, for any sign of him over the last, you know, hours, days, weeks.
KAYYEM: And -- and -- and that's exactly what -- what needs to be pinpointed. When did he leave his last known residency, in terms of where he was, and how did he get to Florida? Presumably, his daughter's car, which we now know that it was her car. And then how long was he there? And then the question I have that -- that is, and how many times during that period did Trump travel to this golf club -- course?
Because anyone who's paying attention will certainly know the dynamics of those roads will change when Trump is on the road from point A to point B. And so if he has been there days, weeks or however -- however, how much time before he's going to get a sense of the rhythm of what it means for Trump to move from Mar-a-Lago to his golf course that so it does -- it just takes patience. It doesn't take a PhD at this stage.
And so I'm very, very curious about his -- his whereabouts in the weeks before. In particular, I will say this, in the weeks since Butler because all of us were very, very nervous after the first assassination attempt, all of us very aware of the threat environment and the political threat environment in this country that Butler could elicit a copycat.
[21:20:17]
Now, Butler's motivations we -- assassination -- assassin were confused and -- and not clear. This may be more clear. And so that's -- that's -- that's the focus I want on the time frame, because once he's there, he could -- he could pick up pretty easily when -- when Trump is on the move.
COOPER: And Daniel, according to officials, the -- the person was 300 to 500 yards away from the former president. I don't know if that meant they had actual line of sight on the former president. But -- but can you just put that into perspective in terms of, if he had been able to see the former president, how difficult it would it -- how difficult or perhaps easy it would have been with a rifle like that to -- to have taken a shot?
BRUNNER: Well, the AK-47 if that's -- it's in reports are correct, the AK-47 clearly would have been able to get that distance if the shot were correct. And it would have been made even easier with the scope that's pictured in -- in some of these photographs. If he had the training, the rifle, along with the scope, easily could have made that distance. But as you stated, did he have a clear line of shot to the President? Obviously, golf courses have rolling hills, have bunkers. Whether he would have been able to see the -- the former president and clearly take a shot, it's unknown.
One of the things they're going to really look at is his training, and the FBI will conduct the investigation to look into was he preparing for this? Was he preparing for a long shot? Did he go to -- to the rifle ranges? Did he go to outdoor ranges? Was he looking at different variations of distance? Could he have made the shot with his -- with some training on this rifle? Yes, he could have, probably easily, if he had line of sight on the -- on the former president, I think could have very easily taken the shot, and with a rifle of this caliber, it would have done some tremendous damage.
So we're ex -- extremely fortunate today that we're talking about an attempted assassination, and actually not a successful assassination, thanks to that Secret Service agent who acted and moved in.
COOPER: Much more of our special coverage when we come back, short break, we'll be right back.
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[21:26:07]
COOPER: Welcome back to our breaking news coverage. What the FBI says, quote, appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump, the second attempt on his life in just two months. One man now in custody, I want to go to Carlos Suarez outside of Mar-a-Lago. Talk about how things are there right now.
CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, it is our understanding that the former president is at his resort here at Mar- a-Lago after this incident took place at the golf course earlier this afternoon. Now there is a visible increase of security around Trump's property, though it is important to note that some of the security measures were put in place after the first attempted assassination of the former president in Pennsylvania.
As my colleague, Kristen Holmes, noted earlier in this hour, there is one street, Southern Boulevard, which connects to the mainland and Palm Beach, that is open to the public. However, there are two security checkpoints that are in place. Anderson, there is one island, a small island that you have to cross in order to get out anywhere near Mar-a-Lago. That island, which is normally open to the public, has been closed tonight.
Folks are usually allowed to park their cars there, and they're able to get a look at Trump's property. However, that is not the case there. Now, once you -- if you're even able to make it out onto the barrier island, you really cannot get anywhere near Trump's property, because the Secret Service has closed South Ocean Boulevard, which runs along parts of the perimeter to Trump's Mar-a-Lago property.
Again, they closed that after the first attempted assassination. And it's expected to be closed through at least November. We're told that any time that the former president is out here, the Secret Service goes -- make sure that that area is closed. Now we are about 10 to 15 minutes from where this incident took place, at the golf course.
And Anderson, it really took us a considerable amount of time to get from that location here, in large part because there were so many streets around the golf course that have been closed as a result of this investigation. And so it was just difficult for us to make our way east of where this incident took place. Again, Anderson, we expect a lot of these security measures to remain in effect as this investigation unfolds and the security measures that were in place before today, again, we expect those to essentially be kept in place through at least November. Anderson?
COOPER: Carlos Juarez, thank you very much.
Joining us now is Dave Aronberg. He's the state attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida and a former member of the Florida Senate. Mr. Aronberg, appreciate you being with us. Sorry, it's under these circumstances. What kind of charges could this detained person potentially face?
DAVE ARONBERG, STATE ATTORNEY FOR PALM BEACH COUNTY, FL: Good to be with you Anderson. Originally, we were looking at warrants at the state level, including a motion for pretrial detention, but then the Feds came in, and they have taken over this case. So my office, the State Attorney's Office, local prosecutor's office, will not be filing any charges. If we had, he could have been looking at aggravated assault with a firearm. And since there's a Secret Service member here as the victim, he could have faced up to 15 years in prison, second degree felony. But now, since the Feds are involved, he's facing a lot more attempted assassination, firearms offenses, a lot more potential years in prison, now that the feds have taken over this matter.
COOPER: Do you know, I mean, is there a legal definition of what an attempted assassination is, and would this fall under that -- that legally?
ARONBERG: I think it would. Now, federal law does not require you to actually shoot someone or pull the trigger. You could just set something up and then take an action that doesn't involve actually pressing the trigger. Interestingly, that the federal level, there's no domestic terrorism law that has any penalties in it, which is a source of controversy.
[21:29:44]
That's something that could have been charged here potentially, if the Congress decided to finally add some penalties to the definition of domestic terrorism. So I think instead, they'll rely at the federal level on the firearms offenses, attempted assassination, maybe others. You know, he transported this AK-47 across state lines. Apparently, he's apparently had felonies in his past, so there's a host of laws he likely is violating.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: What -- what do you, I mean, you know this area, the -- the -- what do you at this stage, and again, we don't know what information this person had. Where he got information? Was he in the area? How do you think he may have figured out that the former president was there playing golf on that day?
ARONBERG: Yes. We've been talking about this with my colleagues, and one thing to know is that when the former president moves around, everyone notices. I mean, there's like a 20 car entourage. And so you have this -- this huge event where they close down the streets, he moves around. And since he plays golf at this location a lot, you would just need to wait to see when the -- the entourage passes by.
And then this is off some major roads. This is different than Palm Beach and Mar-a-Lago. Mar-a-Lago has already been said, is across the water. It's easier to close that down, the streets around it. Here, these are major streets. It's harder close the streets down. And it's in an area where you could slip in and out with a big bag a little more easily. I mean, the jail is right next door to the golf course.
You can sometimes hear when you're playing on the golf course, the inmates yelling and banging on the -- the cell bar. So it, you know, we don't know yet how this happened, but it is harder to shut down that area around this facility than it is Mar-a-Lago.
COOPER: And obviously the investigation is still very much in the early stages. Is there -- do you think anybody else could be charged? I mean, if the detained person had -- had help in any way? ARONBERG: Yes. I mean, if there was an accomplice, definitely. But right now, you have no indication that he acted with anyone else, but that's what the investigation is for. One thing to know is that I know the Secret Service will probably criticize for the fact that he got so close. But keep in mind, those hedges are really big and they're thick.
And other people in the past have gotten through to take pictures of Trump while he's golfing. Here, it's like looking at a needle in a haystack, if your Secret Service, it really is an act of heroism to see a person with this dangerous weapon poking through the fence. And it was really a great shot by Secret Service to fire the first shot where, apparently the suspect didn't fire a shot at all.
COOPER: Well, it is remarkable that he had actually had the, you know, the -- the rifle going through the fence for, you know, most snipers would not do that until they were actually about to -- to take a shot, because it is, you know, a -- a -- a rifle, you know, the -- the rifle sticking out, can -- can attract attention? Do -- do you have a sense of how wide in scope this investigation would be?
I mean, since the same person is from, you know, from a different state, obviously, with the FBI involved there -- they would be mobilizing any field headquarters in any state that -- that might be involved.
ARONBERG: Yes, the FBI, the Secret Service, I'm sure ATF will be involved. You're going to have all these federal agencies also. Governor DeSantis has announced, he's going to do an investigation through the Florida Department of law enforcement. I mean, we'll see what happens there, if that's just grandstanding, or if that's something meaningful, because I think the feds are equipped to do this on their own.
But look, it's important to know what happened here and how to prevent it from happening again. It's again, another too close for comfort incident. I suspect you'll see a lot more protection around that golf club in the days ahead.
COOPER: Do you know -- do you know anything more about what the detained person's previous interactions with law enforcement may have been?
ARONBERG: He has a rap sheet. Apparently, a lot of the crimes are up in North Carolina. He apparently knew enough with his previous interactions with law enforcement that when he was pulled over and detained on I-95 about 40 minutes north of West Palm Beach, he was apparently trying to drive out, perhaps driving back to North Carolina that he knew enough to stay silent.
He did not fairly speak to officers. He was calm. So look like a person who has done this before, as far as not -- this necessarily, this crime, but someone who's had repeated interactions with law enforcement, although he doesn't seem to have much of a rap sheet here in Florida.
COOPER: Dave Aronberg, I really appreciate your time. Thank you.
ARONBERG: Thank you, Anderson.
[21:34:30]
COOPER: When we come back, how to keep a place like a golf course secure for someone like the former president, stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Welcome back to our breaking news coverage. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty joins us at the White House. What -- what are we now learning from or about President Biden? What is the FBI says an attempted assassination of former President? What's the -- what is the current president said about it?
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Anderson, we just heard in the last hour new statement from President Biden himself in a statement released from the White House where he again expresses his relief that the former President Donald Trump is unharmed in this incident. And notably, Biden echoes the language that the FBI used earlier today, that significant language in which -- in which they call this a possible assassination attempt.
Now Biden, in this statement, in part, goes on to say, quote, there is an active investigation into this incident, as law enforcement gathers more details about what has happened. I've said many times, there's no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country. He then goes on to say that he's directed his team to make sure that the Secret Service has every resource, capability and protective measure necessary to ensure that the former president remains safe.
Now, President Biden himself, he has been here in Washington at the White House all day, behind closed doors. He did not have a public schedule, but we know, according to White House officials, that he was updated very early in this investigation, it was when, within only 45 minutes after we heard -- first heard that something had happened in Florida involving President Trump, that we received a statement from a White House official that Biden himself has been briefed, and that we know, according to officials, he remained briefed as information came throughout the day.
So certainly significant and more fulsome statement at this hour, late in the evening, Anderson, as President Bi -- Biden, likely will continue to be updated about it into the night and tomorrow morning as well. Anderson?
[21:40:10]
COOPER: All right. Sunlen, thank you. Tonight, we're learning new details about just how difficult it has been for the Secret Service to secure golf courses visited by Presidents over the years, especially those belonging to Trump. CNN's Kevin Liptak joins us now with some of those details. What -- what are you hearing, Kevin?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, this is really underscored. What we've been hearing, really for a number of years from sources, from Secret Service officials, who do lay out some of the challenges that they have faced when it comes to golf courses, and in particular when it comes to Donald Trump, who we know loves golfing and loves golfing at his own golf courses, and certainly the way this incident unfolded today just gives you a sense of the challenges they're facing.
For starters, this course is bounded by three major roads. They're open to traffic, they're open to pedestrians. It's very close to the airport. And Donald Trump's courses are semi-public. They're open to members and paying guests, even when the President and now the former president is there playing a round of golf. So this is essentially a porous environment, and for a president or a former president, that really does present a major challenge for the Secret Service.
Now, when Donald Trump was the sitting president, I -- and I covered him down in Palm Beach frequently, the access to the perimeter of the golf course was much more limited. Certainly the public roads remained open, but the sidewalks did not. That changed when he became the former president. And we heard that directly from the Palm Beach County Sheriff earlier today, saying that if Donald Trump had been the sitting president, there may have been more of a perimeter around him.
So it all sort of speaks to the fact that these open courses, these open areas, really do present a major challenge for the Secret Service. The President essentially doesn't have anywhere to go if trouble arises. There is no armored suburban sort of trailing him in a way that there normally would be for a president. It is one of the only times they're able to walk outdoors at any sort of length, and that's certainly you don't want, as the Secret Service, to be able to tell a president, no, you can't do that. But it has raised some new questions about the security and the security protocols around golf courses and presidents.
COOPER: It's also question, of course, is where the -- this alleged shooter, the -- the -- the person who's now in custody, being questioned, where his vehicle was parked, how long it took him to get back to and how long it was parked there? Would anybody, you know, was it there for a long period of time? Did anybody take any notice of it? We don't have answers on that yet. How -- how has the Secret Service handled previous presidents at golf courses?
LIPTAK: Well, it's interesting, because, as you know, if -- if Donald Trump had been president and there had been sort of a perimeter established around this golf course, they probably would have identified a stray vehicle, sort of pulled over to the side of the road very close to one of the holes where Donald Trump was playing, because that wasn't the case. The perimeter wasn't there, and they weren't able to detect it until the person had sort of crawled through the bushes and up until the green.
And it's interesting, because when, for instance, Barack Obama played golf pretty much every weekend here in Washington, but he played at base -- at Joint Base Andrews, which is obviously on a military installation. It has a perimeter already built in, and that wasn't necessarily as much of a concern for Donald Trump. He has his own golf courses, and certainly he prefers to play at his own courses as president.
Just as an example, his courts just outside here in Washington is right on the Potomac River. That presents another security challenge for the Secret Service. One of the holes on that course goes right up into the -- onto the river. And so I -- I don't think you can expect the Secret Service to tell Donald Trump that he can't play at his courses. But as we heard from the sheriff earlier today, the expectation would probably be that there will now be a lot more people around the perimeter, creating a perimeter, making it more secure going forward.
COOPER: Kevin Liptak, thank you.
[21:44:10]
Coming up, much more of our special breaking news coverage. We'll be right back.
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COOPER: Back to our breaking news, what the FBI is calling an apparent second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump while he was playing golf. This afternoon, the Palm Beach County sheriff described the event that unfolded in the moments after an -- an agent spotted the barrel of a gun poking out of a fence on the golf course.
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SHERIFF RIC BRADSHAW, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA: 1:30 this afternoon, call came out, shots fired, that was called in by the Secret Service, because we're in constant contact with them all the time. We were notified of that, and we had units here that immediately sealed off the area. Fortunately, we were able to locate a witness that came to us and said, hey, I saw the guy running out of the bushes. He jumped into a black Nissan, and I took a picture of the vehicle and the tank, which was great.
So we had that information, our real time crime center put it out to the license plate readers. And we were able to get a hit on that vehicle on I-95 as it was headed into Martin County. We got a hold of Martin County Sheriff's Office, alerted them, and they spotted the vehicle and pulled it over and detained the guy.
After that, we took the victim, I'm sorry, the witness -- that witnessed the incident took flew him up there, and he identified as the person that he saw running out of the bushes that jumped into the car. Now in the bushes where this guy was is a AK-47 style rifle with a scope, two backpacks which were hung on the fence that had ceramic tile in them, and a GoPro which he was going to take pictures of.
So those are being processed right now. The Secret Service agent that was on the course did a fantastic job. What they do is they have an agent that jumps one hole ahead of time to where the President at -- was at. And he was able to spot this rifle barrel sticking out of the fence and immediately engage that individual at which time the in -- the individual took off. (END VIDEOTAPE)
[21:50:13]
COOPER: Well, joining us now is Chris -- Chris Swecker, former FBI Assistant Director for the Criminal Investigative Division, and Juliette Kayyem, CNN senior national security analyst and former DHS Assistant Secretary. And Chris, obviously, we're still trying to learn more about what happened. What -- given what we know now, what stands out to you the most?
CHRIS SWECKER, FORMER FBI ASST. DIRECTOR FOR THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE DIVISION: Well, the big question, I think, is, and it's been discussed, how did he know to be there at that time, at that location? I mean, there's only three ways he would know. He's very lucky, and he -- he had a lucky guess, or he's been surveilling Donald Trump, or setting up a stationary surveillance or moving surveillance, or he has some information that he shouldn't have had, because apparently Trump this is a last minute decision to go play golf that day. So the third option is pretty disturbing, and I hope that's not the case. But, you know, that -- that would implicate a third person, if that were the case.
COOPER: In -- in terms of Chris, you know, how -- figuring out having any kind of, I mean, if it's not somebody telling him, you know, there's other people who use that golf course. I assume investigators would also be looking right now at, did anybody send out a tweet or take a picture and -- and say, hey, I'm golfing at this club today, and -- and, you know, the former president is here, and also looking for any surveillance cameras to see, was this guy in this car surveilling the area today, yesterday in -- in the -- the last week or so?
SWECKER: Yes. I mean, there -- there's a I -- I would be interviewing everyone that knew anything about his schedule whatsoever. I mean, you -- you raised some other possibilities to maybe somebody posted on social media. Hey, Trump's golfing here today. But, you know, and he would have, you know, if he were doing surveillance or he had notice, he would have about an hour and 15 minutes to get to that location and set up his little nest that he had with his -- with his ceramic ba -- the ceramic in the backpack, which obviously was a sort of a bulletproof, attempt to set up a bulletproof location there.
So he would, you know, play takes about an hour and 15 minutes to play five or six holes. If he knew when he went off that he was going off, he would have time to pre-position himself. So, you know there -- there are other possibilities, but I, you know, that -- this is -- this is -- there's a parallel investigation going on, obviously, on him in general. But I think there's a -- a -- a much or at least -- at least as robust investigation on who knew about his schedule or how that information could have gotten out.
COOPER: Juliette, what stood out to you about the items law enforcement found left by the detained person, the GoPro, the -- the -- the ceramic plates? JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, so basically, I think the GoPro is that -- is a tell. This was a assassination attempt. It was also performative. He clearly, and we've seen this in mass shootings before in New Zealand, for example, that he -- he wanted to document the kill like in that -- I mean -- I mean that as basic as it sounds, that -- that he -- whether it was live streaming or he thought he was going to get away and post it somehow. This is someone with an active social media presence.
He knows how it works. And -- and though he's older than we've seen more recently, in terms of -- of the sort of 20 something white males, he -- he knew how to do this. So to me, the GoPro is shows a level of sophistication, a level of planning and -- and that he not only wanted to document the assassination attempt because of those -- of the plates and -- and the defensive posture that he clearly was anticipating that they would either find him or he would be engaged by law enforcement that he -- he wanted that to be filmed as well.
So for me, the thing that I am very curious about it, as -- as I've been saying is, given, for example, that his son has said, you know, this is coming out of nowhere. Now that's a son, and we take it for -- for, you know, the fact it is his father. I am very curious about where he was after the Butler, Pennsylvania assassination attempt, because in -- in this world of increased violence, of political violence, you worry very much about copycats.
And if there is evidence, or if we learn about behavior that changes, he shows up in Florida, he's staking the place, then we have to be very worried about as we already are given the threat environment of the -- of the weeks ahead. And that's -- and that's the sobering aspect of this in so many ways. I mean, I never, honestly, I never thought I'd be on CNN talking about one assassination attempt, the fact I'm talking about two in -- in -- in just as many months, basically. It's shocking.
COOPER: Chris, you know, school shooters often now, you know, we later find out studied the actions of other school shooters all the -- going all the way back to -- to Columbine. Do you -- do you think it likely that this person would have, I mean, to Juliette's point, you know, studied what occurred in Butler and what the actions of the person that, you know, what that person did?
[21:55:22]
SWECKER: I mean, it's entirely possible. I mean, you know, I think that this type, all these mass shootings, have a viral aspect to it, where you see it, the idea gets planted. You have an unstable individual and, you know, maybe some ideology mixed in with it, and they -- and they could just go off.
So, you know, I -- I think that's -- that's possible. This guy obviously had, you know, had a -- a little bit of a Trump fixation. I mean, he -- he was definitely a Trump detractor. He had done some other odd things. He had gone to Ukraine, supposedly, and tried to recruit some fighters for Ukraine. He had a two-hour standoff with police in Greensboro, North Carolina, had a machine gun, was charged with weapon of mass destruction.
You know, this guy was a bit of a wing nut. And -- and -- and per -- and quite unpredictable. So I, you know they're -- they're going to dissect this guy's life. And there'll be searches on his computer, on his laptop, on his mobile phone. They'll go through all the -- the electronic media. Look at his social network, not just his family, but all the logical people. The -- I think this picture will become clear in a day or so.
COOPER: Yes, it also seems like he left a trail, like he didn't try to wipe out, or, you know, take out any of those accounts at -- at this stage. Thank you Chris, Juliette, appreciate it. We're getting new to breaking new details right now about the man being detained and what he said about former President Trump on social media. We'll have more on that news, next.
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