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Trump Safe As FBI Investigates Apparent Attempted Assassination; Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Is Interviewed About Trump Second Attempted Assassination; Sources: Ryan Wesley Routh Detained In Trump Assassination Attempt. Aired 10-11p ET

Aired September 15, 2024 - 22:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:00:33]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: We have some new information about the man detained tonight after an attempted assassination of foreign President Donald Trump. The 58-year-old man has used social media to criticize the former president. According to authorities, the former president was in the middle of a round of golf today. Secret Service agent was walking ahead of the President and his party to secure the area. That's when the agent saw the barrel of a rifle poking out of the fence.

We don't know at this moment whether shots were fired by the man with the rifle, the man they've now detained. But the Secret Service says that an agent did fire shots toward that person. The man ran away. Authorities were able to capture him thanks to the help of an eyewitness who identified the man, took a photograph of his vehicle. They've now detained that person.

Authorities also released these photos. They say that in the bushes where the man was seen, they found an AK-47 style rifle, scope, two backpacks, ceramic tiles and a GoPro camera. Ceramic tiles were in those backpacks you see hanging up as a kind of fence to protect the -- the alleged shooter. Authorities also addressed how someone with a rifle and scope would be able to get near the former president, again, just two months after that previous assassination attempt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY B. VELTRI, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, MIAMI FIELD OFFICE: Notice that the rifle was pointed out. Our agents engaged. We are not sure right now if the individual was able to take a shot at our agents. But for sure, our agents were able to -- to engage with the suspect.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was he hit?

VELTRI: I -- I -- I don't know that. But does appeared something.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: The former President later told supporters in a fundraising e- mail that he is safe and well and, quote, nothing will slow me down. Our Evan Perez is following the investigation for us tonight, including the social media accounts of the person now detained. So what's the FBI saying about what happened today and how it all went down?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, Ryan Routh, is the person who has now been detained. Now we don't know. You know right now the -- the language that -- that the -- that the authorities are using, they're not directly accusing him of attempting to carry out this assassination. But it is clear he is the one only person who was -- who has been detained.

And we've learned a lot more just in the last few hours looking at some of his social media accounting -- so -- social media accounts. We know the FBI is combing through these accounts to try to get a -- a little bit be -- better picture of a po -- possible motivation. But a lot of it appears to emerge from those social media posts.

He's a -- a staunch and -- and frequent critic of Donald Trump on those social media accounts. And he also is in support of Kamala Harris and -- and Joe Biden. I'll read you just a part of one of the -- one of the references he makes to the Butler assassination attempt on -- on Donald Trump back in July. He refers to that and he says to Kamala Harris, he says, you and Biden should visit the injured people in the hospital from the Trump rally, attend the funeral of the murdered fireman. Trump will never do anything for them.

Now, he also refers to the -- the former president's MAGA movement. He refers to it as Make America -- MASA, he says Make Americans Slaves Again, and says democracy is on the line we cannot lose. He's also a frequent poster on Ukraine and encouraging people to go fight in Ukraine, Anderson. We know from his background, he ran a -- an affordable housing company back in Hawaii.

But more recently, he appears to have been living in -- in North Carolina, where he voted in the Democratic primary, according to the state records. We also, Anderson, heard tonight, our investigative team reached out to his son and managed to reach him. I'll read you just a part of a text that -- that we got from him. His name is Oren, and he says that his father was a loving and caring father, an honest, hardworking man.

And he also said that, you know, he hopes that these things have just been blown out of proportion, because if the -- if the little I've heard, it doesn't sound like the man I know to do anything crazy, much less violent. Now the -- the FBI is -- is investigating this as an attempted assassination, Anderson. We anticipate that federal charges are imminent, perhaps in the next day or so. Anderson?

COOPER: All right. Evan Perez, thank you.

Randi Kaye is outside the -- the golf course for us. So what more do we know about the former president tonight?

[22:05:02]

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, he remained here at the golf club, Trump International Golf Club for several hours following this incident. Of course, they wanted to make sure it was safe and secure before they moved him beyond the gates here. We actually arrived here at Trump International just as the motorcade was leaving here. They took him back to Mar-a-Lago, which is about 15 minutes from here in West Palm Beach.

We have not seen the former president since then, but he did send out a couple of fundraising e-mails, writing, I am safe and well, my resolve is stronger. So again, we haven't seen him. We haven't heard from him beyond those fundraising e-mails, but I can tell you that House Speaker Mike Johnson did visit with him at Mar-a-Lago this afternoon, for several hours, he posted a photo with him, saying that he had been there visiting him. But again, Anderson, no -- no further word beyond those fundraising e-mails tonight.

COOPER: You know, Randi, I hadn't realized how close that golf course. First of all, I hadn't realized that golf course is separate from where Mar-a-Lago is. And the -- the former president has to actually drive from Mar-a-Lago to his golf course that it remains open to members, and I guess, paid guests, even when he's there. And that how open it is, it's -- it's -- it's flanked by several main roads and sidewalks that people can walk on.

KAYE: Yes, absolutely, Anderson. As I said, it's -- it's -- it's about 10 or 15 minutes. But Mar-a-Lago itself does not have a golf course on the premises, so this is where the -- many come and play. But it is flanked by these very heavily trafficked roads. We're here on Summit Boulevard, which still remains closed tonight, and the club entrance is right behind me. There's a guard shack that you would have to go through to enter.

But the fifth and sixth hole, where we have been focusing on today, where this incident apparently took place, that is on the corner of Summit Boulevard, where we are in Congress Avenue. So it's just right down the road here from -- from us, where this apparently happened, and there are bushes there. It's unclear if that's exactly where the fence is, but that was roped off earlier, so perhaps someone could get through the fences, right off, through the bushes, right off one of these main drags, and then they would come upon a -- a fence that would be protecting the golf course.

But it is -- there's no big wall that is -- that is surrounding this -- this Trump International Golf Club or anything like that. So somebody could certainly poke their way through those bushes. Anderson?

COOPER: Randy Kaye, thank you. And CNN's Kyung Lah is in Los Angeles with new information about the man detained. What have you learned?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, we are getting much more of a picture of who this man is. And we're actually seeing the first images of him. Our investigative team has been going through the internet, going through various social media websites. And we now know that this is Ryan Wesley Routh. He is age 58.

The images that you are seeing here are publicly available on social media websites. And these are posted the -- the ones that you saw with Ukrainian flag behind him and -- and with various soldiers that -- that he went to Kyiv. He went to Ukraine, went to the front lines. And he traveled there in 2022. He was raising money for the war effort. He personally traveled there.

He was encouraging others to join among his friends, as well as just across social media, encouraging this fight for democracy, as he was writing on social media. We're also getting a fuller image of -- of -- of who this 58-year-old man is. We know that he had been living in Hawaii as well as in North Carolina. In Hawaii, he was a self-employed affordable housing builder. He started his own company in 2018 called Camp Box Honolulu.

And it builds storage units for like those tiny houses that you see in a lot of urban areas. And those tiny houses, according to a -- a pa -- an article written about him in the local newspaper, was to help homeless people. In North Carolina, he had been registered as an unaffiliated voter without a party. In 2012 he voted in the state's Democratic primary in March of this year, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

And he had contributed more -- more than $100 to Act Blue. That is the website that processes donations for Democrats, and this is according to federal campaign finance records. We also are learning that he did have brushes with the law, especially in North Carolina. There are several incidents, the 2002 incident that you've been talking about with some of our experts on set there, that he was arrested after being pulled over by police and had -- had barricaded himself with a firearm inside of a business that was confirmed via law enforcement.

And also public records confirm a number of cases dating back to the 1990s. He has been repeatedly, repeatedly accused of not paying his taxes on time. Judges have ordered him to pay tens of thousands of dollars to plaintiffs and -- and various civil suits. But, you know, you -- you see the man right there. He -- he at -- at least just looking at that picture, you can understand where his eldest son. In -- in a text message with one of our producers in the investigative unit, told CNN that Routh was a loving and caring father, an honest, hardworking man.

[22:10:24]

The son wrote, I don't know what's happened in Florida, and I hope things have just been blown out of proportion, because from the little I've heard, it doesn't sound like the man I know to do anything crazy, much less violent. So a -- a very confusing picture, you know, splitting his time between two very far, where he places, and traveling to someplace very far, for an effort that -- that we're still trying to figure out exactly what kind of personal connection he had to it. Anderson?

COOPER: But just -- just to be clear, I know the son, you know, obviously, you know, loves his dad and said -- said those things about his dad, but just be clear about not doing anything crazy. You're saying he -- he barricaded himself into a business with a weapon within a standoff with police long ago, and has many --

LAH: And that's some -- yes in 2002.

COOPER: And didn't pay taxes and also didn't pay bills that he owed money to people for is that right?

LAH: Indeed, indeed.

COOPER: OK. Kyung Lah, thanks very much. Appreciate it. We're learning, trying to learn as much as we can about this person.

Joining us now, CNN's Evan Perez, retired FBI special agent, Daniel Bruner, CNN senior national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem and Jonathan Wackrow, former secret service agent. Evan, I know you received that statement from the detained person's son. Have you learned anything new about -- about the overall investigation at this stage, or where does it -- where -- I mean, where -- where do we stand on this, do you know?

PEREZ: Well, initially, Anderson, the -- the initial word, at least on the ground, was that he wasn't very cooperative with investigators. We -- we believe that that, obviously, is something that will change if it hasn't already, the FBI is pursuing this investigation. There's -- they've got plenty to work with, including, of course, some of the things that they found at the scene, the -- the GoPro, the ballistics, the backpack that he had there, and, of course, the -- the -- the AK- 47 variant that he carried with him, according to -- to the FBI.

Now that's going to provide a lot of clues. They -- they'll know how -- when did he obtain this -- this firearm? Perhaps give them a -- a se -- a sense of how long he's been planning this. Clearly, he was aware and -- and -- and noticed what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania just a few weeks ago, because he posted on social media about it. So now the question is, you know, how long has he been planning to target the former president, at least, you know, again, looking at what happened today, there has to have been some kind of planning.

One -- one of the things that certainly has been raised and I've seen Kristen Holmes reporting this, Anderson. The former president wasn't supposed to be golfing today. And so the big question is, then, how did this person know to be at this spe -- specific lo -- location. How long has they been there? How long have they been pursuing this goal, all of those things, of course, the FBI is going to try to answer in the coming days.

COOPER: Jonathan, what -- what stands out to you right now? What are you hearing from -- form the Secret Service about this event?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, listen, good evening Anderson, when you think about this from a -- a threat perspective, the Secret Service looks at this in two parts, motivation and intent. And let me talk to the motivation first. Really, this is the underlying drivers that, you know -- you know, we're pushing this individual, you know, to, you know, engage in this act and launch this attack.

You know, and really, when you think about motivational factors, oftentimes they're like narcissistic grievances. My -- my thought is better than yours. I'm better than you. We see this oftentimes with, you know, assassins in -- in people who engage in acts of shooting and mass shooting. So that, you know, what we hear here is like, you know, what were those grievances? What was, you know, in -- in that's what the FBI is looking into right now, is -- is those underlying reasons.

But the intent here is really important. It's that conscious decision in the preparation for the attack. And I think that when we look at this, you know, it -- it's really disturbing to -- to see that this individual was able to find a location. I'm sure that as this investigation goes on, we're going to see that there was probably some pre attack surveillance that the -- the shooter chose this location for a very specific line of sight reason.

Again, going towards intent, we see the GoPro. This is, you know, trying to record and, you know, potentially live stream this attack, the -- the nuance of the -- the ballistic plates, the ceramic plates and backpacks, again, really anticipating some sort of, you know, fight that's going on here. So when we look at like those things, the -- the motivation and the intent combined together with this -- this new reporting. It really paints a very dangerous picture of -- of this individual.

[22:15:04]

And again, I -- I think that the actions by the Secret Service today and the coordination and communication with local and state law enforcement partners really averted a, you know, a -- a tragic event from actually happening.

COOPER: Yes, Jonathan, the presence -- the, you know, the fact that he set up a GoPro on the fence. I don't know if it was going to be pointing at him or if it was going to be pointing down range. I'm not sure which shot he wanted to get from -- from that GoPro. But the fact that, you know, Juliette Kayyem had mentioned, you know, the Christ Church shooter who live streamed, obviously, you know, Hamas terrorists using, you know, documenting and even live streaming some of -- of their terrorism on October 7th.

The idea that -- that he had the presence of mind to -- to -- to take time to actually set up that GoPro in addition to building that shield of ceramic plating in front of him, is interesting. Can you explain the difference just in protecting a sitting president versus a former president and a presidential candidate?

WACKROW: Well, you know, Anderson, I think that the labels have to be eliminated here by the Secret Service of like, what differentiates this person from that person based upon their political role. We have to really look at the -- the environment now from a threat based methodology, because Donald Trump does not fit the former president model. He's not Barack Obama. He's not President Bush or Clinton, right? His threat environment is drastically different, both from domestic actors and the -- the overarching threat from -- from Iran. So that is something that is unprecedented, with a former president and the, you know, the -- the current Republican nominee for the office of the presidency. So we have to eliminate these labels and really focus on applying every appropriate measure to protect the individual based upon the threats that they're facing.

And, you know, we're now know, because of today's actions, that these threats are just compounding for the former president. And they have to -- the Secret Service has to be aware of that, and they have to act quickly, because while nothing happened today, we still have to protect, you know, 360 days a year, 24 hours a day, and this dynamic threat environment is changing rapidly, and the Secret Service needs to stay one step ahead, not behind in, you know, their protective responsibilities.

COOPER: Evan, you wanted to add something.

PEREZ: I mean, I think what Jonathan is raising is a really, really fascinating and important point, because one of the things we've had this conversation, certainly with officials over the last and -- and some of the elected officials and the authorities, and over the last few weeks, since what happened in Butler. And if you have to remember that the whole system is designed for the continuation of government, right, to protect the head of state and then the Vice President, because obviously, you know, control of nuclear weapons. I mean, that's -- the -- the -- the whole system is geared towards that.

And but we've never had someone like Donald Trump before, a former president who's so active and basically has been running for office since he left in January 2020, '21 and so -- and also, obviously the Iran threat. So all of those things make him so much different. And Jonathan is raising a very good point that I think Congress and the Secret Service are going to have to figure out how to address in the coming weeks and months.

COOPER: And Jonathan, the former president, received more Secret Service protection after the attempted assassination in Butler. Now there's been this. I mean, does it mean there's going to be more protection for the -- the former president? Are they going to try to curtail the use of, you know, golf clubs, or -- or at least make the golf club not publicly open when the former president's there. I mean, are there other steps to take?

Yes, I'm sorry I'm not hearing. We'll -- we'll try to get your audio back. Everybody stick around. We're going to take -- have more with you later in the program. Up next, Congressman Jared Moskowitz joins me. He's part of a congressional panel that's looking to the first attempt on the former president's life. We'll get his thoughts on what happened today when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:21:17] COOPER: More on now, breaking news, the second attempt at assassination of the former president, this time at his golf club in western Palm Beach, Florida. Early this afternoon, authorities detaining a man shortly after a Secret Service agent spotted a rifle barrel sticking out of the fence surrounding the course, the agent fired at the man. They eventually detained this person. The man's son had said in a statement that it's not like his father, quote, to do anything crazy, much less violent, though he does have a history with law enforcement.

Our Kyung Lah just reported that father had brushes with the law, including once barricading himself with a firearm inside a business and a standoff with police. I'm joined now by Florida Democratic Congressman Jared Moskowitz. He's also a member of a bipartisan task force formed by Congress in the wake of that first attempt at assassination. Congressman, first of all, your reaction to this second apparent attempt -- assassination attempt on the former president just two months.

REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): Thanks, Anderson. Thanks for having me. Well, I never thought in my first two years in Congress that I would be appointed to an assassination task force based on an attempted assassination on a former president. Let -- let little did I think that while on that task force, just two months from the first assassination attempt, only a month into the task force, there would be a second attempt.

And so I'm deeply concerned about what's going on right now. I'm deeply concerned, quite frankly, for the former president's safety. You know, the Secret Service has a lot to explain how an individual was able to get again this close to -- to the former president.

COOPER: Do you expect, first of all, your task force will now also examine this incident?

MOSKOWITZ: You know, based on the chairman's response and the ranking member, it looks like we are asking the same questions we're asking about the first assassination attempt now about the second, asking for the FBI and the Secret Service to come in and give us a briefing and share that information. So I expect, Anderson, that it's like Groundhog Day, that we're going to be doing the same exact sort of investigation that we're doing to the first one now into the second one. And we still don't know the motive of the individual in the -- in the first assassination attempt.

And so look, I'm asking for the FBI Secret Service, Homeland Security to come out and start sharing some of the information with the American people. You know this, Anderson, you see it on -- on social media. On the left people think, you know, it was staged. On the right people think it was the deep state. And that's because we're not sharing information with the American people.

This is something we have to do. I mean, I -- I have a lot of questions on how this individual got his firearm. In Florida, we have red flag laws here, very tough red flag laws that actually were passed in the wake of the Parkland shooting six years ago. I'm about a mile from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School right now, where I graduated from. And based on his previous history, he should not have been able to attain -- obtain a firearm in the state of Florida if he did get it here.

And that's not clear. He may have brought it into the state. And so there are a lot of questions here, but I think the American people should be deeply concerned on why a second individual clearly disturbed, was able to get this close to the former president with a weapon.

COOPER: It -- it is, I mean, again, I -- I've just been surprised, just in the last hours, as I look at maps of the golf course to learn, you know, that it's on several major roads, and that those roads are open and the sidewalks are open, and the club itself is -- is open to, you know, members and -- and to their guests, even when the former president is -- is on there. Are there specific questions you have tonight that are like, front -- first and foremost in your mind?

MOSKOWITZ: Well, first of all, both of these assassination attempts were outside, and they were outside in areas that were both, you know, had a lot -- were wooded. You know, they had a lot of trees, lot of brush. And so you know, the Secret Service needs to start telling us whether or not they can actually keep somebody safe in these circumstances, unless they're shutting down whole areas.

[22:25:09]

And if that's what we have to do, then that -- that's what we have to do. He's a former president running for reelection again. We have to be able to keep him safe. This is getting embarrassing for the agency. And people in Congress are bewildered why we're in this situation now for a second time.

And so, yes, Anderson, I mean, I'm -- I'm very concerned about, you know, the -- the status of the Secret Service's ability to keep the former president safe in --in outdoor -- in outdoor environments. But I went to Butler. I could not believe how close the roof was to the stage. And not just that, but the fence line that was outside the perimeter, they just let any individual run up to the fence, and that those people did not go through magnetometers. And so the protocols going on right now and the resources being committed to the former president in my question seemed to be wholly inadequate.

COOPER: We had Jonathan Wackrow, a former Secret Service agent, who was saying that he -- he thinks the Service needs to kind of reassess the criteria that they use that it, you know, it used to be, well, it's a person's a former president, therefore it's this level of protection, or they're -- they're -- they're a candidate for president. Donald Trump is sort of in a category of his own. I mean, he is a former president, but he's also a, you know, seeking the -- the office, and obviously has more attention than probably any former president. And so the question is, you know, should his level be even higher already than it is now, which is higher than it was before Butler?

MOSKOWITZ: Yes. Well, look, I'm not a security expert. But let me give a third category. How about someone who was almost killed two months ago? How about that category? I mean, the idea that they haven't changed the protocols and we're still giving him the same sort of protection in these outdoor areas is unacceptable. So look, if the Secret Service now gets the point, right, and they're now going to change their protocols, well, congratulations. But it should have happened after the first attempt two months ago.

COOPER: You know, have you heard from other of your colleagues in Congress tonight on -- on either side of the aisle? What would I mean -- are -- I assume they're kind of saying all the same things, same concerns.

MOSKOWITZ: Yes. I mean, look, obviously there are people who want to poli -- there are people who want to politicize this, you know, for political gain, which I caution against. But yes, I've talked to members of both parties, and people just don't get it. They don't understand how we're in this situation for a second time. It is shaking the confidence, quite frankly, in our institutions.

And that is something that's hard to explain to the American people, which is why I think the FBI and the Secret Service need to start having weekly briefings of information, trying to share what they know in both investigations with the American people to try to restore that faith. That's really what the task force is trying to do on a bipartisan basis.

We're trying to restore faith in our institutions by getting to the bottom of what happened and sharing that information. I saw Governor DeSantis announced earlier today that he is going to have the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, I believe, conduct their own investigation. But that, you know, that's only warranted because, quite frankly, our national investing, you know, the FBI and -- and the Secret Service aren't sharing the information that the American people are craving on the first assassination attempt, let alone seeing a second one.

We -- we have seen mass shootings in this country become normalized, and it's unacceptable. Now we're going to have political violence become normalized, I -- I mean, we have to, on a bipartisan statement -- bipartisan basis, Democrats and Republicans, make sure that we speak together on this, that -- that -- that the Secret Service and the FBI have to make sure that they keep president, former president Trump, safe.

COOPER: You -- you're saying that you want the FBI, Secret Service, you know, to the public to be more public facing with the information they have and updates. Have they been cooperative enough, in your estimation, with your committee?

MOSKOWITZ: Yes. With our committee, they've been cooperative. We're getting briefings. We're getting classified briefings. But that's not to the American public. I understand the investigation is still going on. And I understand protocol as usual is, hey, we don't share information. And so the investigation is concluded. But these are extraordinary circumstances. We're -- we've never seen this, two assassination attempts in 62 days. And so this is going to require some out of the box thinking. And in order, in my opinion, to restore faith in the institutions, they have to start sharing information with the American people. We can't allow there to be vacuums when there's vacuums, right, we see misinformation start to fill and we see politicization of the process.

COOPER: Yes. Congressman Jared Moskowitz, thank you for your time. Thank you.

MOSKOWITZ: Thanks, Anderson.

[22:29:53]

COOPER: What history teaches us next about this never ending threats the president faces that is next after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: We are back with a breaking news coverage, the FBI investigating the second assassination attempt to form President Donald Trump in just two months. Here with me now is CNN presidential historian Tim Naftali. Tim, I'm just -- as a historian, what's your reaction to everything that's unfolded in the last few hours?

[22:34:54]

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Oh, God, not again was my initial reaction. It was so painful. And worrying in July, when the first assassination attempt occurred. And the concerns we all had about how that might contribute to increasing this culture of -- this toxic culture that we live in, those concerns are back again. We had that moment as you remember after the first assassination attempt, where both political parties were talking about the importance of lowering the tension, reducing the temperature, if you will, of -- of our political rhetoric.

And in the debate, just the other day, President Trump sort of verged on blaming Vice President Harris and the Democrats for that first assassination attempt. So I -- I -- first of all, it's horrible that he and his family are undergoing this trauma. It's a terrible shock to the country. I'm concerned about what follows. Will we have, once again, the sort of the discussion about the importance of lowering the temperature or is this going to quickly, going to begin to become politicized and we see more violence as a result?

COOPER: Is there a historical precedent? I mean, Ronald Reagan was shot once, Gerald Ford there was a squeaky from his attempt. Has -- has anyone had two --

NAFTALI: Yes. In terms. Yes. Gerald Ford, 17 days apart, September 1975 squeaking from and Sara Jane Moore. By the way, both attempted assassins are still alive. Sara Jane Moore wanted to start a violent revolution, and felt that the way to do that was to do that was to kill the president the United States. She has since recanted those views and felt that she -- she's very happy she did not kill Gerald Ford.

But both of these individuals sought to change our political system through violence. So it is a sad fact of our life, of our world, of our culture, that given the importance of the president of the United States to us all that unstable individuals seeking to actually steal the vote from all of us try to change our system by going after the president, killing him.

It is -- it is a fact of American life. It doesn't happen all the time, but once again, it's happened, and it's a reminder that this is bread and the bone. This is not something new in our political history.

COOPER: And -- and traditionally, I mean political violence doesn't solve political problems in this country. I mean in the past, it's -- it -- it's engendered more political violence, right?

NAFTALI: Well, we're a country that went through a civil war. No. Political violence never solves a political dispute. The entire -- our entire system is based on the ec -- on the belief that we can rationally debate with each other, disagree with each other and come to some kind of resolution, separation of powers. The separation of powers doctrine is not the basis for warfare. It's the basis for consensus. So, no, our system was not set up to survive political violence. And as we know in the 19th century, it very nearly didn't survive political violence.

COOPER: Tim Naftali, thank you. Appreciate you being here with us tonight.

This afternoon, the Palm Beach County Sheriff described the events that unfolded in the moments after an agent spotted the barrel of a gun poking out of that fence on the golf course where the former president was playing. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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.

[22:40:06]

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)

COOPER: I'm joined now by Donell Harvin, the former chief of Homeland Security and Intelligence for the District of -- of Columbia. I mean, there's still we -- a lot we don't know. I mean what do you think the FBI specifically, what is top of the list of things they're -- they're -- they're trying to figure out?

DONELL HARVIN, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY EMERGENCY & DISASTER MANAGEMENT: Well, obviously, everyone has access to a social media history, so that's one thing that they're looking at, that's a whole separate team that looking at, if there's any accomplices. I mean, quite frankly, the opportunity to be at the right place, at the right time to take a shot at the former president is -- is quite astonishing.

And in, you know, in terrorism and counterterrorism, we teach about these cycles of radicalization. We teach about this mobilization of violence, and it often begins with a violent ideation and then moves into a stage that we call pre operational surveillance. And so just happening to be at the right time in the right place, this individual may have been filmed, or someone may have known that he was going there. I don't know how he knows that the President was going to be golfing that day, but that's certain -- certainly something they're looking at to see if they can link him to other individual or individuals that may have had information that assisted him.

COOPER: If -- it's remarkable that it was the, I mean, as law enforcement talked about, you know, some eyewitness happened to notice this person coming out of bushes and jumping in their vehicle. I don't know how it was that, how long that person was there, how long their vehicle was, I guess, parked just on the side of the road by this golf course that that wasn't picked up. But if it wasn't for this eyewitness taking a picture of the vehicle, it -- it certainly seems like this would not have, at least this person would not have been apprehended as quickly as they were.

HARVIN: Anderson, in our business, we say this every day. If you see something, say something. If you look at this incident and -- and juxtapose that versus the incident in -- in Pennsylvania, you see the same elements, right? You see mem -- members of the public reporting to law enforcement that they're seeing something in obviously, in Butler, things went awry, but in this case, everything went exactly how it's supposed to be.

And as we say in our business, the bad guys only have to be lucky once, and we have to be exact, 100 percent of the time, this played out exactly how it should have been. Witnesses told law enforcement, the -- the -- the Secret Service, were on the same communications lines. We call interoperable communications with local and state law enforcement. All levels of government were working towards the same ends, and we had a successful outcome. The former president wasn't injured and this potential subject was apprehended.

COOPER: The -- the Palm Beach County sheriff said the President Trump's golf course would have been surrounded with protection, in their words, if he were the sitting president. But the Secret Service was limited in the areas that it was able to cover ahead of the incident, because he's a former president and -- and a candidate. How do you think he should be protected going forward when he's at a golf course or an open area that's harder to secure?

HARVIN: Well, you just had the historian on. This is only the second time in history that we've had a presidential candidate, you know, with two -- with two attempts on his life. And -- and it's far be it for me to tell the Secret Service or the U.S. government how to protect this individual. But let's look at the outcome if President Trump had been seriously wounded or, God forbid, killed in Butler or today.

This country would be in a state unlike anything we've ever seen. And so while the U.S. government has declared that the election process is critical infrastructure and is key to the ongoing success of our democracy, the individuals that are key to that process, the current vice president and the former president, President Trump, need to be protected as much as possible to ensure that the election goes smoothly and that there's a smooth transition of power to either one of those individuals.

COOPER: Donell Harvin, I appreciate your expertise. Thanks for being with us.

HARVIN: Thank you.

[22:44:32]

COOPER: More of our special coverage when we come back.

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COOPER: CNN's Kyung Lah is in Los Angeles with new information on the investigation. What have you heard, Kyung?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I want to go to reporting from our Josh Campbell, who has been talking to his sources at the FBI, and is learning that as we speak, Anderson, the investigation is now going global. What authorities are trying to do is try to understand a little bit more about this man, this man who ended up on that -- near that golf course, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh.

According to Josh's sources, they are working. Authorities are working to obtain search warrants on various social media accounts believed to be associated with him. Some of these images that you're looking at to your screen here, these are images that our investigative unit has been able to call from his various social media accounts that are available online.

[22:50:03]

The online, suspected online activity is also involving some of these platforms that are located outside of the United States. And what the FBI is also aware of are some of his online claims about foreign travel. And I want to zero in on something here, Anderson. The pictures that you're seeing come from a GoFundMe account. And on that account, Routh claims that he went to Kyiv in 2022. He was raising money to try to support his travel. Support travel that appears to be completely done on his own on that GoFundMe website -- site.

He is encouraging others to join him. It is unofficial. He claims that he is staying with people aligned with the military, that he is donating military devices to some of the fighters in Ukraine. And our team is also gathering a little more of a background about where he comes from in the United States. We believe, according to public records searches, that he was splitting time between Hawaii and North Carolina. That in Hawaii he was a self-employed affordable housing builder.

He started in 2018 a company called Camp Box Honolulu building some of those storage units and tiny houses, and that he had donated a structure to some homeless people. In North Carolina, though, we are getting through some of the federal finance -- campaign finance records, a donation of $100, more than $100 to Act Blue, which processes donations to Democratic campaigns.

He had registered as an unaffiliated voter, that is without a party affiliation in 2012, but he had voted in the March 2024 Democratic primary. And it also shows, according to North Carolina public records, that he had number of brushes with the law. In 2002, he had a -- a weapon. He had been pulled over by police. And that he barricaded himself in a building, that is something that police did recently confirm after his arrest on -- on Sunday, and that he had a number of public record -- according to public records, Anderson, that he had issues with the courts and failing to pay taxes. Anderson?

COOPER: Kyung Lah, thanks very much.

More now on the breaking news, tomorrow, the acting Secret Service director heads to Florida. Ronald Rowe got to the -- the top job after the director resigned in July in a hail of criticism, you may remember after the first assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania. Back now with our panel, Juliette Kayyem, Daniel Bruner and Jonathan Wackrow.

You know, Daniel it -- it's interesting to see those pictures of this guy, I guess those were taken early on in Ukraine. I mean, as somebody who was in Ukraine for a couple of weeks that started the war in Lviv, you would see a whole bunch of folks coming there from the U.S., some of them, you know, had legit military training in the U.S., and were there believing in the cause and wanting to -- to help and volunteer where they could or train others. And then you'd also see just some folks kind of washed ashore there with, you know, running from something or just seeing this as some kind of opportunity to jump start their -- their life. And so I'm curious to learn more about what this person was actually doing. You know, was he one of those people who just kind of got attracted to that and went? Did he actually have -- was he actually, you know, contributing in -- in -- in some way? There's certainly still a lot we don't know about this person.

DANIEL BRUNNER, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: There's a lot that's going to be looked at. The digital evidence that this individual left behind is -- is clearly tremendous. You know, we're going to be looking at all the CCTV, all his social media, and they're going to be looking back number of years, because obviously he's had an extensive social media presence going back to before the war in Ukraine.

So they're going to be looking all the way back before that. They're -- they're going to look at what his motivations were for going to Ukraine. And then, was he affected in Ukraine? Did that motivation come to the United States? And then as a processing and during the course of the investigation, that will all be analyzed, that will all be looked at, and to look for other mitigating factors that could have sent this individual down that road to, you know, to prepare for this attack and -- and understanding what the motivation was going on as far back as pre-war Ukraine.

COOPER: And Juliette, the fact that he had, you know, allegedly had a GoPro that he was going to be using to document either if he was pulling the trigger or, you know, or, you know, showing down range what happened when he pulled the trigger. I mean that indicates, certainly, a desire to broadcast, whether in real time or later, what -- what -- what was going to be done.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Right. That's exactly right. So in mass -- we've seen it in mass shooting cases. We've seen them on terrorism cases. This -- the performative nature of -- of the violence and so there -- it's -- it's not enough just to kill or -- or assassinate a -- a former president. It is -- you -- you've got to document it. And -- and we don't know if he want to just live stream it. We don't know what he was intending to do with it.

[22:55:19]

But we can, I think, you know, rationally, de -- deduce that part of it was the amplification of the violence itself. He lived very online. He was very vocal.

COOPER: Yes.

KAYYEM: We see all of these pictures. And so that -- that is something that suggests to me that it -- this was well planned out over time. And we just don't know what sort of triggered in the last couple of weeks or months.

COOPER: And Jonathan, if this was a -- a last minute, you know, schedule, put it on the schedule, get -- go, play golf. That also raises questions about, you know, how he knew about it.

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: No, it -- it actually does raise questions again. But when we start looking at this -- this individual, it is not normal for someone to wake up and decide, I'm going to go shoot the former president, right? The investigators right now are looking at the pathway to violence, his grievances, his violent ideations, his pre attack planning, all of this will come out through the investigation to include, how did he know that the President was going to be there on that day.

COOPER: Yes. Everybody, thank you for joining me. I'm Anderson Cooper. Breaking news coverage continues next with Jim Sciutto. We'll be right back.

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