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CNN Live Event/Special
Sources: Shooter Was Outside Donald Trump Rally Venue; Donald Trump Rally Shooting Being Investigated As An Attempted Assassination; President Joe Biden Returning To White House After Assassination Attempt At Donald Trump Rally; FBI Now Taking Lead In Donald Trump Rally Shooting Investigation; Suspected Shooter At Donald Trump Rally Dead. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired July 13, 2024 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: From my location, actually on the stage, it was to the right of Donald Trump's right shoulder -- over Trump's right shoulder. That is where the shots were coming from, the officer on the ground told me.
[22:00:11]
Now, you can see there's still a heavy police presence here. As I had said earlier, there were at least a dozen police cars around this area, we immediately came over here to ask about what the heavy police presence was for.
And like I said, a police officer on the ground confirmed to me that yes, this is where the shooter was on the roof. We're still getting additional details.
But as you can see, the fence here, there's a fence around the perimeter where the stage and the rally was, this building is outside of that fence. It's definitely higher than the fence, you can see that the fence doesn't go that high.
There is a red building, and I'm not sure if you can see it on our camera here. There's a red building to the right of the stage. That is where the snipers, I had saw that myself on the ground when I was inside the rally, the snipers were on top of the building, and that's where they were able to immediately respond to the shooter in real time.
But you can see -- I mean, it's very dark now and obviously it wasn't earlier today. You can see here though, just how close this building is to the actual rally venue and the stage itself where Donald Trump was speaking earlier very briefly before the round of shots were fired, Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Alayna Treene on the scene for us. Alayna, thank you very much. Anderson, back to you.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: It is about 10:00 p.m. here on the East Coast, a little less than four hours into the investigation of an assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
BLITZER: That is final rally before Monday's Republican National Convention, the rally being held in Butler, Pennsylvania, just a few miles north of Pittsburgh. The former president was just a few minutes into his remarks referring to a large graphic nearby when all of a sudden shots were fired.
COOPER: So, we're going to play you the entirety of it so you can hear not just how it unfolded, but also you're going to hear the voices of the Secret Service agents as they piled on the former president to protect him and as they tried to figure out exactly when they could move him off waiting to actually move him off until the shooter had been killed had been neutralized. You're going to hear him, hear them and also hear the voice of the former president at several points. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, that's a little bit all that chart, that chart's a couple of months old and if you want to really see something that said, take a look at what happened --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down, get down, get down, get down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are we doing? What are we doing? (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're about to despair.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold. Hold. When you're ready, on you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go. Go. Up. Guys here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All guys here, moving through the floor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get ready. Get ready.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are we ready?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shooter's down. Shooter's down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're moving out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shooter's down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shooter's down. Are we good to move? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shooter's down. We're good to move.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are we clear?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're clear. We're clear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's move. Let's move.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're clear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, we're good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, come on. We're moving, we're moving.
TRUMP: Let me get my shoes, let me get my shoes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got you sir. I've got you sir.
TRUMP: Let me get my shoes, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold that in your head.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, we're going to move you to the bus. We're going to move to the bus.
TRUMP: Let me get my shoes. Wait. Wait. Wait.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, we got to go. We got to move. We got to move.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The former president was hit in the ear and hustled away to a local hospital, the gunman who fired from outside the security perimeter, this is new video of him on the rooftop he fired from was killed. This is a video of him after he was dead.
One of the rally spectators was also killed, two others were critically wounded. And we're also going to show you the -- this aerial photo that we have, just giving you a sense of the location of the building where the shooter was, you can see there the location, the suspect gunman's position toward the top of the screen. And you can see the approximate area, the stage where the former president was shot and gives you a sense of the location of both -- of both and how it was outside the perimeter, Wolf.
[22:05:19]
BLITZER: And just a short time ago, Anderson, the former president posted on social media about the incident. And he said, among other things this, "I want to thank the United States Secret Service, and all of law enforcement for their rapid response of the shooting that just took place in Butler, Pennsylvania. Most importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the rally, who was killed and also to the family of another person that was badly injured. It is incredible that such an act can take place in our country. Nothing is known at this time about the shooter who is now dead. I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong, and that I heard a whizzing sound shots and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place. So, I realized then what was happening. God bless America." That was the statement that was just issued by the former president, Anderson.
COOPER: Well, joining us right now on the phone is Dr. Joseph Meyn. He was at the rally and witnessed the shootings. Dr. Meyn, thank you for talking to us. Can you just tell us first of all where you were when the shots went out and what you did?
DR. JOSEPH MEYN, EYEWITNESS OF THE SHOOTING: So, I was attending the rally, it was at the very -- so I was at the seated section right in front of the bleachers at the far left of the stage. So, it would have been the absolute right flank of where President Trump was speaking at the podium.
COOPER: And once the President was taken away, did you -- did you realize immediately what was going on?
MEYN: Yes, you know, I'm familiar with gunfire. So, I was there with friends. You know, I heard seven shots in very quick success and like, seven shots probably with under maybe a second, a second and a half.
Someone sitting next to me had said, oh my -- had said, oh, wow, you know, who -- you know, who brought firecrackers to the -- to the rally and I knew immediately it was gunfire.
You know, my friend, you know, hit the deck. I didn't hit the deck initially, because I saw where the round's coming from. But, you know, there was a man in the bleachers, right adjacent to me that took a gunshot wound to the head.
You know, as a physician, I can tell just, when he got hit, it was -- he was killed instantly.
COREN: You saw him being hit?
MEYN: Yes, I saw him being hit. And then I -- within a few rounds, I had swung back to look at the podium, and that's when I saw President Trump get hit in the right ear.
You know, there was a lot of confusion. So, you know, I was in the seated section right at the bleachers. So I jumped, because I'm a physician. So, I thought I would run the right side jump the metal barrier between the seated section and the -- and the bleachers.
The man had been, you know, hit in the -- the man had been hit in the head had been killed. You know, I helped lift them up and take them out of the bleachers and I took them to a tent behind the bleachers where I waited, they were going to evaluate them some more. Then, I noticed another woman was in the bleachers that she had had a gunshot wound to her forearm and hand, but I wasn't exactly sure because they were rushing her out, but it looked like she might have had a gunshot wound to the chest as well.
COOPER: So, the man you saw being shot and killed. He was shot before, you believe, before the bullet grazed the former president?
MEYN: I believe he was in the way of the gunfire. So, I believe that whoever it was -- I don't know who he was, he's a complete stranger to me -- but, you know, the bullets as they were being fired, he was in the crossfire, he was in the way. So, in that use a lot of, you know, rounds that were fired. He was hit, you know, within the first round or two and then a round or two after that is when President Trump was hit. I saw it, I have it in a video but -- you know, on my phone, but he was hit in the right ear.
COOPER: Right.
MEYN: And again, that's when I saw him -- and that's when, you know, the Secret Service, you know, pulled him to the ground and evacuated him out.
But, I mean, initially, I think, you know, half the crowd thought it was fireworks or those were pranks, but I think that was the far right from the podium, as you are looking at the podium dead on. The crowd that was close to the gunfire, you know it was gunfire because people were getting hit.
So, I think there was initial few seconds of confusion. But, you know, people responded pretty quickly.
COOPER: I'm not sure when it was that you learned the location of the shooter. We've now seen the aerial picture of his location, the building where he was at and the stage where the former president was speaking, was that a building you were aware of? Was it in your eye line? Was it -- were you aware that's where the shots were coming from?
[22:10:11]
MEYN: No, I was just watching the round sail across me, basically, it's kind of a humid day. So, you know, there were seven shots in rapid succession, I saw a man get hit. And then I saw the rounds prevalent kind of right -- to my left, right.
And so, I assumed, you know, I thought -- initially, I thought, you know, I haven't -- I'm just leaving the venue now. So, I haven't seen any of the video. You know, I've talked to authorities, I'm just leaving. It just seemed to me like the rounds were coming out either behind or just above where the bleachers were, but it was -- it was coming from -- it was coming from behind the bleachers and heading towards the podium for Trump to where I was sitting. The rounds were going from left to right.
COOPER: You -- as you said, you're a doctor, you're familiar with shots, you're -- you've seen the results of violence before but being there witnessing that, what -- I know you haven't had time maybe to even think too much about it. But how are you doing?
MEYN: You know, it's kind of too early to tell. Like, you kind of -- you know, I think in medical training, you're trying to reflexively do things. So, when you see something bad happen, you jump in action and try to, you know, render aid, you know?
There's really no aid to give for the gentleman that took the gunshot wound to the head. So, it was just, you know, I asked, you know, they didn't really need that aid. You know, I help take him out the bleachers briefly and then I went to go check on my friends. And that's what I know some people were hit, but they were already been evacuated.
So, it's just a lot to process. I really just haven't -- I really haven't thought about it a lot. It just it's too fresh in my mind.
COOPER: Yes. Well, Doctor, I'm sorry for what you and everybody there went through and I appreciate you talking to us.
MEYN: Sure. Thank you.
COOPER: Wolf, let's get back to you.
BLITZER: Anderson, we've just learned that President Biden has changed his plans in the wake of what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania. For more than that, let's go to CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is joining us from the White House right now. So, what's going on, Priscilla?
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, if the President had been scheduled to leave Rehoboth Delaware, that's where he has a residence to Texas on Monday for events, that has now changed. We are learning only minutes ago that the President will now be returning to the White House tonight.
Now, I have been talking to sources over the course of the evening who have told me that the mood at the White House is just utter shock. One senior administration official telling me, "It is just really horrible." When I asked about the security incident that unfolded at the former president's rally.
Now, the president, of course did address the nation in which he condemned political violence, and told reporters that he has been trying to get in touch with the former president.
Now, those remarks, I'm also being told were decided by the president himself. Of course, when this all unfolded, the president was at church again in Delaware. And it was only after he left that he was -- that he was briefed on what had occurred. And it was in that moment, a source tells me that the president said that he wanted to address the nation. And that is indeed what he did this evening.
Now, of course, the Biden campaign is also changing their posturing. After huddling tonight, they have decided to pause their outbound communications and pull down all T.V. ads, a memo also going out to staff telling them to refrain from commenting on social media.
So, a lot of movement both within the White House and within the Biden campaign tonight, as they have just been shocked by what they have seen.
And again, Wolf, just to go back to the breaking news here. The president will be returning to the White House tonight. He had not been scheduled to until next week.
BLITZER: Yes, he will fly from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to the Joint Base Andrews right outside of Washington, D.C. then motorcade to the White House tonight. Priscilla, thank you very much for that.
Phil Mattingly, you're watching all of this unfold. I know you're working your sources. What else you learned?
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, I think Priscilla captured what's going on not just inside of the White House, but I think across kind of the political spectrum right now is there's genuine shock. And I think that for people who might say, well, if you've been listening to the rhetoric, if you've been watching what's happening, if you've seen, and Dan did a great job pointing this out earlier, that over the course of the last 10 less than 12 years, there's actually been numerous incidents, it is still a moment where you can't believe that you were watching it live as I think a lot of us was where if you've been watching it since, you've been looking at the pictures, and I want to actually use their names here, Evan Vucci, Doug Mills, Anna Moneymaker who took these shots that are shots for history, these photographs from near the stage, you almost can't believe that you're in this moment. These are the moments that you read about in 1968. These are the moments that you read about with Ronald Reagan.
And the fact that they are here, I think a lot of what people are doing right now is grappling with, what does this mean for what happens next? We know that the Republican Convention is next week, we know that it's happening. We know that the former president has already you saw him in the moment move to rally his supporters, you can almost be certain that he will be doing that times about 50 when he gets there. How did Democrats react in this moment as well?
[22:15:03]
So, there's the politics of this, but I think people right now are just trying to get their head around. This was already a very unsettling time. This was already a political campaign where people weren't really sure where it was going to go. And everyone seemed to be uncomfortable about that fact. And however it was going to end up.
And this only, I think accelerates that feeling, with a hundred plus days to go in a way that I don't think anybody expected 24 hours ago.
BLITZER: Yes, people are saying, how could this happen in the United States of America. But unfortunately, as you and Dan have pointed out, it's happened many times in the United States of America. And it's happened once again tonight. PAMELA BROWN, CNN CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: And you know, for a history lesson, he is the fourth former president to be the target of an attempted assassination, right?
I mean, this is history, what we're going through today, and it's a sad part of history, it as a black mark on this country's history that this has happened.
And just to remind our viewers how fresh this is, I'm talking to law enforcement officials who are still trying to figure out, you know, who the gunman is, how he obtained the weapon, what kind of a weapon it is.
I mean, right now, not just you know, folks in Washington, elected officials are processing this, law enforcement officials are trying to sort through this and we just are learning, Wolf, that the FBI -- the Pittsburgh FBI now is taking the lead on this investigation. So, you have -- you have that aspect of it.
But then the broader security concerns heading into the RNC next week and the DNC shortly after that, you have the statement from the Homeland Security Secretary saying that DHS is in touch with the campaigns and that security in protecting Trump and Biden are vital priorities. But there's a lot of questions tonight about how this could happen. How this shooter could get so close to the former president and the Republican presidential nominee and pull this off.
And as we've been saying all night, just think about this, less than an inch away from potentially assassinating Donald Trump.
BLITZER: If he hit the right part of his ear, if it went a quarter of an inch higher, it would have gone through his skull.
BROWN: It was so close. I mean, it's just remarkable to think about this. Fortunately, he is OK.
BLITZER: Fortunately, indeed. You know, Dan, I thought that President Biden speech before was very strong, very powerful. When he made the points, political Violence is never appropriate. Everyone must condemn it. And he said he hopes to speak on the phone with former President Trump soon.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that is the kind of reaction that we as Americans hope that you see from somebody who is engaged in the most intense, contentious political fight of his life when his contender who was ahead of him in the polls right now, has his competitor, I should say, has an event like this and an assassination attempt on his life. The fact that President Biden is coming back to the White House is the most appropriate thing he could be doing right now.
Look, I think that, you know, Tim Naftali has been talking about, everybody's in shock right now. And there's no diminishing the horror that we all saw live and the fact that an innocent person who went to do what people in America are supposed to be free to do, which is rally support for the person that they believe should be the next president, which is clearly what all of the people who are behind the former president at that rally were there to do. And he lost his life.
There is a kind of a blood soaked history in this country of political leaders, presidents in both parties, either getting actually assassinated or being the victim of assassination attempts.
And you know, it hasn't happened in a while. Thank goodness. And let's just hope that there's a wakeup call right now. And everybody just tones it down.
BLITZER: And, you know, let's not forget that this assassination attempt was against a father. We're getting statements from the former president's family, Donald Trump, Jr. says he spoke to his father, I spoke to my father on the phone and he's in great spirits. He will never stop fighting to save America, no matter what the radical left throws at him.
We're getting a lot of statements from his family as well. You can only imagine how shocked and horrified they were by this attempt.
JAMIE GANGEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think it's true that across the board, we have seen appropriate statements from almost everyone from President Biden, President Obama, former President Clinton, of course, his family.
I just want to talk for a minute about the Secret Service, because I've covered many, many presidential campaigns. I remember when Jesse Jackson ran in the '80s and he was no question a target for a lot of threats and attacks, same for President Obama.
[22:20:14]
The Secret Service are very professional, this is a nightmare for them what's happened here, and we do not know yet why someone was able to get on top of that building. And it seems pretty obvious to us at this moment. But there may have been incidents outside their control.
But I do remember in talking to Secret Service details for presidents and candidates, that they often said, if someone is willing to give up their life, there's not a lot we can always do about it, because they can get at times very close to a candidate.
I'm not saying that's what happened here. We don't know yet about why that person got on the building. But these Secret Service agents, they put their lives on the line to protect these people. And I don't think we should forget that.
BLITZER: And as you and I, Jim, know these Secret Service agents who are assigned to the White House, they not only protect the president and the first family, they protect everyone at the White House, including those of us who have been White House reporters. I remember many times Secret Service agents helping me to go ahead.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Listen, Secret Service, like counterterrorism officers, they have the toughest job in the world, right, because you only know about their failures, you don't know about their successes. And in counterterror, and with the Secret Service, you know that they have foiled, prevented, probably long before it gets to this point. Countless plots against pres -- some of which we hear about there's one going back to President Obama in 2011.
It's a difficult job, and there are threats everywhere, and you know about only their failures, very rarely their successes.
In terms of where we are today. And this is another thing in the wake of this you want to be worried about where political fire is directed now, right? Is it the there's an incendiary quality to the political discourse, that no matter what happens, there is in our side, your side kind of view of things and lens.
FBI is taking over this investigation, as you know, the FBI itself has been the target of armed attacks, you know, particularly and threats in the wake of, for instance, the raid on Mar-a-Lago of classified documents.
You know, in each case, if any organization institution is seen as being on the opposite side of the ramparts, you know, politically, it becomes a target of attacks. And I think -- and that's one reason why in the wake of this, all of these statements are so important. So many of them have that phrase, political violence has no place in our society from Biden, from Republican lawmakers, Democratic lawmakers.
I saw Martin Luther King Jr. of course, who knows better than him, he says exactly that. And we're hearing it from international leaders as well, saying very similar because they look at the states with concern, although we should say -- we should note that violent political discourse is not confined to this country.
You know, as I'm watching, you know, the Israeli Prime Minister comments on this, of course, they lost a prime minister to assassination Yitzhak Rabin. As I'm watching the Japanese Prime Minister comment, they lost a former prime minister and Shinzo Abe to a political assassination. U.K. had an M.P. assassinated.
So, you know, this is a quality of political discourse that is sadly becoming quite common.
BLITZER: Sadly.
GANGEL: Wolf, just quickly, Liz Cheney. I don't know if you've read this before she put out a statement. She obviously has been on the other side with Donald Trump. She said reports of the shooting in Pennsylvania are horrifying. Again, you know, violence of any kind has no place in American politics.
I do want to say there was one thing that when I watched the tape, I found odd because of all of the heated rhetoric, and that is that after he was hit, former President Trump got up and said, fight, fight, fight. I think what we're hearing from people is that's not the message that we want to be sending right now. We want to tamp it down.
SCIUTTO: Well, I just want to note one thing on this kind of to that point, his co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita put out a tweet and are posted on X. And he made clear in that post, blamed a lot of things, which I think a lot of Republicans I think we're all hearing. Republicans are mad. There are a lot of Republicans who are mad and believe there's a lot that led to this moment. And they want to blame people for that loss, (INAUDIBLE) making it very clear. You win this, you in this at the ballot box.
And I think whether people focus on that, that is the outcome here and kind of continue to tamp down with it. Whether it's a benevolent statement or not, whether the focus is on that versus continuing the acceleration we've seen over the course of the last several years. I think it's going to be a very real question and a question that the answer may have very real consequences on over the course of the coming weeks.
[22:25:00]
BLITZER: Yes, all right guys, everybody stand by. Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: Thanks very much. I'm going to go next to CNN's John Miller with more details on what Pamela reported a moment ago and she have just mentioned the FBI now taking the lead in the investigation with us as well as former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
But before I do that, I want to -- I believe we have a new video, I haven't seen it yet that it's a different angle. Let's play this.
All right, it's pretty far away. Just that's obviously from a different angle as the former president is being led away.
John Miller, I'm just wondering what you have been -- anything more you have been hearing from your sources.
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENT ANALYST: Well, I think 22 minutes ago, the revelation and I'm quoting now from the statement, the FBI has assumed the role of the lead federal law enforcement agency in the investigation of the incident involving former President Donald Trump that occurred today in Butler, Pennsylvania.
That means they are bringing a significant amount of resources into this tonight with that announcement, that's the critical incident response group will be driving up with their vehicles and equipment from Quantico, the FBI's Evidence Response Team will be doing a grid search over that entire area where the rally was an outside the rally.
That means elements of the search group including a BAU, one that behavioral profilers will be involved, significant parts of the counterterrorism division and the Joint Terrorism Task Force will join the Criminal Division.
Why the FBI and not the Secret Service, because that's actually normal. The Secret Service's job is to protect their protectee, in this case, the former president, stop any assassination attempt to take out the potential assassin. But after that happens, they are part and parcel but the FBI is going
to be operating under the federal law that makes it a federal crime to attempt to assault or kill a federal officer or a former president of the United States or any official under the protection of the Secret Service. And that means figuring out who is he.
Right now, Anderson, and I've been talking to sources all over the government, we're not certain that they are certain that they have the identity of the gunman. I know they're trying to confirm that.
Secondly, they're going to need to know where is he from, is he local or does he travel far and wide to get here for this event? And then they're going to want to know, is he a left-wing violent extremist? Is he an accelerationist? Or is he and this is not out of the question, one of these people who are just hearing his own voices in his head, at what point we may learn the motive is something that just makes no sense to us.
We've seen that before. But they are in the very early stages of trying to figure out, do they know who this person is? And how do they start down that road?
COOPER: Andrew McCabe, former FBI Deputy Director, what stands out to you about this, and we have this aerial shot that gives you a sense of the location of where we believe the shooter was and where the former president was speaking. I mean, it's -- I don't know the exact number of how many yards it was, but it's doesn't look that far. That that was not in the security perimeter that there was not somebody from the Secret Service already on that roof. What does that say to you?
And also, for somebody a shooter to get up there, they must have case that in advance, well in advance, no?
ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: Yes, you would certainly think so, Anderson. You know, there's -- as you look at that overhead map, it raises many, many issues for the investigators at the FBI and their task force partners who will be peeling this apart, literally dissecting every aspect of the shooters life.
COOPER: Hey, Andrew. I just want -- I just want I'm sorry to interrupt you. I want to bring in our Kaitlan Collins just standing by who has some new information, Kaitlan.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We heard from the president earlier, he said he had been trying to get in touch with former President Donald Trump. We now can confirm from a White House official that President Biden has spoken to former President Trump.
The White House says that he also spoke to the Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and the mayor of Butler where this rally was being held Bob Dandoy, he is returning to the White House, I should note and this is something that was unscheduled as Priscilla mentioned. And the White House says that he is going to get a briefing tonight from Homeland Security and law enforcement officials. That includes the director of the United States Secret Service that Chairman James Comer said they are going to reach out to. It's also his top security advisors and the FBI Director Chris Wray
will be part of that -- or part of that briefing that he got tonight, but it is notable that for President Trump and President Biden have now spoken.
We don't know anything else about what was said during that conversation, but they have been able to make contact.
[22:30:01]
COOPER: All right, Kaitlan Collins, giving you that confirmation. Andrew, I'm sorry for interrupting. Please continue.
MCCABE: Yes, sure. So, I think she's saying the overhead map raises all kinds of issues for investigators to pursue.
But to be clear, the FBI's job now is not to find out -- not to find faults with whatever the Secret Service did or didn't do. Their job is very simple. They want to know everything there is that can be known about the shooter, who they are, where they're from, how they got there, who they might have worked with, or been directed by or conspired with or been aided by, that's job number one.
And exposing those facts will greatly inform any kind of inquiry that the Secret Service conducts later, to figure out if there were things that they could have or should have done differently.
I think the location of that of the shooter's position opens up all kinds of possibilities. I agree with the likely case this positioning long in advance, which would lead you to believe that the manufacturing company that owns that cluster of buildings, whether or not they have any video surveillance in the area, that people have ever seen this person or a vehicle that's ultimately attributed to him in the area.
So, there's all kinds of investigative avenues that simply that position opens up.
Of course, once they identify where he's from, and what vehicles he's connected to. There'll be search warrants executed at all of those locations on all those properties. They'll speak to every one of his relatives, work associates, anyone who knows him, they'll take every piece of electronics that he owns, or has touched or been near, and they'll download those things. They'll get onto his social media to look at who he was talking to online, searches that he may have been making online.
So, this is a very complicated and vast process. I am confident that the full weight of the FBI counterterrorism division, and all of its supporting assets like SURG and the Evidence Response Teams, they are working tonight, they'll be deployed to the scene, they will be going 24/7 on this case for quite some time.
COOPER: Just in terms of making an identification, Andrew, I mean, it's the fastest way, I mean, taking fingerprints off his -- you know, off his corpse. Is it following the history of the weapon used? What's the -- what is the best way?
MCCABE: Yes, the weapon is --
COOPER: Assuming he doesn't have IDs on him.
MCCABE: Sure, right. You look in his pockets first. But the weapon is probably not a super reliable indicator of identity, just because it could have been a long chain of changes in possession of that or transfers of that weapon along the way.
They can run fingerprints instantly from the scene, they have a process called a quick capture machine that they developed literally on the battlefields working with Special Forces and our military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. They can print them in place, and instantly return whether or not he's got any sort of fingerprint record in the federal and state systems.
There's other things that they can do, they can try to use dental records, things like that, but they will have this person identified I would think within the next few hours, then begins the process of really pulling that life apart.
COOPER: John Miller, I mean, at this -- at this hour, what stands out to you? What are the questions, the biggest questions you have from sort of how could this have happened standpoint?
MILLER: Well, I think the questions are going to be about what that outer perimeter was like. But I also understand as the -- as the NYPD official who worked hand in glove with the Secret Service, you know, I lead the package that ran ahead of Donald Trump's motorcade, and every trip he made to New York as president without exception. I know how the Secret Service works.
But the package they give to a president is one thing, the package they give to a former president is scaled down, even the package they give to a former president, both as a presidential candidate is not the same as presidential security.
So, in this case, they had a counter sniper team, which isn't in every case, and they were looking out for high ground.
But as you see from the image on the screen, most of the high ground is very low. So, they're going to have to face a lot of questions about this. But some of it may boil down to what was said before on our air, which is if someone's willing to plan it out, case it and willing to die in the process. There isn't always a way to stop it.
[22:35:13]
COOPER: And Andrew in terms of FBI, I mean, they're -- they have personnel obviously, probably already there as you -- as you -- as I think John was saying, there's going to be a lot more resources heading there right now.
MCCABE: That's right, Anderson, every FBI field office has an Evidence Response Team, those teams are typically deployed regionally. So, I would expect that the Pittsburgh field office is in the lead on this case, that's their territory, but they'll be receiving massive influxes of resources, personnel, equipment, all sorts of things from Philadelphia, from New York, maybe New Haven, and there's a whole host of very large capable offices nearby. And they'll be getting folks from headquarters, whether they like it or not, they'll get headquarters folks, folks from service, as John mentioned before.
So, they're -- all those resources, there's a critical incident conference call, it takes place within the FBI as soon as anything like this happens. And the purpose of that call is to get the leaders of all those different divisions and areas within the FBI together on the same call, that Deputy Director presides over it. And the decisions to deploy resources are made instantly and people start moving as soon as that call concludes.
So, I'm quite confident that that's happened already.
COOPER: Hey, Andrew, we've just got a new video that I want to show you, it's of the rooftop with Secret Service counter snipers on it. These are the ones who assume would have been the ones who killed the shooter.
On the video, you can hear them shooting and we're seeing this for the first time, we'll just play this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, that's a little bit all that chart, that chart's a couple of months old and if you want to really see something that said, take a look at what happened --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: I want to try to re-rack that and replay that. I don't know if we can zoom in on it because it's interesting. It's -- you see the counter sniper, I mean, he's looking through his -- the lens on the rifle and then seems to kind of noticed something that he looks at with his own eyes as if to confirm and then again, then quickly shoot.
Andrew, I don't know if you can see this video from your location. But, what do you make of it?
MCCABE: Yes. You know, it's remarkable capture. Well, the first thing that jumps out to me Anderson is they at least (ph) that sniper and possibly his -- I don't know if that's his spotter that's lying on the -- on the roof next to him, you typically deploy as a pair, one person on the gun, the other person on just optics and directing the person on the gun.
They're all -- they begin the video -- the video begins with them looking essentially in the right direction. It's almost as if you get the sense that maybe something on that rooftop had already caught their attention.
And then when he comes, when he raises his head off the gun, it almost seems to be in response to the first shot like almost looking to confirm like, did I -- did I just see what I think I saw sort of thing.
This is all speculation. We don't know he isn't. We don't have that information yet. But it is remarkable to me that he seems to be looking exactly in the right place --
COOPER: Well, it's interesting, because in the --
MCCABE: -- when the shots go off.
COOPER: There is and again, this is just, you know, these may be completely random pieces of information. But there, you know, there was the eyewitness who we played the sound from a short time ago who said that he was alerting local law enforcement and pointing Secret Service people on the roof to the location of the person he believed was the gunman before the gunman fired which may be again, this is we don't know but if that is the case, then that might be why the counter snipers already pointing in that location.
John -- or go ahead Andrew.
MCCABE: Yes, you would -- you would hope and expect that if they had received a witness report like that, it would have at least gone out over the radio channel. And it's possible that the snipers got some version of that report like hey, we're hearing a report of something happening on a roof on your -- you know, your 3:00 or something like that. And so, they may have been looking over there to kind of gather more information to see if they could -- they could spot something as well, but not having had the robust full you have a shooter on this roof sort of thing.
So yes, there's a lot -- a lot to be ironed out here.
COOPER: John Miller, I don't know if you can see that counter sniper video. I'm wondering if anything stands out to you about it.
MILLER: I think Andy's got it right, which is you've got the sniper, you've got his spotter. They are getting information in their earpieces. It is possible about we're getting reports of an individual on a roof that's way on the other side, he may be looking for that in his scope when he looks up.
[22:40:09]
When you hear those shots, it's entirely likely that that is the shooter's actual shots, and then the sniper. And it cuts off before you hear the larger volley of shots the video does.
But that is probably coming from that counter sniper taking that shooter out as they were trying to assess what is he? Where is he?
Now, if you go back to the map version of that, you see where President Trump was. You see where the shooter was.
Where the shooter was, that's a roof that slants up one way and slants down the other way. So, if this shooter is crawled off the down slant, he would be out of the view of that sniper until he either stood up or crawl to the top of it to take his shot.
So, they might have been looking for him before he became visible. I think your assess that he heard the shots, looked up, went back to his scope and open fires is highly likely.
COOPER: I want to play with the video which we've been playing pretty much once an hour or so just to for those who are just joining. This starts just around 6:15 p.m. in Butler, Pennsylvania. This is a short minutes into president -- former President Trump speaking at this rally when the shots began.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, that's a little bit all that chart, that chart's a couple of months old and if you want to really see something that said, take a look at what happened --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down, get down, get down, get down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are we doing? What are we doing? (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're about to despair.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold. Hold. When you're ready, on you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go. Go. Up. Guys here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All guys here, moving through the floor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get ready. Get ready.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are we ready?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shooter's down. Shooter's down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're moving out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shooter's down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shooter's down. Are we good to move?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shooter's down. We're good to move.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are we clear?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're clear. We're clear. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's move. Let's move.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're clear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, we're good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, come on. We're moving, we're moving.
TRUMP: Let me get my shoes, let me get my shoes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got you sir. I've got you sir.
TRUMP: Let me get my shoes, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold that in your head.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, we're going to move you to the bus. We're going to move to the bus.
TRUMP: Let me get my shoes. Wait. Wait. Wait.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, we got to go. We got to move. We got to move.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Wolf, let's get back to you.
BLITZER: Every time I see that video, it is so, so scary indeed. And the thought of what potentially could have happened within a few inches away from where those bullets landed, it's so scary indeed.
We're going to go to CNN's Randi Kaye, she's joining us from just outside Trump Tower in Manhattan for us. What are you seeing over there? What are you hearing, Randi?
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've been out here now for a couple of hours that we came here because we were told that there had increased police presence here just out of an abundance of caution. And they sure have, there's about a steady stream of about eight or nine officers here behind me. They've been making the rounds around the building. We are right out front of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan.
And, of course, Trump comes here and there. He's come here when he's had to be on trial here in New York City. He's not here very often but just out of an abundance of caution, they have increased the police presence here.
There is a small crowd, to be honest with you, most of it is media but there have been some supporters coming throughout the night. A couple of people just showed up to light some candles or perhaps trying to get some sort of visual going.
But we understand from the spokesperson for New York City Mayor Eric Adams that he has been briefed on this situation, he has said that his prayers go out to the former president.
And this is not the only area in New York City, Wolf, that they are concerned about just in case, they are also beefing up the police presence in other areas of the city. Those would include City Hall, also 40 Wall Street and Foley Square. Foley Square has a little bit of history. It's known as Federal Plaza, and that is a major site for protesters often, that is where they gather, certainly during the Occupy Wall Street, that's where they gathered years ago. So, that is one area that they want to keep an eye on.
[22:45:27]
But as I said, they've had a steady stream here of people coming through, they've been chatting with the police officers a little bit. It's a very calm crowd here this evening.
But of course, they just want to be sure that everything here is there -- that they are taking all the precautions that they can, there's been a permanent blockade, Wolf, out front of Trump Tower here since 2016. But this is different when you have actually police officers standing at the front door of Trump Tower, making sure nobody gets inside, Wolf.
BLITZER: And as you know, Randi, and I know the Secret Service, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, local law enforcement, the U.S. military, every time something like this happens out of an abundance of caution, they intensify security all over the place. They don't want to take any more chances. So we're going to see that whether the coming days in Chicago -- in Milwaukee at the Republican Convention, and then next month in Chicago, the Democratic Convention and all sorts of political rallies and political events all across the country. Randi, thanks very much.
Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: On the phone now is syndicated political columnist Salena Zito, who was at the rally. Salena, thanks for talking with us.
Can you just talk a little bit about what you experienced when you realized what was going on?
SALENA ZITO, COLUMNIST AND REPORTER, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Sure. Thanks so much for having me. So, just before the president went on, I did talk to him backstage just for a few minutes, I was set to interview him after the rally. But I think it's just interesting to note that he was very excited, you know, sort of very happy to be in Pennsylvania. I think he recognizes the importance of the state and the importance of this rally this whole going to Wisconsin.
And so, I was in the bumper, the bumper is that area where journalists go, that is sort of surrounds the stage with the -- with the audience behind you and the president in front of you. So, I was just speaking from him. We had just moved to his left.
Myself and two photographers from the Washington Examiner, we were just through his -- I think it was his left. And I heard the pop, pop, pop, and saw the president go down.
You could see this little streak of red on his face. And then there were three more shots after that. I don't know, I haven't seen much reporting because there really had was no service out there afterwards.
But, you know, I saw him go down. And I don't think he fell down from my vantage point. I was maybe three feet from him. I don't think he fell down. I think that he went down to take cover.
And immediately you saw law enforcement around him on all sides. And he gets back up and I can hear him say two things. Something about I need my shoes. And I see him lift his fist up and people were cheering him and then he kept saying fight, fight, fight.
And then -- and then the advanced man from the Trump campaign. Really interesting, he weighed on top of us and kept us -- kept saying, stay down, stay down, don't move. And then they brought the president right past us, his hat fell down right in front of us. And then they took him off.
COOPER: And I think we have a picture that -- yes, we have a picture. I think that of you. I think this was posted on your one of your accounts. That's I assume the advanced man, it looks like there's several people lying around you.
ZITO: Yes, that's actually my daughter and my son in law.
COOPER: Oh my gosh. So, your daughter and son-in-law were there, that must have been terrifying.
ZITO: Yes. My daughter is a photo journalist. And we were there, we were -- I was interviewing the president today. I was going to fly back to Bedminster with him and do an interview of long form interview, stories ahead of the -- ahead of the convention. So, I had, you know, a photographer with me.
And so, yes, and it's really interesting. And I suspect there's a lot of journalists appeal this way. Their -- your instinct is to keep covering it. Right? Like, your instinct is, I got to take a picture, I have to see what's happening. I have to -- you know, I have to chronicle this.
[22:50:15]
And but, you know, then you're -- the other instinct of like, well, I better stay safe.
COOPER: Yes, I think -- I mean, it's now been a little bit more than four -- well, it's been about 4-1/2 hours, since then, how -- you know, when you're in a situation like this, there's a lot of adrenaline that kind of carries you through for a while. I don't know if that's worn off for you yet.
But what do you -- how do you reflect on this?
ZITO: So, you're right, there is this adrenaline that flows through you. And I think it's this sort of self-protection thing, you want to protect yourself, make sure you're safe, make sure that people around you are safe, those are those instincts that first, you know, sort of jump at you.
Right now, it's a very -- you feel dislodged from the situation. I don't know if I'm using the right term, but you feel distracted or not distracted, just detached. That's what I'm trying to say. Detached from it.
And I suspect the emotion will kick in, in a day or two. But right now, I just feel very detached about it. And, you know, obviously, I -- and we were in such -- so they took -- there was about five, maybe seven of us journalists that were in that bumper. And they immediately rescinded, they took the president out, they grabbed us and took us back in a holding.
And I think they're always the advanced people were concerned that we were OK, because we were right there. We could not have been closer.
And so, and there was also no cell service out there. So, I don't know, any news that has happened. I just walked into my home. I live about an hour and a half from Butler.
And so, you know, I don't -- I haven't been able to process any of the particulars that -- you know, that has come out and it's happened. We were just sequestered out.
But what was fascinating to me is once they brought us out. What I saw Anderson was really sad. You saw this -- you know, when I went in, the last thing that I saw were -- you know, 20, 30, 40,000 people? I don't know, there were a lot of people there. All on a farm field. That was the last sort of images I had seen when I looked backwards.
You go outside and you saw people had left their bags. I saw someone had left their wheelchair.
Someone had dropped their phone, you know, you know that there was an evacuation there. That was you know that something happened, right? And people went -- when people leave things behind, you know, they felt the need to leave. They felt, the pre -- you know, the pressure of the moment.
COOPER: So much pandemonium and fear and anger and shock all of it. Salena Zito, thank you so much for your time. I wish you, you know, the best in the days ahead as you begin to think about in on process all of this. Thank you so much.
ZITO: Thank you so much.
COOPER: Wolf, back to you. BLITZER: Anderson, Evan Perez our justice correspondent is getting some new video that's just coming in right now. Tell us about that, Evan.
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, what we are here -- what we're about to see is some video that was shot from inside the rally from somebody who was attending the rally. And what it does is it portrays some of the chaos as he tried to warn that there was someone who's about to take shots or that someone with a firearm was visible there.
So, let's look at this video. And we can talk a little bit about what we are hearing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's got a gun.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's on top of the roof so go over there. He's on the roof, buddy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's dead. They blew his head off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's dead. I just seen his hair, they shot him in the head.
[22:55:03]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
(INAUDIBLE) anybody over there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he blew up a shot?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He -- number of shots.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought that was us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, that was him, the first two shots were him. (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREZ: And Wolf, what this does is it sort of matches some of the earlier I witnessed. We've -- we saw an eyewitness who was interviewed by a BBC crew there on the scene. And that person described seeing the -- this alleged shooter, the suspected shooter, get the attention of law enforcement, you can hear in that video just now, there is someone who's an attendee there who you can hear some of the sounds of them, trying to get the attention of someone saying they could see someone on the roof. And then you hear the shots ring out.
And then, you hear the description, the witnesses describing how the counter snipers from the Secret Service, we now know that they are the ones that fired the shots that killed the suspected gunman who fired the shots in the direction of the former president. So, what you're hearing in that video, again, is the -- is a harrowing
detail. The chaos, really, as people clearly saw, even as this was about to happen, and we're trying to figure out like trying to draw attention. And obviously none of that could prevent those initial shots from coming from the suspected shooter.
The Secret Service obviously took action very, very quickly and killed him before the former president could be -- could be injured.
Unfortunately, it appears that there were other injuries and other person died there at the scene. So, Wolf, this is an investigation that now is going to be focused on that scene right there in that building, which is just again about a football field and a half distance from where the former President Donald Trump was speaking, Wolf.
BLITZER: Evan Perez, thank you very much for sharing that video with our viewers, appreciate it very much.
Right now, I want to bring in the former U.S. Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow, and former Deputy Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe. To both of you, thanks very much for joining us.
So, walk us through what to anticipate. Andrew, let me start with you right now. I take it the FBI will be in charge of this full scale investigation.
MCCABE: Yes, that's right, Wolf. And I think they've made a public announcement to that effect as well already.
So, they are really ramping up. I'm quite confident that resources have already been deployed. That Evidence Response Teams and personnel and counterterrorism investigators from all of the regional field offices and some from headquarters are heading towards Pittsburgh right now. There's a whole process in place to enable that deployment to take place instantly.
They will be focusing obviously, on identifying that shooter and once he's identified, peeling back every aspect of his life to understand everything about him, where he's from, how he got there, why he may have done this, how he armed himself, and crucially, whether or not he knew, or sorry, whether or not he worked on this plan with anyone else, whether anyone else knew he was going to do this, whether they supported him or directed him or helped him in any way. They want to completely find all of those folks.
There will be search warrants executed I would expect within the next 24 hours. His social media accounts once identified will be completely course through for every possible communication. His electronics devices will all be searched as well.
So, that's a very broad scope investigation that will take some time. But I have to say, Wolf, in regards to the video that we just saw, tells us two like really important things.
I think, one, how incredibly dangerous the situation was, you have literally have people walking along the walls of that building as there is a shooter firing from the roof and how he tried to escape and run away. It's the -- you never know how many innocent bystanders could have been hurt.
And secondly, that video shows us just how easy it is to get to that structure. There's people all around it, they're walking dogs, walking by, drinks in their hands.
So, it's really remarkable that a structure in that close proximity with presumably line of sight access to the stage was pretty open and available to the public. I'm sure that's something that the Secret Service will be kind of reviewing as they go through this to determine whether they may should have done things differently in that regard.
