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The Situation Room

President Biden Calls For Unity As Investigation Of Trump Rally Shooting Continues; Tracking Trump Assassination Attempt Minute-by- Minute; Interview With Representative Gerry Connolly (D-VA) About Assassination Attempt On Trump; Trump Heads To Milwaukee For Republican National Convention; Secret Service Faces Serious Questions About Security Footprint At Trump Event; Trump Calls For Unity After Surviving Assassination Attempt; Biden To Address The Nation From Oval Office Tonight. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired July 14, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:39]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, President Biden is set to address the nation tonight from the Oval Office following the attempted assassination some of his political rival, Donald Trump. We're following all of the latest developments in this truly historic moment in American history.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. This is a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM.

The FBI is now saying yesterday's attempt to shoot Donald Trump is being investigated not only as an attempted assassination but as a potential act of domestic terrorism. They say the shooter, Timothy Matthew Crooks, acted alone and had no known ideology. Meantime, the U.S. Secret Service says it is fully prepared to maintain security at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, and has no need to change its protocols in the wake of the attack.

Just ahead of his planned Oval Office address, President Biden spoke of making a personal call to former president Trump and how critical unity is at this moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Last night, I spoke with Donald Trump. I'm sincerely grateful that he's doing well and recovering. And we had a short but good conversation.

I've directed the head of the Secret Service to review all security measures, review all security measures for the Republican National Convention which is scheduled to start tomorrow.

We must unite as one nation. We must unite as one nation to demonstrate who we are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: CNN's Whitney Wild is following all the latest developments on this investigation.

Whitney, what are you learning?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, what we know right now is that the FBI is saying that this gunman acted alone, and they are still working to gain access to the cell phone. But they do have some very limited insights into his communications and this includes phone call records as well as text messages, but that information thus far has not -- this is a quote, "not revealed anything with regard to motive or the involvement or knowledge of anyone else." That's according to the FBI deputy director Paul Abate.

And that's important, Wolf, because what we've learned additionally is that this firearm was purchased legally, that it was an AR-style 556 rifle, and that it belongs to his father. So the question here is how did the gunman gained access to that firearm.

The FBI has repeatedly emphasized that this is early in the investigation. This is very much in the preliminary stages. Agents are working around the clock to try to figure out what happened and what the motivation was. And that includes trying to assess materials at Quantico.

And Wolf, an example of that certainly as agents attempt robustly to try to get into that cell phone, they are also examining these rudimentary explosive materials that were at the gunman's residence. We also know that there was explosive material found in his car.

So many questions about if he had any further plans or perhaps plans to utilize an explosive device that he later changed his mind and decided to use a firearm. These are all of the questions that the FBI is working through at this point.

Further, Wolf, what we know is that this 20-year-old, Thomas Matthew Crooks, had no prior contact with the FBI and was not in any database as well. So this is the type of lone gunman law enforcement really worries about because they are flying so far under the radar.

BLITZER: I take it, Whitney, the FBI has been able to get access to his cell phone. Is that right?

WILD: Well, they're working to gain access to it, but they do have insights that would include text messages and phone records. So those are the things that they're working through right now. So you presumably have the device, they're working to get, you know, further into that device. The FBI is the best at this. This happens frequently. We've covered other cases where the FBI was trying to get into a mass shooter's cell phone and they were able to do it. So certainly it's highly likely that we will learn more information as the FBI very likely successful in being able to get into that cell phone.

And that is such a crucial piece of information, Wolf, because it allows them to understand several things. The motivation obviously chief among them, but also if there's anyone else who needs to be held accountable. [18:05:08]

The other thing to consider, Wolf, is that this is very much an active investigation. Just because the gunman is dead does not mean that someone will not eventually be prosecuted. So these are all the questions law enforcement is seeking to answer while trying to maintain the integrity of this investigation, Wolf.

BLITZER: Good point. Whitney Wild, following the investigation for us.

Whitney, thank you very much.

We're also learning right now more about the timeline of events leading up to yesterday's shooting.

CNN's Tom Foreman is joining me right now here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

What can you tell us, Tom?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, you know the tremendous security at any kind of a national political convention for the candidate, for the thousands of people there. All the security risk. And yet there is the shock that this came in a Pennsylvania field just before.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN (voice-over): 6:04 Saturday evening, before an adoring and roaring crowd former president Donald Trump steps to the podium. Seven and a half minutes later --

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Take a look at what happened --

FOREMAN: Pandemonia. Amid a series of sharp pops, Trump touches his ear and ducks. Three seconds later, Secret Service agents are swarming in to shield him and security snipers have opened fire on the would-be assassin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It seemed initially like firecrackers went off.

FOREMAN: As chaos erupts among the attendees --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's got a gun. He's got a gun.

FOREMAN: One rally-goer sees another man has been killed despite the rescue efforts of bystanders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They jumped the bleachers and started clearing the bleachers. And then I helped carry the body of the man down on the bleachers and I took him to a tent behind the bleachers. We put a towel over his head, but he is deceased.

FOREMAN: It all happens fast. 30 seconds after the first shots ring out, the podium's microphone catches Secret Service agents coordinating Trump's evacuation from that stage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold, hold. When you're ready, on you.

FOREMAN: Then just over a minute after the violence started, the all- clear.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shooter's down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shooter's down.

FOREMAN: At 6:12 p.m. the agents rise with Trump and try to usher him rapidly away but he says --

TRUMP: Let me get my shoes. Let me get my shoes.

FOREMAN: Shortly after he's on his way to a safe vehicle, but he tells agents to pause again. He turns to the rattled crowd in what will become an historic photo. Soon, pictures start surfacing of what appears to be a dead gunmen on a roof not more than 500 feet away from Trump's right side as he stood on the stage. And the much more methodical police work begins.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need the public's help. Anyone who was on scene, who saw anything.

FOREMAN: As the FBI and partners start piecing together who the assailant is, how he got there, whether he acted alone and ultimately why he fired. An investigation that certainly will go on for months into a violent explosion of seconds.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN (on-camera): We have learned so much to answer those questions in the hour since. But as our colleague Whitney suggested just a short while ago, one of the reasons the investigation will go on and on is to make sure that nobody helped this person carry out that attack and that nobody is culpable for having failed to stop it.

This investigation will go on for a long time even after we think we know all the answers -- Wolf.

BLITZER: As it should go on until we know all the answers.

FOREMAN: As it should. Yes.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Tom Foreman, for that report.

Joining us now Democratic Congressman Gerry Connolly of Virginia.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. What's your reaction to this attempted assassination of the former president of the United States?

REP. GERRY CONNOLLY (D-VA): You know, my first reaction was, oh, God, here we go again. Now, I lived through John Kennedy's assassination, Martin Luther King's, Robert Kennedy's, the shooting of George Wallace making him paralyzed for life, the shooting of Ronald Reagan, the attempted shooting of Gerald Ford. And now this. You know, we can't allow violence to seep into our politics. Decisions

are made in America at the ballot box, not at the end of the barrel of a gun.

BLITZER: I know, Congressman, this is an issue that resonates very personally for you because just over a year or so ago, a man went to your district office in Fairfax, Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C., with a metal bat and attacked two of your own staffers.

Why is this political violence apparently so prevalent in our country?

CONNOLLY: Well, I think there are two reasons, for sure. One is that we have almost normalized violent rhetoric or violent sounding rhetoric with our political rhetoric, using terms like, you know, bloodbath or encouraging at rallies people to be beaten up who dare to dissent, or real severe demonization of, you know, people on the other party or the other political philosophy, you know, have created a climate of acceptance for rising intolerance.

[18:10:26]

And that can lead to violence as we saw in Charlottesville in 2017. And then January 6th, in the Capitol itself. The second is the ubiquity of guns. You know, when is America going to end gun madness? You know, there are more guns than people in America. This young man apparently had access to his father's gun based on what we preliminarily know. How is that possible? And, you know, access to guns combined with emotional instability or mental instability can push people off the edge.

As you point out that happened with a mentally ill person who came to my office with a baseball bat. He was looking for me to kill me and said so. And when he couldn't find me decided he was going to kill my staff. He injured one of them severely, you know, hitting her eight times on the head with a baseball bat.

You know, that kind of violence can't be considered normal or just a cost of doing business. We've got to address this and address it fundamentally.

BLITZER: So what's it going to take, Congressman, to bring the temperature down right now?

CONNOLLY: My hope is that we'll see an opportunity at the Republican convention to tone down that rhetoric, and that all of us will be more conscious of the applications of heightened rhetoric and the impact that can have on unstable individuals and that we bear responsibility as elected officials and candidates to tone down the temperature and have rational conversations about the future of the country. That's what a campaign ought to be about and that's how it ought to be comported.

BLITZER: The chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, Congressman, as you probably know, is calling on the head of the U.S. Secret Service to appear before your committee on July 22nd.

What would you like to hear from the Secret Service about how this shooting potentially could have happened?

CONNOLLY: You know, this will not be the first set of oversight hearings on the Secret Service. We had them during the Obama years as well when there are a number of incidents, very troubling. Obviously, we're going to want to know how did a shooter get on top of a roof, 500 yards, 500 feet away from a presidential candidate and the former president of the United States who has Secret Service protection.

What was the process for securing the perimeter and what kind of limits did you set on what constituted the perimeter? And what measures are going to be taken to ensure that candidates for the remainder of this presidential campaign year are secure and protected and their families.

BLITZER: As you know, President Biden is now pleading for unity in our country.

Do you think the country can in fact come together?

CONNOLLY: There's always hope, Wolf. We're a very polarized country and I think there are heightened tensions politically and societally, and this kind of thing unfortunately takes place in that kind of context. So I pray for unity. I hope we can achieve it. I hope an incident like this gives everybody pause in terms of that polarization and the consequences that flow from it. But one incident isn't going to cure the country.

BLITZER: Yes. There's always hope, as you say, and let's hope that this country can get together.

Democratic Congressman Gerry Connolly of Virginia, thanks so much for joining us.

CONNOLLY: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And we'll have much more ahead on our special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM. Much more coming up on the attempted assassination of the former president Donald Trump.

The former president now on his way to Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention, set to kick off in just a few hours. How the shooting could potentially change the political landscape as we head into November.

Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:19:07]

BLITZER: Tonight with just hours before the start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, former president Trump and his campaign are presenting a unified front after yesterday's assassination attempt.

CNN's Kristen Holmes and CNN's Jeff Zeleny are joining us right now. Kristen, let me start with you. First of all, tell us what you've

heard from the Trump team. How might this shooting potentially change the political landscape of this race, not just at the convention this coming week, but in the months ahead?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first, I'll start by talking about what I've heard from people who have spoken to the former president themselves. They say that he is in good spirits, that he has been defiant and at some point he's actually said that there has been a divine intervention and that's the reason that he was not hurt.

Now, I also talked to advisers and aides, all of whom exhibited several different emotion which seems completely normal given the circumstances. Some of them were very rattled. They were scared.

[18:20:03]

They travel with him all the time. Some were angry. They thought how could this have possibly happened? Where was the security? They believe that if he had just been in any other position, he might have actually been killed, which of course there are a lot of people who believe that, but there's also this level of defiance. One of the words we often hear from Donald Trump's aides and advisers is that he is feeling defiant when it comes to certain obstacles.

But it's not always necessarily the case. But when I'm talking to people now, it is certainly the case. There is more resolve in this campaign than I have ever actually heard from the Trump team before, particularly going into November. Now how this is going to actually impact them there's going to be a lot of conversations with security, with Secret Service, what exactly this is going to look like.

As of now, I am told that Trump wants to continue this campaign as well as continue having these big, wide rallies. But whether or not that holds, that remains to be seen.

BLITZER: Yes, Jeff, Trump made it clear he's still set to appear at the Republican convention this week. Will yesterday's assassination attempt against him impact any part of the convention? And when are we expecting to learn his vice presidential pick?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, that is a central question hanging over all of Milwaukee here. Who will former president Donald Trump name as his running mate? It is a major decision, really his biggest decision as the presumptive nominee. Most Republicans were talking to expect it tomorrow. Technically on the schedule, there is a roll call vote for his name and the running mate stand to be placed into nomination.

But don't forget, they control the rules here. So the timing could change, but most people here expect it on Monday. And as the former president makes his way to Milwaukee, Wolf, one thing that is really striking, it's different from of course the convention four years ago, which was really shrunken because of the pandemic, and certainly different than eight years ago when he arrived at the convention with a divided party.

This is Donald Trump's Republican Party. There is more -- there is a bigger sense of unity here and certainly in the wake of the attempted assassination on Saturday. He is going to receive a hero's welcome here, but he is also really striking a tone of unity. So that is really something that we're all keeping our eye on here this week end. One example of that is his longest standing rival, Nikki Haley. She received an invitation, a late invitation to come speak at the convention on a Tuesday.

I'm told she will be giving a speech about the need for Republicans to unify and the need for the country to unify. So of course we will see what Donald Trump does himself in terms of setting message and tone. But they really believed this is an opportunity to a set a wider example to the country of course right here in battleground Wisconsin. This is one of the states where if he wins, he can likely block Joe Biden's path to reelection -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. Wisconsin, a key, key battleground state indeed.

Jeff Zeleny and Kristen Holmes, to both of you, thank you very much.

And just ahead, we're learning new details about how the attempted assassination of Donald Trump unfolded. We'll have a closer look at how it happened minute by minute. Plus, we're waiting as President Biden is set to address the nation from the Oval Office later tonight.

A live look at the White House right now, as our special coverage here in THE SITUATION ROOM continues right after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:27:48]

BLITZER: We're learning new details about the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump in Pennsylvania some 24 hours ago.

Our Brian Todd is joining us right now from the magic wall.

Walk us through, Brian, what you've learned.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Wolf. Some new information tonight about the shooter's movements and the timeline of events. First, we can tell you that what we know right now is that the shooter was roughly 150 meters away from where the former president was speaking when he opened fire. 150 meters away. That's less than 500 feet away from where Donald Trump was speaking.

We can also tell you that we've gotten some new information from the sheriff of Butler County, Michael Sloot, who told CNN a short time ago that in the minutes before the shooting occurred, they got word, local law enforcement got word of a suspicious activity, a suspicious person at the location of where the gunman was. They investigated and a law enforcement officer, a local law enforcement officer hoisted himself up on the ledge of a building. Presumably it was right about there. According to the sheriff, that law enforcement officers saw the

gunman. The gunman saw the law enforcement officer and pointed his weapon at the officer. The officer then because he was holding onto the ledge of the building, he could not draw his weapon and engage the shooter. The officer had to drop down for his own safety then the shooting began at 6:11 p.m. and 33 seconds. Remember that timeline, we're going to come back to it in a couple of minutes.

What we're also told by a senior law enforcement official is that in the minutes before the shooting occurred, the gunman was spotted acting somewhat suspiciously around the area of the magnetometers, presumably in these areas here, where the magnetometers were not clear exactly where he was but he was around the magnetometers acting a little suspiciously. The question is, was he probing? Was he looking for a shooting position, maybe doing some recon?

That will come out in the investigation. What we can also show you here is another diagram and a witness account from Ben Macer. He told CNN affiliate KDKA that in the moments before the shooting, he saw the gunman moving from roof to roof to roof, and that would be -- it had to be right here because these are the roofs that are attached to where the shooter took the position right there.

And there's a fourth roof right there, so it had to have been right about there where this witness saw the gunman moving from roof to roof to roof in the minutes just before the shooting. We also have this video now from TikTok that we can show you of the gunman neutralized on the roof.

[18:30:01]

What we do know is that the first reports from agents that shots were fired and that the gunman was down came at 6:12 and 16 seconds. So that is less than a minute from the time that shots were first reported fired there. Also, as we look at the post shooting scene and some of this video of the chairs and some of the debris around here, when it gets to this part here, I want to pause it for just a second, and show you just a diagram here of the grand stands and where the deceased victim may have been.

His name is Corey Comperatore, according to the governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro. He was in one of these grandstands, either that one there or possibly this one here, and he dove on top of this family to protect them from the shooting.

Moving back to the scene here, Wolf, we're told by President Biden, he's ordered an independent review of this. Our law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe says a key thing that you have to do when you're securing a site, especially outside, is to eliminate the sight lines from where a protectee is speaking.

The key question is, why was that site line, 150 meters away, so wide open for the shooter? That is going to be a key component of this investigation -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. We'll watch it together with you, Brian Todd. Thanks for that report.

Let's discuss what's going on with the former U.S. Secret Service agent to President Obama, Cory Allen.

Cory, thanks so much for joining us. First of all, what's your reaction to all of this new information we're learning about this assassination attempt on Donald Trump?

CORY ALLEN, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA: It's appalling that this is where we are in a state of our country. Obviously we know we've got gun problem, the gun violence that is plaguing our nation and our schools, overflowing into the political arena, which just has no place in our society at all.

In hearing that the new details which I just learned from the previous discussion sounds like information was just not getting back quick enough, as things were transpiring and they are absolutely right, that the line of sight is critical to securing these venues.

BLITZER: Because there are a lot of reports out there right now that there were eyewitnesses who alerted the Secret Service that there was a guy standing atop this roof, not all that far away from where the president, the former president was getting ready to speak, and he had a weapon. And even some law enforcement officials are saying that they told the Secret Service to be careful, look -- take a look and see what's going on atop that elevated roof in a direct line towards the podium where the former president was about to speak.

When you hear that, what do you think?

ALLEN: I mean, I'm not -- I don't want to speculate because I am not privy to the inside information. I certainly don't speak for the Secret Service and we'll see what the facts come out. So I don't want to Monday morning quarterback either. But to me it keeps sounding like that there's a communication barrier that maybe some questions of, if the Secret Service was not holding that building after swept, if it was, of course, you know, really rely on state and local police to assist them with accordion of protection, if you will.

There was a breakdown somewhere in there with communication and getting the radios back and getting that information to the counter- snipers. That's just what keeps it hitting my mind is there was just something went wrong there obviously and tragically, you know, somebody lost their life.

BLITZER: Was it a result of this building, this rooftop location, being outside that security corridor outside the magnetometers? Was that the issue you think?

ALLEN: So you've got to mitigate those line of sight issues. It's still a potential threat area. And so as you've heard others speak, you just got to address it in some way, shape, or form, and the counter-snipers who were up on another roof and addressed the target as soon as they became aware of it, identified that there was an actual legitimate threat, of course, keep in mind they've got to make sure that it is a threat and it's not a building maintenance person or something up there on the roof.

So I'm sure the Secret Service is, unfortunately, this hasn't happened in 43 years, but they'll adapt, persevere. They're the most elite professionals out there that do this. So they'll grow and learn from it and expand. Obviously the RNC is an NSSE which unlocks all kinds of additional assets and money to expand that footprint even farther. So I'm sure that'll be the case going forward.

BLITZER: You think at this sensitive moment, Secret Service officials should go before Congress and answer questions about what happened?

ALLEN: I can't --

(LAUGHTER)

ALLEN: I'm not sure, I don't want to speak on their behalf, you know, they've got to flush out, and there's going to be multiple investigations going on, you know, FBI, Secret Service, Internal Affairs, DHS, OIG, to figure out where the breakdown was if there was a breakdown and how to fix that. So I'm not sure when they need to go before Congress or if they do, that's certainly not my call to make.

BLITZER: Yes, good point. And they've got to do a full scale investigation and learn. If there were blunders, if there were mistakes, they got to learn from them to make sure it doesn't happen again.

[18:35:04]

Cory Allen, thanks for your service. Thanks very much for joining us.

ALLEN: Of course. Thank you for having me and we hope that this tones down the rhetoric across the board. We learn to communicate with each other off of social media and face-to-face contact.

BLITZER: Yes. Let's hope. That's so important. Thank you very much, Cory.

The attempted assassination of Donald Trump is putting a new focus on instances of political violence over the course of America's history. Up next, we'll speak with civil rights activist Martin Luther King III about why these attacks are still so prevalent in our society today and what needs to be done to make sure they don't continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The attempted assassination of Donald Trump is yet another dark chapter in American history. My next guest knows full well the dangers of political violence.

[18:40:03]

Joining us now the civil rights activist Martin Luther King III.

Martin, thanks so much for joining us. What's your reaction to the tragic Trump rally shooting? MARTIN LUTHER KING III, CIVIL RIGHTS ADVOCATE: Well, first, my

thoughts and prayers are with the former president and his family. Also, too, my condolences to the family that lost their loved one and those that are still recovering.

This is another dark period that our nation is facing. And we have to intentionally decide that we're going to do differently and better. The nation must find a way to rise above division, fear and hatred, and yet, we've not identified that. But this gives us an opportunity, a unique opportunity to say we're going to rise above this. We are so much better than the behavior we're exhibiting.

We know in the political discourse and in the discourse in general, civility has been lost. Now is the time to re-introduce civility because we've got a number of months to go before throughout this election cycle.

BLITZER: Let's hope that happens. How does this moment, Martin, compared to the heightened tensions of 1968 when Robert Kennedy and your father, Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, were assassinated?

KING: Well, in a real sense, the same kind of hostility and hatred is still being propagated in our society. And so while we shouldn't -- we certainly greatly disappointed, we shouldn't be surprised when the climate is what it is today. I think that -- I know that humankind is far better than the way we are exhibiting ourselves today. As I said, we often have seen civility exist. And whenever there is a crisis in the nation and the world, a natural disaster, Americans are some of the first to come to the table to address those issues.

We got to find out how do we turn to each other and stop turning on each other. Currently the climate is to turn on each other if we don't agree. Dad and mom showed us how to disagree without being disagreeable. That spirit must emerge once again.

BLITZER: We all have to learn from that. In the last 24 hours, Martin, we've seen calls for unity from both President Biden and former president Donald Trump.

Do you think that message, though, will be heard?

KING: You know, Wolf, I certainly hope so. I think from rational and reasonable individuals, yes. And I think that on all sides, that must happen. You know, there's an old story and this is, you know, we are -- what I see about a grandmother and her daughter. My wife often shares this story. And they are two wolves that are fighting inside. One, there's hostility, hatred, and then there's the other one of love and forgiveness and peace and justice. And the kid asked her grandmother, grandma, but what am I going to do, these wolves are fighting, who's going to win? And the grandmother simply says it's the wolf you feed.

So when we feed the flames of justice and righteousness and peace, and truth, that is how we get to what my father called the beloved community and my mother. I hope and pray that our nation chooses to take that path. We can, but we must be intentional. BLITZER: What would you hope to hear tonight from President Biden,

Martin, when he addresses the nation from the White House Oval Office?

KING: Well, I think the president has already started stating that we must come together and that really means on all sides. Yes, we don't have the luxury of continuing down this path. This path, we will not survive. In fact, Dad would say we must learn non-violence, or we may face nonexistence. We are -- maybe it feels like we are headed in the direction of nonexistence. What we are doing is not sustainable, but we know that we can do things that will be sustainable for now and for generations yet unborn. And I think the president has certainly set that tone.

BLITZER: Do you think, Martin, the heightened political rhetoric in our country has contributed to this assassination attempt?

KING: Well, there's no question that the rhetoric has contributed. I believe that it took us to a new level of non-civility.

[18:45:05]

And that's why I say now is the time. We have an opportunity to re- bring civility into the political landscape. And it must be done by all candidates, both parties.

BLITZER: Give us a sense, and I'll leave you with this, Martin. The deep polarization in our politics right now, is this something new or have we all gone through this before?

KING: I think it may be at a level that is beyond hostile. If, as you noticed in the filming yesterday for example, when people were scrambling and running rightly so, you heard people having viciousness exhibited towards the media. I don't know what it was specifically about, but I certainly heard curse words. And I'm like, OK, I understand us being angry and frustrated, but how does this serve the situation?

By denigrating and maybe something happened that we just don't know about. All of that, that rhetoric has to change. There is a way we can reach out and communicate as human beings at a higher human level than what we are doing today. We are God's highest creation. We should act like that.

BLITZER: Martin Luther King III, thanks so much for joining us.

KING: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And coming up, our special coverage will continue as we await President Biden to give his Oval Office address later tonight.

Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:51:03] BLITZER: Only moments ago, former president Trump arrived in Milwaukee just ahead of tomorrow's start of the Republican National Convention. Trump has a busy schedule, which will include announcing his vice presidential pick and that could happen as early as tomorrow. And just over an hour, meantime, President Biden will give a rare Oval Office address to the nation as he calls for unity following the attempted assassination of his political opponent, the former president Donald Trump.

Let's go straight to CNN's MJ Lee over at the White House.

MJ, what are you expecting to hear from the president later tonight in the Oval Office?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, a Biden campaign official previewing the president's remarks says that this is going to be a forceful speech that gives an update to the nation on the horrifying attack on Donald Trump yesterday and that it will be about the need for Americans to come together and to condemn political violence of any kind.

The choice of the Oval Office address of course tells us so much. These kinds of addresses are quite rare. The last time that the president spoke in this setting in primetime was back in October just days after Hamas' attack on Israel. And we got a preview of the tone that we expect to hear from President Biden when he spoke earlier in the Roosevelt Room. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: An assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for as a nation. Everything. It's not who we are as a nation. It's not American. And we cannot allow this to happen. Unity is the most elusive goal of all. But nothing is important than that right now, the unity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: And in that same speech, Wolf, the president also called on all Americans to refrain from making any assumptions about the would-be assassin's motives or political affiliation. This was clearly the president trying to temper some of the speculation, some of the misinformation that is already running ramping online and elsewhere.

The president is also going to continue to be briefed on this ongoing federal investigation into what happened yesterday. The White House did say that tomorrow morning, the president will be back in the situation room, meeting with the heads of the various law enforcement agencies to get another update. The president made clear earlier that he expects this investigation to take place swiftly and that he basically needs to get an answer to the question of why there was such a serious security breach yesterday at this Donald Trump rally.

As for the president's next couple of days, we know of course that the president's trip to Texas, that is going to be postponed. But we also know that he will continue on to travel to Las Vegas in the afternoon after sitting down with Lester Holt of NBC News. And just keep in mind just the extraordinary events of the last 24 hours or so, even just a day ago, this sit-down interview for the president was meant to and expected to focus on the real moment of political peril for the president, and of course instead this is the context in which this interview will be taking place -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And the White House now says the president will be doing two television interviews tomorrow with NBC's Lester Holt, also with BET's Ed Gordon. So we'll monitor both of those interviews tomorrow.

Any new information you're getting on the phone conversation between President Biden and former president Trump?

LEE: Yes, you know, President Biden made clear when he first came out to cameras last night that he was eager to get at a hold of the former president and we do now know from sources that they ended up connecting last night. Sources had said that this was a short but respectful phone call and President Biden said today that the former president is doing well and is recovering well -- Wolf.

BLITZER: MJ Lee, thank you very much.

Our special live coverage continues in just a moment.

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[18:59:24]

BLITZER: A mother and son at Saturday's rally say they were just three rows behind former president Trump when shots rang out. These are photos captured by Donna Hutz while she and her son Joe ducked for safety. They described the atmosphere as a complete shock.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE HUTZ, WITNESSED SHOOTING AT TRUMP RALLY: We hear the three shots and this is where seconds turn into minutes, and I just remember looking around and no one is going down. So I screamed gun, get down, and I grabbed my mom and I yanked her towards the grass because we were so low and he was on top of an 80-year-old woman and I was on top of her, and I remember checking her for blood and everything and four more shots rang out.