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tv   BBC News  BBC News  July 14, 2024 10:30am-11:01am BST

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but that's the shelter we have at the moment. there's no place in america for this kind of violence. it's sick, it's sick. it's one of the reasons why we have to unite this country. president biden spoke soon after the shooting — saying he was grateful to hear that his opponent was safe. in a televised address, the president condemned the incident, describing it as "sick". he later confirmed that he had personally spoken to donald trump. there's no place in america for this kind of violence. it's sick, it's sick. it's one of the reasons we have to unite this country. we cannot condone this. a trump rally is a rally he should be able to conduct peacefully without problems. but the idea — the idea that there is political violence or violence in america like this
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is just unheard of, not appropriate. everybody — everybody must condemn it. everybody. you may recall our correspondent gary o'donoghue spoke to an eyewitness who says he tried to alert the secret service about the shooter before the bullets were fired. we put the isue to robert mcdonald who is a retired supervisory secret service agent and led the team that protected then vice presidentjoe biden. he expressed concern that security did not react sooner to this report. he was speaking to my colleague lukwesa burak. this is what the secret service trains for and practises for every day. any type of an attempt on the life of one of our protectees. many times, we go through the advanced process and it seems to be going through the go to our checklist and checking out hospitals and checking at the motorcade route and nothing happens. here is a situation where a whole
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serious situation took place yesterday, there will be a lot of monday morning quarterbacking and after action reports to see what happened here — did something go wrong? there was a shot taken at the president but as far as the advanced planning and the venue security, there will be a deep dive to see what happened here and what may have gone wrong and that planning, if anything. this could have happened with a perfect advance and somehow this slipped through the cracks but we will find out. we will try to make our protective methodologies better based on what may or may not have happened here. a lot of pressure on the secret service from the public especially. at the rally, our correspondent actually caught up with one of the attendees who was on the outside of the main perimeter area, and this is the gentleman who had spotted that something was up and had questioned why there had not been reaction from the security and secret service. i would just like you to have a listen to this for me
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and we will discuss and possibly try to put his questions into contest. we noticed a guy crawling, you know, bear crawling up the roof of the building beside us. 50 feet away from us. so we're standing there, we are pointing at the guy, crawling on the roof... and he had a gun? he had a rifle, we could clearly see him with a rifle, absolutely. we are pointing at him, the police are down there running around, we're like, "hey, there's a guy on the roof with a rifle!" the police were like, "huh?" they didn't know what was going on. we were like, "we can see him, he's crawling!" next thing you know, i'm thinking to myself, why is trump still speaking? why have they not pulled him off the stage? i'm standing pointing at him for two or three minutes, secret service is looking at us from the top of the barn,
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i'm just standing like this and the next thing you know, five shots ring out. you're certain the shots came from that guy on the roof? 100%. and he was up there for a couple of minutes? at least three to four minutes. and you were telling the police and the secret service. we were telling the police, we are pointing at him for the secret service, the they were looking at us the whole time with binoculars. could they see him? probably not because the way the slope roof went, he was behind where they could see. but why are there not secret service on all the roofs? this is not a big place. ok, so that was a witness speaking to gary o'donoghue soon after that assassination attempt. lots of questions. robert mcdonald is here, a retired secret service supervisor who is also a lecturer.
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he was part of the team who protected the then vice presidentjoe biden. so, robert, what would you have said to that witness? he had so many questions — how would you have answered him? i'm troubled by his information, very trouble that a citizen who was at the event was able to see that something appeared to be not right, was taking it upon themselves to pass that information along, and i'm a bit concerned that the information didn't get to the detail that specifically is around the former president. we work in concentric rings of protection — we have an inner ring, a middle ring and an outer ring — those people were in the outer ring and seeing something that didn't appear right and they were passing the information along, as they should have, and i'm concerned that the information didn't get disseminated to the detail around the president. i can tell you that if that information was passed along properly, the former president
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would have been taken off the stage and brought to a secure location to let the agents analyse what was going on and/or try to neutralise that threat. i'm a bit concerned about that information. how far would that outer ring go? we're hearing a about the perimeter, the perimeter and the long distance, the fact that he had a rifle that had the capability to fire across a long distance. that outer ring, tell us about it. it's a bit difficult to be securing an outdoor venue. obviously there are a lot of concerns when we do an outdoor event. we are in the middle of a very contentious campaign season, and our election folks, the former president and the current president want to get out and talk to people, they want to be shaking hands and doing all that stuff, so it's very difficult to try to protect all of the different venues that they want to go to. i'm a little concerned that someone
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had a visible rifle and was able to get themselves on a roof, that that aspect wasn't taken into account during the advanced process — why didn't somebody say, "hey, there's a roof over there within a certain yardage that if somebody had a high—power rifle, they would be able to do some damage here?" so something appears to have broken down here. it is very unfortunate and i can tell you the secret service will look in the mirror as the information continues to flow, to see how this can be negated from ever happening again, or at least to the very best of their ability. in terms of assets that would have been a place in the ground — what are we talking about, and what numbers? you looked after then vice presidentjoe biden — exactly how much detail would have been there? well, you have, again, the inner ring — the close protection people are the detail agents assigned
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to the former president, they are responsible specifically for his safety at that event and moving him from the vehicle, back and forth, getting him to the hospital, the airport. you then have a middle ring which would be made up of secret service agents and local and state police officers, who had been fully briefed on the security plan and who work in concert with the secret service. and then in the outer ring it is mostly local and state police officers — there are not many secret service agents specifically out on that outer ring. however, there are capabilities for all of the different entities to community through a command—post setting or through texting and e—mails and all sorts of other things that we use now. so i'm a little concerned that the information that the eyewitness indicated he was passing along seems to have not made it to where it needed to get to in a very expeditious fashion. robert, if i have got this wrong, please do correct me, robert, if i have got this wrong, do correct me,
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and i apologise to viewers in terms of detail. it appears that a headshot is what was aimed for. do targets — high—level targets — such as donald trump wear bullet—proof vests at all? that capability is available. it's usually based upon intelligence or information driven based upon a particular event. whether he had one of those on yesterday, i do not know the answer to that. and, quite frankly, even if he had one on, it wouldn't have really done a whole lot of good based on where the bullet grazed his right ear. so, again, those are assets that are nice to have — many time our protectees are not interested in wearing them and rely on the secret service to wear those bullet—proof vests. the agents who were with the president yesterday — the former president, sorry — are wearing bullet— proof vests. do you think that is likely to change now, that you are likely to see the likes ofjoe biden and donald trump wearing some sort of protection under their clothes?
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i think this incident will certainly get their attention and perhaps make them rethink how they work their normal processes of day—to—day operations. so we have a number of investigations now taking place, and in terms of the fbi — they have called on the public to speak to them and send them any information, whether it is visual or audio. we heard a witness that gary o'donoghue was speaking to — he had a lot of key information, and, as you said, it was concerning. what would the fbi do with a witness like that? how long would hold them for? what do they do with all that information? what happens as the case is built? the process that happens is that after the initial assassination attempt, the secret service and the agents that were on the ground and officers that were on the ground will preserve that crime scene —
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they will make sure that all evidence, various aspects of crime scene, including witnesses being identified and made available for the interview process. what will happen in that situation is the secret service hands over the crime scene to the federal bureau of investigation, who become the investigating agency. the reason they do the investigation is because the secret service was involved in the event security planning, and it wouldn't be transparent for them necessarily to do the investigation of the crime scene. so the fbi will now come in. lists of witnesses have been identified that were there, that saw things and want to pass on information. my guess is that they will have somebody to interview and that will be done over the next couple of days. the problem with that witness testimony is that once you get further away from the actual happening, sometimes people's memories and stories tend to float a little bit. so they will want to get in as quickly as possible, aged from the fbi will work in concert
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and they will get these interviews done as soon as possible so that the investigation can continue. an investigation is a reconstruction of the past and these agents willjust put the pieces of the puzzle together to see what actually happened here and why. it must be a phenomenal undertaking in terms of identifying the witnesses. looking at the people that were behind donald trump on the stage, those are all potential witnesses. there was news that the faa had closed airspace above the hometown of the shooter — why would they do something like that? i'm not sure why they would shut down air traffic over the shooter's hometown. i could see them shutting down the air traffic over the butler, pennsylvania event site to keep that airspace clear but i don't know why they would shut down the airspace over the shooter's hometown. that was robert mcdonald, a retired
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supervisory secret service agent. he was talking to my colleague. here is some reaction we have had in the last few hours from international leaders to the assassination attempt on donald trump.
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violence has no place in politics. our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the deceased and the american people. the house of commons leader — lucy powell — has condemned the assassination attempt on donald trump. she spoke to laura kuenssberg on her sunday programme. well, these are appalling scenes, this is an horrific incident which we condemn completely and fulsomely. thankfully, president trump was not injured more seriously, the consequences of that are unthinkable, but the thoughts of the whole british government, i'm sure the whole country
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of britain, are with the american people and president trump's family and those affected today. we don't know the motive of this one individual, we don't know about the absolute circumstances behind this attack, but as our panel was discussing, you do see a real polarisation in american politics. as a government, do you worry about that? well, we have seen a rise in polarisation, we have seen a rise in political intimidation, political hate. obviously, as you have already been discussing, we have seen the murder of two of my colleagues — my good friend jo cox, and david amess, a wonderful mp as well — so we have to take these issues incredibly seriously. we have seen necessary improvements to the security of mps and to those seeking office as elected candidates. thankfully, this election didn't have any serious incidents involved in it,
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although we have seen incidents of intimidation and deepfake and news and disinformation and misinformation being spread online about people. but we have to uphold the essence of our democracy, as well, and as constituency mps, as a constituency—based democracy, having contact with our constituents, the public, is a core part of our democracy, and we have to be able to uphold that. and we have seen some of the best of our democracy in the last few weeks, as well — people took to the ballot box to vote change — and, boy, have they got change, and we are an incoming government who recognises that we need to govern in the interests of the whole country and deliver on that mandate of change that people have given us. that is a house of commons lead at lucy powell. we heard mention ofjo cox. kim leadbeater, hersister, was also speaking on the programme. she
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said democracies are not making progress in tackling political violence. ,, ,. , ,. , violence. she described the scenes in pennsylvania _ violence. she described the scenes in pennsylvania as _ violence. she described the scenes in pennsylvania as a _ violence. she described the scenes in pennsylvania as a shocking - violence. she described the scenes in pennsylvania as a shocking and i in pennsylvania as a shocking and deeply disturbing, and kim leadbeater, a labour mp for spen valley, was speaking on laura kuenssberg' show. we are back again having that conversation about what democracy and our politics looks like. there is no place for violence in a decent civilised democracy and society and there scenes are deeply shocking. i think it's also important to acknowledge i'm just one person has lost their life, others have been injured. i'm very pleased that president trump is ok, but there have been other casualties. we've got to have that conversation about what a civilised democracy looks like. i've been having it sincejo democracy looks like. i've been having it since jo was democracy looks like. i've been having it sincejo was killed. we are not making huge amounts of progress in this country and other countries and we have to keep having that conversation.
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the leader of reform uk, nigel farage, who is a supporter of donald trump, also gave his reaction. very upset. and i'm still upset. i'm obviously pleased that my friend donald's got away with it — onlyjust, but he's got away with it. but one person is dead, two more are fighting for their lives in hospital. so it's an absolutely horrendous incident and yet, somehow, i'm not shocked by it. the narrative that is put out there about trump by these liberals that oppose him is so nasty, is so unpleasant, that i think it almost encourages this type of behaviour. let's get some more analysis now. our correspondentjoe inwood was looking at the layaout of the site and how close the shooter got to former president. using images from social media that we have verified we get a bit of an idea of the layout of events that led to the attempt on donald trump's life behind this lectern. look at these three buildings. this gives us a sense of the layout.
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you can see the stands where spectators were waiting and where some of them were hit. here is the stage where donald trump was speaking. so we will go to here — those are the three buildings. this is the area where donald trump was. back one now, this is an image — a video that was taken by somebody who was an onlooker. look at this building here. this is where the shooter was lying. you can see there are trees that identify it. and as we come in and zoom in here you can see that we have blurred the body of the shooter. coming forward one image, you can see those trees i pointed out there and there, and this is the building. the shooter was here and donald trump was here. using google maps it is easy to see it is approximately 130 metres — really not a great distance, and that is one of the reasons there are so many questions for the secret service about how this was possible, how the shooter got so close with an assault rifle. a couple more things to show you. this image was taken from a verified
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video — look on the roof. this is one of the secret service snipers and in this video we can see him firing back at the would—be assassin. there is donald trump. and here is another thing to show you that's rather gruesome — the full video — or rather chilling. this man here, we have blurred for obvious reasons but when you watch this full video taken from social media you can hear a shot ring out and then while everyone else is slow to react, this figure in the crowd, you can see he curls over. he doubles over and falls down far faster than anybody else and we think this is one of the people in the crowd who were hit by one of the bullets which seemed to have been intended for the former president. so using these publicly available videos we get a sense and we can see that he was here, so there is the stage. the building i showed you before is in that direction and this is where that doubled—over man was. we have more of a picture now of the events that led to the attempted assassination
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of donald trump. that is our correspondencejoe inwood giving a bit of insight into the layout of where everything happened. richard painter is a former chief white house ethics lawyer in the george w bush administration — and now law professor at the university of minnesota. he spoke to my colleague lukwesa burak and gave his thoughts on the security measures at the rally. we have another project story of gun violence in the united states, but this time an attempted political assassination and it is shocking that the secret service and other law enforcement agencies didn't take precautionary measures. the shooter was apparently outside the secret service perimeter that had been established for security purposes, and yet it is well known thatjust about any crackpot in the united
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states can get a rifle with long range shooting capability and on a rooftop they clearly should have had a secret service agent or law enforcement agent or somebody else on the rooftop, not the shooter. they will have to be an investigation with what happened there with respect to the incredibly lax security for a political rally with the former president of the united states who is a current candidate for president. recently can't have a functioning democracy if people can go out there and shoot and kill candidates they don't like, they are crazy people. second, we really have to address our gun violence problem in the united states. it is being reported in the press that the shooter was a 20—year—old man, his name is being reported in the american press. a 20—year—old man. in the united states, in most states, you can't
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buy beer until you are 21 and yet this man could get his hands on apparently a semiautomatic weapon. and we really need to think about whether we have a safe country with the gun laws in the united states the gun laws in the united states the way they are. this the gun laws in the united states the way they are.— the gun laws in the united states the way they are. this discussion of course has — the way they are. this discussion of course has been _ the way they are. this discussion of course has been had _ the way they are. this discussion of course has been had time - the way they are. this discussion of course has been had time and - the way they are. this discussion of course has been had time and time | course has been had time and time and time again. do you really think that they can be changes to laws when it comes to gun access in the united states? i when it comes to gun access in the united states?— when it comes to gun access in the united states? i would hope so but ou are united states? i would hope so but you are indeed _ united states? i would hope so but you are indeed correct _ united states? i would hope so but you are indeed correct that - united states? i would hope so but you are indeed correct that after. you are indeed correct that after the assassination of president trump f kennedy and then the assassination of his brother, robert kennedy, who was campaigning for president of the united states and likely would have won the democratic nomination in 1968, he was shotjust after he won the california primary. with the assassination of martin luther king, there was a lot of impetus for gun regulation in the united states, and yet we have a powerful gun lobby
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thatis yet we have a powerful gun lobby that is influential in both the political parties, more influential on the republican party but still with a lot of influence with both parties and the gun lobby pushed back and now we have so many semiautomatic weapons that people can get their hands on so easily. let's ta ke let's take you through the main points. it is of course the day after the evening when donald trump had an assassination attempt against him. now, one of the key points we have to make here is that it is still unclear as to the motive of the attack. the shooter, a 20—year—old, was killed by a sniper city soon after these events happened. the former president injured his ear. he has since spoken on truth social, the social media website, and has talked about the
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bullet ripping through his skin. we will have a full coverage of this event, the assassination attempt on the former president, here on bbc news throughout the day, so stay with us on the bbc. hello, there. for many, there'll be some dry and bright weather around today, a little bit of sunshine, but quite a bit of cloud, too — particularly across parts of northern england and across scotland. in the borders earlier it was a little bit murky, and we've got some rain around here, but also there's some murkiness around some of the coasts of scotland further north, too. this low pressure's the reason that we've seen all the rain through the weekend — high pressure, though, is building into the west, which is why the north west highlands may well see the lion's share of the sunshine. it's still a cool breeze with us today, but not as strong as yesterday — however, still bringing in rather dank and drizzly weather to parts of southern scotland,
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into northern england. one or two light showers potentially, northern ireland, further south and west across england and wales, but fewer than yesterday and they shouldn't be as heavy, either. and temperatures will get a little higher, as well, because we're getting a bit more sunshine. so just the slightest chance of a shower at wimbledon, and it should be dry — as you can see — in berlin, for the match this evening. and quite warm, as well — probably warmer than it will be here in the uk this evening. if you are planning to go and watch the match on a big screen around the uk, i think you will be quite cool into the evening hours. a lot of dry weather around, but just still some lingering drizzle perhaps across parts of the north of england in particular, and towards the north midlands — but, again, it should be light and patchy, as you can see, by that stage, it's a weakening feature all the time. the north wind starting to ease, the winds falling light, little bit of mist and fog again by morning, as we saw this morning, and already by morning more rain pushing into the south and west. so a little bit on the cool side first thing, but actually it looks like a reversal of fortunes for tomorrow. we'll see drier weather across the north and east
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of scotland, northern england. we've got offshore winds instead, so it'll be warmer. instead, we get heavier rain, some thundery rain moving in across parts of southern england, wales, marching its way steadily southwards through the day. but, yes, quite a notable change where we're seeing just 12 to 1a across the north sea coast today. it should feel warmer and a little bit brighter tomorrow with some sunshine. that low pressure moves into the north sea again on tuesday, taking with it a lot of showers. then perhaps a brief ridge of high pressure around mid week — it doesn't last long, we've got more weather systems coming into the north and west, so that's primarily where we think we'll see the rain late in the week, and perhaps something a little bit to drier further south. there's more, as ever, on the website.
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live from london, this is bbc news. gunshots and screaming an assassination attempt on donald trump as he speaks at an election rally in pennsylvania. the former us president says a bullet ripped through his ear — he survived without any serious injuries. here is the gunman filmed on a nearby roof — the 20—year—old was shot dead moments after this. we do not currently have an identified motive, although our investigators are working tirelessly. the bbc�*s gary o'donoghue was covering the rally — he and his team were forced to take cover. we're just waiting to see if things have cleared, and as you can see, we are on the ground behind our car,
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which is not ideal, but that's the shelter we have at the moment. there is no place in america for this kind of violence. it is sick, sick. it's one of the reasons why we have to unite this country. hello, i'm maryam moshiri. donald trump has survived an assassination attempt at a rally in pennsylvania. before we start this full hour with reports and analysis, let's first show you the moment donald trump was shot. the fbi and local police say the gunman, who was on a nearby roof, killed a spectator and wounded two others before being shot dead by snipers. and as you can see, security agents rushed to protect the former us president and hurried him offstage with blood on his face. in a social media post, mr trump said a bullet
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had pierced his ear.

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