the secret service did shoot and killed the shooter who was outside it of the venue. and it answers some of the questions are the concerns that you've heard on our air in the last hour is obviously everybody who goes into that venue, anderson has to go through a magnetometer. this person clearly didn't do that. they were able to fire a shot or a multiple shots according to secret the service from outside of the venue. again, that's part of this investigation. that is now stretching obviously, with the fbi, the secret service atf, everybody is now investigating this yeah evan. thanks very much. we're going to continue checking with you. we have some new video of the motorcade leaving a book before i do that, i just want to reset where we are at the top of the hour and is about 9:00 here on the east coast donald trump is safe, is said to be fine. he has put out a

statement i want to show you the video, which we have been analyzing and watching. this occurred around 6:15 p.m. in butler county in pennsylvania. let's watch that's a little bit all that chart that, judge, a couple of months old and if you want to really see something they said, take a look at what happened on you

there's down let me get let me get my glasses. >> i got you. >> let me get my shoes. your head so we're going to move t o

i said form prison trump has put out a statement saying, i want to thank the united states secret service and all the law enforcement for the rapid response and 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 credible that such an act could take place in our country. nothing is known at this time about the shooter who is now dead. i was shot with the bullet that appears the upper part in my right ear. i knew immediately that something was wrong and that i heard 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. he wrote sina chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta as a trauma neurosurgeon. he joins us now sanjay, obviously, i mean if if the bullet pierced

the upper part of his ear, that is extraordinarily close to a shot that could have killed him yeah. >> no doubt. and even though it appears that it was mostly the year and the soft tissue around the year when you're in the hospital after something like this, you have to evaluate the possibility that they may have still caused a skull fracture or something else, significant? i blow to that part of the head looks like he's doing fine and i think it's been about three hours now since the shooting. we haven't heard anything more from the medical officials, so that obviously is good news. when you watch that anderson a couple of things. first of all, after you hear the bangs and the president, the former president, raises his hand to his ear. he then seems to go down on his own. that was one important thing. he's covered up by the agents there who are protecting him, but also probably doing a little bit of what is called the secondary

evaluation, making sure are trying to the determinant least at that point if there are any other injuries we see what we see. but it doesn't mean that something else couldn't have happened as well in a situation like that president stands up, he's raising his right hand he seems to be walking on his own. again, surrounded by the secret service agents, but walking on his own those are all very important signs. but from a medical standpoint, from a trauma standpoint getting a full evaluation still, you don't know what you don't know in these situations sometimes people can have injuries that are unrecognized at that point. and by the way, besides the former president, people at the rally as well, you can have people who are walking wounded in that actually fully recognize that they have been injured so that those evaluations need to take place. but i think now, given that it's been again around just under three hours, that if there had been any other secondary injuries are unrecognized injuries from the scene they should have they

would have likely found those buy now x-rays, perhaps a ct scan really examining the president all over to make sure again, there wasn't another injury from whether it was bullet or secondary projectiles, whatever it may have been that probably would've all happened by now anderson, if again, we don't know the extent of how much where in the er and things like that it is it possible that would require would that just heal on its own would require some sort of follow up? cosmetic surgery it may you know, i was looking at some those images and they're kind of their disturbing to look at those close-up images, you can get a sense of the projectory of the projectile stitches that would be necessary. >> what did it do to his enter a year, would it cause problems longer-term with hearing things like that balance difficulties we don't know i think the biggest thing at this point it's trying to figure out, was

there any other secondary more dramatic or significant injury, hopefully not. but that's i think the main thing. but my guess is there will probably be follow up necessary if for nothing else, just for the cosmetic injury to the year. but again, this can be very serious. i mean, there could be a skull fracture underneath that injury. there could be damage to the year itself, the inner ear. so they they may have evaluated a lot of that already you can do those sorts of evaluations pretty quickly, but it's got to be complete. you can't just go based on what you see here. you have to do a full evaluation to make sure you're not missing something here. that's something the patient in this case, the former president, may not even recognize themselves in these sort of with all the sort of all that's happening in that moment, there's things that can be missed and that's why the medical team has to be so thorough. sanjay. i appreciate it. thank you. want to go back to woolf? >> yeah. let's not forget that trump is in his late 70s right

now and he's an elderly man that could have an impact on his recovery from all of this as well, anderson. thank you very much. we have some new video just coming into cnn right now on a show it to our viewers. video of a motorcade leaving butler memorial hospital where the former president who has cared for, we do not know if he was in it to cnn's betsy klein is on the scene for us over there. what are you learning? that's well, we are outside butler memorial hospital. >> that's about seven miles away from the site where this rally was, where former president donald trump was shot about? ten minutes ago? 8:54 p.m. there had been road closures here and there was significant motorcade activity. we saw about 30 vehicles that included an ambulance, multiple motorcycle multiple suvs, law enforcement vehicles. we do not know if former president trump was in that motorcade, but what we do know is that the significant police presence that has been on site for the last few hours outside of this

hospital. and the tactical teams, local law enforcement tactical teams are now gone and now notably, this movement i've been moments after trump posted on truth social, saying he was shot in with a bullet that pierce the upper part of my right year. he said he knew immediately that something was it's wrong. he heard a whizzing sound shots and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. he said much bleeding took place and then he realized what was happening and when we saw with that video of the former president being shot as he was speaking it was shocking. but what wasn't shocking is what secret service did in the immediate aftermath immediately getting him to safety, us secret service trains and prepares for this exact type of scenario. and about seven days in advance of any movement of a secret service protectee, whether that's a president or a former president, first lady secret service teams get there in advance and they plan for this exact type of thing. they know exactly where the nearest trauma center is, where the nearest hospital and no oh, the

exact motorcade route to that hospital. so they are prepared for this type of scenario and this is what we believe to have seen playing out right here. >> thank god for the u.s. secret service two amazing, amazing work protecting presidents, former presidents, and all sorts of other individuals as well. that's the klein. thank you very much for that. anderson back to you. >> wolf, cnn's alayna treene was at the rally. she's still outside the rally site and joins us now with some new information. alayna, talk about anything you've newly learned and then i want to talk about what you saw the time well, i anderson, right now, we are outside where it currently in front of an area. you can see behind me there's a very heavy police presence around this area. we walked over here from the rally location. this is building behind me is just outside where the rally was and we came over because we noticed this very massive police presence. i counted at least a dozen police cars, one ambulance, some of the police

cars were with the sheriff's office somewhere with state troopers. i spoke to one off for certain asked him what was the focus why is the police so heavily focused on this area? they would not tell me the exact reasoning. and so we're we're standing by here to see what exactly is happening here. and then for your question, anderson, just about the rally i've spoken with many people. we were inside, but i've spoken with mentally attendees who were inside as well. all of them telling me how shaken up they are, how herring that experience was. it was very chaotic inside the venue at the time. i can tell you it was very unclear what was happening. donald trump has just a few minutes into his remarks when we started to hear loud banging from the right side of the stage. and that's when everyone was told to get down. people were screaming. i know you have some video of that, but i'm very very scary experience and also just to i forgot something want to share with you. so we know from three sources that the shooter was from outside of the venue, and so we're kind of scoping out

the scene outside of the perimeter of the rally to figure out as much so we can understand. >> do you have a sense of how far the location where the shooter was was from the stage itself. at this point? >> it's hard to say. i've spoken with many people who are on the ground who told me that they had witnessed donald trump and his team have very heavy secret service at every single rally, there were snipers that i saw myself on top of a red billing building side, the perimeter of where the venue was the people that i've spoken with said they'd seen some of the snipers pointing. their guns outside of the rally. so again, we know that the shooter was from outside. it's very clear how far we're trying to get as much information as we can that's why part of why we're looking at every area that has such a heavy police presence, like the one behind me, but we're still getting those details, anderson, i'll try to bring them to you as we learn more.

>> all right, alayna treene. thank you. evan perez has some new reporting. in the number of wounded understand, which has now grown. evan, what have you learned right there? so well in addition to the additional person, the person who was who was killed, there were two people who are who have suffered injuries as a result of this incident. so obviously now that is part of this investigation, one of the things that you see happening behind the scene, behind where alayna was standing is the secret service, the fbi, the other law enforcement agencies are now going about doing the crime scene work. the work trying to gather whatever evidence they can that appears to be the building from where the shots were fired. there are photos other there are circulating that appear to show a body on top of a roof. again, that's matches what the secret service has said in their statements, just in the last few minutes saying that a person fired multiple shots at the former president from a location that is from a raise

location outside of the venue where the rally was happening again. that seems to match what alayna is watching right there behind her. so that's what we know at this hour. anderson, the other thing that i think this raises obviously, is the ongoing investigation. they're going to they know exactly who this person is by that by now and they're going to do the necessary work to figure out everything about that person's background, to find out any political beliefs, obviously any anything that could explain the motivations given the fact that we do not have a suspect alive. now at this point according to the secret service, so now that their work is going to be done the hard way under which is to gather evidence from that person's background. so evan, just good brief living, just clarify 11 rally go or killed. and now you've learned to have others have been wounded. that's correct. were wounded? that's according to the secret service

statement. that includes the gunman himself right? exactly. the gunman was a separate person who's been killed by the secret service. all right. evan perez. thank you. john miller has new reporting about the shooter. let's go to him, john, what have you learned? john miller, can you hear me i can hear you and i. >> didn great. what we're learning now from law you can hear me. all right? yes. no. go ahead what we're hearing from law enforcement sources now is that an individual was seen walking through the field by people who were outside the rally. >> people outside the rally couldn't see, but they could hear. so they had gathered in this field we're having trouble on pointe. >> they see him on the roof, but eiffel jon rahm going to try and recap we'll talk to you. we'll talk to him shortly

tim naftali, you're joining us here in new york presidential historian. obviously, this is not something there was the attack on steve scalise. we have seen obviously a number of threats that has been intercepted by law enforcement over the years, but probably not since ronald reagan at the presidential level, has this appeared not since ronald reagan, but i want to read you something that i think is as powerful today as it was the first time it was written tonight, this nation faces, once again the consequences of lawlessness, hatred, and unreasoned in its midst. it would be wrong. it would be self deceptive to ignore the connection between that lawlessness and hatred and this act of violence that was lyndon johnson in june of 1968 a few years later, another presidential candidate was attacked in 1972, george wallace was gunned down. he survived, but he was paralyzed

we have had very violent political contests before and it's something we ought to remember we are capable of this as a nation the people who do it, of course, are outliers, but they are a product of the extremism and the anger and the hatred that sometime pulses through our elections so tonight is a terrible reminder of another period in our history. but it's something that seems to be bred in the bone and i can understand scott's anger and sadness i feel it too i feel it for everyone. i feel it for everyone in our country because the gunman attacked democracy when you use a gun to eliminate a choice for the american

people. you are shooting democracy. you are playing god. and this is not the first time it has been done in our history. i hope it's the last buck one cannot say but it is one of those moments when we are reminded that our democracy is fragile and that we as a people need to come together, understand that our past has been violent and recognize that we have to stand up now and try to end the violence this is a wakeup call also joining us is cnn senior political commentator david axelrod. david, your thoughts agree more with what tim just said. >> you know, i lived through as a young guy. i remember very clearly that era violence and assassination in this country, and it was stunning then we haven't really experienced at much yet, but we lately, but we

have experienced political violence of different sort, not an assassination attempt of a president or a presidential candidate, but others to need to take this as a inflection point where we ask ourselves, is this where we want to go where we don't settle our differences peacefully, where we settle them through violence. we are system is set up so that we debate our differences and we sell them at the polling place that's how it should be. that's how democracy function. and so we don't know what motivated this shooter yet, and we shouldn't jump to conclusions. john hinckley, who shot ronald reagan was disturbed and this seems like a more sophisticated attempt but the other element of this in addition to how close we came to an assassination of the

candidate, here were the people who were attending this rally, my, my initiation into politics was at a political tickle rally when i was 5-years-old. john f. kennedy campaigning in my in my housing development in new york city and that's what inspired me to politics. never would have occurred to me are the folks, are my folks are the people who took me and that summit now that was a dangerous place to be and so it's profoundly sad. i mean, whatever you think of what was where the president of former president said that rally or what what brought people there and so on that is, that is not a place where people who bring their children should feel unsafe i think it's a this is a bracing moment for our country and hopefully a moment for reflection where everybody kind of pulls back from the abyss so that we don't see this as a recurring event david frum

the president united states, joe biden has, we're told that campaign has stopping tv ads for the time being. >> i mean, the convention, the republican convention is supposed to begin on monday unclear if this will impact that one way or for the other and i guess impossible at this point to know where the campaigns go. what does the tone and the tenor shift? obviously, there's going to be a lot of finger pointing, a lot of vitriol, and i'm not sure any sign that that will end no. i mean, there's so much at stake in this in any elections, certainly in this election and it's been a pretty bitter election to start with i don't know. actually where it goes from here, anderson. i mean, eventually the campaign will resume but the fact that this happened on the doorstep of a

convention has to change the nature of that convention in some way in the fact that i mean, i'm sure he the president, assuming that he is up to attending and i assume he will be will be greeted as a martyr of this event and it will i think there'll be it'll be it could be angrier or it could be more somber. but it's certainly not going to be the same cnn senior political commentator, david axelrod, presidential historian tim naftali. >> thank you wolf, back to you anderson. i want to go to cnn's randi kaye. she's just outside of trump tower in manhattan in new york right now, what are you seeing there? randi that attempt on the former president's life may have happened in pennsylvania,

but it is reverberating waiting here in new york city, we are outside trump tower where there is an increased police presence. >> of course, there was always a police presence here at trump tower because the former president does come here from time to time. but if you take a look behind me here, there's about eight or eight to ten police officers here, heavily armed police officers, we are told that this is out of an abundance of caution shan there was a small crowd gathering here as well. pretty peaceful. some supporters, others just coming here to see what is going on. but we understand from the spokesperson for the near burke city mayor mayor eric adams, that the mayor has been briefed on the situation that he is praying for the safety of the former president but added an abundance of caution as i said, they have increased police patrols here at trump tower and elsewhere around the city that those other areas include 40 wall street, also foley square, which is also known as federal plaza. that's an area where a lot of people tend to come and protest. that was the area for occupy wall street years ago. but and then of course city hall is also under an increase

presence or police officers. tonight, again, out of an abundance of caution, but they do want to make sure that it remains peaceful and that this remains safe for all randi. thank you very much. out of an abundance of caution, i'm sure there's going to be increased security. all over the place, not just at trump rallies, but at biden rallies and elsewhere as well. and let's not forget this republican convention is supposed to begin monday, monday in milwaukee. the democratic convention, a couple of weeks later in august in. chicago, security was already very, very intense for both of these conventions. but guess what, it's about to get even stronger right now, let's bring back cnn's john miller. john, give us a sense of what's going on right now from a security perspective, because this investigation into what happened in butler, pennsylvania mr. three hours or so ago is only just beginning well, that's right. >> wolf. and what they are as the story has developing, what i'm getting from my law

enforcement sources is that people saw this individual with camouflage pants walking through the field with a rifle. they saw him again again on the rooftop of this one story low, low building. this is outside the rally, outside the fence. you couldn't see into the rally from the ground, but it's possible that from his elevated position, he could see into the rally from there, it appears at some point either stood up where he knelt, are became visible to take those shots on the audio, we hear those two or three shots pop, pop and then there is a second and a and-a-half and then you hear five to seven shots, which apparently is the counter sniper team from for the secret service, taking him out now will as was already pointed out, we're too early into this to peel back those layers, but the obvious questions now are, how did an individual walked through the fields outside the

rally? was that posted? did police become aware of its presence and when he got to that roof, why was he or was he spotted by the other counter sniper team? is there some confusion as to because he was dressed in camouflage and carrying a long gun, whether or not he was with local law enforcement or another team. we won't know that for some time, but we do know he got that elevated position. he fired presumably at former president donald trump killing one individual in the audience, critically wounding two others. and as you see, president trump's wound is that a graze wound that crossed over the top of his ear is it a ricochet or a fragment of a long before bullets that hit something else and struck him above the year that's something that we'll know from the medical people later these things can be confusion. you remember wolf when ronald reagan was shot,

they threw him into the presidential limousine as the assassin was attempting to shoot him. and it wasn't shot by these acids bullet. he was hit by a ricochet of the assassin's bullet off the bulletproof doors. so they'll have to sort through that. what we do know is he was conscious he was alert, he was speaking, he was interacting with the agencies, as sanjay said the russians as sanjay said they could tell he was not in critical condition in that moment. and what happens then? wolf, is the presidential motorcade is stacked to wait one, there's the long motorcade that can be 30, some odd vehicles. and two, there's the short motorcade that's what you're looking at right now? now he's going into that, which is the escort cars, the president's vehicle, the follow-up car, the counter assault team that travels with him. the people who carry the football and the

communications. it's a much shorter motorcade because they are getting out of dodge. they're getting to that hospital as rapidly as possible. they want to get him evaluated and the rest of the presidential package catches up later. and that's what we saw today as that group of cars was arriving at the hospital to get him immediately evaluated. now, the question is who is this suspect first question is, do they know is he carrying id? hasn't been verified? if he wasn't? have they done the live scan fingerprints? do they have that id? if they do, are they moving towards that residents for the search warrants? there are scores of things that are happening in the background right now what one quick question before i let you go, john, and you used to work at the nypd, so you've seen these kinds of incidents, shooting incidents during the course of your career? in his statement, donald trump just said and i'm quoting him now i was shot with a bullet, pierced

the upper part of my right ear. now, if someone is shot with a bullet that pierces the upper part of your right ear, wouldn that bullet also continue onto someone's skull and create much more day, a much more dangerous situation so that's a great question, wolf and, you know what the intent of a shooter with a rifle and attempted assassination is to get that bullet to go into the head and across what may have happened here is that either the way the former president turned or the angle that shooter had on that shot, it may have just graze the outside, piercing the skin, and carrying on what's going to be really interesting. and this is how we're going to know whether it was hit by ricochet or a fragment, or a graze wound is what did they recover from that wound? is there a piece of a metal jacket from around that was fired that they have that they took out of the president where that cut is above the

ear, or did the projectile continue on that's why they cleared that area. and they did that at the expense of there were literally hundreds and hundreds of eyewitnesses that they want to interview. but they also wanted to reserve that that crime scene. and get those ballistics and connected to that weapon. and get all the evidence they could yes. >> good point. indeed, a lot of investigation will be needed and trump added that he immediately felt that the bullet ripping through the skin much bleeding took place. so i realized then what what's happening. i mean, a lot of a lot of bleeding, the bullet ripping through the skin could have been god forbid, a lot worse. indeed, john miller, thank you very much. anderson, back to you, wolf. thank say it is about 9:30 p.m. here on the east coast. this occurred around 615 p.m. in butler, pennsylvania if you're you're just joining us. i'm going to be playing the what the former

president's, how this began. the foreign president making remarks shortly into the beginning of this campaign appearance. let's watch oh that's a little bit all that chart. that charts a couple of months old and if you want to really see something they said, take a look what happened when you're ready and you ready

good let me get my son i got you. >> let me get my shoes your head so we've got to move to

see primetime anchors, kaitlan, collins and abby phillip are here with me kaitlan, i know you've been talking to sources. >> what's the latest you're hearing entire campaign apparatus is just deeply rattled. >> a lot of people have not been able had to have a chance to speak with the former president directly. a few of them have, obviously, we heard from hemme himself, but even it's children just a few brief moments on the phone with them. we've heard from most of them so far. all obviously, still processing this. i mean, obviously every president is hyper aware of their security and their surroundings ever since what happened to to president reagan. and also jfk, donald trump himself is also one of those. i mean, i've been to dozens of these rallies. this is outside obviously, the security perimeter is different, but you go through secret service security to go into any rally like this. you go through a magnetometer. you

have that instance i should note what i'm hearing from a lot of them it's questions about the security here and what happened and how something like this could happen because it does seem on thinkable. i think in the house oversight chair james comer, just put out a statement saying that he has reached out to secret service director. he is requesting briefings. we are going to see action on capitol hill as a result of this, even though we are very much still earnings so much of this but i also spoke with people who were there. i'm not going to say the name of one of the people always on the phone with just because they had to get off very quickly. so i don't want to disclose our identity, but they were right up there near the front when this happened and they said you could see trump react as as obviously as he says, now, it was a bullet grazed his ear and you can hear the panic in his voice in those first few moments and the audio where he said, let me get my shoes, let me get my shoes. and then he's whisked off stage. he pumped as fast as you can see here in this photo right now, i was told that as he was taken down into the motorcade before he was taken to the

hospital there in butler, pennsylvania. he pumped his fist again and had this defiant stance reacting in the moment to what happened has left the hospital. but a lot of people obviously are still just trying to get in touch with him. and to talk to him in the aftermath of this. >> i mean, it is inconceivable that something like this could have happened. i mean, i've covered president obama, president trump candidates even at outdoor rallies in fact, especially at outdoor rallies, the kind of security that they would have the perimeter, not just where people are going, but all the buildings surrounding it there's a reason that that whole apparatus is supposed to extend even beyond just the rally itself. and it's because of this country's long dark history with exactly this scenario counter snipers who are with binoculars scanning all others, although usually on top of those very buildings and so i

mean, this is not unfortunately, as tim said not a new scenario for this country. >> in fact, it is a scenario that's played out too many times in this country. and the secret service is deeply aware of that every single time that a protectee is comes even close to an incident like this. it's something the thing that sets off an incredible amount of soul searching within the organization. and i'm sure this one will to 100 tonight. i think so many people on it doesn't matter where you are in the political spectrum. i'm hearing from them obviously tonight, people are stunned and they're worried. they're worried about what is going to happen happen in this country. we still have some four months before the end of this election. and this is occurring before a major political event. there is a lot of fear in the country right now about what this portends and also what it says about where we are. >> and you think, i mean, it's there's reagan, but steve scalise or nancy pelosi gabby giffords data statement tonight

or his vow. to be giffords as well? yeah. i i mean, we've seen these incidents before, but there's something anderson particular about it happening in the context of a presidential campaign. it's a sign as president biden said tonight, of a sickness in the contrary that someone thought to take a step to alter or affect the outcome of a presidential election with an act like this and for the people who are watching tonight, who are wondering what this means. i mean, they are right to wonder because i think we all have to be prepared for a lot of chaos ahead. but i also think it's a moment for the country to decide right now what kind of country we live in and whether or not this is the kind of thing that is going to really change how we conduct ourselves. i mean, i think it is still within the power of if you patriotic citizens in this country to push back against

this kind of darkness. >> and just on the security aspect of this, there were counter snipers there. you can see them in videos because there is a building behind. obviously this is he's in butler county. this is deep trump country, but there's a building that you can see that was behind where trump is out on the stage. you can see it in the photos the people who were there took in the videos that they took, you see the counter snipers on there. you can see them anytime trump is somewhere, you often see them. i think also the question and what we're hearing tonight, you've mentioned the republican convention that is starting in milwaukee on monday, where trump and many of his surrogates were slated to travel to as soon as tomorrow we are told it is still expected to go before and we'll see if that changes as the as the night progresses and as this investigation is getting underway, but security was already an issue there. the footprint the rnc wanted it to be wider than what it was. i do think this is only going to make it and the democratic convention in chicago and a month from now, only even more intense as they're learning more about this. >> i do to the point where we have new video and it's from a bbc interview with a man who claimed to be an eyewitness,

who was also outside the perimeter of this. we cannot independently verify his account of what we think its important. you see tikeila we noticed the guy crawling arm bare for all in. up the roof of the building beside us, 50 50 feet away from us so we're standing there were pointing were pointing that two guy crawling up the roof and he had a gun, right? he had a rifle, right. we can clearly see him with a rifle. absolutely i'm were pointing that the police are down they're running around on the ground were like, hey man, this guy on the roof for the rifle and the police were like hauled what, you know, like like they didn't know what was going on, you know, we're like, hey, right here on the roof, we can see it from right here. we see them you know, he's he's crawling and next thing you know, i'm like, i'm thinking to myself, i'm like, why is trump still speaking? why have they not pulled him off the stage? i'm standing there pointing at him for 23 minutes. secret service is

looking at us from the top of the barn. i'm pointing that that roof just standing there like this and next thing you know five shots ring out. >> i want to bring in our john miller as well, john i'm sure you've seen that that interview what do you make of it? clearly, if i'm going to raise this really, a lot of questions serious questions, and it's consistent with what police have been getting in their interviews with people who saw this guy cross the field and climb this roof but the question it raises is he saying they're pointing him out to the police? >> and the police are i guess he's not clear about how they're reacting, but he said they're running around are they communicating with others to say, who is that on the roof? he says they are pointing to the secret service guys on the next roof and pointing to this roof and saying, do you see this guy? and that's going

to be all that communication about who is this individual is. it's law enforcement or is it someone else? if it's law enforcement they should already know that which has got to be setting off alarms and in a very short time between him being spotted up there on the roof with the rifle and the incident there's going to be an extraordinarily excruciatingly detailed examination about who knew what, how was this communicated and who determined to take what action or not take what action as they sorted out who this person was before he opened fire. at which point? but they took immediate action but this is going to be deeply examined for a long time, john, you were talking about the number of shots and that's sort of the grouping of them. it seemed to me that there were sort of three separate there was an initial few than there were there were another several and then there was it seemed to me there was a third which seemed louder and produce more screams

from somebody in the crowd. and that seemed to be off to the left of the former president. is that your understanding as well because you had said that you thought the second grouping was the counter snipers hitting the shooter it seems to me that there was a sort of a single shot later on, but maybe i'm wrong well, all i've gone by as the audio i've heard since this deal had been played on our air, but what you hear is two to three shots in rapid succession. >> it is likely that that is the shooter from the roof and then you hear a five to seven shots in more rapid succession from multiple weapons i'm being fired at the same time. it is likely that that is the counter sniper teams response. that said, you can only glean so much from sound and we don't have the requisite pictures of either side of that, at least not yet all right.

>> john, thank you. we'll check in with you. wolf, let's go back to you all right. anderson, i see it as jeff zeleny has new reporting and how this will change potentially next week's republican convention in milwaukee. and indeed the rest of the campaign, what are you learning love talking to republican officials tonight. >> they say the convention is proceeding as planned on monday. in fact, just a few moments ago, a statement plus sent out from the top senior advisors to the trump campaign. let me read a part of that. it says president trump looks forward to joining you all in milwaukee as we proceed with our convention. to nominate him to serve as the 47th president of the united states as our party's nominee, president trump will continue to share his vision to make america great. again, that assigned by susie wiles wilson, chris lacivita, as well as the chairman of the republican national committee, wolf. the convention is on, but this will be no ordinary convention. this is no ordinary moment in our political discourse here, 115 days remain until the end of this campaign and they are

entirely different now than we thought just a few hours ago, a few examples are these the biden campaign has suspended its advertising they are not advertising in pennsylvania or other battleground states the president, of course, we saw earlier tonight saying that this type of political violence has no place former presidents have weighed in. we've heard from a former president george w bush, former president barack obama all saying that with president bush calling it a cowardly attack, president obama's, and that there's no place for this type of violence in american politics. so wolf, we have now, we never know what presidential campaigns will be about. they changed throughout the course of the campaigns. now, violence and this will be a central part of the conversation here. but republicans gather in milwaukee on monday to nominate donald trump. we do not know exactly when he will be traveling there. he was scheduled to go tomorrow. that schedule could change. we shall see. he also has the biggest decision yet of his campaign payne, to announce

his vice presidential running mate. we expect that to happen on monday. if not before then wolf, there's certainly changes the presidential campaign in front of us tonight. but the republican convention is still going on. on monday and jeff, on that point, i think it's significant what the secretary of homeland security alejandro mayorkas says just said in a statement, remember the secret service is part of the department of homeland security among other things, that mayorkas says this, we are engaged with president biden, former president trump there campaigns and are taking every possible measure to ensure their safety and security maintaining the security of the presidential candidates and their campaign events is one of our departments most vital priorities. >> so i assume if this republican convention begins on monday is planned, security which already had been anticipated as being extraordinary, will be beefed up even more so, right? >> there's no question about

it, wolf, i mean, that's already is a major security event of protests have been one thing that was discussed. now of course, the safety and security of the attendees will be front and center. the u.s. secret service has been on the scene in milwaukee for a weeks and months, planning this, but this takes on an extraordinarily new level. well, if we all know secret service agents, we've covered the white house and talking with one former one this evening, this is something that is their biggest fear. they take their jobs so seriously republican or democrat, it does not matter. you elect we protect that is their motto. so certainly every agent, every member of that agency is taking this very seriously tonight, but there's no question that convention in milwaukee will be highly, highly secure. wolf as will the democratic convention in chicago in august, a few weeks later, all of us who have been white house correspondents we're closely with the secret service and we are always so impressed by what they're doing, trying to protect the president. and the first family

indeed, and other officials who work at the white house as well. we're all grateful to the u.s. secret service. anderson back to you. well, thanks. pennsylvania congressman daniel user joins me now he was in the front row at the rally today. congressman, thank you for being with us i'm so sorry. we are talking in these circumstances can you talk about what you experienced, what you saw when you knew something was wrong? >> concert. okay. >> yeah. congressman, can you hear me? it's anderson cooper okay.. we'll. probably, were having trouble making connection will try to get back in touch with the congressman. very very shortly. a tim naftali presidential historian, is here with me in new york again, i mean, from a again we don't know how this impacts things moving forward no, we don't none of the major

players in this story. >> know how it will impact things going forward and how they plan to announce about it or not, what what i i i hope i'm speaking on behalf of many people what i desperately hope for is that we stopped talking about vengeance in any form of any kind by anyone our language his campaign has been the language has been tough and extreme and i think to move the country in a healthy direction, we have to keep talking about how political violence as unacceptable and that we have crossed a line some mad person crossed a line and we want to go back and so that's what i look for when this has happened before in our history. that is the way we have responded as a people. we have we've talked

about how this was wrong. this we are better than this. we have talked, we asked ourselves, is there a sickness? this is, this is how we deal with these issues. time and again and i expect it to be the same this time. it's really important that that the president for solar, president trump fully recover and that both conventions our an provide an opportunity for healing. of course, they're going to push for their own candidate because that's the way we are. we're competitive people, and that's how a democracy should work. but there should be an element at both conventions. a reminder that our country sometimes takes the wrong turn. and we have a history of violence and we don't want to see it again, pennsylvania congressman daniel meuser is back with us. as i said before, he was in the front row at the rally today congressman, i appreciate you

joining us. i'm sorry to these circumstances. can you talk about what you saw what you when you realized things were going, what had happened. yeah. thanks. anderson yeah. >> it started out like a regular rally. president, former president trump came in and took pictures and spent a little bit of time he came out, he was speaking no longer than six or seven minutes and next thing you know, there was there was rapid-fire. it was pretty obvious after second or third gunshot what was happening, particularly, i turned around to see where it was coming from and then i my eyes fixated on the president so i'm grabbed his ear and then and then hit the deck, grabbed the side of his head. it was interpreted zero at the time and then the secret service came in, did their thing are pennsylvania state police were all over the same pandemonium broke out. people were crying, they were worried about the president they weren't sure if the shooter was still firing

because there were a couple of added aided shots when the secret service is up there. so it was quite a scene were you aware that we now we know one person in the crowd was killed, two others were wounded. we don't know the extent of those of those wounds. were you aware of that others in the crowd had been hit? >> yes yes. one was not far from me where i was sitting. i was in the front row with dave mccormick and mike kelly to the right of the stage. and the individual who was fatally shot and killed was no more than 20 feet behind us. and so yeah, everybody started at least screaming, asked me for a medic. and honestly, it was a bloody scene how long what happened afterward? >> i'm once the foreign president was got into the vehicle, what what happened then? >> well, it was a little bit

little chaotic. the secret service was saying teller, but he get down they were they were on the move, they were protecting the president. they they were looking for the shooter or if there was another shooter because as it turned out, i think you've seen that the shooter on the roof was taken out pretty quickly by the by secret service right after we heard the final shots. so thank god for that. but we weren't sure if there were others. i mean, when you hear gunfire like that, it sounds like you don't know where it's coming from? so it was it a lot of people were were very panicked. but fortunately, they settled down after a little while, particularly when president trump honestly stood up and gave a thumbs up that kind of calm the crowd a little bit. the it seems that the shooter was on the top of a roof, not in the perimeter that

the secured perimeter but just outside, but obviously, a lot of questions about why he wasn't seen there was a eyewitness who was interviewed by the bbc who said that that person then had seen him crawl up the building, was pointing to him for several minutes, trying to alert people to his presence what questions do you have at this point? >> what i mean should the convention it seems is going to move forward. you're going to begin on monday as planned. >> yeah. yeah. and on that situation, i'm not sure about any of that. i heard some of that too obviously, somebody took films and somebody said, hey, i saw an individual on the roof. i'm not sure if they informed police or they think was notified their so we'll see what happens then. yeah. president trump's already put out out that he's going to be at the convention he's on his way, i think back to bedminster. and did hear motorcade left the hospital that he was taken to. and thank god, i mean, he was within a

quarter of an inch probably of a being assassinated. >> yeah. it's incredible. i mean, if it was the bullet grazed, the top of his ear you know, quarter of an inch in any in the wrong direction could have been could have been fatal congressman, i do appreciate your time tonight. i'm sorry for what you and everybody there authrough and glad glad that the former president is as well and moving forward. thank you so much. thanks. and thanks for your concern. thanks for the civility and we really we got to remove the hostility. i think everybody agrees this is you need to cool things down. yeah. let's hope. thank you, congressman wolf. >> back. clearly the rhetoric on both sides as the calm down. i anderson, i want to bring in evan perez right now avenue got some new reporting about what the congressman just mentioned, where the shooter was located. give us the information that you're getting right. wolf we know is the location where you saw alayna treene reporting

just a little while ago? >> that's the location that's the building to the right of where the former president to his right, whether former president when he was standing that's the building where law enforcement the shooter was firing those multiple shots at the secret service says were fired toward the former president. now we have video that we can share, that we can show from somebody who was at the scene there and was taking video of okay. i'm told that we're about to get that in there, but there's video wolf that shows the top of that the rooftop of that building. that's where the alleged shooter the suspected shooter is believed to have fired multiple shots that went toward the former president and the stage there again this is you know, there's varying estimates out there. but it looks very, very close right outside the venue would have been right outside where the secret service does screening

for anyone who goes inside the rally. so again, we're talking probably the distance of about a football field and a half from where the the alleged shooter the suspected shooter was on that rooftop. and where it appears that's where the people who were attending the rally could clearly see the body of that person down after the counter. snipers from the secret service immediately took action and and shot and killed him. so that's what we believe that's what law enforcement at this point believes. that's what the order of events that's where the the alleged shooter the suspected shooter was standing or was firing from again, very short distance, very close distance to the venue where the former president was speaking for just about six or seven minutes. now, that raises some very, very, very big questions, of course, for the secret service okay. we now i'm told we can show this video now again, shot

by one of the attendees at the rally. you can see the person there on the rooftop this is after the secret service at appears has already shot and killed this person. they're down on that rooftop that's where alayna treene is seeing that huge, huge police presence, right now, there's every law enforcement agency that you can imagine, is that that scene trying to collect some of the evidence she saw as well. alayna also saw an ambulance there. so it appears again as part of the crime scene investigation all of that is being done as we speak wolf and so what we see there in that video is the moments after the counter snipers from the secret service take action and take out the alleged shooter, the suspected shooter, who is again who again is firing from that elevated position that rooftop? up that is just outside of where the rally was taking place. again, not a

very, very short and long distance at all. and it will raise some very important questions for the secret service and the protocols that were taken that were being taken before this rally. we we've been to all of these events wolf and we know we've always seen secret service, local swat teams secure every elevated position that could possibly be where someone could could take a shot at the person who is being protected. and so the question will, that will emanate from this today? is what, was done to try to secure those positions that are outside of the rally wolf yeah. >> normally, you would think that they would be watching an elevated spot like that but sadly, the clearly someone miss that spot right there in the shooter shot those bullets. will say, well, quick 11. last thing, i'll say i mean, there is from additional video that is out there that shows the secret service. they are also

at an elevated position, so they clearly had visibility and could take that person out quickly once they fired those shots. i mean, they acted extremely quickly. so they did the right thing once those shots were fired obviously, they acted obviously after the shots were fired already. well, i'm very quickly i've been do we have any sense at all given the distance from that elevated rooftop over to where the former president was speaking, what kind of weapon was used to fire those bullets? again, we only know from some of the eyewitnesses who've told police that they believe there was a was a rifle, a long rifle. we don't know what kind of rifle and that's something that you have atf there at the scene. they're going to be doing a trace wolf of that firearm to see where it was fired, where it was purchased, whether this person bought it who bought it, and where? how long ago that happened. again, as part of this investigation that is now ongoing our alayna treene is on

the scene for us, evan standby, we'll get back to you. she's getting more information. what else are you learning, alayna? >> well, wolf, i'm told i actually just spoke with a police officer who is on the scene here tonight. they say that this building behind me is the one where the shooter was on the roof here behind me, i know that evans law enforcement sources have confirmed that as well. now, to the left of that building 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 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