america's democracy put up a violence of any kind is never acceptable interim former fbi special agent nicole parker. nicole got a chance to see this as it plays out. jump into the line of fire your reaction to what you see in what we know so far. >> first of all my respect was out to the united states secret service they are the heroes today. secret service that is their job to put their lives on the line you see them how they rallied from president trump immediate in the aftermath they were willing to take a bullet for him. that is what secret service agents do. we happen to have an attempted assassination of a prez in a very long time i hate to from the arrangement under is real, people hate this man and they will do anything to do and

it's a terrifying statement to make right now but the fact. with the counter assault team, secret service has a counter assault team -- about four to six stages -- >> let's reestablish connection and then we will get back to y you. for those of you who have not seen -- what happened moments ago. >> probably 20 million people and you know, that's a little bit old, a couple of months old if you really want to see, take a look -- [gun shots] [screaming] [screaming]

hold, hold, move! >> are we ready? are we good? >> shooters down! shooters down! >> let me get my shoes. i've got you. let me get my shoes. [screaming]

>> as we are learning more, we are told president trump on his feet as he was leaving, he is fine according to his campaign according to the secret service. president trump has just begun a rally to be his last before coming to milwaukee for the republican national convention. i want to toss it to my colleague jason chaffetz toothpicks of coverage from here is we still try. more what happened this afternoon. >> nobody wants to see this but when things happen, you get the secret service who jumped in and put their lives on the line, that's with these men and women do. the president was defined to get up there and pumped his fist and say fight. i think that's what he's saying. he's right about getting his shoes. the secret service of which have studied white deeply, they have

protocols in place, they will have multiple locations on where to take the president. they are going to get criticism and questions about how anybody could get that close if indeed it was a firearm that was there but once it comes into action that the secret service will tighten its perimeter around the other protect these, trump children. you don't know how wide this might be is alone person, a couple of different people, don't know if reports about other people being injured are true or not and that will be interesting to see how that plays out but the president there with the flag in the background, blood from his face, standing defiantly, i think will probably be the most defining moment of this presidential election year. they try to incarcerate him, out an assassination attempt on the

president. the temperature in this country, we all need to take a deep breath but at the same time this country, we've got to make sure that we can have free and fair elections. >> 20 million people and that's a little bit old -- >> you good? >> you hear the president saying there. what he's doing and the way he reacts to the gunshot, we don't have full confirmation that is an actual gunshot but that's what people on the ground are saying. i'm fairly familiar with firearms, that's what it sounds like but definitively from the local law enforcement says that, you don't know. you also have local law enforcement, global law enforcement is going to be there. tactical teams, swat teams, potentially national guardsmen

there there to support the effort when you have such a large massive crowd, law enforcement of all sorts there so the initial reaction from the secret service looks to be amazing to jump in front and cover up the president and get him into the motorcade and get him -- will be multiple different hospitals for extraction points for the president and the secret ser service, that's what they are doing. that's what they are paid to do but it's more get it done. the president stood up and pumped his hand, blood coming from his ear and fist. the guy is a fighter. a lot about donald trump but he is a fighter. >> jason chaffetz, thank you for that. stay with us. i'm live in milwaukee along with my colleague, shannon bream. this is quite a moment.

it's quite a moment in american history, quite a moment in this campaign. beutler, pennsylvania is one of these rural communities north of pittsburgh about 50 miles where rural community in america is the backbone of donald trump's strengths. even if we get a half ago, even democrat talking about this rally in great attendance and it certainly was, a beautiful day with ocean blue guys above and so many have gathered to hear the president's message and i think the image we are watching, the low camera shot, still camera frame has already become somewhat iconic, american politics. you have a former president trying to do something we've only seen one other time in american history, recapture a job used to have. you have to go back to 1890s to find another american in grover cleveland when he defeated harrison in the 1890s to win back his seat, donald trump is

at an eye on this seat ever since he walked left washington d.c. in january of 2021. butler, pennsylvania is the kind of community where donald trump has made a political living going on eight years. these are the people who turned red in a significant way county after rural county across the country, these are his people. as we watch that and listen to the sound of that rat attacked that without drawing any conclusions as of now, it sounds like bullet shots, certainly. it sounds like what you would hear. secret service has not characterized it that way so we will caution information as we move throughout the evening but also some of that sound you hear could well have been bullets fired by the secret service and that's why we got that report of

the quote, shooters down. >> as we watch that, listen and try to collect the facts, a moment ago, selena, a reporter who covers pennsylvania, that is her territory. the way you discredit, that's what she does. talking to the people of the heart of pennsylvania and covering it, i think she is one of the few people in 2016 that was confident based on what she was seeing in pennsylvania that was going to signal to the rest of the country that donald trump had a chance. she believed it to be very good to become president. she was at the rally today. she as a gun owner herself, she said in her estimation, being there an eyewitness, immediately recognized the sounds of gunfire. i think we want to bring in former fbi special agent chris swaggart to weigh in on where we are because we know there are threats, constantly monitored for a number of high profile people, certainly people in the

midst of a presidential election. where do we go from here? >> this is now and invest fbi investigation. exclusive destination assault on the president. consulted i was watching it live, he grabbed his right ear and leading from the year as it showed so where do we go from here? this will be a scorch investigation. it already is agents from every field office in neighboring areas neighboring states. all hands on deck. not much information coming out right now. obviously someone assaulted the president and of course my knowledge, since reagan. actually -- president bush. >> thank you for joining coverage. we will be as patient as we can as we get more from the

authorities in this investigation. probably from the trump team as well. i would not be surprised if at some time this evening we will see some sort of the or statement from president trump on camera. >> i would not be surprised at all. i think it would be fairly quickly though. you can see him pumping his fist when he first got up and as he was getting into the car, much to the dismay of the secret service's, this is a moment. >> when you think about the rallies this president held going back in 2015, when he showed up in alabama in august of that year and the massive turnout was there, you knew there was something behind his movements. you knew it was something that drew thousands of people

starting at the rally in 2015 going through now in the summer of 2024. chris, what are your concerns when you see tens of thousands of people, the challenge of keeping an event like that safe, not just once but time after time after time? >> it's as good as the secret service are, they are all about landing, reacting in the situation where somebody has close enough access to do harm to our president so that is their primary job and they will tell you they've never fired the gun and defense of a presidential candidate for president because of how well they plan and use intelligence which comes from everywhere but these rallies, trump rallies are a security nightmare. nearly impossible if someone is

intent on entering the president to prevent that, someone from getting access. they try to put up concentric, different levels of access or you can look at these rallies and it looks like everybody gets and. we have a president, presidential candidate wants everybody to get in and wants them to have access. that raises the risk. >> thank you for your time we want to go to an eyewitness who was there at the rally. >> pennsylvania senate candidate david mccormick, he knows what it's like to be in the middle of a heated campaign. you were there, what more can you tell us and do you know if anybody else was potentially injured? >> thanks for having me. i'm still at the rally, it is all very chaotic but i was in the front row. president trump had just

announced in, invited me to come up on stage and he said no, i'll have him come up in a minute or two and then there were a number of shots and the crowds just sort of went to the ground and secret service came very quickly and tackled the president but there were seven or eight shots and it's hard to tell whether they came from one direction or two different weapons, it wasn't clear. at least i couldn't tell. then sadly, someone behind me in the bleachers was wounded and there was a lot of blood. the care they needed, i'm not sure if others were injured or not, it was very chaotic but very scary moment because our president and innocent bystanders were under siege. >> can you tell us how many people are gathered there today? looks like quite a turnout.

what you saw from your perspective, did it come from your left side or your right side? >> and enormous crowd. i asked law enforcement officers and said something about 60000. i don't know if it's an official number but huge. it was coming and coming building throughout the day. at least some of the shots as he was facing the crowd and it felt like some of the shots came from his left side which would make sense because someone behind me was hit. it felt like at least some came from that side of the crowd. as i said, i couldn't tell if it was one one or two but there were 748 shots, one right after another.

>> you are an iraq war vet and served in uniform like these law enforcement folks today so it is unmistakable to you that these were gunshots, a firearm. >> yes, it definitely seemed to be the case. i am no expert but it sounded like a small caliber weapon of some sort. initially i thought it might be fireworks or something but the succession of the shots, i think it was clearly a weapon, a firearm as i said, i couldn't tell if it was 142 but they clearly, this was from my vantage, and attacks directed at the president, a very scary moment. >> the person you saw injured or wounded, man or woman and what sort of condition did you notice they were in? >> it was hard to tell. a number of people around this

person, he looked like a man, a large person. a number of people sitting around him started to administer first aid. it looked like he had shorts around him and trying to stop the bleeding. then police officers came in and carried him out of the stands. all that took a couple of minutes. i was sort of focus on that because it was to my back. whether they were the people who did or not, i couldn't tell, and enormous crowd. the president was on a podium but there was a crowd behind him and he was around him. once the shots happened, it was a panic, people didn't panic but it was chaotic and everybody went down to the ground. we weren't sure if the shooting was done. >> i'm going to ask you a question, choose to answer the way he would like. his donald trump lucky to be alive right now? >> i think so.

absolutely, i think so. again. the facts will come out and when you're in the middle of a crisis, you want to draw many conclusions but it felt like he's lucky to be alive. i hope others who were injured are going to survive it was a very scary moment should. >> thank you for your time. david mccormick, a republican running for the senate seat in pennsylvania and he was there, front row for that incident today. thank you again for your eyewitness account. >> lucas tomlinson is with the president and we -- you got a readout that president biden has been briefed. anything more from your location? >> that's right, the readout the white house official sent out that president biden has been briefed. these are the official, united states secret service oleander mayorkas dhs chief and assistant

to the president home and security advisor and the wallowing members of president biden's team participate in that briefing. the president's chief of staff, steve, assistant to the president counselor of the president and annie, the assistant and deputy chief of staff. president biden attending mass a few blocks when the incident and reports of shots were fired at. former president donald trump's rally hour north of pittsburgh. the president did not appear he was rushed out of the service, he left at the appointed time. member of the press pool with the president asked if he'd been briefed and had any comment. president biden said no and returned to his house where he is now. the pool is holding outside his residence and waiting statement from the president either on paper or if the president will make remarks later tonight. >> lucas tomlinson with the president. we will check back, thank you.

>> copartner former fbi special agent, you've been watching the coverage. give us your top thought at this hour. >> toppling thought secret service, the secret service anytime there is a former president traveling, they typically have a counter assault team paired with local swat teams of the counter assault team consists of about four to six special agents in trouble with the former president depending on threat. we all know president trump has many, many threats probably coming at him on a daily basis. obviously secret service immediately shield the pres president, former president and then the swat team comes in and working with local and federal law enforcement and they will go to the scene and like mentioned by other guests, the fbi should will arrive and fbi will conduct the investigation. they will collaborate efforts with secret service. we know president trump, thank goodness right now is okay and

that is the secret service first priority. reagan was the last president that was shot. this is very tragic for our country regardless of where one stands on the political spectrum. taking out your anger with violence is unacceptable. they got him out of the scene, thank goodness that this could have ended very differently and i've heard other guests come on and say that and i cannot express that enough. i have a dear friend who was shot in the head fbi special agent and she is not with us any longer so even inches over, if it was a gun which i'm sure we all agree and understand it likely was shots fired, this could have ended up differently. it's important from the investigative standpoint, who did this? whoever did this likely has revealed himself as a threat in

the past. the secret service is constantly looking at the people of potential threat. i believe without knowing anything, just preliminary, this person likely has a record. his protective intelligence teams, that's all they do. they work in cases of any threats whatsoever directed at the current president, former president and that is their job so they likely -- yes? >> if i may, i know you are fbi and not secret service but trying to explain to people at home, even to us as we sit here in wisconsin, it's a saturday night and the streets are closed, hard to get around already. the event is bill two days away and that is the world in which we live now. how you keep an environment safe when you have ten, 20, 30,000 people in the field with 360

degrees views over a person you are trying to protect? >> it is extremely difficult and i have to say that president trump is extremely brave to do these rallies because -- we look at the shooting and las vegas. there was somebody in a hotel room firing from way far off in the distance, no or even near where the concert occurred for that mass shooting in las vegas. this could have ended very differently but everyone is all hands on deck and the secret service, i've done events, they go in and sweep the entire facility before the former president comes in and i guarantee the area was swept and go through medical metal detectors. that's something for the fbi to

investigate but you're right, a very tall task for law enforcement but speaks to how strong president trump is, he is so determined in his message going to these rallies. he is a warrior. >> thank you, former fbi. thank you for being with us. we will check back in later. >> we want to bring in martha maccallum. your reaction as we are getting information that the president's seems to be okay but what a shock to the system for americans watching this play o out. >> what a shock, indeed. this is an incredible awful event we are watching playing out. when you see the former president of the united states with blood around his ear and the details of all of this, we are still waiting to find out what happened. we all here the initial pop, pop, pop it is second round of

gunfire that may have come from your service. we don't know the status of where the shooter was sitting, where they were position but appeared on the president clutched his ear, it appears as if something is coming from behind him. i looked closely at the scene behind him, the people you can see at least in the bleachers behind him, they do not appear to all turn and look in one place of where this might have been coming from so this is video that needs to be looked at, frame by frame to figure this out but the only good news right now is the former president, by his own campaigns and tension, it is fine. thank god he's fine. we have to hear more about -- is the person who started this incident, we have to figure out exactly what happened here but

these images on the screen right now, blue sky behind the former president, blood on his face, his fist in the air, this is an incredibly resilient top guy. he wanted to get his shoes before he went back down the stairs. an incredible development and what's already been several weeks of tumultuous campaign season we are watching unfold right now. very edgy difficult unsettling times in america. >> i want to let you know, we have a lot of reaction from across the political spectrum, everybody denouncing this but we hear from former congresswoman, gabby, one of the wells most well-known surviving victims of

one of these it attacks, political violence is terrifying, i know. all those affected by the indefensible act of violence in my heart, political violence is un-american and never acceptable. never. >> she knows that firsthand and she suffers from it every day. what happened to her was horrific. we have a lot of talk in the country about political violence on all sides and the concerns but we haven't seen something quite like this in quite a long time. you think of rfk shot while campaigning in california and he was killed by an assassin's bullet. these people in the united states, they put their safety on the line every day and these secret service heroes, when we think of this image, of them literally body to body, creating a wall around the person they

protect -- i heard you speak about this earlier but these guys, we have an incredible team of people who protect president and presidential candidates in this country and we need to be grateful for them. i would stress we are waiting to learn the details about exactly what happened here and where this person who started this incident is right now and that is the story of the evening i heard earlier will likely hear from president trump tonight so we will stay tuned for that. >> thank you, martha. martha maccallum, coverage continues live in milwaukee. i want to bring up, there's a lot of information from the beutler county pennsylvania pa. he -- his name speaking with a number of press, none of this is confirmed so i want to wash

cautiously with this. describe the man seated near him being carried out with numerous predicates on his body. there were casualties. whether or not there were fatalities, we hope and pray that's not the case. there are certainly others injured. how many we can't say but when we look at the video, it appears he grabs his right ear before you hear the sound. after that, there's a sound over and over. in addition to have would be secret service returning fire and we have that quote, shooter is down. we want to bring some of that now. >> we are just getting something and now, to the ap, the shooter is dead and a rally attendee was killed at the trump of it.

the butler county district attorney is telling them according to the associated press, shooter dead and someone who was attending the rally, that is the latest. >> the das first name, richard gaultier and as you say, i killed the shooter dead another person in serious condition. we will wait for more information for that kt tablets joined us now, where are you and what have you learned? >> phone call with former ambassador in the front row sitting close to david mccormick and the first thing he said was i never thought this would happen again. he then went into detail about what he saw, he saw gunsmoke and bullets flying in multiple directions. that's what we have heard from a number of people tonight's, given the first eyewitness

testimony being there and he had the same opinion, the president was lucky to be alive which is what senate candidate dave mccormick also told you guys earlier about the current situation so sure we will hear from the president, we are two days from the rnc convention and he has every intention of moving forward showing up there. incredible to walked him off that stage shouting fight, fight, fight! i look forward to watching and hearing what he has to say. we were front row seat to history. this is a terrible day for the country and the current situation where in. >> thank you for that. katie pavlich joining us from washington d.c. we will see you in milwaukee a little later in the week. >> let's check in with alexis mcadams, she was there as is happened. an eyewitness or more with her. we tells it to you. >> we were able to get out of

the area after they turned in to an active crime scene and we were able to talk with some people who heard what we heard, several pops as a took cover. i will take you closer to who we are talking to, you can't leave because they closed down the rows and you're still trying to figure out what happened. what did you hear when you are inside the rally? >> seven or eight shots. >> what did you do? >> i stood up and tried to film it but it didn't work. hit the ground. >> walk me through what you heard. you were pretty close or where were you? >> right behind where the chairs were and we started hearing what i thought was firecrackers. who would be shooting firecrackers? been somebody saw and said hit the ground. i looked over and i saw smoke from the gunfire so everybody hit the ground and he kept

standing. i said get down. you got to get down. they are going to shoot you. if they had a machine gun, they could have taken us all out so we lay there a while and saw different places where the gunshots were at and president trump down, secret service he did and he was out and got him off the stage and he was bleeding so my son and daughter-in-law was behind the fence worried about them, we couldn't call so we started trying to get after them when they left us off and they had been right by the fence with the other shooter was. the water tower and one by the fence. >> according to the ap the district attorney's office think shooter dead in a rally attendee killed. still developing but to hear numerous pops so many people and that crowd, people were trying

to get out as quickly as i could to see the former president down on the ground and come back to see blood on his ear but leave with a fist pump, people were emotional. you think about this when you go to events as you have before, you go through secret service check and they go through your bags and they want people down but it's always a concern when you go to a rally like this and people were excited to be out here, they were here for hours trying to get a glimpse of the former president including you as well so tell me what you heard. >> you think maybe firecrackers and your kind of stunned and then fire and return fire. get down so we got down and huddled. the lady in front of me laid on top of me, she was crying and they said it's going to be okay. we just prayed and prayed. we could see trump get up and he gave a like i'm okay. i'm okay so then -- >> you could hear them yell saying let me get my shoes.

he wanted to walk away. >> like it's okay. you know what i mean? it gives you goosebumps. >> are you afraid for your safety? >> when i heard them get down and realized it was for sure shots but we started to pray, i felt protective and i just want to give god all the glory. trump was protected and people were protected. i'm sorry about i guess a fatality, i'm sorry. i pray god comforts those people. we've been praying the whole time since it happened for anybody involved. >> did you see any blood when the former president of backup? >> they just said there was someone but it could happen -- may not have been his blood and may have been from secret service getting him down. >> i'm glad you're okay. thank you. we are going to walk and see the scene going on here.

this is where everybody was lining up. eight hours in the hot sun in butler county where people wanted to capture clips, they were out here buying hats and doing what they could to get ready for the day. at the for only a few minutes before the shooting happened. we were in the immediate area and when we heard the pops, you kind of look around and get your bearings and figure out what is going on and you see secret service go in and get into action and the former president down on the ground behind the podium. we were talking with law enforcement as well trying to figure out what was happening trying to survey where these possible shots were coming from but one person out here on the ground with law enforcement, is said they sounded like a silencer and that's why people were wondering what it was, it was kind of muffled so that's why they moved in quickly and tried to do everything they could to make sure the president was okay.

>> alexis mcadams on the scene -- >> sure, if you are ready to go. >> we might as well -- we are trying to grab as many people but you are inside, tell me what you heard. >> we were -- a trump campaign, people at the tent there on the corner and we kind of went altogether toward where he was speaking in one of the kids was really tall so my wife was like hey, can you take this and get a picture real close? the next thing you know, as soon as he pointed the camera, all hell broke loose. >> walk me through how many shots or pops you heard and what you are thinking. were you afraid for your safety? >> i wanted everybody to be calm and don't panic. they are not aiming for us.

you know what i mean? >> you came to this big rally, you think about -- >> wedding anniversary and it seems odd. >> to know that there are that many people waiting here and they did check everybody, did you think secret service did a good job checking people? did you bring in bags or anything? >> i think it's as good as you could expect. i was expecting a lot of people here and that's what we got today. >> what would you say to the former president if you could talk to him? >> we love you and we vacuum. we are backing you. >> were you worried he was badly injured? >> at first, i didn't see him hit the ground. i was mainly trying to get people not to panic and overrun each other. the situation like that, everybody wanted to scatter. >> did you get out pretty quickly? there were a lot of people pushed in. >> i wasn't worried about getting out quickly, i just wanted the people around me to be safe.

that's all you can hope for. >> knowing how much is going on in the world and when it comes to politics, you can't -- people matter their neighbors and lose friends over politics, do you worry of about coming to these valleys and being unsafe? >> this was my first rally -- what an experience before everything happened. but i mean, people are going to do what people are going to do. >> that's what we hear of here, we will send it back to you. >> thank you very much. >> great stuff. we will get back to you in a moment. there was a lot of reaction coming in. robert kennedy junior who is running his own campaign for the white house in the summer of 2024, set out this on x a moment ago, this is a young man at the time when his own father was shot and killed in los angeles in 1968. he said now is the time for every american who loves our country to step back from the division.

renounce all violence and unite in prayer for president trump and his family. in addition, former president george bush 43, we are grateful resident trump is safe. here is another one from team trump, stephen chung, all likelihood traveling with the president was with him there today in butler, pennsylvania. he says president trump thanks law enforcement and first responders for their acts. he is fine, he's being checked out at a local medical facility. more details will follow. we will try to get more rea reaction. there's a lot of information lying out there and a lot of it is on social media and we are trying to go through what we think we can report now and what we can't. an individual lying on a rooftop not moving. the suggestion is that that

could have been the government. we have no confirmation of that but if that was at that distance away, a person with a firearm, long-range rifle would have been able to reach that stage fairly easily from that location so we will wait for more from authorities and we will be patient as we go. >> we do know from local authorities on the ground telling the associated press the shooter is down and another attendee was killed and others, at least one other in critical condition. we are hearing from the former speaker of the house nancy pelosi who has walked through this political violence in her own family, her husband attacked in her home. one whose family has been a victim of political violence, i know firsthand political violence of any kind has no place in society. i think god former president trump is safe as we learn more details about this horrifying incident, let us all pray and it goes on from there for those who are protectors, for those who are first responders now in this

investigation but across the political spectrum we are hearing with the uniformed voice, announcing what is happening today and as we learn more, we do here the former president is just fine. >> we will hear from a lot of people throughout the evening. we are just at the beginning of what will be a significant american story. former nypd inspector, welcome to our coverage. your observation based on your own experience? >> first of all, if the reporting is accurate and we do have a victim that has succumbed to his or her wounds, the only would be apparently minor wound to donald trump now if the incident is indeed over mozart's the backwards scrub. you've got to figure out how this person was able to do what he or she did if they did it from inside the perimeter and as

you've mentioned, it looks like he came from outside, they are going to look at the situation as it secured and why not. there will be a scrub, simultaneous investigation and that is, did this person leave a footprint? i would guard against looking on social media taking viral reporting an earlier how to be circumspect with this. with that said, very often people who do this kind of thing leave a pretty good footprint and we need an investigation into how that happened. let me go further, that investigation needs to be transparent. we have merrick garland doesn't want to lease, we've been staying on this network, a lot of these groups, anti- for and groups occupying campuses and etc., to be critical, we need federal investigations.

another kind of investigation to take them out and figure out why they are doing it and how and we got none of that. i want to place blame now, we don't have all the facts but i would say whatever is in response, federal authorities and this is a federal investigation, that has to be transparent because enough distrust on both sides and we need to know what went on and what's going to be going on going forward. >> thank you, look get more but we will go back to someone who was there. >> the mayor and pennsylvania, we understand you are at the rally, thank you for joining us, what can you tell us from being on the scene? are you there? >> that's a shame.

we have his shot and lost it and we will do our best to try to make a connection with him again. one of the things we were talking about earlier was how your able to draw ten, 30,000 people into an area and keep it safe. hold that thought. the mayor -- if you can hear us, these relay your experience as you saw it. okay, over two on our attempts. how do you keep a place like this secure? you think about rallies that go back eight years. >> it's very difficult, they did do one that's generally helpful people say that so they say i can't comment in the have a desire the truth is we have an open situation where you have somebody people who in one

place, it is hopeful and there are weapons that can defeat, the response is going to be telling. here in new york city, nypd is deploying heavy units in and around from tower to make sure there is not copycat stuff. you have to think even response stuff, people on the other side feel control so everybody has to be coolheaded and we have to find out what happened here but before we place blame, you have to say to yourself, we need to know with clarity, we have had enough. >> a statement now from the former president, barack obama that reads this way -- there is absolutely no place for political violence in our democracy although we should all be relieved former president trump was not seriously hurt.

use this moment to recommit ourselves to respect in our politics. we are wishing him a quick recovery. >> let's check in with alexis mcadams there on the ground as all of this occurred. a number of witnesses people i'm sure are in a bit of shock. >> that includes blake who you were inside, we talked earlier during federal coverage up on the stage and we all got pushed out by secret service but walk me through what happened. he were close, a delicate former president trump so pretty close to the stage, what did you hear? >> i think he had the slide up about how immigration has increased hunter biden and as i was watching him, i heard what i thought were noise, i was hoping it was a joke, i didn't know if

it was fireworks or what. it seemed to be coming from my left so i turned to my left a and -- i'm going to turn this off here. sorry. i turned to my left when i heard the sound and didn't see anything. when i looked back with the president, secret service was actively tackling him to the ground. at that time, i began to hear other sounds and gunfire. i think we did duck down. i didn't dive to the ground but i did duck down and it seemed like it stopped. i got up and was trying to pay attention to what happened to the president. >> before he gave the fist pump and was taken off the stage, it looked like he possibly had blood as you mentioned before. how much blood did you see? >> not a lot. kind of like maybe head -- it did not seem to be coming from his ear, it seems to be coming from above his ear but they could -- he could have been

tackled in such a way that he cut himself or secret service got blood on their hands and transferred it to him. it didn't appear to be overly serious when taken a conversation with his attitude and fist pump. he wanted to let us know he was all right. >> how sharp are you? you're getting ready for our nc and the excitement at the rally and a lot of people was the biggest fear when they come to an event like this. >> i can't say it's one of mine. i separated as we are politically in this country, i am not one who thinks we are on the verge of hostilities. i didn't think i would see anything like this happen. even my initial reaction was it's a joke, a prank. it was only when i saw actions taken by secret service that it became apparent that it wasn't. >> they were able to move in quickly, you can see them on the

roof hearing possible suspect or person was killed. in a person at the rally was killed. >> i'm sorry about one and not sorry about the other. a tremendous wake up call for our country. this can't be condoned. it can't be tolerated. we have an open society, very open political discourse that should never include violence. never. any groups that espouse violence, there should be no tolerance. >> when people were moving out before secret service cleared also, did you talk to anybody and what are people saying? are they nervous, scared? >> many people were upset. the whole gamut of emotions from being upset to prior to concerns to anger to shock.

i think i saw it all. >> are you going to the rnc still? >> i fully expect to see president trump on the stage thursday to accept the nomination. >> thank you for talking to us, i'm glad you're okay. that's what we are hearing, many people are still shaken up as you can expect trying to figure out what happened. >> we have the mayor still if you want me to talk with him right now. i know you are trying to get him -- >> we would love to hear from him. >> so you are up on the stage, the former president, what happened? >> i was with the president 15 or 20 minutes before that. my wife and i and family were seated front row and obviously a complete 180. we came in with smiles and hope for the future and what happened today, i am speechless. this is representative of the

vitriol and hate a lot of people in the united states, i'm sorry it has come to that here in butler county. >> right behind that podium. >> right on the barrier to the left of the stage front row. at first i heard the first crack and started to look around. i thought it couldn't possibly have been around. i thought for sure a firecracker but i looked at my wife who is a state police officer and i pushed her down on the ground and the second one sounded like a 2200 or something similar. i asked if she thought it sounded like a 22 and she said yes. we held for everybody to get down on the ground and secret service and law enforcement to do as they had to do and we weren't sure what was happening. a few feet behind me it was unfortunate an individual lost

his life to this maniac. >> did you see the person who was shot? >> i did see my i didn't see the shot itself. >> you turned around and pushed your wife down, look around for your family and president cup of, he turned around and to see somebody in the crowd had been shot. >> they were on the bleachers and it was a sad thing to witness. i understand the individual lost their life. >> a man, a woman? >> there was a gentleman who was shot. very sad, i can't think or imagine what friends and family must be thinking, thinking he would come enjoy the day with fellow republicans and lost his life. my thoughts and prayers go out to the family. >> local officials, this was federal, state and local responding and they responded. have you heard from your partners and law enforcement area here?

what are they saying? >> i've heard from a couple of individuals but i want to say i don't want to comment on anything because i want anything to be shared that might make it more difficult for law enforcement professionals to get to the bottom of it and i don't want to make their job any harder so i'm going to say that i know everything you know and we will keep it at that. >> what you are hearing that it was gunshots fired? >> that's what i'm hearing and from my experience i spent time in the marine corps and my wife is police officer and my brother-in-law, we know the sound of gunfire and from what i witnessed on the ground, it seems that is the case and it is disgusting to happen. >> is the mayor of a tiny area to have a big rally in butler county, excited to of former president, did you get to talk to him? >> i got to spend a few minutes with him. i was elated to have been able

to talk with him. my wife and i, 15, 20 minutes before shots were fired and we had a pleasant conversation and he was kind enough to say i watched and you did a good job and i thought how great that w was. of course the feeling now is indescribable, something completely opposite from what was. >> i don't know if you have specific questions you want us to ask the mayor since you were trying to call him, to. >> the only thing we are trying to clarify if we can, did he see that on stage or -- >> did you see the shooting? when you saw the person who was shot, how close were they to the stage? do you think the shots were's fired inside or outside the

rally? >> what i can tell you is i was seated in the front row so the right of the president near to the stage as you could be, the individual who was shot was in the bleachers about 15, 20 feet behind me so i was scanning the crowd trying to figure out if shots were coming within or without. it will i want you to hold me to this because there is so much ground. >> the area where the motorcade pulled up and you are in the area, the former president but it looks like there was space, a neighborhood surrounding so we saw what looked like inside, he saw the thousands of people but talk to me what's outside, you know the area. is it a neighborhood? could people drive up close? >> there are single family homes so absolutely. there are major arteries for traffic to come through here. it is not ridiculous to think somebody was a good shot could set up outside this venue with the right conditions be able to

reach out and touch somebody in a bad way so whoever this individual was or individuals were, i'm not sure because i haven't heard anything as far as what exactly happened but what i know is it is certainly possible that i would never have thought it would be possible in our home. butler county is very much trump county. i would never have imagined to come here and admit that he would have had to experience this and i'm glad the president is safe, i've heard he's doing okay now but their life today, that individual came here looking for hope and inspiration and unfortunately won't be with us so i hope the world sees what happened today and when i say -- i mean prayer, to vote and bring god back into our society because --

>> i'm glad your family is okay and unfortunately you heard one person at the rally confirmed that according to local. still trying to figure out exactly what played out here. >> thank you so much for on the ground coverage and witnesses there. you and i as i remember years ago were doing the morning show the morning steve scalise was shot in the horrific situation and what happened on the ball field as they were practicing. there is never any place for political violence and he would know it better than any would. thank god he's had full rec recovery. by all accounts, doing fine. defiantly raising his fist and wanted to let the crowd know he's just fine as he was leaving as we continue to get reaction. >> rally anyway, the president left his home in florida.

this message to us in a couple of pictures, spent the day before he left, he was excited to see the voters. he joked and told me, ratings grab. harris concludes by saying pray for our nation's 45th president of the united states. more reaction to gabby giffords, a democrat congresswoman from arizona, she went home for saturday morning appearance. and she was a member of congress and later now senator mark kelly and her statement is this -- >> political violence is terrifying. i know, i'm holding former

president defensible act of violence in my heart. political violence is un-american and never acceptable. never. >> we are told now this is a federal investigation. today, go to them. i believe by mcdonald's, republican of florida is with us. your thoughts at my first thoughts are relieved and grateful president trump is okay. my second thoughts are this of violence and our politics is got to end. i know we talk about these issues in inflamed tones but there is no excuse for violence.