atmosphere that provoked the attack. going on to say after numerous attempts to remove candidate trump in the political arena, using first legal tools, the courts, prosecutors, tends to politically discredit and compromise the candidate, it was obvious that said, to all outside observers that his life was in danger. it was just two years ago kate, that the former japanese prime minister was killed during a speech. it was two months ago that the slovakian prime minister was attacked. he luckily survived but it was politically motivated attack and when these things happen, they make headlines for a few days but then the news cycle moves quickly. this is on another level and what happens on u.s. soil reverberates around the world and we will watch closely, if and how the political climate will change. will change. perspective.

stay with us. our special coverage on nbc news now and msnbc will continue when we come back in just a moment. we are following the breaking news we have been following now for the better of 12 hours. a former president of the united states, donald trump, shot by a gunman at a campaign rally. >> on tom llamas in butler, pennsylvania. just behind me, former president speaking under the american flag where someone tried to kill him. this is the scene of a sprawling investigation still in its early stages. l how can a gunman have gotten so close to the former president, and why did he try to kill the man who was once the leader of the free world? former president trump hit in the year with a bullet, dropping down as secret service agents swarmed around him,

guiding him off to safety. this stunning image captured by doug mills showing just how close former president trump came to being killed. that silver streak on the right- hand side of your screen believed to be a bullet flying past trump's had . just before being transported, former president trump raising his fist in defiance and mouthing a one-word message to his supporters -- fight. the blood from his wounded ear streaking across his face. >> satellite images showing the vantage point. you can see on the left side of your screen, that's where the gunman fired from, take a sniper's position on the roof about 150 yards away from where mr. trump was standing. we also have new video showing the body of the gunmen after he was killed by secret service agents on the roof nearby. we are learning in just the last few hours that the gunmen used a semi automatic rifle to attack the former presidents.

we also have a new photo of the young man, this is active shooter, a motive still unclear. the shooting leaving one rally go her dad, two others hospitalized. the reporters have been speaking to some of the survivors of the attack and you will hear from them again this hour. >> we have a lot of new reporting that's coming over the last five minutes or so, so i want to get viewers up to feed. we now have that image. this is thomas matthew crookes, 20 years old. he's from bethel park, pennsylvania. at one point, he was a registered republican, but he also made a $15 donation to a progressive turnout project in 2021, a left-leaning group. we also want to mention, i'm being told this in real time, so excuse me. we are now being told we have a high school photo. 20 years old. law enforcement says he came out here to kill former president trump.

that did not happen. he ended up killing someone at this rally, critically injuring two others with his long gone, and they are 15 style weapon. this is coming from jonathan m deans and tom winter, two senior law enforcement officials briefed on the weapon used by thomas matthew crooks. they are looking into whether the gun belonged to the shooter's father and had been purchased legally. earlier today, we were out here right next to the rally where he allegedly climbed up onto the roof of a glass fact very and started to fire. what we saw there this morning were investigators up on the roof collecting evidence, about six to half a dozen investigators up there. you can imagine they were combing through whatever evidence they could find a there. we are talking about ballistics, but also, how is crooks able to get to the rooftop? we spoken to a lot of eyewitnesses who say there was a lot of traffic on the road

here. it's just down this road. it's incredibly close. he was able to get incredibly close to former president trump . just 150 yards. 440 feet away. if it wasn't for the law enforcement snipers at the door of the open barn right there, that's where they were when n they allegedly exchanged gunfire with crooks. but the big questions remain. one, why did he want you this? and two, how did he get so close with such a large weapon? there are even eyewitnesses who said this darted reporting them to police when he was bear crawling as former president trump was on the stage. joining us live in our coverage knows melody houck. she witnessed the victim of the incident up close. i'm sorry you have to sort of talk to us again, but there is so many questions we have about

what happened here yesterday. let's start at the beginning. what did you see, what did you hear ? >> well, it all just happened so quick, but all that you just heard was shots firing. and just pure chaos. chaos. i don't know. it was so hard. yeah, it was just -- all of a sudden, it was just shots, and then people screaming. i saw the guy get shot in the stands, and i just yelled down through the bleachers, or to the back of the bleachers to the secret service, i yelled he's been shot, he's been shot. they hurried up and came around. we had my niece with me. i was just trying to make sure she was covered. there was a little girl behind me. i grabbed her and threw her

down. my husband grabbed the kid that was by us. he covered him. we were all just lying on top of each other, trying to protect everybody. like, it just happened so fast. there's no way you could have planned how to react. >> melody, if you could tell our viewers, exactly where were you on this page or in the crowd , just behind the president? >> we were actually in the same set of bleachers as him, just a few feet away, over closer towards the president. >> to sit in that area, to sit in that area, you had to get there pretty early, right? >> actually, we -- it was just luck that we got in there, truthfully. it was luck that we got in there, but yes. it was great seats and it was all great before that. it was one of the best days

we've had. we've never attended a trump rally before. i was very excited to be there, and then it just all turned terrible. it was a nightmare that i will never, ever forget. >> do you remember where you were looking? i know you are protecting her children, and obviously that's at any parent would do. you had these children you wanted to protect. do you remember where you could look after that? are you able to see the direction of where the fire was coming? >> a little bit of both. as soon as i heard the shots, i looked directly where they were coming from. and i -- i don't know how this happened, to be honest with you. i don't understand how he was able to get up there and go through with this from -- it was a direct shot. there was nothing -- it was a direct shot. i'm very uneasy about -- it was

kind of funny. my best friend before that said to me, please be careful. i said i will be fine. i'm just worried about my cell phone dying. there's going to be so many secret service people there. it's going to be fine. it's not anything you're going to need to worry about. ee i truly thought we were in the safest place yesterday. >> yeah. and you have to think about the former president, too. he's done hundreds of these rallies. you think you are in this bubble, i've done a ton of rallies with the former president, and you do think you are almost completely protected when something like this happens. you mentioned your children, and so many reporters that were here when it happened have mentioned the amount of kids that were here. talk to me about the conversations you had with your children. i know i had a conversation with one of my kids yesterday. i wish it was vent a little more time with and allen hines.

but how are you talking to your kids about this? >> that is kind of our problem right now. we are all just so -- we are not sure how to process it. my niece is very upset. my son -- we don't know how to talk about it, because you just don't know. you don't know how to explain anything to them. my niece is 15. my son is older, he is 26. there was a group of seven of us. we were just there having a great time, and -- yeah. it was crazy. crazy. my heart just goes out for the man who lost his life and their family, and the others that were injured. it was an act that should have never taken place, never. i really feel -- >> melody, you are a mom. you are a mother, and moms usually have good advice.

what would your advice be right out of the country? a lot of historians, a lot of journalists like myself, political reporters are all kind of weighing in on this. but what can we learn or take away from this, do you think? >> we all need to get god back in our life. we need to be praying. we need to be praying for our country and our children and hold your kids close. we were so close to this. if that bullet would've went a different direction, this could be a completely different conversation we are having. er so just -- everybody just need to put all conflict aside. ut i don't care what part party you are. our country is in dire need right now, and we need to take it back. >> we know lots of families asked variance that complete loss, you know?

that total loss. two other families are now at a hospital in pittsburgh praying and hoping for the best because they don't know what's going to happen. melody, thank you so much for u coming on the air and sharing. i know it's horrible to relive that, but i hope viewers and americans and learn from yorks r variance and the interview. >> thank you so much for your time. >> we are getting fresh reaction from capitol hill, and something interesting has happened. there's now bipartisan calls to' investigate and to look into st how that alleged assassin tried -- was able to get here and get so close to former president trump. i want to read part of that statement just released by democratic congressman ruben galago of arizona. he says those responsible for the planning, proving, and executing of this clearly insufficient security plan need to testify before congress and be held accountable. and this stands out to me -- it

stands out, because he's a democratic congress. he is someone who is in the military, and he said, something is not right here. what else are you hearing for capitol hill? >> that's right, tom. i think this letter shows the extent to which we are going to see congress largely with one ng voice on this, demanding answers, calling for investigations. c is already calls for briefings from the u.s. service. now, there is some blame game and finger-pointing happening among certain republicans in certain trump allies. the top leaders in congress are overwhelmingly unified in condemning that shooting. democrat and republican. this new letter from congressman ruben galago goes directly to the u.s. secret service, and he asks for all those responsible for planning, proving, and foexecuting of thi field security plan to behold countable and testify before congress immediately.

he demands answers to a series of specific questions, including, did they request additional resources for that event? were those resources denied? why? who approved the security plan for this event? was a proper set threat assessment conducted? remember, this attempted assassin, this man who tried ton assassinate former president trump was able to make it to high ground, which is shocking g to a lot of people. how is it possible that someone could've opened fire at the rally while the secret service was there protecting and securing that place?g in addition, there was a notice sent last night from capitol police to senators, which said that they are not tracking any additional threat to members of congress right now. everyone is watching their own o security a little more closely in the wake of that shooting yesterday. capitol police is saying the members of congress should not believe that there are any threats against them right now. >> all right. we always initiate your report.

thank you for that very important update. i want to turn it back to kate snow in new york. >> nbc news law-enforcement correspondent tom winter joins j me now to talk about the latest in the investigation piece of this. tom, good to see you again. you and i spoke about an hour ago. where do we stand right now ? where do we know about where the investigation is so far? in have we learned any new deed tells about the shooter? >> on top of the new photos, we do have some new information of where the investigation stands. and of course, i'm incorporating the work of our colleague, jonathan deans, and others into this. according to those two senior law enforcement officials, the weapon was purchased legally by the alleged shooter's father, and that is where the weapon came from. that's what they're looking into to try to determine at this point.

that's where the investigation involving the weapon stands. you're looking at a photograph of the alleged shooter right he now. we are told it is still very unclear what the potential motive might've been for this. there's a couple different paths that this might go down, and of course, there some that we might not even thought of yet. the first was that there was some kind of horrific mental health collapse that could've occurred here for this individual that led him to do this, and there's no political s angle to it at all. the shooting of ronald reagan and johnny jr., he said he wanted to do it because he wanted to impress a hollywood actress, and that's why he tried to kill former president reagan. just to give folks a sense of the potential possibilities here.nt it's certainly possible that it could also be some sort of a political motive. really, everything is on the table. there's not a social media account to provide some sort of clarity or any sort of it direction as far as where this investigation should go.

law enforcement is telling us that they are in the same exact boat. there is no manifesto, no e indication of any note that is left behind, but the investigation continues. it's really what a mystery why this individual did it. and our colleague seven talking about the less several minutes, a security type of assessment as far as what went wrong here, and also how things are in the future. is this going to be even possible for there to be outdoor events as these candidates traverse the country in the coming weeks and months as this election campaign continues. there's a question as to how this will all work going forward with respect to their travel. so a lot of things up in the air. you can bet that given the situation and the propensity for people to perhaps be encouraged, i want to commit harm against political candidates, someone who is able

to actually get a shot off, there's really concerned about potential copycat. there's a lot of things that are being looked at. the answers will potentially not come quickly. i do want to tell people, an there's always the chance that we will not know the specific motive here, particularly because this individual is dead. a lot of work left to go. >> i just struck by the photos we are showing. the third that we should was a graduation picture for my school two years ago. this is a young man we are talking about. 20 years old now. i wonder a little bit about the weapon, and i know you have some reporting on that, tom. a semi automatic rifle was mi found at the scene. is there anything we can read from that? >> not in particular. a semi automatic rifle, some people call them an ar style rifle, and i think there's still a little bit of lack of clarity on our end of understanding the specific type of weapon. we go a semi automatic handgun.

until we can get more information, it's a wide birth of what that might be. it's important to understand generally what type of weapon ra we are talking about. all that generally means is that the bullet, if you will, and i'm going to grossly simplify this. the bullet will automatically, once the round is fired, the next bullet will automatically make itself available to be fired. it's not automatic. you have to pull the trigger each individual time, unless the gun is illegally modified, in which case they would just be able to pull back on the trigger and round after round after round would be fired. there's no indication from the audio of the shooting that that would be the case. it did sound like semi automatic gunfire. to it appears that it was a semi automatic rifle, and that would just mean that that this dance, it would be very difficult to be accurate. you are actually looking fiat t

secret service or law enforcement's version of it right there on reading. it may have been a different if type of version that the shooter used, but it basically means that you're allowed to ber a lot more act using that type of weapon it long-range. it also fires the bullet at a much higher velocity, which helps not only with the act or see, but has he seen from so many school shootings that we have covered to potentially be a lot more deadly as well. look, this easily, by an inch, maybe even less, could've resulted in the death of a former president, the leading candidate. it is pretty serious stuff. >> tom winter, thank you so much. i want to bring in our colleague ken delaney to talk about a couple other angles here. ken, good morning oto you. let's talk about some of the responses that you been tracking since the shooting unfolded. a lot of the rhetoric has been blaming democrats for the attack, coming from the right. what is the reasoning that is being used, and then how are an democrats first wanting to that?

>> that's right. several republican members of congress have directly blamed president biden and the media for the assassination attempt. they claim it was a result of overheated rhetoric about trump and part of a campaign to jeopardize his safety. georgia republican congressman mike afcollins posted, quote, j biden set the orders. nick adams posted on social ia media, quote, joe biden's rhetoric is directly responsible. there can be no discussion. s this is a fact. and sean davis wrote that, se quote, deranged democrats knew biden couldn't win, so they incited one of their toadies to try to take out his opponent. it's obviously true that donald trump has been called an authoritarian and eight threat to democracy, that they never hinted that violence was an appropriate response to that. democrats have condemned it in the strongest possible terms, and they've called this political violence a threat to democracy.

experts are worried that this kind of rhetoric, you know, nd increases the risk of more violence. >> are you hearing from your sources and people who monitor this kind of chatter online that there are concerns about at other political violence? >> yeah, unfortunately, there are those concerns. extremiste seven seizing on th incident. telegraph channels for the proud boys militia group have been calling for civil war and r violence. according to advance democracy, a user on one forum wrote that the democratic national committee, the rhinos, and the feds, should, quote, i'll be hung in the streets of d.c. calling for violence and civil war. one user wrote, worn out. they don't want to live and let live. some really dangerous rhetoric coursing around out there.ou >> your political leaders on both sides of the aisle, the speaker of the house this morning saying, we need to tamp

down the rhetoric, we need to take down the temperature. are you seeing any evidence of se that? >> unfortunately, yes. a lot of mainstream politicians also speak that way, but then t you have these other flame ve throwing politicians with some of the quotes i read earlier were not doing that at all. as long as there is some group of people who are throwing gasoline on the fire, there are say, a group of deranged individuals listening to it andu paying close attention and thinking they are in essentially a civil war. >> thank you for reporting. nk i don't want to bring in law enforcement analyst, carbon best. she is with us for more. we haven't spoken yet this morning. good morning to you. i want to just go back to your thoughts when you heard, what you saw what happened last night . as a former leader yourself, is a former chief of police, what are your thoughts? >> yeah, looking at that, it was a tragedy.

an assassination attempt. but the law enforcement response was swift in protecting the former president, and moving him from the location. so in that regard, it's good to see that law enforcement did the deed and did it quickly. obviously, there's a lot of pandemonium and panic. you get all these people getting together, high emotions, and then shots ring out. from a law enforcement perspective, it's all hands on deck trying to, one, take down the shooter, which apparently they did very quickly, and take care of the casualties and protect the former president. it looks like it was a very swift and active good response. obviously, there will be a lot of review on what happened, what led to the circumstance is, what agreements were in

place between agencies and whatnot. >> i wanted to ask you about that. i'm sure you've dealt with large events in the past where you are coordinating with secret service. we had a dicouple of guest this morning, analysts say that that might have been the missing link , that perhaps there weren't enough local lawn or smith helping around the perimeter. do you see that point, and what questions need to be asked? >> yeah, that's absolutely possible. obviously we don't know yet, but that's why the coordination we have with the secret service, we have multiple events were secret service was involved, and we recorded with them about the perimeter, about doing searches, about bringing out the canines. so there's a lot of coordination that happens there. i don't know what the conversation was, but really, that's going to be one aspect of that as well.

>> if you are helping the trump campaign right now regret how to do now, and how to protect the former president trump, what does that look like going forward? >> clearly, there's a lot of things they have to can sitter at these outdoor rallies. how can you safely effectively a get people -- large numbers like that together safely, and they have to can enter that. i don't know what the answer is, but looking at those venues and potential upcoming venues, or any other potential acts of violence that can occur. because now that one has happened, there is propensity for others, not only with this campaign, but other campaigns as well. >> thank you. much more of our special coverage here on nbc news now and msnbc. we will take a short break and

be right back.

>> welcome back to our special coverage here. i am tom llamas in butler, pennsylvania. we want to show you footage of former president trump having office plain overnight in newark, new jersey. you see that massive motorcade as well just hours after he was discharged from the hospitals right here. this is following the attempt on his life.

former president is now in his golf resort in bedminster, new jersey, under increased security. give us a sense of what is going on right now with trump's inner circle and what you know about their movement and or the schedule of the president. >> tom, what i can tell you right now is that we have heard -- from the former president, in terms of a social media post on trump social -- we get that in a moment, because we just heard from the former first lady and i want to read it to you. she said, when i watched that violent bullet strike my husband, donald, i realized my life and baron's life were on the brink of devastating change. i am grateful to the brave secret service agent and law enforcement officials who risked their own lives to protect my. to the families of the innocent victims who are now suffering from this heinous act, i humbly

offer my sincerest sympathy. we also, as i mentioned, we did hear from the former president today on his trump social media post. he wanted to think everyone as well, saying that his thoughts and prayers for yesterday's events, and that he said it was god alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening. we will fear not, but instead remain resilient in our faith and defiant in the face of wickedness. our love goes out to the other victims and families, and we pray for the recovery of those and hold in our hearts the memory of the citizen who was so horribly killed. in this moment, it is more important than ever that we and united and show our true character as americans and not allowing able to win. i truly love our country and i love you all and look over to beaking to our great nation this week in wisconsin. the former president is, as he

is saying, planning to go ahead with that schedule of addressing everyone at the rnc later this week. and you point out something that is very important, and that is, security has been increased here, even towards the entrance of the golf resort where the former president is. there is always security, but it is much more increased security now. it's preventing cars from passing and idling in front of the entrance to that location. and we, of course, a great distance back from the entrance, all out of extreme caution to make certain that the former president remains safe. we heard from his children, including ivanka trump, who put out a message saying that she is thankful for the prayers and thankful for her father, for prayers for her father, and for other victims from yesterday senseless violence in butler, pennsylvania. she also expresses gratitude to secret service and other law enforcement officials for their

quick decisions, and she is continuing to pray for the country. that is what is happening here. we haven't seen the former president, but we have heard from him, and there is talk even from his son, donald trump jr. that his father was in good spirits and grateful for all of the good wishes that are coming from other people. tom. >> to me know if there's any plan? are we hearing that the former president makes today? >> there has been a lot of communication about the possibility of him speaking today, but we should tell you, from those who are heading up the former political campaign, they put out a memo that is been confirmed by nbc from two people who are close to the campaign saying essentially that there is a communications lockdown right now, and anyone within the campaign who violates that could be subject to termination. they are trying to keep the message around the former president can field and very

tight. they want to control what is coming out right now. so i can't tell you that we are hearing anything specific except just that. and unless or until we hear it specifically from the members of this campaign, we have to again say that the communication is on lockdown. tom. >> life from bedminster today, tracking all the developments from new jersey right now, where he is recovering for the time being until he travels to milwaukee. we are going to have much more from the scene here in butler, pennsylvania, right after this.

[ put a little love in your heart by david ruffin begins to play ] my bad, my bad. good race. - you too. you were tough out there. thank you. i'm getting you next time though. oh i got you, i got you. down goes jewett. jewett and amos are down. what a lovely sign of sportsmanship. you okay? yeah. ♪ ♪

>> welcome back. we have been hearing from experts and eyewitnesses all morning about the attempted assassination of former president donald trump. one of those eyewitnesses is our own dr. burns, correspondent for nbc news. she was originally covering what was just going to be another trump rally on a saturday on the eve of the republican national convention, and suddenly that obviously turned terrifying and deadly. nausea burns joins us now from where the shooting happened. it's good to see you. glad everyone on our team is safe. glad everyone for the most part got out of there. you been to so many rallies over the years. as you think back now, can you

reflect on what you saw, what you heard, and just the feelings in that crowd? >> yeah, kate. you know, it is almost like telling another person's story every time i recount this. it still doesn't feel real. i talked about this with the producer, with the camera crew. it still hasn't fully set in, but i will tell you, we came to this trump rally like any other. i was just at another one this past tuesday in south florida. these rallies are often held outside, but typically, at every rally i've been to, the security is so intense. i mean, everyone that passes through those security perimeters, you go through mags. you are screened heavily. every item that is on your person is looked at by security agents, whether you are a member of the public, a member of the press, whether you are an elected official.

in the immediate aftermath, all of us were so confused, because we just couldn't understand how something like this could have happened, how someone could have gotten in. we know this shooter was outside of the perimeter, but i will just walk you through those moments for us and our team. we were on the press riser, which, as usual, is in the center of the venue just behind the rose o's seated audience members, looking straight on at the former president. i had just done a stand up in front of the camera as the former president of this age. i was heading off of the riser to grab my laptop with my producer, beyond. we were descending the stairs from the riser onto the ground level where most of the attendees were's handing, and that's when we heard those sounds. the sounds and now everyone is familiar with. initially thinking, like so many we interviewed afterwards that this was fireworks. sometimes it trump events, there are pyrotechnics, smoke, those kinds of special effects. so i thought, this has got to be bad. and then when the former president got talking, it

seemed clear that this wasn't a planned part of the event. that's when my producer and i took cover behind some stage equipment boxes. we were undercover, basically moving from typical trump rally to confusion, chaos. and then when we were taking that cover, that's when the fear settled in that, this might be something much more serious than we ask acted. then we heard shearing from the crowd. we now know that is when the former president put his fist up in the air. that image that has now been seared into our mind, those photographs that were taken by those excellent photographers. and that's when we came out from where we were taking cover. we went back up onto the press riser, trying to assess the situation, bring the news to you live. again, from chaos to year to just trying to grapple with what we had just witnessed and get the information.

the secret service then started to usher first the attendees out of the venue, and then ultimately the press. we were in a live report when we were told to leave the premises, and we all convened, all safely, and a parking lot where there were thousands and thousands of cars that ultimately took hours to get out. it's a small rural county. there are a lot of big roads here, there was only one exit in and out, so there was quite a bit of a traffic jam. that's where we got this and many hours talking to other witnesses for the first time in a long time, exchanging my own stories with people who were there. it has become too common that we as reporters have to cover shootings. it's become an unfortunate reality we are living with, but typically, we are racing to the scene in the aftermath. it's very rare and certainly has never happened for me that we have been a part of it, been witnessed firsthand.

and so we were sharing stories with people, they were sharing stories with us, and the folks that were right there that saw the injuries -- i spoke to a man who was right next to the gentleman who was killed. he was a doctor, and ob/gyn. he helped carry that man's body out from the venue. harrowing stories. people talking about children screaming. we certainly heard those screens. again, a typical trump rally. it is kind of almost a festival. people bring families. people bring children. it's a celebratory, jovial abbott here. many people who had been to several trump rallies before, expecting a similar sort of event. and of course, i never could have imagined what ended up happening last night. >> it's traumatic to watch on television. i can imagine how traumatic it was to see it in real life. thank you for recounting all of that. the attempted assassination comes, of course, in the middle

of a heated, divisive election. less than four months away from election day, what americans will decide who will win the next term in the white house. we are joined by mark murray. mark, good morning to you. you know, two days ago, so much of the focus was on president biden and whether he will stay in the race and the internal squabbles in that party. we were awaiting a selection of a vice president, which we are still awaiting. how does this assassination attempt change the state of the presidential campaign? >> kate, it is unclear. this is a humongous event. maybe one of the biggest political events that i covered, that we witnessed during a presidential campaign. and how republicans are processing that, how the poles move or don't move. it won't really be a story we will know about for days if not weeks ahead. what i can tell you is that this had been avery's stable presidential race between donald trump and president joe biden. but also with some very big

moment even before yesterday's event. and obviously, talking about the debate that happened two weeks prior to that, the felony conviction of donald trump back in late may, but this might be the biggest one of all. and so my guidance to everyone is that we are just going to have to actually wait and see how americans and voters process the story. as you mentioned very rightly, we have a presidential election less than four months from now. >> are any democrats still talking about whether biden should remain on the democratic ticket? >> our colleagues, kate, have reported that at least right now, that kind of effort to knock joe biden off the ballot to be frozen. and with time, obviously of the essence, that if democrats did want to have an alternative to president biden, they are going to have to move quickly. that is very good for president biden at his situation at the

top of the democratic ticket. it's worth noting that things can always be very fluid, kate, right now, you know, with just how frozen our politics are right now, the biden campaign pull down all of its ads. you are not seeing any kind of statements, any sort of politicking whatsoever. if you are going to have an effort to be able to move president biden from the ticket, it had to be very fast, it had to be very rapid. i do think that this freezing in time does help the president. >> i hear you, mark. i do wonder, heading into the republican convention this week, typically that is a boost 20 candidate. given what is happening last night, are we likely to see a lot of support for people who are already likely trump voters? >> how the conviction ends up playing out, it is going to be very interesting. we already kind of knew some of the broad themes that the trump

campaign is going to emphasize heading into the convention, which begins tomorrow. talking about the economy, talking about security, talking about making america great again. but obviously, what transpired last night will end up hovering over the convention, and certainly be a major part of not only former president trump's nominating address, and accepting the nomination, but also do remember, the vice presidential pick that we are all expecting to come sometime this week. some very, very big events that are coming at the republican convention, and then obviously with what ended up playing out last night overshadowed everything else. >> we did have a new poll come out this morning, but it was taken before the event of last night, which shows the race very tight. we have to wait and see if that changes. stay with us. much more of our special coverage on nbc news now and

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>> welcome back to our special report. jack brewster just spoke with someone who says he went to high school with the gunmen who attempted to assassinate former president trump. jack brewster lords are live special coverage. what did you learn? what have you learned? >> yeah. well, you see, there's definitely perimeter around the gunmen's home. i will let you take a look at what we are seeing. we are not in sight of where that house is, but we did see just in the past couple of minutes another county bomb squad vehicle go in. it is something that we've seen over the course of our hours here. i was here overnight and we

also saw a bomb squad going up. they told me around 1:00 a.m. on that suspects house. as we been here, there's a large media presence here, we've had members of the community, and approaches, including someone who said he actually went to high school with the suspected shooter. i want you to listen to a little bit of our conversation there. >> he was bullied almost every day. he would sit alone at lunch. he was just an outcast. you know how kids are nowadays. they see someone like that and they're going to target him because i think it's funny or whatever. that's the best way i can describe it. it is honestly kind of sad. i don't want to say this is what provoked it, but -- you never know. i want to say he was a loner, more because he was just -- he was quiet, but he was bullied. he was bullied so much. so much.

>> to high school? >> yeah. >> to member what they said to him or call him? >> no. he was just made fun of for the way he dressed, his appearance. >> that is what he was saying. he was saying that he was actually in the class behind the suspected shooter here, and we have some movement here where you hear an ambulance or a car horn. skus that background noise. one thing we also heard from that conversation was, when we asked what he was bullied for, he pointed to his clothing. apparently, according to this person who says he was a classmate, the shooter would wear military style clothes or hunting clothes regularly as he was at school, so we are still learning a lot more. investigators continue to go in and out of the scene here. we know multiple agencies are here. the county bomb squad, as i mentioned last night, we saw the atf out here.

it's not completely evacuated. many residents are still in their homes behind here, but you can tell, this is definitely a focal point of this investigation. as we learn more about the suspected shooter, who, again, for what we know, does not have a criminal his three, not a large social media presence. there's a lot more information folks are looking to learn. >> we learned a lot about the alleged shooter over the past couple of hours. we've seen two new photos of him. were asking the director to put those up. we have the photo we've obtained from our law enforcement sources. we also have a high school photo. you hear about that description, that he was constantly bullied, that he was a loner in high school. when we do the stories about these loan gunmen, they fit a similar pattern. sometimes, it does involve bullying. that part isn't surprising. we know one point he was a registered republican, he also made a donation to the progressive project in 2021.

we also learned about the gun. i know our law enforcement sources have been paying his gun has been purchased legally by his father. what else do we know about the weapon? >> we know that it's a semi automatic weapon that was used there. we don't know the particular details of that done, but that is something you have investigator certainly looking into. you mentioned this profile that we have learned and are starting to hear about now, it's a profile that we have unfortunately become accustomed to hearing. we hear that they are a loner. of course, it doesn't justify any of the activity. you have this classmate or the schoolmate in the conversation that we had, but it is notable and striking and definitely something that we know investigators will be listening for and looking into. i also will say that we did hear from the highest will. we saw some video of this is acted shooter at his graduation, part of the class of 2022.

we heard from the school district. they of course offered their thoughts and prayers for the families involved, but they also said that they are cooperating with this investigation fully. they are cooperating with members of law enforcement. if what we heard from this person who said he was a schoolmate of the suspect is accurate, that is definitely information that you might have school officials, teachers, superintendents, principals, maybe knowing about. you can expect that to be looped into this conversation. it's still early. that something the bomb squad told me last night, that this investigation is in its infancy, were his words. but were starting to learn a little bit more, as we are, and as more people continue to show their perspective and share what they know about this 20- year-old suspected shooter. >> jack, we've also learned from those eyewitnesses who say they saw him get up on the roof and then sort of bear crawl. the wardrobe he had, but he was wearing at the time, it seemed

to be, if you will -- the images hard to see. it almost looks like camouflage, maybe. but courtney qb has reported that even though he was doing the bear crawl, even though he had an ar 15 style rifle and he was pointed at the president, and he got incredibly close, within an inch, he apparently had no military training. that's correct? >> that is still -- i am not aware of those reports, and that is something that will certainly be looked into. i can tell you that people who know him or at least familiar with him, one open question is whether or not he was on the competitive rifle team at that high school. now, the person that you just heard from, he said he didn't know his brother was actually on the rifle team, so he was calling to see if he knew that or knew any connection there, but that is definitely something that, among his classmates and among people who went to that school, that's a conversation that is being had. a lot of this just needs to be

confirmed and you know that is something that they will be asking. they said they are going to be following up, that they are going to be in constant communication with members of law enforcement, but that definitely will be looked into. if that is the case, it definitely sheds some more light on how he was able to do this, how he was able to get on that roof, how he was able to bear crawl and get a shot off or get multiple shots off at the former president. this is an early part of the investigation, but there's a lot of questions that folks have, and it seems as if law enforcement is starting to get a little more information. >> just to be completely clear, he never served in the military. there is no military background. whether he received any type of shooting, any type of marksmanship training, we will still be investigating that. i'm going to send it back to you, kate in new york. >> we will continue our coverage, noting that six previous presidents have also

had assassination attempts either while they were in office or out on the campaign trail. this morning, we want to see how those events impacted the nation, and how -- what we can learn from history as we sit here today processing what happened last night. i want to bring in presidential historian michael bash loss. good to see you. put this in perspective for us first. what impact does this moment that we are living through have on the nation, what might it mean culturally for us as we move forward ? >> well, the biggest challenge we've got is that this is happening right in the middle of one of the most intense presidential campaigns in american history. and i keep on thinking of john kennedy, the last day of his life. he was killed in 1963. too soon to go to a dinner in texas that evening. and he was going to say on the eve of the 1964 campaign, let's have a campaign in which, he said, neither the fainthearted

or the fanatics are needed. but he went -- what he meant by that was, a campaign -- and he was going to run against conservative barry goldwater. it was going to be strenuous and intense, and that's the way we americans get the best presidents. but he said let's do it in a civilized way. arguments between us that are based on facts, not exaggerations. and obviously, a campaign without violence. if you can believe it, kate, this is 1963. kennedy, at that time, was talking to his probable opponent about possibly both of them writing on air force one and having replicas of the lincoln douglas debates between them in various cities. that's not going to happen in 2024, let's use this occasion to keep the temperature down. >> they say journalism is just the first draft of history. give us your crystal ball. how will this period be remembered?

>> when they go through a traumatic event like this, there's no doubt this is going to change american history. what we do not know is how. and that's a case where historians 30 years later with information -- we don't have to make a judgment. it's like what harry truman said . any schoolboy history student can do better with a problem than a president who is dealing with it at the time. >> michael, always good to have you with your perspective. tom, let me send it back to you for a final thought. >> we are going to continue to cover this story. there is still so much we don't know. what motivated the young man to come here at a trump rally and try to assassinate the former president, the former leader of the free world? on top of that, how could someone like that, someone we just confirmed never served in the military, somehow figure out how to get on top of a roof top and get so close to former president trump that he was just 150 yards away, and then

again, just how everything mattered in inches here. help close that bullet came to former president trump, and the sad horrific reality that someone lost his life, simply for coming to a political rally. two more victims in critical condition fighting for their lives. all the men and women and the children who were here that had to witness this. they came here to participate in democracy, or dissipate at a trump rally, and this is what they are left with. we thank you so much for joining our special coverage. i am tom lammas live in butler, pennsylvania. >> for those of you watching on nbc news now, meet the press is up next. and on msnbc, breaking news coverage continues right now. >> this is an nbc news special report. here's andrea mitchell.