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report. >> [ music ] good evening, it is 10:00 p.m. on the east coast and 7:00 p.m. on the westward i am stephanie ruhle, continuing our special coverage of the assassination attempt of former president donald trump. it happened last night at a campaign rally in butler, pennsylvania. tonight, president joe biden addressed the nation, calling for unity and emphasizing that violence can never be the answer to our disagreements. >> of violence has never been the answer, whether it is with members of congress with both parties being targeted and shot or a violent mob targeting the capitol on january 6th or a brutal attack on the former speaker of the house nancy pelosi. more information and intimidation on election officials, with a kidnapping plot against a sitting governor , or an attempted assassination on donald trump, there is no place in america for this kind

of violence, for any violence ever, period, no exceptions. we can't allow this violence to be normalized. you know, it's gotten very heated, it is time to cool it down. >> former president trump was wounded in that attack. he says he was shot in the ear and described feeling a bullet ripping through his skin. just a few hours ago, trump arrived in milwaukee, wisconsin for the republican national convention, which gets underway tomorrow. today, officials identified the spectator shot and killed in the attack as 50-year-old former firefighter corey compertatore. pennsylvania governor josh shapiro said he shielded his wife and his two daughters when the gunfire began, and that he died a hero. two of the men who were injured are now in stable condition. investigators identify the shooter, who is now dead, as a 20-year-old pennsylvania man.

officials say his motive is still unclear. today, the fbi said they are investigating the attack as potential domestic terrorism. i want to bring an empty seat is just as reporter, ryan reilly. ryan, this has been an extraordinary 24 hours of reporting, help us understand the latest in this investigation, what we know tonight? that's the fbi just sent out a statement summarizing where we are today, so i am going to pull some from that point it tells us a lot about the press conference earlier today, but runs it down in an easily digestible way. the fbi has not yet identified a motive for the shooter's actions, but they are working to determine the sequence of events and the shooter's movements prior to the shooting. they are conducting interviews and following all the in spite of they say they have also obtained their shooters telephone for examination, that is believed to be being sent out to the lob -- lab in quantico. sometimes it is a complicated issue because of the encryption and various techniques that people use to protect their data, it makes it a little more

competent for people to get access to that information. that is going to be a really critical part of this investigation and something we are going to be keeping on top of in the next few days, to see how that process plays out and whether or not the fbi is able to get access to that data. they also say the fbi searched the shooter's home and vehicle and collected all evidence, suspicious devices that were found apples locations, were rendered safe and are being evaluated at a laboratory. the firearm used in the shooting was purchased legally. the shooter was not known to the fbi to the incident, and the investigation is being led by the pittsburgh field office, along with state and federal leaders. they're asking for any information, it could be video that you think isn't valuable to the investigation, it could be valuable. it is really a mosaic the fbi is trying to piece together and every single piece of evidence is going to be available. there are lots of cameras in the crowd that day, as you can

see, not everyone is necessarily posting that footage online. a lot of that is stuck on someone's phone right now because you have thousands of people that were there, it just wasn't a crowd that was processed and not everyone was asked to send in their information at that time, so it is important that anyone who was at that location on that day or has information for anyone who knew the suspect, get in touch, so they really get a full picture of what happened. >> at this stage, the fbi that is doing this investigation is saying the attack is potential domestic terrorism. what is the significance of that? x yeah, so, i mean, domestic terrorism is a really tricky subject, because it is usually something the fbi doesn't come out and say until the back end of the prosecution. for example, if you look at charlottesville, that was something that immediately afterwards, there wasn't this desire to label that an act of domestic terrorism as they were worried about the prosecution playing out. of course, the key difference here is this is someone who is dead, there's not going to be a

prosecution in this case, so the fbi can pretty quickly label this as a potential act of domestic terrorism, because it just meets the straightforward definition. they're not worried about a court case on the back end. [ inaudible ] does not have a domestic terrorism law, per se, so this is usually something that is a sentencing enhancement. it has come into some january 6th cases, the government has said an individual engaged in an act of domestic terrorism, and so, the enhancement. we're talking about the deceased attempted assassin, that is not going to be playing out in court. the fbi can be pretty straightforward, saying it looks like this meet the definition of domestic terrorism. >> some people could be surprised when they hear investigators say the motive is still unclear at this point. can you explain why they are being so cautious about not rushing to conclusions? xi think the best way to think about this is that the fbi doesn't want to publicly say something unless it is

something that rises to the level of what they can be able to theoretically prove in court. they are talking about this in terms of an active, ongoing investigation, and although you can skip a few steps and say somebody tried to shoot donald trump and assassinate donald trump, they probably didn't like donald trump, fair assumption there, but that is something law-enforcement really wants to seek point there are competent doctors here, there are complicating mixed signals in his previous ideology and his previous registration. he was registered as a republican, what happened there? what has changed, why did he really seek to kill donald trump here? that is the questions they want to have definitive answers to and interview as many people as they can before they come out and say publicly. they don't want to get out ahead of themselves and end up saying something wrong. i think that is sort of the model that journalists are trying their best to follow here, interview witnesses and get actual evidence about what was motivating this. theoretically, we could see something of a manifesto on a phone if they are able to unlock that that would clarify

a lot of these issues, but right now, we don't really know exactly what was motivating it or why this individual felt such a strong desire to attempt to assassinate donald trump. that is something they are going to have to examine those documents and look at what the underlying motivation was here and get something concrete before they come out and say that publicly, stephanie. >> ryan, thank you so much for joining us tonight, i appreciate it. let's bring into the conversation carol, pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter with the washington post, she is also the author of zero fail: the rise and fall of the secret service. frank is with us tonight, former fbi assistant director for counterintelligence, and rob, or member of the fbi's hostage rescue team and founder of sierra one consulting. carol, we must start with you because you have got some pretty extraordinary reporting tonight, specifically about the questions swirling around the secret service and how well --

a gunman was able to get such a clear view of the president on the podium. what can you tell us? let's first off, steph, of course you zeroed in on exactly the point, which is ever since 1963 when john f. kennedy was assassinated, the secret service and all of its agents have been in an absolute panicking grip about the idea of someone from a higher ground, from a building, maybe a tall one, maybe an elevated platform, being able to have a clear line of sight to take out the president. or in this case, the former president. and it is something that agents have told me over the last 10 years kept them up at night when they were responsible for the advanced security planning at any event, whether it was for the president, the vice president, former president, a presidential nominee, or candidate. they were ever so frightened about that line of sight. and in this instance, they are all scratching their heads and

literally sort of yelling at each other, how could this have happened? how could someone 140 yards away from the president and the former president, forgive me, former president of the united states and the presumptive nominee for president, how could they have gotten that close and that in a clear shot at him with a rifle, a long gun? it is the number one fear of every secret service agent on a presidential detail and any security detail. so, that is one. number two, reporting that we learned over the last, i don't know how many hours, steph, i think it is 18 hours, what we learned was the secret service intensively relied in this setting in butler, p.a. on local police to work with secret service agents on the very specialized tactical teams, but particularly, counter assault, which are the agents that help cover and evacuate when there is a

threat, they make sure the president is safe, so he can be removed quickly, they are the guys in black year, who jumped on the stage, as you and all your viewers saw, two of them in particular. well, in this instance, many extra police officers were added to be the actual counter assault agents, rather than secret service agents themselves. another tactical team where the secret service relied on local police was counter sniper. the visual you have right now on your screen or you did a moment ago, were the guys kneeling and leaning over what they called j ar, just another rifle, those are counter snipers, they are supposed to spot, detect, and neutralize a threat out in the crowd, especially when they determined the threat needs to be basically killed. and two of those teams were run by secret service agents, two of those teams were run by local police. so, there is the obvious line

of sight. how could something that has been obsessive for secret service agents since 19 xt three still be a problem in 2024, and then second, why such a reliance on local police for all of this incredibly strategic tactical work that the secret service usually transformed pretty intensely, and you know, butler township or county police officers don't cohesively train with secret service agents to do on the regular? >> frank, that is exactly my next question to you. does it seem crazy or is it normal for a situation like this, when security is this important and you have got a former president, current potential republican nominee as of tomorrow, that they would rely on local police for something this crucial? >> it's quite normal and it's the norm, is at these rallies,

which happen very frequently, the secret service has been stretched very thinly and does it make a practice of assigning even important risk locations to local or state police. this was chosen to be outside the perimeter belonging to secret service. why? i don't know, but i think we are going to find that the secret service is going to at least in part a sort of resource [ inaudible ]. as we speak, a high number of secret service personnel, a very small agency, like maybe 4000 special agents? carol can correct me on this, they are in milwaukee right now. so, maybe even more so, they needed to rely on pennsylvania police. and as you know, a team and a plan is only as strong as its weakest link, and me, i don't mean to demean the local police, but when they are called in on a sporadic basis, different department every weekend at a different trump rally, maybe they did it

before, maybe they have never done it before, that becomes your weakest link. add in a lack of communication where clearly, something broke down, the practice on these things is that you periodically radio into your posts. are you good on post c? yes. good. are you on the roof, the floor, where are you? that is done throughout an event to make sure someone hasn't fallen asleep, someone hasn't been assaulted, that appears to have broken down here. >> that is the thing, frank, because the roof where the gunman was, where he shot at the former president from was identified as a vulnerable spot days before the event. >> yeah, we have learned that, and the title of carol's book is zero fail, that language isn't out of the ether. it is actually the language used on the secret service website to describe their mission, zero fail. saturday was a failure, period. you won't find a secret service agent that is credible that

will try to talk you out of that, it is a failure. >> rob, you are a law enforcement expert, what do you tell the average person who looks at this and says, how in the world could this happen? >> i told them it is almost a point of complacency. they have done so many of these that haven't gone wrong that you get into condition like it is just another rally type of thing. and as a former fbi sniper, i look at it on the opposite side, as in how do you let the high ground to be taken by somebody -- again, even if resources aren't there, you put uniformed police officers on any high ground that is within this range that it doesn't even take someone that it is very skilled to shoot a weapon at 150 yards. so, you look at that and you start saying, it's just a typical this goes wrong, this

goes wrong, this goes wrong, and it adds up to this point and complacency, resources, and the other thing is training. as an fbi hostage rescue team sniper, we train in a different manner than a local law enforcement guy, because we are looking at different scenarios. same thing with secret service snipers, where a secret service sniper will see a threat and it is not so much like they have to fire before i can, he is there to take out the threat. but a local police officer, especially in sniper that may only train once a week -- one week a month or something like that, they're not even full- time, they're not in a condition to be able to engage something before that maybe is a threat in their eyes. so, it secret service sniper is different from a local pd sniper, and they are just not used to scenarios, and then the complacency of this hasn't happened since the attempt on reagan. this isn't going to happen on

our watch and people just have a different attitude. so, i think it is a multitude of yellow flags that ended up in a red flag. >> carol, over the last 20 hours, i am sure you have been working with phones, speaking to every single source you had inside the current secret service and former secret service. what has been the overwhelming reaction of everyone you have spoken to? >> not to toot my own horn about not sleeping for the last several million hours, but i remember with a little bit of chill up my spine the senior presidential detail agent that i spoke with. he said, this isn't just bad, this is terrible. this is what i was sleepless about for so many years, and now it just happened in front of my eye, and i cannot believe this. agents are a mixture of dumbstruck and livid. there is something else that i am hearing from them as well, which is the problems that my

book and great reporting by others as well, identified 10 years ago that an oversight committee investigation identified that a blue ribbon panel appointed by president obama after a shooter shot at the white house and was -- that investigation was bungled, and after a partially disabled veteran got deep inside the white house and through literally more than 100 secret service agents and officers. after all of these various breaches and failures, these investigations by myself, by a blue ribbon panel, and by the house oversight committee found these are the things we have to solve with this little, tiny agency that has an enormous mission and cannot fail. we have to support these patriots with resources, with technology. and what am i hearing today, steph, but oops, resources are a problem, we don't have enough

counter sniper agents. we don't have enough to be in milwaukee and on the road and every place we need to be, and with small details back in d.c. of biden administration officials who are prominent and deserve details as well when you travel. and what am i hearing? that there aren't enough counter assault agents. that there has been this wave of retirements and there aren't enough of them and they are spread too thin. it is kind of devastating to hear spread too thin again to me in 2024 from these guys on the phone when that is what was said in 2014 and 2015, and that it had to be fixed, because these are public servants and patriots that deserve our support to do the job that is so essential to the consistency and stability of our democracy. >> frank, let's talk about milwaukee and the week ahead. the secret service said today that it is not changing the plans laid out for security at the republican national

convention this week. why not? >> yeah, well, i asked why not, too, when i listened to the secret service press conference in milwaukee. i would have thought at a minimum, they would have been moving the free-speech designated areas, rethinking this parade demonstration route. we are talking about a state, wisconsin, that says in the law that you can't tell a citizen they can't carry a weapon. okay? that includes the soft security zone surrounding much of the venue site in milwaukee. that is a recipe for disaster. now, that doesn't mean that protesters going into the free- speech area won't be wanted by security, but it does mean if they have a weapon, they will be let in. the secret service will go, the guy in the red shirt has a weapon. maybe 12 guys in different colored shirts at weapons.

this is lunacy. i realize it is a national security special event, which absolutely is the highest level of security of u.s. government can afford, that means all the tools in the toolkit, including classified measures, are available, but really, armed people in and around the venue, very interesting. >> rob, a national party convention is so much bigger than one single truck rally. how much more complex is something like this to secure over the next four or five days? >> i think there are two things. one, an outdoor venue is so much harder, and we just saw why. because you have a security zone that you are actually searching for weapons, and then outside that security zone, they weren't doing it. in this case, someone had a weapon outside of that. so, when you go inside, you have an ability to do different searches and stuff. but i think, again, i think the arrogance of saying, oh, we're not changing anything in this

is really odd, like frank said. like you are not taking any other precautions because you say you have it in hand? i think, like i said, it is arrogant and the fact that you really have to step back and take a look at, okay, what are we really doing inside the zone where someone can harm him? do we have enough in there? so, i think they really need to look at it differently and say, look, i get it, there are state laws that allow this, but you can as a federal agency that controls this, you can start doing things. i remember in the olympics in 2002 were even as an fbi agent off-duty, i cannot carry a gun into an olympic event unless i was on duty. so, i think they can change some things that really make it safer. >> rob, thank you for being here. frank, thank you as well. carol, i know you have not slept since friday, so i especially appreciate your

reporting and you joining us so late tonight, thank you. when we come back, we are going to speak to a reporter who was there when the shots rang out. her eyewitness account when we return. x [ music ] x [ music ]

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as the nation is still reeling from this assassination attempt, tonight, we are learning new details about the victims of the horrifying attack. my colleague, dasha burns, has the latest. >> tonight, pennsylvania state police are releasing the names of three victims shot during the attempted assassination of former president trump. 57-year-old david dodge and 74- year-old james copenhaver, now in stable condition. 50-year-old corey compertatore was killed in the crossfire. joseph man was just feet away from a compertatore when the shots rang out. >> it was rather chaotic at

that point because half the people were looking because they thought it was fireworks and it was gunshots right away. >> reporter: compertatore was a 30 year former firefighter and chief. he died trying to shield his wife and children. >> in our neighborhood, we find out that one of our own, his life was taken too early, it's tough, it's hard to process. >> reporter: today, the man hanging a symbol of mourning on the firehouse and on his locker, uniform still hangs. what is it like to stand here next to his locker where you spent time with him and to see -- >> it's heartbreaking, but it is a true honor being able to speak about how good of a man he was. >> reporter: for people that didn't get the privilege of knowing corey, what do you want the world to know about him? >> that they missed out on getting to know a great man, a god-fearing, family loving man. he would do anything for anyone. and he was a man full of love,

never knew him to hate anything. we truly lost a good one. >> reporter: the rally a nightmare for so many. how are you feeling right now? >> my motherly instincts, when he grabbed my hand, i knew my son was scared to death, he hasn't held my hand since he was probably five or six years old. >> reporter: erin was in the first row in front of president trump. next the sharpshooter went across, trump turned his head, his ear must have been it. sad for everybody, you know? you don't like the guy, don't vote for them, don't kill him. we love the guy, we are going to vote. >> reporter: joining me now, sophia chai, national politics reporter with axios, she was at the trump rally. sophia, you were inside the perimeter of the rally when the shots were fired. what do you hear, what did you see, what happened? >> yeah, look, stephanie, it was meant to be a pretty low- key rally before the

convention, it was at a farm show, there were food stands, the vibes were like a festival. and the vp candidates weren't even there. and so, it was meant to be chill, and it was just six minutes into the speech when the gunshots started. it took a minute for me to register what was going on. i saw trump go down and saw people rush on stage. it wasn't until my former axios colleague, now cnn reporter, it wasn't until her security person kind of tackled her and forced her under the riser that i realized that we were in real danger. and you know, i followed her. and when we emerged from the riser about 90 seconds later, we were just faced with a lot of anger from people who had nowhere to put it, and they turned it on us. they were telling us it was the fake news folks, that we were

next. at the same time, people were praying. i had one woman walk up to me, i think she just really wanted to talk to somebody. she wanted for the shooter to face the death penalty. a lot of people i spoke to that date, it was their first trump rally. and just the gravity and the devastation was spilling out and manifesting and all sorts of ways. >> about hold on. after the shots, you then were under the risers. how long before you got up again when you knew your sick? >> it must have been less than a minute that we started to peak and probably a minute and a half that we got back up and started to kind of orient ourselves again and start reporting. >> and so, you were in the press area, they call it the press 10, and when you got up,

you are saying there were attendees who were directing their anger towards you? explain this to us. >> yeah, they had just seen the person that they idolize get shot. they weren't sure if he was okay, and people were angry. and at least people who were surrounding the press pen, a lot of them turned around and started yelling just vile things, and challenging us to come down. >> and what did you do, did you feel safe? >> not at all. not at all. i think my immediate reaction was to write down everything that i had seen and to just start talking to people, and not engage. you know, for every person that was angry, there were also people that were willing to talk to us, to pray for everyone who was there. and you know, i just focused on

those other people, but i still heard what was being said. and shouted at us. >> so, how did people exit? did people leave in an orderly fashion? what came next? >> people exited fairly quickly. the shooting started at 6:12. in less than 20 minutes, the entire event space had been emptied out. and then the security guards and law enforcement started clearing out journalists as well. >> but you kept reporting, he worked after the rally, almost through the night. i know you spoke to someone who was close to the building where the shooter was. what did they tell you? >> yeah, so, this was a convenience store employee, who after his shift, he wanted to catch a glimpse of the rally, he wasn't even inside the perimeter, he was watching from

this area that was between the building where the shooter was, on top of the fence to the space, the butler farm show grounds, and you know, he saw this guy, he heard someone yell ak, and shots started, and he just whipped out his phone and took what was a 10 to 15 minute video. his phone and has been confiscated by law enforcement, he was also taken to this area with 17 other witnesses, and interviewed for several hours before he was released, and i happened to catch him when he went back to his workplace. this place called sheets. just up the road from where the shooting happened. >> well, sophia, i'm grateful that you are safe, i'm grateful for your reporting, and for his safety, too. thank you for joining us tonight, i appreciate it. >> thanks, steph.

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the attempt on former president donald trump's life comes as the republican national convention is set to begin tomorrow. donald trump arrived in milwaukee earlier this evening and he set on social media that he considered postponing his arrival by a few days, but do not want to let the shooting change his plans. he is set to be formally nominated tomorrow afternoon. today, the rnc chair said everything would continue as scheduled. for more, we are joined by nbc news correspondent von hilliard in milwaukee tonight and axios political reporter hans nichols. how is this going to impact the message at the rnc? three days ago, there was a very specific message, schedule, and

a plan. yesterday it may have changed everything. >> right, and donald trump just a little bit earlier this evening suggested to the washington examiner in an interview that he was rewriting his convention speech for this thursday, one that would be focusing on country unity and bringing people together, and saying and acknowledging that if it had not been for him turning his head, that the circumstances of his ability to be able to even deliver this convention speech may not have been possible. and so, for donald trump, he is here in milwaukee. of course, the roll call of about to make them the formal nominee is expected to take place tomorrow. we are still waiting for him to announce his vice presidential running mate. on thursday night, we are expecting him to make the nomination acceptance speech. but there was a press conference earlier this afternoon. from the first time, we heard from u.s. secret service official who did not talk about the details yesterday, but instead insisted they have the appropriate resources here at the state, federal, and local

level to properly secure this site, not only immediately around the arena and the convention venues, but also the greater milwaukee downtown area . there is concern about some of the greater blocks here. wisconsin is an open carry state. there is of utmost concern here coming off of just a little over 24 hours now since that attempted assassination, stephanie. >> vaughn, you have been on the campaign trail with trump and his team for months. have you heard about any changes in terms of protests or things like that that had been planned for this weekend? >> no, not at this point in time here. this is, i think a reflective would be the way that i would describe those who i have talked to on the ground here so far. i was talking to one convention source close to the trump team that was talking with some trump officials here when they landed in milwaukee, and said this is an inflection moment,

and i think there is a cognizance that their friend could have lost his life yesterday, and just 3 1/2 months from the general election, that the rhetoric and where we find ourselves in this country and the fact that somebody would go to the of trying to take one's own life, speaks to the magnitude of the moment that we as a country, as united states of america, find ourselves in. and i can tell you, having covered now rallies and this campaign over the course of the better part of nine years here, there is always an intensity at these events, but i think to what president biden spoke of from the oval office today is that part of the american democratic process is the ability of americans to come to a political event and go and hear from a political candidate without fear of violence. and just yesterday, that was taken away. and there is a cognizance that 3 1/2 months from the general

election, there are still going to be campaign events, but of course, this is at the forefront of folks' minds, and even more so when there are still two national conventions to go within the next month, stephanie. >> hans, president biden had a very busy travel week plant during the republican national convention. is the biden campaign adjusting their plan now? >> they have adjusted and adjusted back. the president was supposed to be in austin and las vegas. there are going to pull down and they did initially pull down a political advertising. and of course, he has that big interview with lester holt on monday. he is not going to end up going to austin on monday, but he is still going to do the lester holt interview, and now the campaign is saying they're going to resume sort of normal programming, which probably means he will be back up on the air with that $50 million ad by basically attacking donald trump and going after him on his position on abortion, on reproductive rights, and a whole host of issues. so yes, there's a little bit of

a pause, and now we know the pause is going to end in about 24 hours. >> hans, what are you watching for at the rnc this week, because as vaughn was just saying, there's this feeling of intensity, but that is a nice way to put it, there has been a feeling of rage for months. >> yeah, i think two things. one, sort of the overall tone of delegates and lawmakers and whether or not there on the same page as their likely presidential nominee, donald trump. and you are hearing a lot of unity talk from donald trump. so, will that harmony continue? which is to say, will the delegates, will lawmakers, just the entire republican ecosystem contained their rage and talk about sort of coming together, solidarity, cohesiveness, togetherness? the other question i have is what vaughn just hinted at, which is that the president has said he is rewriting his

speech, and this week isn't going to be an attack on joe biden, this is going to be about a call for unity. and what is remarkable about this, stephanie, is you look at the three signature moments we have had in this campaign, donald trump's conviction at the end of may, you had the debate performance, and now you have the assassination attempt. in all three of those events, the campaigns have echoed each other. after the conviction on may 31st, the campaign said it is basically up to the voters. voters are going to decide this in november. both campaigns had the same reaction to the debate, which is to say joe biden didn't have a very good night. and now, both trump and biden are echoing each other and their tones are remarkably similar. we are seeing biden on camera, trump on sort of paper statements, and they're both clearly indicated that the country needs to take a pause and be grateful for everything that we have, and to stress what unifies us, not what divides us. and that is the overarching question for the next three months. we'll both candidates and both campaigns maintain that posture? >> vaughn, what do you think we

are in for this week? what you were planning for last friday, what you thought you would be covering this week, has that changed? >> i think, let's be very clear, stephanie, to hans' point here, we're talking about kari lake, don junior, all of these individuals are said to be major speakers here at the republican national convention. and for anybody that has followed their rhetoric and the way that they have spoken about our state of politics, it is not one that would be a unifying message. instead, it is one so often on ensuring retribution and ensuring that there are investigations when donald trump were to take back the white house. and it is hard for all of us, having watched donald trump from the time that he announced his candidacy in 2015 through his four years in the white house and the immediate aftermath in 2021 to where we find ourselves today.

donald trump does not have a steady record of providing a unifying message. yet, i will say on the political end of this, if i may, 114 days out from the general election, there are some allies of him who say the best way to win the election is by galvanizing the base and convincing trump supporters to become drunk voters, rather than trying to win back over some independent conservatives in the suburbs of major cities like milwaukee and phoenix and atlanta. and you could make it clear as some delegates told me, yesterday was an energizing event for the base. there should be no question that trump's supporters will come out and vote in november. and having a unifying message could be for donald trump, if there is any opportunity for them to actually try to deliver on such a message, it would be one that could potentially win over some folks who potentially voted for the likes of joe biden over him in 2020 or voted

for hillary clinton in 2016. and i think that this is a recognition, and i will go as far as to say, we haven't heard from donald trump ourselves yet here, and i have not gone through a life-changing experience, but i think we will have to see just in the way of what an incident like that, what sort of impact that actually has on donald trump, personally and politically. >> gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us in this late hour tonight. hans, thank you. vaughn, i will see you in milwaukee and just a couple days. two when we return, we are going to take a look at the conversations happening on capitol hill. hans just touched on it, how our nation's lawmakers are reacting to this act of political violence. we will be right back. will be.

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i have already announced that congress will do a full investigation of the tragedy yesterday to determine where there were lapses in security and anything else that the american people need to know and deserve to know, but in the meantime, we have got to turn the rhetoric down, turn the temperature down in this country. >> that was house speaker mike johnson this morning on the today show, promising a full investigation of yesterday's assassination attempt. speaker johnson is just one of the many members of congress demanding answers as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle condemn yesterday's attack. with us for more, jackie,

reporter for the washington post. jackie, what is the latest you are hearing from lawmakers on the hill? >> yeah, stephanie, we saw congressional investigations announced throughout the day today. starting off the day, we first had a house oversight chairman james comer call for the secret service director kimberly to appear before the committee next week. we then had mark green, who is the chairman of the house committee on homeland security, who also requested documents, briefings, and details for trump's rally in butler, pennsylvania, and then later in the day, we had senator gary peters, the chairman of the senate homeland security and governmental affairs midi, who also announced a completely separate investigation in the senate that would be examining what led to the security lapses that allow for an attempted assassination of former president trump, but at the center of this flood of requests that we are seeing today is kimberly and the u.s. secret

service, basically questions surrounding why wasn't the outer perimeter security? and what were the protocols ahead of this rally is specifically that led to the event that we saw yesterday play out? >> some of these lawmakers or their family members have actually been victims of political violence themselves. speaker nancy pelosi's husband paul last year, congressman steve scalise, mark kelly his wife, former congresswoman gabby giffords. have they reacted? >> yeah, you have seen a number of reactions from the same people. gabby giffords, one of the first major voices who came out to wish trump well, and issue a very nonpolitical statement surrounding the event. i talked with one of the lawmakers this morning, congressman mike kelly, who was actually sitting front row, 50 feet away from president trump, and witnessed the assassination attempt, who said his

grandchildren were actually with him this morning, sorry, yesterday at the rally, and he was having a hard time fielding questions from them. one of his grandkids asking them, grandpa, why would someone want to kill president trump? he did not have a good answer to that. so, i think some of the preliminary responses you're seeing across the aisle are calls to tamp down the rhetoric. you saw speaker johnson call for that on your network, and he said basically the same thing in a security call earlier today with the house gop members and the sergeant in arms in discussing potential remedies for enhanced security going forward, especially ahead of the convention week where lawmakers are sensibly worried about their security and the potential risks going forward of political violence. >> but the heated rhetoric is often coming from these lawmakers. so, do you believe based on what you have heard, their messages today, especially from

the speaker, that they themselves will be quieting things down, changing their tones, at least temporarily? >> i have to reference what vaughn just said, which is if you look at the track record of many of these lawmakers, including specifically these people who are going to be speaking at the republican national convention, that is not what their track record suggests. however, what we are seeing right now coming from the trump campaign, coming from president biden and the white house is calls all around to tamp down the rhetoric. you know, it remains to be seen whether or not people are actually going to abide by that, but i think something like an assassination attempt, if there is any sort of external factor that is going to influence and actually be able to have some affect on these players, people who, in general, sort of profit from this outrage economy, where

they get more followers, more clicks, more likes, the more incendiary their rhetoric is, whether they are going to change their tone for the next 114 days or so. >> the outraged economy may be a short-term win to cash in, but it is a long-term lose for all of us. jackie, thank you for being here tonight. our special coverage of the assassination attempt of former president donald trump continues right after this break. break. get back to better breathing with fasenra, an add-on treatment for eosinophilic asthma that is taken once every 8 weeks. fasenra is not for sudden breathing problems or other eosinophilic conditions. allergic reactions may occur. don't stop your asthma treatments without talking with your doctor. tell your doctor if your asthma worsens. headache and sore throat may occur. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. step back out there with fasenra. ask your doctor if it's right for you. (♪♪)

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