of the asass nan attempt on former president trump. it's 4:00 a.m. eastern. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. right now investigators are in western pennsylvania leading a multi-agency investigation into why a 20-year-old man opened fire on donald trump at his

campaign on saturday as lawmakers and experts want to know how he had the opportunity to fire those shots that wounded the former president and two rally attendees and killed one man who died trying to protect his family. we now know the secret service previously flagged the building that he scaled. and in this new video, which nbc has verified, you can see the would-be assassin crawling into position on that rooftop. clearly visible to bystanders on the ground who are pointing and trying to alert others. today we are also tracking donald trump let's movements after his frightening attack. he's in milwaukee for the kickoff of the republican national convention. the big question, will there be last minute security updates and last-minute changes to the political messaging. let's begin our coverage with nc george solis in western pennsylvania and investigative

reporter dan de luce. what is going on over there? >> reporter: it's still frozen in time as far as we can tell. the road closed signs around the perimeter were removed. when we first arrived here moments after that shooting, into the hour of that shooting, i should say, authorities, pennsylvania state police specifically telling all media in the vicinity to clear out because we were not safe. here we go into the early sips of the potential normalcy returning to the community. the only thing we could see from the distance that we had is the large american flag that the former president was standing under when this attempted assassination took place. now, i took a walk down there to see a sense of what we could see. you could still see an active police presence around the area. one can assume by daybreak we might see a little more

movement, i've ebb the dismantling of some setting that was there. also ran into some people who had a merch store, a trump merch store. they were actually starting to break some of the stuff down as we speak. they couldn't get to it because the roads were closed. their next destination, milwaukee. they were part of the rally. they heard the gunshots and were part of the harrowing experience. obviously for them it was a moment in time, this whole area reeling by the tragedy and obviously a lot of people impacted by the rally they were at. >> a lot of people impacted, especially family members of the victims, the people who were shot and are fighting for their recovery, and, of course, the one man who was killed. what are we learned about the victims? >> pennsylvania state police identifying all of the swric tims. governor josh shapiro actually speaking about cory comparatore. you see him on the screen.

he was a firefighter, a girl dad. the family shared this about him, that he actually leaped onto his family when the shots rang out, protecting them from any potential harm. we also know the other two individuals who were harmed, 54-year-old david dutch, 74-year-old james copenhaver, they are actually now in stable condition. previously we were heard they were in critical condition. they're stable. we reached out to the family for comment. at this point the family is asked for privacy. they're experiencing grieve and other things. >> i understand we also have some new comments, a new interview from donald trump. what's he saying about all of this? >> ana, they say sometimes it takes tragedy to bring people together. it is difficult to say what the tone and tenor of the former

president might be moving forward. we know that in his speech in prime-time has been rewritten to a caller if unity, but in an interview he did with the "new york post" on his way to the rnc, we hear a tone perhaps grateful and somewhat defiant, the former president saying, quote, i'm not supposed to be here. i'm supposed to be dead. i'm supposed to be dead. many are saying by luck or by god. many say by god i'm still here. some of these comments he's making in this interview, maybe telling that this could be this moment that this climate, heated political shift, climate that we have been in maybe shifts into more shall we say unified front, ana. >> more unified, more peaceful, less inflammatory. that's the hope. dan, where does the investigation stand and what

more are we learning about the gunman? >> there are still so many unanswered questions here. i think thomas crooks, the shooter, is a blank slate. he didn't have a criminal record. he was not on the fbi's radar, he did not have a major profile on social media. he didn't leave some kind of written manifesto. there weren't writings, wasn't issuing threats on social media. he was -- did not seem to have a lot of friends. described by some as reserved or shy at his high school. the firearm that he used was legally purchased by his father. so the fbi has not identified a motive here from thomas crooks. so they're at the beginning of this investigation.

it's a bit of an challenge, what led him to do this and drop a bombshell on our political life and to take an innocent bystander's life and nearly kill former president trump. >> and we know they have shed some light into this ongoing investigation. they've already received 2,000 tips almost 12 hours ago. do we have any more information as to the weapon used as well as what they're doing to try to get those answers as to why this happened? >> reporter: there's a major investigation underway obviously, but it does make it difficult that he doesn't have a kind of track record or a trail of clues in writing or social media, actions that he took. the firearm belonged to his father. he belonged to a local gun club. he was a registered republican,

but he also did contribute money to a kind of progressive organization. so i think there are more questions than answers at this point. and then, of course, there are the very difficult question that the secret service and federal law enforcement are facing about exactly how this even came to happen, how is it possible that a 20-year-old man with a rifle could climb up opt a roof within the line of sight of the former president, of a presidential candidate. how could that even happen? i think there's some very difficult questions there. keep in mind, the secret service has come under scrutiny before for the past 20 years, 10 years. there have been some personnel problems, reckless behavior allegations, and it wasn't long ago the national security adviser jake sullivan had an intruder walk into his house even though he had secret service protecting his house. that was a breach in that case. many questions to be answered

here both in the investigation against the shooter and how security was handled for this event. >> thank you both so much for your continuous reporting. joining us now, former secret service chief psychologist and former nypd officer. they usually leave a digital trail leading to a motive. apparently this gunman had no social media footprint. how does that change things regarding a motive? >> good morning. they're really going to have to dig deep into his personal life, via his classmate, anyone he spoke with in the neighborhood. i'm sure his family is going to be important in this investigation. from what i've heard so far, the family is cooperating. that's the ohm way they're going to gain any insight. i find it a little strange that a 20-year-old in this day and age does not have more of a social media presence, which is

making investigation more challenging because most times in a situation like this when you have a 20-year-old gunman, they're generally going to put something out there that's going to give a small glimpse into why they did it. and i think that's what's really confusing the american public. not knowing is scary that nonknowinging. >> there's just a lot we don't know about this shooter. we do know he was young, 20 years old, described by a former classmate at a loner. he was bullied. he was a registered republican. the fbi hasn't determined whether any ideology played a role here that he had no documented mental health issues. do you think they will eventually learn the motive, and how important is that? >> they absolutely will eventually learn the motive, but what i think is important to understand what we're seeing with this person is actually not inconsistent with what we've

seen from attackers and assassins and near assassins in our political system over the past several decades. one of the things the secret service did a while ago was a deep analysis on anyone who had assassinated or attacked or come close to it, not only public officials and candidates but public figures as well, and they weren't a ton of information that feeds into how they investigate threats. just as jill was saying, i absolutely agree. we will find out he had engaged in some communication to others. it might not be on the traditional social media platforms, and certainly as we're hearing him being described as someone who's shy and bullied extensively, i'm not surprised we're not seeing things on the traditional social media platforms, but i would guess, and i think there is a high likelihood we're going to see he communicated some of his thoughts and intentions in other

ways, whether it's on gaming communication platforms, in a disguised way on chat forums. we will find something out, and he may well have communicated it to people around him as well, whether it's to neighbors or to friends or to classmates or to family. there may well have been those communications as well. >> fbi officials say their technical experts are exploiting his phone and other electronic communications as part of looking into his background and potential motive. the roof was previously identified as a possible vulnerable possibility and bystanders pointing and yelling about someone crawling on the roof. if this was a security failure, what could have caused it? >> we just don't know yet. just as dan deluce was saying, there are so many questions.

the secret service will be looking into this and the fbi and congressional lawmakers. it's going to be so critical for all of us in the security industry to understand how he was able to get into that position. but i'll tell you else one of the things we have seen prior to these assassination attempts and attacks on public officials and public officials is the individuals who carry this out follow what we call in the field a pathway to violence. they do research on how to access whatever target they're looking at. they figure out vantage points. they often rehearse. so that behavior may be available to investigators as well as we look into and learn more and more about this particular attack. >> president biden says he wants an independent review of the actions that would be separate from the department of justice specifically in their approach here. jill, what een you have high-profile events like this that involve local, state, and federal law enforcement and

multiple agencies within each of those categories, what's the hardest part about coordinating between those agencies in the heat of the moment like this? >> usually the first is to identify who's in charge. in a situation like this, it was rapidly unfolding. rally-goers were pointing out that the gunman was climbing up on the roof. i'm sure both secret service and law enforcement agencies had identified that as we know now potential vulnerability. they most likely swept the building before. but as you see in the video, the gunman was highly motivated. having people point and yell and law enforcement climbing up on ladders in video, going face-to-face at some point, he was motivated to do this, wanted to do this. most likely preplanning was involved. he definitely knew what he was doing and planned to execute this. marisa, the gop convention

is today. the see krert service says they're not planning any changes in security and protocol. are you surprised by that? >> no because their security protocol for events like this is to plan and prepare and practice again and again and again. what we don't see, what goes on behind the scenes prior to any event like this in campaigns or public presentation appearance is not only the physical protection you see and the layers of security detail and counter assault teams and counter sniper teams organization view the secret service and fbi and law enforcement who are looking into the beige of people who may have an idea or intention to engage in any harm of the people under protection. there are threat investigations, assessments going on. intelligence assessments where people are looking into any

online discussion, anything that has been reported to law enforcement or fbi or secret service of someone who's expressed some idea. maybe they're excessing it as a joke. maybe they're talking about wanting to go out in a blaze of glory. so many are motivated by wanting to go out like suicide by cop. all are talking a close look prior to an event like this to see who's expressing any of this ideology. i want to remind everyone who's listening, an absolutely vital contribution anyone can make is if they hear of someone who's talking about wanting to do something harmful, whether they think they're joking or not or talking about wanting to lay their life down here, this is important to get to local law enforcement or secret service or fbi so they can take a close look at what that person is thinking about and what they can possibly do. >> jill, it hasn't eve been two

days since the attack at trump's rally, but are there any lessons that maybe apply to milwaukee? >> i think understanding if rallygoers are pointing to something, a quicker response could have been done. but we're going to see months of investigation and secret service and law enforcement. we're going to have to see if protocols were followed initially, if protocols throughout the rally and subsequent events were correct, and what can we learn from this situation going forward. again, we can't make any judgment. we can't say who did something wrong. we have to really watch and see. >> ladies, both of you have been an invaluable resource to all of us in understanding how all of this unfolded and what happens next. jill snide, thank you. marisa randazzo, thank you. up next, more about violence in our office.

we'll be right back. in our office. we'll be right back. you got su? yeah, netflix. hulu. the free trial forgot to cancel it, that whole thing? that's actually me. what if i told you that experian has subscription cancellation, where you can just cancel them with a click of a button? boom. it's that easy to cancel. that's actually really cool. it's great. with subscription cancellation, people save on average $270 a year. say less. i'm thinking girl math, you can buy a pair of shoes with that. that's a lot of money. i actually need that. get started now with the experian app.

we're back with special coverage of the attempted assassination of donald trump. on the forefront of recent american history now etched forever into our history. last night president biden offered a sobering a i dress to the nation from the oval office. his message, remember who we are. >> my fellow americans, i want to speak to you tonight about

the need for us to lower the temperature in our politics and to remember although we may disagree, we're not enemies. we're neighbors, friends, co-workers, citizens, and, most importantly, we are fellow americans, and we must stand together. yesterday's shooting at donald trump's rally in pennsylvania calls on all of us to take a step back, take stock of where we are, how we go forward from here. thankfully former trump is not seriously u injured. i spoke to him last night. i'm grateful he's doing well and jill and i keep him and his family in our prayers. we also express our deepest condolences of the families of the victim who was killed. corey was a firefighter, father, and husband who shielded his family from the bullets. we should keep him and his family in our prayers.

earlier i spoke, we do not know the motive of the shooter yet. we don't know his communications or affiliations, his support or if he communicated with anyone else. law enforcement professionals as i speak are investigating those questions. tonight i want to speak to what we do know. a former president was shot, an american citizen killed while simply exercising his freedom to support the candidate of his choosing. we cannot, must not go down this road in america. we've travelled before throughout our history. violence has never been the answer, whether it's with members of congress in both parties being targeted in the shot or a vie lerjts mob attacking the capitol on january 6th or a brutal attack on the spouse of the former speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, or information or intimidation on election officials or the kidnapping plot against a sitting governor or an attempting assassination on

donald trump. there's 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, the political record of this country has gotten very heated. it's time to cool it down. we all have a responsibility to do that. yes, we have deeply felt strong disagreements, and the stakes in this election are enormously high. i said it many times that the choice we make in this election is going to shape america and the world for decades to come. i believe that with all my soul. i know that millions of my fellow americans believe that as well and some have a different view as to the direction our country should take. disagreement is inevitable in american democracy. it's part of human nature. but politics must never be a literal battlefield and, god forbid, a killing field. i think politics should be for a

reasonable debate, pursue justice, reach decisions guided by the declaration of independence. we stand for america with a decency and grace. all of us face a time of testing as the election approaches. the higher the stakes, the more fervent this the decision becomes. we must never ascent to violence. joining us from washington is nbc's gary grumbach. describe to us the message president biden and the white house wanted to send in that moment with what we're experiencing right now in this country? >> you heard it there, ana. it goes well beyond politics. it doesn't matter if you're a former president or rally attendee. you should be able to go to a political rally without the fear of being gunned down. that's something i think is very

serious and really spoke to the moment we're in here in that prime-time address. it's a a vary rare address he's made to the nation. he's only done this three times in his presidency. this was not, as you heard, a campaign speech. it was not trying to convince americans he could actually do this job, something we've heard so much of in the last two weeks. this is a commander in chief trying to heal what seems to be a very broken nation, a divided nation here. i think the white house put out a tweet earlier today that i thought really succinctly wrapped it up here. here in america, everyone should be treated with respect and there's no room for hate. both campaigns have listened to what president biden is saying. on the administration front, they very much changed their schedule over the next few days. monday, today, president biden was scheduled to go austin, texas, for the 60th anniversary of the civil rights act. he was fixing to do an interview

with lester holt. that interview is now happening in washington, d.c., and that event in texas is being rescheduled. he'll be doing that interview and then heading off to nevada for a few events in las vegas on tuesday and wednesday. vice president kamala harris has also scheduled events for monday. >> what about the investigation that the white house is demanding be conducted into the incident? >> the white house is taking this very seriously. we saw a number of briefings the president has been a part of over the past 24 hours. he's spoken to the press three times about this event, and he's made very clear what he plans to do. first he laid out three things in the roosevelt room today. the first one, he plans to give donald trump any of the security, resources he could possibly need to make sure he is safe and he stays safe. second has to do with the investigation. he says he's going to have an internal independent review of what happened to make sure it never happens again.

what the white house, homeland security, see krurt service can learn from all of this. >> fwar grumbach, thank you very much. we appreciate your reporting. >> up next, what impact will this assassination attempt have on the presidential race and the republican convention kicking off hours from now. more on the other side. f hours w more on the other side

everybody wants super straight, super white teeth. they want that hollywood white smile. new sensodyne clinical white provides 2 shades whiter teeth and 24/7 sensitivity protection. i think it's a great product. it's going to help a lot of patients. hi, i'm michael, i've lost 62 pounds on golo and i have kept it off. i think it's a great product. most of the weight that i gained was strictly in my belly which is a sign of insulin resistance. but since golo, that weight has completely gone away, as you can tell. thanks to golo and release, i've got my life and my health back.

trump vowing to plow ahead with this weekend's convention in milwaukee two days after an assassination attempt on his life, but how will it impact the long scheduled plans of the national republican convention including donald trump's announcement for vp and his plans for his acceptance speech. joining us now, senior political analyst jonathan allen. we learned donald trump is altering his convention speech to focus on unity. in a new interview he tells "the washington post," the speech i was going to give on thursday was going to be a humdinger, he said. had this not happened, this would have been something. it's going to be a whole different speech now. your reaction to that and what

are you expecting from trump now? >> a couple of things, ana. number one, it's interesting that trump is going to start bending toward unity. it's something he didn't do well in 2020. he's often sought to maximize his political strength by playing to his base, trying to energize them often through anger and fear, and so moving in a way where he talks about national unity is something that is different. i think it is, you know -- it is politically valuable for him for a couple of reasons. number one, it may help him reach out to independents. but i also think this is a moment where he has the ability potentially to freeze the playing field. he believes he has a beat over president biden, and if neither candidate is in a position where they are attacking each other strongly, it's harder to draw this contrast, harder to

milwaukee up ground if you're behind. i know the biden campaign feels like they're in good stead right now. the national polls show a pretty even race, but if you're trump and trump believes he is up right now, the possibility of making it harder for joe biden to make up ground is a good reason to give a speech about unity as is, of course, what we saw this weekend. >> trump said he's changing his speech, but we have some new reporting some rnc speakers are being asked not to change their speeches in the wake of this as is nation attempt. what more do we know? >> that's right. our kol leakes matt dixon are being told the speakers are told to say what they were going to say before. that's because the trump campaign doesn't want a 00 ked speakers saying the same thing and they don't want to take away from those speakers who are designated to talk about the attempted assassination. obviously the former president

himself, former president trump is the person i think people will be listening the most closely to for a variety of reasons, but one of them is to hear what he has to say about that, and i think if everyone was given a speech about that moment, it would take away from that. >> jonathan allen, thank you so much, my friend. i know you've been burning the candle on both ends. we appreciate you. we'll see you back here next hour. so much more to talk about. meanwhile nbc's liz kreutz has a look at our history with political violence. >> reporter: the republican presidential candidate nearly avoiding serious injury at that rally saturday in pennsylvania. while it's not the first time a presidential candidate has been the target of political violence, it's been decades

since such a high-profile attempt. in 1963 president john f.kennedy was shot and killed in dallas while riding in a motorcade. >> two prooets who are with president kennedy say he is dead. >> reporter: his brother robert kennedy killed five years later in 1968 while campaigning for president. 13 years after that in 1981 there was the attempted assassination on president ronald reagan. in recent years politicians on both sides of the i'll have been the target of attacks like democratic congressman gabby giffords shot in 2011 and republican congressman steve scalise shot at a congressional baseball game in 2016. since then the political climate has e escalated even more, leading to the 2020 plot to kill governor gretchen whitmer, the 2022 attack on house speaker nancy pelosi's husband paul pelosi, and the arrest of a man

who was allegedly planning to kill supreme court justice brett kavanaugh that same year. both republicans and democrats are condemning the attack on president bidening but the incident only punctuating concerns about growing support for political violence. a recent pbsnpr marist poll think violence might be necessary to get the public back on track. last summer tucker carlson asked former president trump whether he was concerned about violence against him. >> are you worried that they're going to try to kill you? why wouldn't they try to kill you, honestly. >> they're savage animals. they're sick, really sick. but i've seen the lengths they go to. >> reporter: following saturday's attack, well known political science test ian bremmer excessing concern that what happened in pennsylvania could lead to even more violence. >> this is a very grave turn of events in a country that is very deeply polarized, and i deeply

worry that it presages much more political violence and social instability. >> reporter: a dangerous reckoning in america now reaching a boiling point. >> our thanks to liz kreutz with that reporting. up next, what the justice department investigation into this attack could look like. gat this attack could look like.

dave's company just scored the comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee. high five! high five! -i'm in a call... it's 5 years of reliable, gig speed internet... five years of advanced security... five years of a great rate that won't change. yep, dave's feeling it. but it's only for a limited time. five years? -five years? introducing the comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee. powering 5 years of savings. powering possibilities.

welcome back. the full power and resources of the justice department will be deployed to investigate the assassination attempt to former president trump. here's attorney general merrick garland on a call with top fbi officials sunday afternoon. >> i directed the fbi, the atf, the u.s. attorney's office for the western district of pennsylvania about and the department's national security division to bring every available resources to bear on this investigation. i want to reiterate that the violence that we saw yesterday is an attack on our democracy itself. the justice department has no tolerance for such violence, and as americans, we must have no tolerance for it. this must stop. i roy. to bring in former u.s. attorney harry litman. he served in that position in western pennsylvania where the shooting happened, and back with us is chief psychologist marisa

randazzo. harry, merrick garland listed off all the departments involved in the investigation. it's all hands on deck. what does it look like for an investigation of this magnitude? >> it looks a little bit like oklahoma, city. i was there when merrick garland cleared his schedule, took it by its throat, and worked it personally. the fbi stepped up and said we have an investigation. this now means the attorney general who's the chief federal law enforcement for the country is in charge of fbi. atf explosives are found in crooks' car. all involved are going to be reporting to him. how could you have an investigation when the shooter is dead? a file is opened and a file will be closed. that means they'll be digging deep into motive, into plan, how he could have done it, into

training, into exactly second-by-second how it transpired, and under the personal focus, and that's an intense focus, i'm here to tell you, of the attorney general himself. >> in fact, the attorney general said he's clearing his schedule to really just focus on this probe right now or at least prioritize it above all other things. marisa, in the call yesterday, the fbi field office gave more on what they know about the shooter. let's listen to that. >> the information that we have indicates that the shooter acted alone and that there are currently no public safety concerns. at present, we have not identified an ideology associated with the subject, but i want to remind everyone that we're still very early in the investigation. at this time, we've already received over 2,000 tips, which

we are diligently analyzing, and we continue to ask for the public's assistance in this effort. >> based on what we know so far, what stands out to you most about this shooter? any red flags? >> so what i find to be fascinating is how consistent what we know so far, which is limited, is not only with previous assassination attempts and attacks but also with other acts of mass violence we've seen in our country, school shootings, college shootings. this is, by all intents and purptss, a kid. he wasn't even 21 yet. from what we know, what we've heard at least from some of the reporting, he had been bullied extensively during his high school years. i'm not saying this is a cause for what happened, but the fact we have not identify a clear ideology is consistent with other assassination attacks and attempts we've seen in this country. what we've seen on those is they're often highly personally motivated.

oftentimes we've seen among attackers, multiple motives or trying to achieve multiple goals. often time, many, many, many of our previous attackers in our country were at the point of personal crisis, they were suicidal and didn't want to live anymoring and were hoping for a suicide by cop. they often would choose someone to attack protected by the secret service. they figure that's the most likelihood they'll be killed in the process. i would not be surprised to see this in this investigation. we're looking for additional motives. maybe this is someone hooking for some fame or notoriety. there was one attempt with the secret service investigated years ago where a man tried to kill a presidential candidate and he said he always wanted to be famous, but what he realized was that fame took hard work and talent and he had recognized he had neither, but he remembers reading in his history book about the assassination of abe

lincoln and he said, if i could kill a president, i could get an entire chapter in the history book. that may come out as additional motivation. >> fascinating but obviously disturbing. harry, we heard maric garland call this an attack on democracy. how do you see it? >> as an attack on democracy. he's really in full ire of what happened here, you know. it's a part of a package of outrage and what's happening in the country. he doesn't lightly clear his schedule as you said and take total charge of this. it's -- you know, the -- if not -- he sees it as a personal thing that the department of justice must stand against any kind of political violence, yes, for criminal activity, but very much draw the line as say they did on january 6th. this is personal to him, i think, in part of his sort of --

call it a public service in the first place. >> how confident are you, harry, that the department of justice will get to the bottom of it? >> i'm pretty confident they'll get to the bottom. remember, this now buy fur indicates it. we have the whole secret service mess. that will be under the department of homeland security. there will be congressional investigations what happened with this young man. i agree with marisa, but we've seen around here more of a kind of dalliance with domestic terrorism. he seems to be pretty close to a lone wolf. i don't think there are that many moving parts, and i think they will really unearth every last rock. so i think we're going to have the whole picture here within a year or less. >> okay. harry litman, thank you so much. marisa randazzo, thank you as well. up next, chilling firsthand accounts of the assassination attempt on former president

donald trump. what was it like to be at that rally during this attack? be at t rally during this attack

the only victim of saturday's assassination attempt. corey comparatore, former fire chief, was killed after he dove over his wife and daughters to protect them from the gunfire. pennsylvania's governor hailed him as a hero. and two other men who were shot

are now in stable condition. nbc correspondent dasha burns has more. >> reporter: pennsylvania state police releasing the names of three victims shot during the assassination attempt of former president donald trump. david dutch and james copenhaver now both in stalk condition. 50-year-old corey comparatore was killed in the crossfire. joseph maine was just feet away from comparatore when the shots rang out. >> it was rather chaotic at that point, half the people were looking because it was fireworks. i knew it was gunshots right away. >> reporter: comparatore was a 30-year-old firefighter and then chief. >> to find out one of our own, his life was taken too early, it's tough. et it's hard to process. >> reporter: the men hanging a symbol of warning on the firehouse and on his locker.

the uniform still hangs. >> what's it like to stand here next to his locker where you spent time with him and to see -- >> it's heartbreaking, but it's a true honor to be 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? >> that they missed out an knowing a great man, a god-fearing family-loving man. he'd do anything for anyone. 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 mama instincts were when he grabbed my hand, i knew he was scared to death because he was holding my hand. he haddon. held my hand since he was 5 years old. >> an image you never forget. >> that sharpshooter went across, trump turned his head. his ear must have been nicked.

>> sad for everybody, you know. you don't like the guy, don't vote for him. don't kill him. we love him. coming up in in our next hour of coverage, the latest investigation into the assassination attack on former president trump and how the secret service will likely conduct their internal investigation. stay with us. their internal investigation. stay with us

good morning. it's 5:00 a.m. eastern. i'm ana cabrera in new york with a special coverage of the assassination attempt of donald trump. we're following several fronts this morning. first, there's the