fair ground site in butler county, pennsylvania.of pittsburgh. here's what we know. five or six minutes after the former president began speaking at the rally last night we heard a series of explosions. trump was seen grabbing the side of his head before he was swarmed by the secret service security. in a photograph captured by doug mills. "the new york times" you can see a bullet apparently flying right past trump's head. the fbi has identified the shooter as 20-year-old thomas michael crooks of nearly bethel park, pennsylvania. he is seen in photos that have circulated at a high school graduation two years ago. crooks targeted the rally from a shed roughly a football field away from where trump was speaking and was shot. crooks was killed by a secret service sniper. at least one spectator was killed. two christopher morel were injured. witnesses reported seeing the gunman and pointing him out to authorities before the shooting began. trump was whisked off stage by security, checked in at a local hospital before leaving to return t

he butler county, pennsylvania ? he have _ butler county, pennsylvania ?paired _ company, do you know? again, we are not repaired at _ company, do you know? again, we are not repaired at this _ company, do you know? again, we are not repaired at this time - are not repaired at this time to provide the identity of the potential shooter. we are in the process of doing the confirmation, and once we have the confirmation, we will release the name officially to the press, but at this time, we cannot give any more information. inaudible. it is a matter of doing biometric operations. there was no identification on the individual, as in, we're looking at photographs right now, trying run his dna and get biometric confirmation. you have a comment _ biometric confirmation. you have a comment on - biometric confirmation. you have a comment on what i biometric confirmation. you have a comment on what police found, — have a comment on what police found, left behind, any possible devices, extra guns, anything _ possible devices, extra guns, anything else? not possible d

butler county d.a. is telling us spectator has died and one has been wounded and is in critical condition and the shooter as tom reported is dead. this comes via the butler county d.a. one spectator at this trump rally is dead. another is in critical condition and the shooter, what we believe at this hour, the lone shooter is also dead. as our colleague, tom winter was reporting, they will work very quickly and work backwards and we'll likely know a lot about this individual in a short amount of time. you see former-president trump trying to acknowledge the crowd while being obviously stunned and being led to the safety of an armored vehicle, but it appears that he is okay, suffering what we've all been able to see some sort of a graze-type wound to his ear. we hear him, you know, asking for his shoes. he is led away. he continues to turn toward the crowd to offer a sense of assurance that he is okay. he is now clear of that scene. as people continue to leave, all of them telling stories of hearing thes

michael sloop is the butler county sheriff. is the officer had both hands up on the roof to get up onto the roof. never made it because the shooter had turned towards the officer and rightfully and smartfully the officer let go. >> and then what happened next? >> well, assuming that the shooter turned his rifle back over towards the crowd and the rally and started shooting. >> probably 20 million people. >> reporter: at 6:11 p.m. mr. trump was talking about immigration. then the first three shots, which came from his right. >> take a look at what happened -- [ gunshots ] >> reporter: followed by three more. and what sounded like an outgoing shot. video recorded by a member of the audience shows snipers for the secret service aiming at something in the direction of the gunman. >> if you want to really see something that's sad, take a look at what happened -- [ screaming ]. >> when you're ready. on you. >> ready. >> move. >> up. >> go. >> up. hawkeye's here. >> sir, get ready. >> are you ready? >> we're good. shooter's down. are

butler county, pennsylvania, just north of the county which pittsburgh resides.t is trump country. he won this county in 2020. what we're hearing, it speaks to what the president just addressed, that there is a toxicity in our politics that is clearly dangerous. this is a traumatized community. like i did in the front row of the press rafters, thousands of people at this rally watched chaos yesterday, had bullets whiz over their heads, saw children running and screaming. there is a visceral reaction and connection, butler county, pennsylvania, has to what happened yesterday. and it's very little to do with politics. >> scott macfarlane, thank you for your excellent coverage there. you know, major garrett, that is true. trump has a visceral connection with his supporters. >> they see his campaign in 2016 as challenging all sorts of orthodox. he's an american. starting with the republican establishment, which they didn't think was responsive. trump defeats that. trump wins the presidency in a surprising outcome. trump supporters believe from that moment he was deni

terry schultz is with the bubbly butler county district attorney's office and she still there. terry, first of all, walk us through what you saw and where you were in the crowd. >> you know, we did not have vip seats. we were a few rows back. we could see the former president and then we were all standing there watching the jumbotron and the next thing we did was we heard shots. i see his head, the former president had go sideways, you can see blood and at that point i was not looking at anything. my friends were like you need to get down. everybody get down. people were around me, there were some young people crying. to be honest with you, at the time this happened, i was not even sure they were gunshots. then we heard three or four shots and then we heard shots returned. a friend of mine videotaped that and we just watched that and that is what we saw and heard. >> from your vantage point were you able to see where the shots were coming from x?

meanwhile, former president trump says he will soon return to butler county, pennsylvania, the sight of where he survived an assassination attempt earlier this month

on a hot day in butler county, pennsylvania. you know, there are folks behind him. there are folks in front of him. there is security and secret service that jump in hardly a second after this happened. i mean, they just appeared out of nowhere scott mcfarland was there and a all of this unfold. sc scott, we're going to bring you back in. bring us back to the moment to that noise and what happened in this scene. >> it was jarring. again, it had that same sound of fireworks. that same tone that, same volume, same repetition. there is no point for fireworks at an event like. this i was at a press rafter, facing the former president from above. those of us on the rafters jumped below to get -- equipment and tables were falling on top of ourselves to shield ot ourselves. there were others face planting into the ground and the grass, up against the bike rack barrier that's surrounded all the chairs here. we could see after the former president was moved off the stage some group of law enforcement ain military gear rush to the president's right side of the stanl. fro stag

we have a team in butler county. they work here. they were active. we also don't have a foreign president coming into our county on a regular basis. the whole situation was unusual for butler county. >> is there anything about the incident so far that you have come across and can share with viewers that surprised you? >> quite frankly, i'm surprised he was able to get up on that roof and be able to take a shot. i hope the investigation determines how that happened. but yes. that is the most surprising thing to me when we have a former president here where a guy was able to get 150 yards away on a roof and be able to take a shot. >> with a large weapon. do you know with the business was come with that facility was, the roof he was on? >> yes. it is an industrial basically. they have been here for a long time. >> industrial warehouse? >> they do glass. >> manufacture glass? >> yes. >> was the business open at the time? do you know of people were coming or going to watch the rally? >> i would suspect no. i don't think they are open seven days a week. i

butler county is very much trump county. i would never have imagined to come here and admit that he would have had to experience this and i'm glad the president is safe, i've heard he's doing okay now but their life today, that individual came here looking for hope and inspiration and unfortunately won't be with us so i hope the world sees what happened today and when i say -- i mean prayer, to vote and bring god back into our society because -- >> i'm glad your family is okay and unfortunately you heard one person at the rally confirmed that according to local. still trying to figure out exactly what played out here. >> thank you so much for on the ground coverage and witnesses there. you and i as i remember years ago were doing the morning show the morning steve scalise was shot in the horrific situation and what happened on the ball field as they were practicing. there is never any place for political violence and he would know it better than any would. thank god he's had full rec recovery. by all accounts, doing fine. de

madison alworth is in butler county with the issues driving voters in a county that could make the difference reporter: tammy, all eyes have been on butler county since the tragic events that happened here nearly two weeks ago but the focus will remain on butler because this county could help determine no november's electio. to the eye butler is exactly what you would expect from western pennsylvania. an economy with an emphasis on energy, exploration, agriculture, and manufacturing. but the county is a surprisingly complex place. its gone red twice for donald trump, by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. there's great enthusiasm for trump because he emmulates the values of butler county, the people that live and work here. >> despite that, both parties believe the state and national election could be decided here. >> every other ad is political-based. reporter: it's largely because of this steel mill. cleveland cliffs butler works plant has been in operation for over 100 years. jamie is the third generation of his family to work at the mill, but they almost saw their future disappear when the department

and that was that they were expecting about $15000.00 people to come to butler county. i and see the president, the former president for this rally, and that some people are in the security realm, i think are on the organizational round for this affair like atmosphere, county fair, like atmosphere. so that's a lot of people, you know, 15000 are you sure we were saying this is a trouble campaign? are you sure that that that this can be handled and the response that i read came back. yeah. no, we, we feel comfortable that this can be handled. so i do agree that things may change as we go forward for both of the candidates food compet president, the former president bowling pre screens the stand behind and that goes back to my previous point. but presidents and presidential candidates typically don't like to have any kind of barrier between them and the people, even a clear bullet proof barrier. in some ways, i think it will take us back to 2020 and cove it and, and yet i should also point out that that was something a quite inflammatory that former president trump said ab

like many of you, i spent a lot of time in butler county.ler county has some of the nicest, most caring people our commonwealth has to offer. [applause] and we lost one of those individuals on saturday. corey comperatore, a butler resident, a hero, a retired firefighter, selflessly made to the ultimate sacrifice to protect his family, a sacrifice that should be reserved for the battlefields of war. and never be needed to make here at home. john 15:13 says cradle of -- greater love as no greater than men should lay down his life for a friend. [applause] cory's sacrifice remind us how fragile our country is, especially now. every day from now until the election, hold corey, his family, president trump, and our nation in your thoughts and prayers. [applause] thanks to divine intervention from the almighty himself, president trump is still in a strong position to move forward to election day. and i don't know about you, but inauguration day can't come soon enough. [applause] because america can't afford to live in a joe biden's america. we can't

the first thing i want to say is that the fbi stands with the people of butler county and western pennsylvania and our hearts go out to the victims of this heinous act which occurred today. this is our community and i want to let the public know that the fbi has deployed a number of our resources including investigative agents, evidence response team, bomb technicians and we have additional resources coming from other field offices as well as from fbi headquarters, including our evidence response from quantico, virginia. we have intelligence analysts as well, working from our field office in pittsburgh, working feverishly to identify the individual that did this and any motives behind why this was done. right now, we need the public's help, anyone who was on scene, who sought anything, who identified any information, please report that to the fbi using the phone number, 800- call-fbi or online. this evening, we had what we are calling an assassination attempt against our former president, donald trump. it is still an active crime scene, as i mentioned we have a number of agents on scene and we

we have all lot of good law enforcement agencies in the butler county sheriff— agencies in the butlerheriff 's office and i didn't realise _ sheriff 's office and i didn't realise that something like this could occur anywhere. we've _ this could occur anywhere. we've seen mass shootings, but i we've seen mass shootings, but i mean. — we've seen mass shootings, but i mean, with presidents, prior president— i mean, with presidents, prior president speaking, you would thihi<_ president speaking, you would think that would be the most secure — think that would be the most secure place you could possibly be at _ secure place you could possibly be at the — secure place you could possibly be at the time.— secure place you could possibly be at the time. what would you like to see _ be at the time. what would you like to see happen _ be at the time. what would you like to see happen now, - be at the time. what would you like to see happen now, there l like to see happen now, there are loads of investigations ongoing, but this has had a huge impact locally, nationally and internationally. we hu

committee members share photos and videos from the butler county site. >> the committee on homeland security will come to order. without objection the chair may declare the committee in recess at any point. before we begin today's hearing -- i would like to take a moment to recognize the loss of a friend to all of us on this committee, congresswoman sheila jackson lee. congresswoman jackson lee was a longtime member of this committee are always fought passionately for our constituents and causes that she believed would better the homeland. i would like to yield to the ranking member for his remarks that he would like to make. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. and like all of us we are deeply saddened by the loss of my colleague who was my seatmate for quite a while, congresswoman sheila jackson lee. needless to say, she will be missed. so i would like to at this point take a moment to honor the legacy of congresswoman sheila jackson lee who, as i said, passed away last week. during for nearly 20 years on this committee she served on every subcommittee and left a mark on all of them. as e

do you have reason to believe there are bombs in butler county? >> it is primarily standard procedure. in this case, there was identification of suspicious packages around where the shooter was. so we deployed in an abundance of caution bomb assets to make sure those were cleared for investigators to move safely in the area. we're still working on it. it is still an active crime scene. i won't say that the scene is 100% clear. >> the secret service wasn't available for the press conference at this time. [ inaudible question ] >> suspicious package -- >> really anything, i don't have specifics on what they were looking at. there are people in the crowd will leave bags as they're fleeing the scene like this. so any suspicious packages we have to treat as it may be an explosive device. >> [ inaudible question ] how quickly did everybody jump in? >> so it was immediate. and it was -- we're still trying to figure it out. we'll wait until we have more definitive information regarding that investigatively. >> do you have any information about how they we

when i refer to the secure perimeter on talking about the fencing that goes around the butler county farm. all of our people were detailed at various locations decided by the secret service inside of that species if staff can queue up the eli crane video. this is the agr building. i and several of my colleagues with her yesterday in butler. kudos to mr. crane for getting this video. my understanding of a prior testament is never too next officer station or a site i think what your your testimony to this building. >> i am aware of two matador what is again not having seen -- >> they were assigned? >> my understanding is the secret service and butler esu had some sort of collaboration and that was to be covered. >> what was their assignment in the billing? >> i cannot. >> with the assigned to be in the building. >> i can't,. >> what with the qualifications of the people assigned to or around the building? >> swat guys, lankan? >> it would be listening applies but exactly a measure. >> for the duration of the incident to at least the first shots fired they were entirely within the build

you would not expect this can you talk a little bit about butler county? >> i know it's i'm not sure how north of pittsburgh it is, but could you just talk a little bit about the community? >> sure. so i mean, we are literally the county directly north of allegheny county, which is where pittsburgh is situated we are about 65% republicans is partially rural. so used to be a farming community, but now that has pittsburgh has moved north. we have some more urban sprawl so to speak, in the southern part of our county. so it's pretty diverse in that sense. >> richard goal goldinger. i appreciate your time. and again, i'm sorry, it's under these circumstances, will continue to check in with you. thank you. wolf. thank you. anderson. >> anderson. thank you. are the pennsylvania republican senate candidate, david mccormick. was there at this rally in pennsylvania. he's eyewitness to what unfolded. he's joining us right now. david. thank you so much for joining us. give us your eyewitness account of what you saw, what you heard, and what you believe happened yeah.

because we are still blocked off here at the butler county fairgrounds. it is still blocked off by state police and we are not able to get through to where the rally occurred. as far as we know, it is still very active in that sense. but we are not able to see exactly the investigative work that they are doing behind the scenes where this all occurred before the rally, during the rally, and while the former president was speaking about from the last few hours, there were some state police helicopters that did come out here. they have since left. i want to say the last half hour to assist with the investigation which is being led by the fbi at time as an attempted aassassination of a candidate. it is very much blocked off. hopefully we will learn more as the days go on. back to you. >> lauren, the big question out here tonight. and i'm sure it is, is how this sniper could have gotten unobserved into position in order to take a shot at donald trump. i know they are not going to say well, here, just in chatting with folks in the area. >> it was in an area th

butler county wants to ensure nobody else has anything close to a shared experience. they're talking about their children. kids already have to deal with lockdown drills, worry about school shootings. we, as parents, have to warn them about who they talk to in their own neighborhoods, what they see on a computer. now we have to explain those images and this tragedy to our children. talk about summoning our better angels, modeling better behavior for our children, and ensuring they don't have this too. they should be enjoying the joyful periods of their lives. >> scott macfarlane, thank you for your coverage over the past day. we appreciate it. >>> finally tonight, the last 24 hours have been one of the most unnerving in recent american history. a president candidate the victim of an assassination attempt. this is something many have never witnessed before. on saturday, the political rhetoric turned violent. we do not yet know what the shooter's motive was, and we may never get all the answers. but one of the questions tonight, could this be an inflection point in the

he's joining us from butler county there.want to turn now to cbs homeland security reporter nicole. i know you've been working the phones to understand the latest with the investigation. what do you know? >> reporter: 20-year-old thomas matthew crooks, the fbi and other law enforcement poring over the internet trying to find any foot print of this suspect, with no derogatory information, no foreign nexus to terrorism, margaret. there is a weapon, a s semiautomatic ar-15 rifle. law enforcement suggesting no other ties to another individual or plot, but they are searching to ensure that this was, in fact, a lone actor. he fired between six and eight rounds. part of the reason why we didn't hear the suspect's name right away, he was not carrying an i.d. on him, so fbi, other federal law enforcement had to run facial recognition tests, as well as dna tests to confirm his identity. one important point, we are told by law enforcement officials that there was a tip to butler county sheriffs office regard thing suspicious individual

in butler county there, pennsylvania, telling abc new that is the shooter is dead. also telling us that at least one bystander was killed and perhaps another. witnesses talking about blood in the stands behind former president and people being carried away. it's unclear exactly what happened. we're still waiting on multiple sources from law enforcement to tell us whether the threat is over. that's unclear. but again, the source information that we're getting now is that law enforcement is treating this as a potential assassination attempt against the former president until they get information that it wasn't. back to rachel scott who's our senior congressional correspondent also has been covering the campaign for us. rachel was inside the arena during this event and while we were on the air for world news and it was minutes later when she heard those shots ring out. you've now been escorted outside. you've been with us the entire evening. what are sources telling you now? >> reporter: this is the scene that's happening right now. we are escorted outside of the trump

at that point, i look over the guy, starts taking shots at the president. >> the butler county sheriff says local authorities spotted the shooter on top of a building and an officer was vaulted up to the roof where the shooter was perched. but the suspect quickly turned and aimed his gun at that local officer, forcing him to retreat and fall down the shooter turned around with the firearm. >> the officer let go. and fell on the ground. i'll be honest, i think the officer or officers acted appropriately. you know, you're not going to get killed. how do you report that? the. there's somebody that has a gun if you're dead. seconds later, the gunman opening fire on trum. >> the big question now, how could this have happened? this map shows the distance between the shooter's body and where trump was standing. fewer than 400ft away. many now question how the shooter was able to get so close. >> there's an entirely different stance for sitting presidents versus campaign stops. the secret service would love nothing more than if the president stayed in the white house and stayed behind a secure

you see now night has fallen in butler county. this parking lot that was recently filled with thousands of cars, people who came here for a political rally, never thinking that something like this would happen here in butler county, a small rural area, typically pretty quiet. now this lot is empty. and we did have a conversation with that man, joseph. he said he had been waiting to speak with secret service. we're going to follow up with him and see how that conversation went. he said he had been planning on having that conversation. i want you to take a listen to some of the interview and some of what he heard. >> that is where i ran into a man named joseph. i want to introduce him to you now. as we just learned, joseph, you were listening to the program here. lester holt just reporting that one of attendees has died from the injuries as a result of the shooting. joseph, you told me off cam that you may have witnessed this. i'm so sorry to be talking to you in this tragic moment. can you describe what it is that you saw? >> i was

i am from butler county, pennsylvania. it was a terrible day in butler. evil came to butler county.comperatore and the other victims. it was a terrible day. what started out as a wonderful rally for the president. we were gravely concerned that the president, whether the president was going to survive. the crowd was frozen waiting to see if he was going to survive, and when he did, it was a blessing. >> quickly, i'm curious, two days or so since that happened, how shouepublican party conduct itself from this week into november? if it wants to win the white house. >> i think the party has to be a big party. it has to be a big umbrella. the republicans stand for lots of people, little people all across the united states. in the party has to coalesce around donald trump and j.d. vance. we have a wonderful ticket. they stand for things that are right in america. we have to get america right again and that means retiring joe biden. >> norah, as we tossed back to you come out of the things we heard a lot about from delegates is the resolve to win in november after what happened on saturda

the traumatic impact does not stop at the borders of butler county or the state of pennsylvania. people who are witness to this event and people who watched it unfold. >> reporter: i don't know if the video does it justice. there were so many children here. little kids here. i heard from parents talking about how they were protecting their kids. >> reporter: one of the most memorable, and frankly haunting pieces of this for me when i think back on it is the screams of the children, and every time i hear that video play back, that's what's sticks with me. >> are dasha burns who was here live on the scene as it was happening. we thank you for your reporting. i want to send it back to hallie jackson, live in washington. hallie. >> hey, tom. it's so difficult for people to hear the stories that you are telling, that dasha is telling, considering when folks show up to a political rally, especially in a community like this, this is so called trump country. this is a very republican part of pennsylvania, talking to folks who had been there. this were excited to show up and celebrate the

to remain on butler a county could help determine november's election. >> to eye butler exactly whateconomy with emphasis on energy exploration by dr.ing agriculture. a yearly two-to-one margin. >> great enthusiasm for trump, because he emulates the values of butler county people that live work here. >> despite that both believe state and national election could be decided here. >> every other ad is political base. >> largely because of this steel mill, butler works plant in operation for over 100 years, jamie is tlird generation of his family to work at the mill, they almost saw future dispare when department of energy issued a ruling last year, that would have rendered steel unusually because of environmental standards would have forced the plant to close. >> nearly 1500 jobs gone. >> for that to close devastating. >> biden administration changed rules in april after blowback being from local secretary of energy jennifer granholm >> do you think that would help biden administration. >> i think help sway some people kroirp commissioner says not fooled. created crisis during election

night has fallen in butler county. this parking lot that was just recently filled with thousands and thousands of cars, people who came here for a political rally never thinking something like this would happen here in butler county. a small rule area typically pretty quiet. now this lot is empty. and we did have a conversation with that man, joseph, who says he has been waiting to speak with secret service. we will follow up to see how that conversation went. but he had been planning on having that conversation. i want you to take a listen to some of this interview and some of what he heard. >> reporter: that is where i ran into a man named joseph. joseph, you weren't listening to the program here, but lester holt, nbc news, just reporting that one of the attendees has deceased. has died from injuries as a result of the shooting. joseph, you told me off camera that you may have witnessed this. and i'm so sorry to be talking to you in this tragic moment. but can you describe what it is that you saw? >> i was attending

i don't know whether butler county esu might have done something wrong -- okay, all right. but it's clear to me that secret service and anyone characterizes colossal fair because it's obvious everyone concerned that's the case. i'm going to get one thing, i understand transpired while i was absent from hearing for a bit. do i understand the two butler esu officers who won hoisted the other to the roof line where crooks turned and level the rifle at him, those were two different esu officers than the ones that originally spotted crooks from the second floor, is that correct? >> just to be clear. my understanding is that you officers that responded and won hoisted up the second one were not part of butler esu. they were two separate municipal officers who are tasked with different responsibility. i would speculate as an example to say a traffic post or -- >> understood. >> they responded. i don't know again the specifics as to how they were alerted that used to be clear they were two separate, yes, sir. >> the esu, butler esu officers who spotted crooks, do i understand crick

county sheriff, from the butler city police and they say: you will work with us. event is monitored by the secret service, this woman, cambrilee cheetal, talking about women's leadership, tells us that these points were assigned to the local police, but this is simply not true. they may have been outside the perimeter, but the secret service controls every level of the hierarchy during a presidential visit, period, so anyone involved has their work cut out for them. operational plan. the concept of the operation is being developed. they had no communications, they had to communicate through an intermediary, you create a tactical operations center, i think in this case it was called the butler communications center. so through this center you contact the secret service, and then the secret service responds through their communications, and then the response goes back to the police. instead of just transmitting portions on a common frequency, hey, there's some guy crawling behind. so, who is this guy, and how did he get there, what do we do we know about him? this p

i thought surely a firecracker and because we're in the middle of butler county, which is deep trump territory, i couldn't imagine that was the case. of course i heard, i heard a third and fourth shots ring out quickly thereafter and confirmed what i didn't want to believe and that was what i thought at the time was a small caliber gunfire. so we all hit the ground. i asked everyone around me to get down low, to the ground especially my wife. i started to scan the area around me. not knowing exactly where the fire was coming from but felt sure it was coming from behind us because you could see the grounds. from that moment, put my head over to see the president and i saw the secret service pounce on top of him to protect him. then i saw them standing up and i saw him raise his fist and in a triumphant defiance of that moment to let everyone know he was okay. unfortunately, something i can't get out of my mind, that unfortunately the individual 15 feet behind us in the bleachers lost his life and of course the others critically injured. it is sad to think they came to that rally looki

county. to friends and family of corey, to by all accounts lost his life protecting others from danger, to the other victims, two of whom were critically wounded and, of course, of course, to president trump, former president trump and his family. as i've said from the beginning, the attempted assassination of the former president was an attack on our democracy, democratic process and we will not and do not tolerate political violence of any kind especially a despicable account of this magnitude and i want to assure you and the american people that the men and women of the fbi will continue to work tirelessly to get to the bottom of what happens. we are bringing all of the resources of the fbi to bear both, both criminal and national security. now, there's a whole lot of work underway and still a lot of work to do and our understanding of what happensgi and why will continue to evolve but we are going leave no stone unturned. the shooter may be deceased but the fbi's investigation is very muc

county. to the friends and family of corey comperatore, who by all accounts lost his life protecting others from danger, to the other victims, two of whom were critically wounded, and of course, former president trump and his family. as i said from the beginning, the attempted assassination is an attack on a democratic process and they will not and do not tolerate the political violence of any kind, especially a despicable account of this magnitude. i want to assure you and the american people that the men and women of the fbi will continue to work tirelessly to get to the bottom of what happened. we are bringing all of the resources from both criminal and national security. that is a whole lot of work underway and still a lot of work to do in our understanding of what happens and why who continue to involve or we will leave no stone unturned. the shooter may be deceased but the fbi's investigation is very much ongoing. to that point, i also want to acknowledge that i recognize both the congr

that according to the butler county district attorney richard goldinger, who has been speaking to cnn, the suspected shooter, he says is also dead. he did not know golden or did not know if the shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound? injured spectator is in serious condition right now priscilla alvarez is joining us over at the white house right now. i understand we're getting some reaction from the white house. priscilla well, we're still waiting for that reaction by our from the white house, we have asked the white house for comment on the matter. >> i should note wolf, that when this incident did happen the president was at math as he is currently in rehoboth, where he has a residence, right when he departed church, right around 623 is when reporters asked him if he had been briefed. he had said no. we now know however, that he has been continuously briefed by senior officials that includes homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas. now, we should remind viewers the president is not here at the white house he is at, he is at his residence in delaware and we are waiti

[indiscernible chattering] >> butler county district attorney, the shooter at former president trump rally attendee was kled. that is being reported by the associated press. following the incident, a spokesperson for former presidt trump's campaign released the following statement that reads -- "president trump thanks law enforcement and first responders for t quick action during this heinous act. he is fine and is being ecked out at a local medical facility. more details will follow." " continues. welcome back. we are joined now by joey garrison. . he is the white house correspondent for usa today. welcome. joey: thanks. host: you had a busy couple weeks. you covered president biden and the white house. where do things stand right now? where does president biden stand after the debate and then the press conference thursday? joey: as we are sitting here saturday morning, i mean, president biden has been clear and he was clear again last night in a rally in detroit pres. biden: apparently, he is doing well. i plan on talking to him when i get back the telephone. look, there's no place

county sheriff, from the butler city police, and they say: you will work with us, every presidentialce, this woman, kemerli chitel, talking about women's leadership, and... in 9:27 thomas, matthew crooks, the alleged shooter, enters the home depot store located in battlepark, pennsylvania. surveillance footage shows the shooter entering alone, and a couple of minutes later he is purchasing a five-foot aluminum ladder. this the only time we see the staircase is in this description, after which the staircase disappears. at 9:42 he leaves, they identify him, at 10:30 the snipers are in position, this is interesting. to see where this guy came from. at 17:10, crooks is first noticed by one of the snipers, the number one sniper in this building, and he takes a photo of crooks. shortly after this, sniper number one takes pictures of a bicycle and two bags located near the building, they take pictures of it and broadcast messages on the radio, and... trump's team, donald trump's immediate team does not receive any of these messages. the easiest thing would be to say, hey, let's check this g

there were also apparently county counter sniper teams here. butler county counter sniper teams.d off a round and may have hit crooks. that's one of the other story lines developing here. when you have so many people involved, you need tight communications. the way this worked the communications from the people in the field go into the main command post, a tent set up to run the whole thing. the way this thing generally works is each agency has their overhead stationed in that command post and those bosses are supposed to be speaking to each other in realtime. so the question becomes, as you articulate, was that alert immediately apparent to the secret service snipers and all ships at sea or dependent upon communications inside the tent. that usually happens quickly. i've been involved in these things. not clear why it seems to have taken as long as it did for snipers the engage. >> john: so many questions and coming out in dribs or drabs or the f.b.i. or secret service or homeland security telling us what we have so far. nobody can understand why that hasn't happened. paul mauro

the butler county sheriff telling us late today, a police official told him that a butler township policeas vaulted up to the roof where the shooter was perched. adding the suspect quickly turned and aimed his gun at that local officer, forcing him to retreat and fall down. moments later, that suspect firing several shots toward trump. sources tell abc news that a short time before the former president took to the podium, local authorities were alerted of suspicious activity on the outside of the perimeter, and were in the process of looking for a suspect. >> i am aware that law enforcement had responded to a number of reports of suspicious activity. >> reporter: ryan knight attended the rally and saw the shooter open fire. >> guy beside me all the sudden says, "this guy got a gun," and points. i look over at the agr building and there's a guy going prone, laying down on the on the agr roof. at that point i look over, guy starts taking shots at the president. >> reporter: tonight, raising serious questions. >> my main thought is why the secret service was not on top of that building. >> r

it was another team that took the shoted but going back to butler county emergency servicen they shouldey intentionally did not show up to thrsone briefing. so i feel personally, laura,ld there need to be people fired. she is not the only person that should resign, but absolutely ie would be interested to seers thv others objectives as well. >> laura: tim, would you allowrn the president to take that stage knowing a person of interest, of suspension, and you havee thec. tree.ey d apparently, the tree is the focus. they didn't have a clearer view of the roof. yea >> yell, laura, this is a cascading error filled event because remember that most of the security is planned before the proctectee gets there.e u.s. aside agent work every foot of that. the fact that one of the majorna obstacles because all you have to do is stand at the podium ans look you see a perfect sniper'si nest. the problem is that they identified it. we will see this with the sod reports anhed all of the things coming out. but the reality, they didn't post it. if you notice, it is a big problem, you have to own it is wh

the butler county d.a. says he did not have any criminal record. salena zito is reporting on the rally, a secret service agent a shielded her from the gunfire. dana: can't wait to hear from her. we do have team fox coverage. david spunt is covering the investigation from washington, but first, let's go the alexis mcadams, she was there yesterday, she's there on the scene today. good morning, alexis. >> reporter: good morning. yeah, we were up on that media stage, so pretty close to where the former president was speaking. it was a hot and humid day as thousands of people waited in line to catch a glimpse of the former president. he was only up on that that stage for a matter of minutes before he was nearly assassinated by a gunman up on a roof right at this guilding -- building behind me only about two football fields away from where the president was speaking. a lot of questions as people try to piece this together exactly how the shooter was able to get so close to that secret service area that had been closed off for hours. so we're trying to fi

again, going back to the fact that butler county emergency service, secret service should have scoutedd they intentionally did not show up to the briefing where the other snipers were at. obviously, i feel personally, laura, that there need to be people fired. she is not the only one that should have resigned. absolutely, i would be interested interested to hear the other gentleman's perspective on this as well. >> laura: tim, would you have allowed the president to ever taken the stage knowing there is a person of interest, and got the tree. now apparently the tree is of focus. they didn't have a clear view of that roof. >> yeah, laura this is a cascading error-filled event. because, remember that most of the security is planned before the protectee ever gets there. as a site agent, you walk every single foot of that and the fact that one of the major obstacles outside -- because all you have to do is stand at the podium and look and you see a perfect sniper's nest. the problem is that they identified it and we are going to see all of this with the sod reports. and all the things comi

. >> there is great enthusiasm for crump because he emulates the values of butler county, the peoplecare. >> despite that both parties believe the state and national election could be decided here. >> every other ad is political based. >> and largely because of this steel mill. cleveland cliff's butler works plant has been in operation over 100 years. jamie is the third generation of his family to run-of-the-mill but they almost saw the future disappear in the department of energy issued a ruling last year that would have rendered its steel unusable because of environmental standards. and would have forced the plants to close. nearly 1500 jobs. >> for that to close would have been devastating. >> the biden administration changed the rules in april after receiving blowback from locals. secretary of energy jennifer granholm was sent to the mill to celebrate. to think that will help the biden/harris administration to close that gap? >> i think it will help sway some people. >> trump supporter and commissioner kim geyer says she is not full. >> they created this crisis during an election

and tragically the butler county assassination attempt is another example. a particularly heinous and very public, one of what i've been talking about, but it also reinforces our need at the fbi. and our ongoing commitment to stay focused on the threats on the mission and on the people we do the work with and the people we do the work for every day all across this country and indeed around the world, the men and women of the fbi are doing just that working around the clock to counter the threats we face just in the last year. >> for example, in california, the fbi and our partners targeted an organized crime syndicate responsible for trafficking fentanyl meth and cocaine, all across north america we charged the mexican based suppliers who brought the drugs into the united states. >> a network of candidate based truck drivers who delivered the drugs and the distributors in the united states who spread the poison into our communities staying on threats emanating from the border. >> i have warned for some time now about the threat that foreign terrorists may se

he said thats was true for butler county and that is misinformation because the statement from the secretto the trump campaign, it didn't say we didn't deny requests for butler county so that to me is really not being honest and not being truthful and really the person who put that statement out ought to also be fired and whoever approved the statement ought to be fired because that's lying to the public. the trump campaign repeatedly and the trump security detail, secret service detail repeatedly asked for more assets over a several month period and we're requesting those records and those were denied so for the secret service to come forward and say oh, they were never ded in butler and not put that in their statement, that's a lie and that really was discouraging to me to see the new director defending that lie. but i will not take my attention away from this. someone will be accountable and the main reason is not because i dislike that person, they're a bad person, but if you leave a roof unattended with a direct line of sight to the protecty, you can't be in the position again. i ask

could you at least confirm he is from butler county, pennsylvania? is there anything else? did he have any affiliation with that company do you know? >> again we are not prepared at this time to provide the identity of the potential shooter we are in the process of doing the confirmation but once we have a confirmation we will lease the name official each of the press. but at this time we cannot give any further information on the potential. >> what else needs to be done question. >> it is a matter of doing biometric confirmations there was no identification on the individual as an example. and so we are looking at photographs right now we are trying to run his dna and get biometric confirmation. laurie would you be able to comment on what police found left behind any possible devices did you find extra guns, anything else she could comment? looks not at this time was on the process of in an active investigation we would like to reserve releasing any information like that until we have more facts. [inaudible] a credible threat is it typical for an event but like this? it's

i've lived in butler county my whole life. went to high school there. my wife and i raised our familythere and i later had the great opportunity and privilege to coach little league baseball, pony league baseball and midget football. my family business is here, and has been since 1957. now i'm fortunate enough to represent this town here in the united states in the house of representatives. butler farm show is where this rally was located. it's usually a family-friendly place. it's a few miles from my home. a little over four miles. i drive past it almost every single day. since 1947, this has been a place of common ground, where families and children can show their farm animal, where people gather in the summer for food and fun. it's also a popular spot in the butler community for so many events. on this morning, i was there with members of the house homeland security committee and i want to thank chairman green for allowing me to be there with him. i can tell you that my community is still grieving. they are shocked by what happened. on what was suppo