sandra: fox news alert as we top off a brand new hour, we are now learning new details about the attempted assassination of former president donald trump. fox news has now confirmed explosives were found in the car of the suspect, thomas matthew crooks. that car was parked near that trump rally in butler, pennsylvania, and fox can now confirm that the suspect's gun was purchased by his father. more and more details coming in by the minute. welcome to a brand new special edition of "america reports" on this sunday afternoon, i'm sandra smith in new york. john: and i'm john roberts. wish we were here during different circumstances, but it is what it is. president biden is set to speak at 1:30 from the roosevelt room at the white house. alexis mcadams, who witnessed the shooting firsthand last night, is live in butler with the latest on the investigation and aftermath. >> reporter: hi, john and

sandra. yeah, you could hear what sounded like, you know, pop, pop, pop right there inside of that rally. people didn't know if it was gunfire or or fireworks. what tarted as an -- started as an exciting time for thousands who gathered here in the hot sun ended in that gunfire. one man was killed, two others badly wounded in that crowd. just a short time ago the governor here had now identified that man who was killed at the trump rally saying he was a former fire chief in butler county who died trying to protect his family. his name, corey comperatore. he did everything he could to protect his family, and he did not go home with them last night. the governor saying he was a girl dad who was just out there to enjoy the day. watch. >> it's also important to note that last night three of our fellow pennsylvanians were shot, one fatally and two in critical condition. i've just spent time speaking to the families, and and i want to offer my prayers and the prayers

of all 13 million pennsylvanians for the two individuals who are being treated at this time. we lost a fellow if pennsylvanian last night. >> reporter: so the fbi is has now identified that shooter as thomas matthew crooks of bethel park, pennsylvania. he was spotted on a nearby rooftop very close to the stage where the former president was speaking. if we also have been looking at his home throughout the several hours here as the county bomb squad has been on scene, and police are doing everything they can to try and get into that home and say the family is cooperating at this point. believe they found bomb-making materials, john and sandra, inside of that home and also inside of that car. we want to come back out here live. just last night when we were trying to figure this all out, we were in this area, you can kind of see where this happened, that agr building. we were in there near the rally, got pushed out by secret service and went to a nearby home where

this suspicious car was parked. so i went over there last night, checked it out, took a few pictures, it was a van that they ended up tow thing away, they used k-9s there. now we hear that they were found with explosives inside of a car parked near the scene, so we're working to figure out if it was exactly that a van. it had an arizona license plate on it, and some neighbors said it was parked there just for a horse time. and it was so close, they had their degrees -- driveways blocked off. the former president's motorcade pulled up there the too. really was blocked off. if you were coming in, you got wanded, patted down in some cases, but not on this back side where there's them toes, some businesses including the agr, is and was so close for this guy to be able to get right up there on the roof. a lot of people have unanswered questions. listen to what investigators have to say about that. watch. >> people started screaming, and

we all started hitting the ground. just looking around, the secret service members were all firing back towards the agr building -- >> it was absolutely frightening. i don't ever want to go through that again. i felt really asker -- scared for him at first, especially when he stood up and i saw the blood. >> we heard something that sounded like a firecracker, and we turned around, and it was people behind us and two of our guy, i think, in camo uniforms shooting back. >> reporter: it happened so quickly when we talk to people, we cover these different stories, but it happened so quickly people didn't even know what happened. we got down on the ground too because i didn't know where the shots were coming from. if then we saw the police move in. we saw the former president hit the ground and he gave that fist pump if as he was escorted off the stage. if. john: hey, iowa a lex sis, it's extraordinary they didn't have some sort of physical barrier, like dump trucks, buses or

whatever, surrounding the perimeter, particularly when there were buildings they could access. but gotta say that that building was high ground, you could have maybe shot over some so the of physical barrier, so the fact there was no coverage of that area really is extraordinarily puzzling. >> reporter: yeah. and i'm just going to move a little bit closer -- out of the way so you can see closer, because this is the area that we're kind of backed up into now because it's still such such an active crime scene. john, as you look on that map and we were talking earlier how far it is, that agr building is exactly where he was hiding, and you can see those two big lights and that crane, that's exactly where the former president was speaking. just a short walking distance. so whether it was in the perimeter or not, you would still think this area would have been blocked off. even where we are now, people possibly getting their cars checked, not being able to really drive by. it's an active area. it's like a neighborhood, and we're in the parking lot right now of a gas station, so it was pretty accessible to people. john: mentioned on google maps,

400 feet away, the shooter was, and it's remarkable that a donald trump is alive today to. alexis mcadams, great reporting. thank you. sandra: we're learning new details about the suspected shooter as the fbi is taking the lead now on this investigation and looking into possible motives. fox news' justice correspondent david spunt has the latest for us. >> reporter: sources are using the word with ieds found in the car of 20-year-old suspect thomas crooks. the car that authorities right now have been looking at. they're going to continue to the look at. we know he purchased this gun legally by his dad, or the gun was purchased legally by his dad. authorities are looking into the possibility he may have had access to other guns, sandra. crooks was 20 years old. he was shot to death by a secret service sniper, a member of the crowd tragically killed by bullets, two others injured. the search of his home continues go on in bethel park, pennsylvania. now, the suspect graduated high

school just to two years a -- ago. pennsylvania voter records show he was a registered republican who donated $15 to a progress i -- progressive organization in january 20221. the suspect was taken out shortly after this shooting. what's not certain though as we just talked abdomen with alexis and john, how this suspect with a gun was able to stand on top of a roof and take a shot at the former president of the united states, someone already under heavy secret service is protection. on top of that, witnesses say they saw the suspect on the roof with a gun which was outside the security perimeter and told authorities. still, trump was able to give his speech, and this event was able go forward. watch the local district attorney. >> 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 if determines how that happened. >> reporter: the fbi know that people is have cell phone video, they've gotten a lot of tips so

far. people may have seen the shooter shortly before the shooting perhaps getting on top of that building, what was he doing in his hours before. they want anyone with information to the call 1-800-call-fbi. here in washington where john and i are, a lot of finger-pointing going on at some of these top agencies. sandra: yeah, you can only imagine. a lot of unanswered questions. thank you very much, david spunt, with the latest from there. >> reporter: thank you. sandra: and, by the way, we are expecting remarks from president biden just announced last hour. we are anticipating he will speak live from the roosevelt room, 1:30 p.m. eastern time. we will carry that live when that begins. edward lawrence is live outside the white house where we just got this brand new photo, lawrence -- edward lawrence from the situation room morning. president biden, vice president kamala harris received their briefing in the situation room. and we can pop it up here. we just turned it around for our audience. >> reporter: oh, that's great. this is a photo from the situation room, and the president just now leaving the

situation room, getting an updated briefing on this investigation. and you can see mayorkas there, you see the vice president and the president. he's also been briefed by law enforcement on this. we have not heard a from the president since last night but as you mentioned, he's expected to speak this hour. he walked into the white house just after midnight this morning after he spoke with former president trump. his campaign pause all outbound communications, also pulling down campaign ads like the one released on thursday calling former president trump a dictator and a threat to freedom in the united states. here's president biden from last night. [no audio] >> -- rally that he should have been able to be conducted peacefully without any problem. but the idea, the idea that there's political violence or violence in america like this is just unparalleled. it's just not appropriate. everybody, everybody must condemn it. >> reporter: we've seen condemnation from just about everywhere.

the new united kingdom prime minister saying he's appall adding political violence in any form has no place in our societies. morning president xi from china expressed sympathies, so dave mccormick, a candidate for senate in pennsylvania, sitting steps away from the stage says this: >> we have to recognize that we can't have political rhetoric that encourages political violence. you know, you listed cases, steve scalise, threats against supreme court justices, paul pelosi. this -- it's hard to imagine if that this polarized, violent rhetoric isn't contributing to the violence we're seeing. >> reporter: we're expecting to hear from the president in about 30 minutes, see if he addresses that. sandra? zahn edward lawrence live at a busy white house where we do anticipate the president shortly. thank you very much, edward. john? jon: -- john: let's bring in the former acting attorney general matt whitaker to talk about this. i want to play something that the speaker of the house said earlier today, about the need to

get to the bottom of how all of this happened. listen here. >> it was a failure. there will absolutely have to be congressional oversight hearings. i think, first, we let the investigation proceed, conclude, and then the department of justice, secret service, fbi need to be completely transparent, i mean, completely transparent. john: sorry, that was senator ron johnson, not the speaker of the house, but the point is still the same. can you wrap your head around how this possibly happened, how that a vantage point was left unsecured? >> i can't with, john. and it's good to be with you. obviously, god had his hands around donald trump, and i'm so thankful my friend is alive today. you know, it's hard not to think about his family and melania and barron and all the kids and how they're feeling today after this attempted assassination on president trump. you know, this, to some extent, is really i think a failure at a lot of levels, and the investigation, to senator johnson's point, has to be

transparent, and it has to be thorough. and if i were in charge, you know, i sat in that chair as attorney jerk i would be very clear that we are going to run an exhaustive, all the a resources necessary to get to the bottom of both how this could possibly happen, why it happened, how this gentleman was radicalized. and at the same time, learn the lessons. you know, i remember when i was a u.s. attorney spending some time with the secret service and them talking about, you know, various assassination attempts whether it was john f. kennedy or whether it was ronald reagan. and, you know, pointing out the failings and the learnings from that. and so this is, obviously, something that's going to take a lot of work. but i think surging resources from federal law enforcement is the most important thing right now to make sure that this can't happen ever, ever again. sandra: you know, i'm looking through those that were in that situation room picture. as we know, the president and the vice president were briefed on everything this morning, everything we know up to this

point. you've got kamala harris there, in there with the president. top investigators were in the room briefing them. attorney general merrick garland, department of homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas, fbi director christopher wray. also participating, we are told, white house national security adviser jake sullivan and kim cheesing, director of the -- cheat canle, director of the secret service. i imagine there's folks saying, where are they? why are we not hearing from the director of the secret service right now? if. >> i 100% agree with you. at the end of the day, we need to have people stand up and take responsibility. that's really what our system of a representative republic is all about. you know, i think, unfortunately, boils down to the priorities of federal law enforcement. they have for too long focused on the wrong things instead of protecting the the american people. they have been trying to play politics. and, obviously, this is no time to talk about politics, but we

need people that are accountable and also willing to take responsibility, raise their hand and say, you know, this was because of certain things. and, you know, it's going to to take an investigation, there's no doubt. there is going to take time to figure out why this gentleman did this, why we almost lost the former and future president of the united states. and also at the same time, there has to be accountability. if. john: you know, when you take a look at the video of that moment when the shots rang out, the president suddenly turned his head as he was gesturing toward a graphic up on the screen, and that's when the bullet nicked his ear. had he been turned the other way, the bullet could have slammed full on into his skull. and you wonder what the roots of something like this are, matt. and the democrats, every time they talk about president trump, they talk about an existential threat to democracy, they talk about maga extremism. we don't know if that rhetoric played into it. what are your thoughts?

>> we don't, but we all hear that rhetoric. we hear donald trump being called a threat to democracy, we see the betweens and the social media posts. and, obviously, that is resonating with a certain part of america. listen, we almost lost donald trump. but at the same time, we have also a lost a fellow citizen and two are critically injured right now where political violence is never acceptable, john. and that's, you know, it breaks my heart that someone that went to a trump rally, someone that was a trump supporter and just wanted to be there and celebrate the campaign of 2024 by donald trump has a lost his life and now, you know, after a reading his daughter's, you know, testimony about her father, it's just so heartbreaking. sandra: matt, we've heard from so many eyewitnesses, what they saw there that day. it's remarkable too, every time we look at a this video, sort of the calm of the crowd as they stood there and watched the

secret service come in. so many had eyes and ears on what could happen next, what was about to happen. you know in and now to learn that this father has passed away after shielding his family, attending a trump calorie. we pray for him, we pray for hi. father of two daughters, he is now gone. but, i mean, this is going to to be a picture, a memory etched into all our minds forever, what we all witnessed happen yesterday, math if9. final thoughts. >> yeah. well, the bible says there's no greater love than to give up your own life in service to the ones you love. and so, you know, i just think of that and, obviously, heroes are all over our country, and we need to lean into what's eat great about the united states of america and the spirit of the united states of america. i think everyone should, obviously, donate to the family and the victims of the senseless act of violence. but at the same time, you know, we need to remember what makes us great as a country and lay down some of this hyperbolic

rhetoric and really get to the point of, you know, agreeing that we are a great country and we just might disagree on how we get there. but at at the end of the day, we have elections and peaceful transitions of power. we do not do political violence in the united states of america. john: words that were echoed by the governor of pennsylvania, josh shapiro. there's a need to bring down the temperature. matt, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. good to see you. sandra: thank, math if9. let's bring in our panel, former fbi special agent maureen o'connor and former new york homeland security advisor make if ball bony. thank you very much -- michael balboni. maureen, we are awaiting an update from the fbi who's leading the investigation if here. >> well, interestingly, i tend to look at these things from a left of boom per spect and i, meaning what led up to this. and we know the work that the fbi's doing behind the scenes, that they've done on a number of these other terrible events, and

it's very important. but this person had to pull up in a vehicle, pull out a long gun, walk up to a building, scale that building, climb up over the roof. these aren't things that happen, you know, spontaneously. he had to be there before, he was probably there when they were doing their site survey. he was watching where they were looking and where they were setting up, etc. but additionally, when you talk about the perimeter whether it be the close perimeter or the further perimeter, i know from my if experience being stuck on principle ifer the in the back of buildings or anything while warrants are being served, they always warn us of complacency. and they tell us, hey, it may be boring out there, but stand on your post. and i'm really hoping it doesn't come down to a case where someone just got complacent, thought, you know, the event started, there's nothing else to worry about and walked around to watch the actual event. john: you know, michael, i think it was in march of 2016 when president trump was doing an

event in van dale ya, ohio. somebody who was in the crowd rushed the stage. there's not much you can do about that. the person didn't have any weapons on them, but tried to get up on the stage with the president. he was a candidate an that -- at the time. he was taken down by the secret service and the protective detail surrounded trump at that time. but it was nothing to the degres the pictures from the march 12th, 2016. somebody tried to get up on stage. but in terms of degree, that was nothing compared to what we saw yesterday. and i've been to dozens of trump rallies and dozens of presidential events. and to leave something like a rooftop 400 feet away from where the former president was speaking uncovered? st just -- how does that happen? >> this is the first time in 43 years that america is waking up to this type of attack. and when you take a look at this type of situation, it was not just the fact of the approximate

similar city -- proximity. the fact that somebody was able to get up on that roof with that sight, this is an overwatch for counter-snipers. people are going to focus on the advance team, what were they doing there. they're going to focus on the communications. there's reporting that there was eyewitness accounts of saying to local law enforcement, hey, look, there's somebody getting up on a roof. if that's true, then what kind of communication, what kind of information was put out there, what was the response? look, this is the bigger picture. the bigger picture is the united states has to prove not only to its citizens, but to the world that it can protect its leaders. this is crucial for our national security. and whether it's joe biden or it's donald trump, things need to change right now. investigations are crucial, and that's what the next steps are going to be. but in the short term, we have to basically revamp how we're doing these types of events. sandra: maureen, that certainly was discussed in that briefing

room this morning, the the situation room for the briefing, i should say. and we're about to hear from the president, and his words will be critical in this moment. what do you expect to hear, what do you believe -- what message do you believe the president needs to put out in this moment? >> well, i don't know what the president is going to say, but if i could comment back to the communications issue, i don't think a lot of people understand that first responders generally cannot communicate with own another. with we don't use the same frequencies, we have different radios. there's all kinds of complications. for example, when you're on a big operation, i have to either be standing with the fire chief or someone from the fire service or the police department, or if it's an fbi-secret service is mission, we're going to be standing next to each other or with an lapd person, and i have to talk to them, and they pit out on the radio. i think this delay with getting the information from the witnesses that talked about seeing that person on the roof,

getting that information took a little bit longer than necessary because of the interoperability issues that have -- it was one of the number one findings in the 9/11 report, that we have to work that out. there's one system i know of that i think can overcome that, but not many entities have it right now. jan. john: and you wonder too, michael, if the people who started yelling for the police yelling about there's a guy on the roof with a gun might have actually helped save the former president's life. maybe it's been -- i had a guest that said maybe the shooter rushed the shot because he knew that he'd been discovered and didn't have really tight aim on the former president. i still can't believe though that that bullet nicked his ear and didn't kill him. i mean, it's just unbelievable. >> there's some reporting that -- and if you talk to trained snipers with s.w.a.t. teams or from a military perspective, that kind of denies -- distance, they're going to put the round on

target. and the fact that this guy missed this close is really not only incredibly lucky for donald trump, but also spoke to the fact that this guy probably, you know, we're going to find out what his training is, whether or not he had any military training. and that's a bigger question, by the way, what's his social media footprint, who was he talking to, is there anybody if else supporting him. those are the crucial questions, what kind of training did he have. these are the facts and elements that the american public needs to know, not just the investigation. john: all right. michael balboni, maureen us. thank you. we're goinokayis tg to take a qk break, we'll be right back. ensure, with 27 vitamins and minerals, nutrients for immune health. and ensure complete with 30 grams of protein. (♪)

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sandra:. all right, we are almost half past the 1:00 hour on the east coast, and we are awaiting president biden who is set to speak anytime now live from the roosevelt room at the white house. after a getting a briefing with security or officials this morning. let's bring in the anchor of "special report." bret baier joining us now if. seems there's new information every minute here, but certainly now we work our way up to the president's remarks. >> yeah, sandra, john, good afternoon here from milwaukee, site of the convention, where security is very tight, has increased dramatically. i expect we're going to hear maybe a little bit more details

from that briefing in the situates room that we saw the picture from -- situation room. we have a lot of questions about how this happened with that shooter on the roof just 150 yards away from the former president at that rally with a clear shot. there are so many questions for the secret service and for the setup to all of that. in the meantime, you're probably going to hear from the president again for a call for no more violence, political violencing in any way, shape or form. you saw that from former president trump's message, a very eloquently-written letter from the former first lady, melania trumping today. you had the campaign leaders of the trump campaign, suzie whiles putting out an internal memo saying they'll not tolerate any dangerous rhetoric on social media. and just in the past few minutes we had the resolution to something that we were tracking. the january 6th committee chairman, benny thompson, democrat from mississippi, he had a field director who posted yesterday saying i don't condone

violence, but please, get you some shooting lessons so you don't miss next time. just in the past few minutes, thompson put out a statement and said i was made aware of a post made by a staff member. she is no longer in my employment. so i think there's a call for toning things down. we'll see how president biden deals with this moment. but looking for answers is really what people are looking for here in milwaukee. john john and i don't know how many folks i've seen on social media that believe this whole thing was staged to give donald trump a photo op. that's just reprehensible to think that had been the case particularly when one person is dead and two others are fighting for their lives. you used to cover the white house, you've covered innumerable campaigns. to think that 400 feet away there was a high ground, line of sight vulnerability for a shooter to take advantage of, that just strikes me as unbelievable. how could that have been left open? if. >> john, you and i have been to

so many presidential rallies, presidential events. it's inconceivable really. and if you look at that aerial photo of the position of where that roof was and not only that, but the interviews with these witnesses who were saying we told the police, we hailed down the secret service, pointing to this guy who they saw crawling up on that roof with a shotgun or an ar-15 ahead of time, it is mind-boggling. so i think that there are real questions here. you heard chairman comer of the oversight committee already planning for a hearing as soon as congress is back. and calling the secret service director, cheatle, to answer a, you know, how this happened, what happened. one thing is clear, i think that is a unifying message. the democrats and republicans are both asking those questions and really trying to get to the bottom of it. and the other thing is you will

see much more security not only here in milwaukee, but i think for any presidential level event going forward in this campaign. sandra: bret, we're just getting an update from the white house as we await the's remarks. the president is rescheduling his planned trip to austin, texas. it was originally planned for tomorrow, july 15th, a monday. but the president is rescheduling that. and it brings up a bigger point about how things change from here on out. i know that earlier bill and dana were noting some of the campaign changes that they were already seeing in the milwaukee area, how the strategies might change, the rhetoric could easily change following what we are seeing on our screen. if what indications are you getting of a changing of the course of particularly for the biden campaign? >> yeah. well, the biden campaign's already announced that they're pulling down ads, negative ads, many of them, about the former

president and threat to democracy. there are efforts here that were going if to be, like wrapped buses and signs that we're told are coming down on that framework. you heard the former attorney general, bill barr, saying that is a problem, that the former president is not a threat to democracy and those words are, in his words, barr's words, are spurring on some of this vitriol. on the other side, you know, they're saying the former trump supporters need to tone it down as well. you know, i think there will be this call for a dialing it back, and the question is how does it directly affect this campaign. heading into this convention, you guys know the trump campaign was characterizing it as strength versus weakness. and that's how they were going to kind of present this pitch to the american people. i think that that's still going to be, obviously, a theme. but if it takes the tone of the

former first lady, melania trump, in her letter and then you add that image of the former president with his fist up in the moments after he's shot, it's just very powerful. and we'll see how it translates to independent voters in particular. most importantly, they're worried about the families of the people that were killed and the ones that are in critical condition tonight. john: when you're talking about the image of strength versus weakness, doing a fist pump surrounded by the secret service with blood all a over your face and an american flag in the background certainly would seem to show a message of strength. i wanted to ask you about this idea of toning down the rhetoric and where the biden campaign goes from here, because the main points that the biden campaign and democrats have been fighting on is maga extremism, existential threat to democracy. the heritage foundation's project 2025 which is not a product of the trump cam patienting it's basically a blue point for a 10 -- republican

right. if he's got to take those out of his playbook, what's left? >> yeah, i think there's a retooling here. i think it's a pause, and i think there will still be big pitch by the time you get to chicago. i also think that it's interesting in this moment of the campaign, you talk about changes. this event, obviously, takes off of the front page concern about president biden and whether his cognitive ability is going to get him to the nomination. notice, you know, those things go away. does it change the die name ec inside the democratic party? -- dynamic? is he now okay? i don't know, but it has changed this moment in the campaign significantly. sandra: we are about to hear from the president. no sign of him yet. we were told 1:30 p.m. eastern time, bret. we don't even have a podium shot out of the roosevelt room, but nonetheless, we will hear from the president himself after the security briefing this morning. what do you anticipate as far as

remarks from the president in this obvious, you know, unprecedented moment, bret? >> i think, again, a lot of tone-down on the political violence message that you heard him yesterday in brief remashes. he'll probably reflect on the call that he had with former president trump, and the white house put out just a short, little note about that saying it was cordial and short, and they expressed, you know, concerns for the former president and his family. if i do think that he'll probably have to have some details about his briefings with the attorney general, with the head of secret service. and you saw that picture of the situation room, that briefing. you know, the pennsylvania governor, shapiro, was very eloquent today on the site there. and there you see the situation room shot. about what they know so far and talking about the victims of this shooting. what happens from the, what he's learned, the president's learned

inside the situation room if there's some element that they could share, that's probably something we'll hear in these remarks. john: all right, bret, hopefully moments away with. yet again, we don't even have a picture from the roosevelt room. we'll be standing by for it. bret, thank you. >> you bet. sandra: all right. for congressional reaction to the assassination attempt against former president donald trump, we are now joined by republican congressman, congressman from tennessee, tim burchett. thank you very much, sir, for joining us. just give us your thoughts as we do await the president' remarks. >> well, i said that god had his happened on america, i don't think we need to slap it away. you know, when we talk about the rhetoric that's going on, it's kind of ironic in a sickening way that cnn making comparisons to president trump, comparing him to hitler. you have democrat representatives who called for, tried to pass legislation -- 9 of them, in fact -- to take president trump's secret service

detail away from him. and then, you know, it just -- everything you all mentioned about the rooftop. i've talked to a marine sniper today, seal sniper, former cia operator, and they all say the same thing, how the hell did he get on top of that roof? if you look at the pictures, he didn't go through the top of the roof. this had to be a ladder or something. somebody really dropped the ball. you've got a dei, basically, person of dei, initiative, person who heads up our secret service. you know, she was working at pepsi before this. i know she was a former secret service agent, but still, this is what happens when you don't put the best players in. it's a complete failure on our part. and as i talked to chairman comer last night, i stressed with him, you know, everybody wants to follow the rules. we've got a 72-hour rule before we have, you know, can go to hearing, you know? if speaker pelosi never followed the rules.

she suspended my first day of congress. we need to to get to washington, you know, to hell with the con remembering. -- convention. we've got to get, find out what went on and make sure that it never happens again. john: so, congressman, what do you want to hear from the president when he walks out at some point in the next little while in the roosevelt room? >> well, everything he said before has been very shallow and has been very hollow. they don't carry out. let's see what happens the week after the convention when they go into their convention, what they start saying. because for them to come out now and say need to calm things down after they've been spewing this vitriol and comparing trump to hitler, just all of it, it's just, it is a manifestation of what they brought upon us. it is not the republicans' fault. and i hope we stay firm. i think president trump putting his hands up -- his fist up there saying fight, fight, fight, again, i saw abc was

calling him out for that, you know? this country, we are on the verge of losing everything we hold precious and dear to our nation. i said before this, they're going to take us without a shot, and they almost took us with a shot. the only thing i would say is if joe biden just said i quit, i'm out, because this is a product of his liberal teachings and what they've been spewing out in washington at least for the next 4 years if not the last 12 years. sandra: all right. so on we go now. as we do await the president's remarks, he was briefed this morning, and we wonder what conclusions he'll be able to draw from the information he was provided. if it is that obvious to us that a building in that close of proximity to the president, if it was that obvious to us, will it be that obvious to him, and what questions will he have and what investigations will he want to have launched following these revelations. i'd get your thoughts on that.

>> well, i would hope that we get to the bottom of it. i think you're going to have to get all those agents in a room at some point, and we have to go into a skif, i guess we'll have to do. that but somebody in leadership down the chain of command whether that sniper was -- his rules of engagement similar to what we had in afghanistan which got 13 brave americans killed, if he had to get approval for that shot and couldn't make it on his own volition, then we've got a real problem. that's the type of thing that that got people killed, obviously, and i would hope that at some point they figure out that, you know, they do circles around the president. there's certain areas where it's tighter and tighter and tighter. and, of course, on the outer perimeter, which is where this shot was obviously taken from, you've got to wonder how did that guy get up there, who -- and the fact that, you know, the

bbc broke it, they interviewed the guy who saw him and was yelling at the police to do something about it. and there was a complete breakdown of communication all the way down the line. and so that a starts at the top. the head of the secret service is needs to go. that is obvious. but i doubt that will happen. john: i mean, you know, your thoughts on this sunday go to the things that happened to save the former president's life. the fact that maybe people were yelling at the shooter, forcing him to rush the shot, the fact that the president turned his head, the way the wind was blowing and that 2223 round nicked his ear instead of hitting him straight in the head. we could -- >> the hand of god with, god had his hand on donald j. trump at that point. and i, i pray that the president realizes that. because that was just a miracle of god, that he was not shot. from the people that i've talked to today that were, have been in combat and were snipers and been on these type of details all over the world have told me that

they -- and one said i could have made that a shot with a .22 rifle. that was a punk shot, his exact words. and to think that this shot was missed is just unbelievable. john: it really is. >> it's a complete miracle. and people that say this was staged, they're idiots. they're -- they don't know what they're talking about, and they need to be -- they need to shut them off and not even give them an avenue. john: that's one word for them. there's probably some other words as well. >> yes, well, my daughter's watching this. i don't want to have to put another dollar in the swear jar. sandra: oh, dear. john: yeah. we would have to put many dollars in the fcc swear jar if you did that, so thank you for refraining. appreciate it. >> yes, sir. sandra: okay. so coming up, john, we are awaiting the president's remarks. and a new invitation has been offered to a key person to attend and speak at the are rnc.

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sandra: a trump campaign staff memo says the republican convention will go on as planned and new security will be implemented for staff. it says we are alerting -- learning a rival will be speak at the convention. bill melugin is live in milwaukee with more. hi, bill. >> reporter: sandra, good afternoon to you. we've had a big development to report. just a short time ago a, fox news was able to confirm that former u.n. ambassador nikki haley has been invited and has officially accepted a speaking role here at the rnc this week. this is a big deal. it now means all of donald trump's major primary opponents -- ron desantis, vivek ramaswamy and nikki haley -- will be joining him at the rnc this week to speak on stage as the republican party tries to unify if ahead of the election. we're still waiting on donald trump's vp choice, and some

republicans say that choice is now more important than ever given what happened yesterday. >> he needs to pick a vice president, you know, today underscores why that's an important pick. you want somebody that's ready on day one, that can help him win, that can grow the map perform. >> reporter: now, in terms of who that pick might be, we've been reporting the same names for the last few days here. they include north dakota governor doug burgum, ohio senator j.d. vance, florida senator marco rubio and virginia governor glenn youngkin. whoever that pick is will be speaking wednesday night. now, city and local officials say 50,000 delegates, media, staff and law enforcement are expected to show up here in the milwaukee over the next week. rnc chairman michael whatley said those people will be safe, and it's important that this process moves ahead. >> we're going to be nominating president trump for the president, and we're going to be nominating a vice president.

they're going to give their speeches to accept those nominations, and then we're going to move back into the field. >> reporter: and just getting an update from our politics team here, fox news can confirm nikki haley will be speaking here on tuesday night. this comes as everything we've been hearing from both the trump campaign and rnc officials is the message is we're full steam hate here at the rnc. everything is going ahead as planned. and given what happened yesterday, this might be one for the history books, guys. send it back to you. sandra: it is a remarkable development, bill. so confirming nikki haley tuesday speak at at the rnc convention. bill, thanks for the update. appreciate9 you joining us. john? john: that would seem to rule out the possibility of the running mate, because the running mate speaks on wednesday, but things could always change. speaker mike johnson says the house will conduct a full investigation into what led to the trump rally shooting adding that the director of the secret service will be called to testify.

fox news senior congressional correspondent chad pergram is live on capitol hill with more, and what happened yesterday, chad, is certainly leaving a lot of questions unanswered. >> reporter: john, if you're going to have -- you're going to have three house committees investigating this, the oversight committee, the intelligence committee and the homeland security committee. and that's to say nothing of inquiries in the senate. >> it was a failure. there will absolutely have to be congressional oversight hearings. i think, first, you let the investigation proceed, conclude and then the department of justice, secret service, fbi need to be completely transparent, i mean, completely transparent. they haven't been so in the past, so that we can take a look at that. >> reporter: lawmakers are mystified that the alleged gunman got so close. house homeland security committee chairman mark reign is talking to homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas today. there could be two big house hearings as early as july 2 22nd. >> i think it's fair to say that

there was a lapse in the planning for the security at this event that allowed a shooter to get within 125-150 yards from the dais. there should be an investigation of that. i suspect the secret service will welcome and cooperate with that as well. >> reporter: house oversight committee chairman james comer wants a briefing by the secret service by tuesday, and comer will summon secret service director kimberly cheadle to the hill a week from monday -- kimberly cheatle. lawmakers are upsent. >> how could this -- upset. >> how could this happen? how could somebody get within 130 toyards of the president with a rifle? his secret service team around him, his personal team, these are great americans who are very brave. if. >> reporter: you, now members -- now, house members and their aides are worried about their own safety. the capitol police are conducting a security briefing for if house offices right now. john? john: still a lot to investigate in all of this.

chad pergram, thank you. >> reporter: thank you. sandra: for more, we are joined by former cia station chief and fox news contributor dan hoffman. dan, thank you very much for joining us. i just want to alert live to the white house as we do have the shot up of the podium. the president's remarks, we were told, would begin 1:30 p.m. eastern time. we're about 25 minutes past that, but we've now been told the pool is officially gathered, they're heading to the roosevelt room, and the president will speak shortly. dan, get your thoughts in this moment. >> you know, i was having dinner last night at my home with a retired fbi special agent, very dear friend of mine, and his family. he was a sniper himself. and we were watching these events unfold on television, the aa saws nation attempt against former president trump, and we just sat there unable, really, to speak for moments and just thinking that former president trump dodged a bullet and, frankly, so did our political process. john: you know, if you were there there with a former

sniper, the question probably arose that, obviously, the secret service counter-sniper team did a great job in taking out the shooter once he was discovered. but how did the shooter ever get to that a vantage point in the first place, a. and, b, why was that vantage point left uncovered? if you cannot put a physical barrier between a potential site for a shooter to take advantage of, then you need to put a team on that roof to make sure nobody gets up there. that didn't happen. >> we were relying -- if you watch the video, you can see the trees kind of waving a little bit in the breeze, so you've got to deal with wind. that and the fact as you pointed out, john, that president trump moved his face at the last moment, that's what saved his life. we had to rely on that, not dealing with the security that we should have. we should have had that building covered. we should have had our own people, state or federal law enforcement, in that building working with the secret service. i'm sure that there will be,

obviously, we'll have some hearings and we'll learn where things went wrong. this was a massive tactical failure on our part. and you wonder how many oh times this class -- other times this has happened in the past where we just didn't pay a price for it. but we're still in the incident response now, we know the shooter conducted reconnaissance as a shooter would before the attack took place. and we need to know more about the explosives in his car as well. sandra: i mean -- yeah, and which we are learning more about by the minute. dan, you have to wonder too about the former -- the counter-sniper's vantage point. i mean, for him to even know that he can hit a target, he has to know the distance, right? so if he even remotely saw that building, he knows the distance of that building. i mean, you think about who knew what and who noticed what and, i mean, he would have been in communication with somebody if that building were, indeed, covered. he had to know it wasn't, but it was within range. i mean, there are huge questions

as we await more information and wait the president's remarks after meeting with the security officials this morning. >> yeah, i can tell you i've been involved in a lot of official visit, and the goal so to control the perimeter way, way out so that we don't run into these kinds of threats to the principal. and how this happened, it's clear, crystal clear to all of us watching,s that there were grave mistakes made. thank god that we didn't pay, the former president didn't pay the ultimate price for that. but there will be, for sure, a lot of questions asked, and we'll see what the answers are. john: when you take a look at an overhead, we need to get one of those made of the area. there's a water tower there, several roofs and several buildings. the secret service counter-sniper team seemed to be oriented toward that area. they didn't pick up the guy crawling up, up the roof, but people on the ground noticed him, and they were calling out

to police. and when you see the video of the counter-sniper team after the first shots rang out, you see one sniper's head come up and, i'm sure, went right back down, and that's when he took the kill shot. but they were looking in that area and didn't see anything. >> i don't know why they didn't have enough people out there to ensure that the entire area was under control. i think at the heard of -- heart of it, just in the most basic assessment that we can do right now, there just weren't enough state and local law enforcement out there coordinating with secret service to ensure that we controlled the space. is and from 130 yards away, we should have been controlling out 5000 yards with, 1,000 yards -- 500 yards, to ensure that the former president was safe, and they just failed to do that. sandra: you've got to think like the former president, the current president's going to want the same type of briefing as time goes on to learn what exactly happened and why this,

why this got this close. dan, always good to have you on the program. thank you very much. >> all right. john: thank you, dan. you know, that's an interesting argument to consider. this happened to donald trump, but it could also potentially happen to joe biden. he's going to be out there doing campaign events between now and november as well. and if the area is not covered so that you take away line of sight vantage points for potential shooters, then both candidates are at risk. sandra: absolutely. you've got to think they are doing everything to up the security as we head into the rnc this week. john, great to be with you for these two hours. we're going to have a special edition of "america reports" this afternoon, 4-6 p.m. eastern time. we'll be back live as the news breaks. thanks so much for joining us. john i don't know is and we've got the president coming up as well. that's all for us this hour, i'm john roberts -- sandra: and i'm sandra smith. "the story" is next with martha maccallum.