welcome back. it is 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart alongside my friend and colleague ana cabrera in new york. we begin this hour with the latest on what the fbi is calling an attempted second assassination attempt on former president donald trump. >> right now the suspect in this incident who authorities have identified as 58-year-old ryan wesley routh is making his first court appearance here in west palm beach. he was arrested yesterday afternoon on interstate 95 about 40 miles north of the trump golf course there and while trump was golfing a secret service agent spotted that suspect concealed in the bushes behind a fence and opened fire. trump was whisked away to safety and was not hurt. this incident comes just over two months after trump was wounded during an attempt on his life during a rally in pennsylvania. >> and with us now nbc's garrett

haake here in west palm beach, florida. nbc news national law enforcement and sent dense correspondent tom winter in new york and chuck rosenberg an msnbc legal analyst and former u.s. attorney and senior fbi official. garrett, let me start with you. good morning, welcome to florida. what more have we learned about what happened here yesterday? >> well, we understand that the president was keeping up with his usual activity of golfing on the weekends, he was five or six holes into the course and secret service agents who regularly kind of operate a few holes ahead of him, one of these officers saw a rifle barrel poking through what is a chain-link fence that surrounds many of these holes, thinking that this person was perhaps aiming that officer we are told fired on that suspect who then fled. fortunately a witness saw the person flee, saw their car, got the license plate number and the suspect was apprehended in a neighboring county a few minutes later arrested without incident. what was found left behind included a rifle with a scope, a

gopro camera and two backpacks which appeared to have been hanging up on the fence, perhaps as some kind of screen for the suspect. we are expect to go hear more from law enforcement this afternoon. we are hearing this very much in realtime. >> it is indeed. >> tom, what do we know about the suspect at this point? >> we know that he was born in february of 1966 and according to the information we've been able to pull up on him his social media accounts he says in 2016 he voted for trump but it's not clear -- obviously we don't have those records -- whom he actually did vote for. at some point his feelings on former president trump changed politically. he is a little bit all over the place. he expresses some support for republican candidates, a little bit more recently, on the other hand we have a small donation to act blue which typically receives donations for democratic causes and then pushes that money out from there. one thing that is absolutely clear about this individual, they traveled to ukraine in 2022 we're told and some of that reporting from ken dilanian, his

social media posts make it abundantly clear that he is definitely pro-ukraine and went over there to try to drum up support for americans to go to ukraine and help ukraine fight back against russia when they invade that had country unprovoked. so that's what we know. now, we say this and people have kind of criticized us online for saying there is still no motive. we can put all that together and think of possible motives, but until we have something a little bit more concrete from either his own statements or evidence that has been found by authorities, that's the reason why we're not sharing that motive at this point. remember, this investigation is very much ongoing. he is going to appear in court, i just checked the court system here while we were talking, so far the charges have not been unsealed bus he is in court right now with a public defender. so we should be able to get the specific statutes that he's charged with shortly, but even though he's charged today this investigation will continue on and i think there's going to be big questions about that gun given his extensive criminal history. typically that means you're prohibited from buying a

firearm. so did somebody get this gun for him? as a way for him to short-circuit the gun laws? that could be a potential crime. the other potential issue is whether or not somebody sold it to him illegally. our colleague chuck rosenberg is a far better expert on this than myself, but at least from the initial background information and public records what we have. >> before we go to chuck you mentioned he has an extensive criminal record or history. what kind of criminal record? >> everything from some of the smaller and minor infractions, i mean, we are talking over 100 counts in north carolina over the years, to -- and we're still going through this so i don't want to get too far ahead of our reporting but situations where he may have been barricaded or in possession of a weapon of mass destruction, that doesn't mean like a truck bomb but it can sometimes mean other different types of weapons. either way, weapons were involved at some point. so this is certainly more serious than the guy just was a really bad driver and had a lot of traffic incidents. it appears to be much more serious than that is correct

ana. >> garrett, have we heard anything from the former president? >> the former president does not share tom winter's augs caution in describing a motive. he said this suspect believes the rhetoric of biden and harris and acted on t he says their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at. the former president goes on in the interview to say comments about him being a threat to democracy or a danger to the country he believes fueled this shooter. he concludes this interview by saying he could use more inflammatory rhetoric more than anyone but he has chosen not to. a lot of people would dispute that characterization of the former president's rhetoric, but he very clearly leaping into ascribing a political motivation to this shooter. >> i'm seeing, garrett, he's posting on truth social, three words, fight, fight, fight. he has a packed travel schedule at least up until this point. does this incident have any impact on his campaign events? >> it appears, no, ana. the former president had an event tonight unrelated his

campaign but to a crypto business that he's launching. we are told that that event will go ahead as planned. like weiss, a town hall the former president was scheduled to hold in michigan tomorrow night and another rally scheduled for wednesday in new york. with the first assassination attempt the former president's schedule essentially backed up against the republican convention, it was an all or nothing move to keep or cancel those events. i will be curious to see if anything else gets added to the former president's schedule to talk more about what happened. >> let's bring in nbc's kathy park who just got out of court here in west palm beach, florida. kathy, what did you see? >> reporter: so, josé, the hearing just wrapped up momentarily and this was our first look at ryan routh and i can tell you his demeanor was calm, he was nonchalant, he was kind of going with the flow earlier today, but he did come into the courtroom, he was shackled, wearing a dark navy jumpsuit and the proceedings actually took just a matter of

minutes, but i do want to read off the charges that he is now facing. the first charge, possession of a firearm by convicted felon which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, $250,000 fine, three years of supervised release. the other charge that he is facing, possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number that penalty carries up to five years in prison, $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. the judge was also asking a few questions to the defendant, just kind of talking about his work history. he said he makes about $3,000 a month, it's unclear what his occupation is, but he says he has no money to his name, owns no real estate, but did say that he has two vehicles, two trucks, in hawaii, that's worth about $1,000 each. he does have a young son, he says that he was 25 years old, and based on that information the judge decided to appoint him

a public defender. so ryan routh came with a public defender here on out and we are told that there will be a pretrial detention hearing in the next five days that will be monday, september 23rd. once again, josé, the suspect walking into the courtroom really just calm and just at one point we saw him having a conversation with the public defender and cracking a couple smiles, but he was very polite and said, yes, your honor, after every question that was asked, but this initial hearing was rather quick and procedural. >> all right. kathy park, thank you so much. i will take it from here. let me take it to chuck rosenberg who is also joining us. chuck, we now have a couple of charges that we know routh is facing, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, particularly a convicted felon, as well as possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. that at least are the initial charges. your thoughts on these charges

and where this case goes next? >> sure. ana, so what happened today in federal court was an initial appearance where a defendant who has been charged by criminal complaint, in this case by federal prosecutors, appears in front of the federal magistrate judge who advises the defendant mr. routh of the charges. we heard what they are. no surprises there, as tom winters surmised with all of this gentleman's previous arrests at least one resulted in a conviction that makes him a prohibited person, that means he can't possess, own, carry a firearm. at this point all the prosecutors have to do is file a charge, one charge, in this case they filed two to hold him. that gives them more time to investigate, that gives them more time to question other witnesses and subpoena documents and, if necessary, to add additional charges down the road. but all they need right now are what we call holding charges,

and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm is perfectly sufficient to that purpose. this is how the process starts, in federal court, when you're charged with a crime. >> so, chuck, just wondering, because it's still unclear as far as we're concerned whether this person actually was able to shoot, carry out a shot, or were all the shots coming from the secret service agent, or the official that saw that person outside the fence. does that in any way matter going forward for prosecutors whether the person fired a shot or not? >> it does matter. now, it doesn't matter, josé, to the charges now lodged against him, being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm doesn't require that you discharged the weapon, however, if he was, indeed, shooting at mr. trump or at federal agents, secret service officers, that could mean additional charges

like assaulting a secret service agent could be lodged against him. so that's why you have a holding charge, which they've already done, and why you continue to investigate. was he armed? did he have ammunition? did he use it? did he discharge the weapon? if he discharged it, who was he aiming at? and all of that can lead to additional charges. i don't know any of those facts at this point. it will be developed. but that's why you have the ongoing investigation. i would not be at all surprised, josé, if we saw additional charges down the road. >> speaking of additional charges, chuck, i'm just thinking about the image that we've all seen and the reports from law enforcement about what they found at the scene. the fact that he had these backpacks up against the fence, the go pro cam ration the rifle up against the fence, the backpack full of ceramic tiles that law enforcement has said could be used to sort of shield additional bullets, like

bulletproof vest would do. does that speak to intent and where would that intent come into play when it comes to charges he could face? when i'm thinking they're calling this an apparent attempted assassination. >> and it may well have been, ana, although to tom's point earlier, motive is something we develop over time but depending on what was in those backpacks, if indeed there were ceramic tiles, those could be used as ballistic shields, he may have been trying to set up a place from where he could shoot and not be hit by return fire. again, that's just surmise right now. that's why we do investigations. but the stuff that he brought with him to your point, ana, could be indicative of intent. what was he planning? what was he prepared to do and how was he sort of outfitted for whatever he was planning to do? now, you don't need to prove motive with respect to most criminal offenses. motive is completely irrelevant.

it may be interesting, your viewers may care a lot about, it but it's not necessary to a prosecutor to prove motive in order to prove a crime. but if you can prove if you can prove that as part of your overall case, it is certainly helpful. what was in the backpack, why did he bring it, let's talk to the people who know this guy, let's see when and where he bought it, let's look at his social media, let's look at his emails and text messages, let's collect as much data and information as we possibly can to see what else we can unearth. we don't know it yet. >> garrett haake, tom winter and chuck rosenberg, thank you all so very much. up next, new scrutiny of the secret service this morning. we will talk with a former secret service special agent about how a man with a semiautomatic rifle was allowed to get so close to the former president. plus, both campaigns are very busy on the trail this week with just 50 days until the

election. we will look into the latest reporting on their plans to beef up security. and later, we will talk to a reporter who interviewed the suspect for a piece in the "new york times" just last year. we're back in 90 seconds. you're watching special coverage right here on msnbc. on msnbc. still have symptoms from moderate to severe ulcerative colitis or crohn's disease after a tnf blocker like humira or remicade? put them in check with rinvoq. rinvoq works differently and it's a once-daily pill. when symptoms tried to take control, i got rapid relief with rinvoq. check. when flares tried to slow me down, i got lasting steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check. and when my doctor saw damage, rinvoq helped visibly reduce damage of the intestinal lining. check. rapid symptom relief. lasting, steroid-free remission. and visibly reduced damage. check, check and check. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin; heart attack, stroke, and gi tears occurred.

people 50 and older with a heart disease risk factor have an increased risk of death. serious allergic reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. put uc and crohn's in check and keep them there with rinvoq. ask your gastroenterologist about rinvoq. and learn how abbvie can help you save. ♪♪ from this can't miss moment... ..to this hello new grandpa moment... ...to that whatever this is moment... your moments are worth protecting against rsv. if you're 75 or older, or 60 or older with certain chronic conditions. you're at higher risk of being hospitalized from rsv. and there are no prescription rsv treatments. you have options. ask your doctor about pfizer's rsv vaccine. because moments like these matter. 16 past the hour. with the apparent second assassination attempt on former

president trump in just over two months the focus is once again on the people tasked with protecting our political leaders. >> while the secret service managed to stop the would be shooter this time there are still plenty of questions about how this suspect was able to get so close and about the protection levels surrounding the former president moving forward. with us now to talk more about all of this is evy poumpouras, a former secret service special agent and msnbc law enforcement analyst. evy, what questions are going through your mind this morning as we look at how this unfolded? >> i think we are looking specifically to how the shooter got there, you are going to want to look at that outer perimeter. deja vu all over again, trump rally what does the outer perimeter look like. 300 to 500 yards, that is quite a distance, but if you have a long weapon like a rifle, that closes that distance. you want to know what kind of assets did they have. typically it's going to be local law enforcement authorities. one of the questions i would pose is were any vehicles around

there patrolling? did you have uniforms around there keeping an eye on that outer perimeter? because we do know that the shooter was able to actually get into his vehicle, drive away and it was because a witness was able to get his license plate and make and model of the vehicle and share that with police that they later caught him. i think it's something like 40 minutes on the highway -- >> 40 miles north on i-95. >> 40 miles north. thank you. so those things kind of -- what would have happened if a witness wasn't there? would we still be looking for this individual? when you are looking at protection now i think it's going to be really all hands on deck, especially for former candidates. i don't want to say strike two, but it's the second attempt. in essence the secret service did their job on this one. they were able to intercept the shooter, it looks like he was getting set up from what we can tell with that photo, he had his go pro out. it's interesting, he also had the gopro facing him so it could

capture him. so putting all of those elements together. it seems they did stop it, did interrupt it before former president trump was actually in that area. had the agent not seen it in advance, that leapfrog agent, we might be having a very different conversation. >> totally. evy, you bring up such important points. yes, it was about 40 miles north of right here where they finally apprehended the suspect, about 45 minutes after this incident began is when they were able to get him, and it is key that someone saw him getting into the car and what we're told is that apparently this person, this good samaritan, actually took down the information on the car, may have taken a photo of the plate, but that changed everything no doubt. but, evy, i'm just wondering is there a difference between protection levels between a sitting president, a former president, a presidential candidate? >> yes, there are.

when you're current president you get everything, and when i say "everything" they give you everything, but it costs money and a lot of money. when you become a former president the threat level changes. you have to think of it, you're out of office, people lose interest in you, unless you're somebody who is really out there on the trails, campaigning with others. i remember when i first started, i started when the transition happened between clinton and bush and when clinton left office, i mean, he was still going out there, people still loved him, he was going into large crowds and i would have those moments where i would think, oh, my goodness, where is he going? you had a different amount of assets and resources for that. the unique part with trump is he is running for office again and this is -- he's already had an assassination attempt. almost like two months to a couple of days here. so we see something different. i also -- one of the issues we're looking at and hearing is more threats are coming in, not just to him but to other protectees.

you have to sift through those threats. the problem is what's real and what's junk? you have to sit and go through that and it's going intensive, g to worry am i going to miss something? there's a lot of work to be done. no doubt the secret service have their hands full, they know what they're doing but i do think the game is changing and they are really going to be leaning on local entities, authorities helping hem to help put these things together and to mitigate. i know everyone is saying, oh, how did he get so close again? you can lock down all that space, you are looking at a lot of area to lock down, lock it down, but everything costs time and money and resources. >> sure. >> a budget is not an issue and i suspect at this point the secret service is going to say that, do you know what, forget the budget, let's just get through these next two months so that we can re orient ourselves and figure out how we want to proceed. if we need more agents to physically be doing the protection and less local, then you can do that. >> i think it's important to note that since the first assassination attempt we do know

the secret service added personnel to trump's detail. they also have implemented bulletproof glass around donald trump at his campaign events when he's outdoors. i just wondering what else could be done when it comes to his personal protection. we heard from congressman glenn ivey just last hour the idea of maybe he shouldn't be allowed to golf on his properties through this part of the campaign, maybe a military base which we've seen other presidents do when they were in office. your thoughts? >> look, i'm a former agent, i'm going to say don't go anywhere, especially outdoors. at this point this is the second incident and where did it happen again, outdoors. being outdoors makes you more vulnerable. all it means is you have so many variables you are trying to control. the less variables i have to control the more that i can ensure the person i'm protecting stays safe. they should really have heart to heart conversations with his staff, talk to them, try to minimize his exposure. it's a golf course, you're out,

you're in the open. line of sight issues. anywhere you have line of sight issues it's a problem. how can you cover all of them? that's the issue. is he going to listen? i do think he will try to accommodate to some degree. you can talk to them, it's how much the secret service is willing to push. i can absolutely right now see them pushing a bit harder and saying, look, just for the next two months can we please work together and not just with him, the other protectees as well. >> thank you so much, evy poumpouras with your expertise, it's so insightful to hear from you. thank you. up next, the changes we could see in the campaign trail in the wake of this apparent second attempted assassination. plus, we will go live to capitol hill for what lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are saying about what happened here. you're watching special coverage right here on msnbc. don't go anywhere. coverage right here omsn nbc. don't go anywhere. d is 100% rea, just without the lactose. delicious too. just ask my old friend, kevin.

nothing like enjoying a cold one while watching the game. who's winning? we are, my friend. we are. hey, get your head in the game, son. we are, my friend. the scout from football college is up in the stands. maybe i'd rather go to school for insurance. i didn't raise no insurance man. but you did, dad. football's your passion. but mine is providing around-the-clock protection to progressive customers who bundle home and auto. jamie, we need you out here for football. you're giving up on your dream, james. no, dad.

i'm giving up on yours. no, james, wait! oh, that's not the exit. zyrtec allergy relief works fast and lasts a full 24 hours so dave can be the... deliverer of dance. ok, dave! let's be more than our allergies. zeize the day with zyrtec. life has twists and curls. but you define them and make them bounce. tresemme flawless curls defining mousse. 24 hour. hydrating curl definition. style your life the way you want. ♪♪ tresemme, style your way. question. if you can't see what's behind all this, how do you already know, it's jeep? probably the same way you know if a t-rex is chasing a jeep wrangler... is getting away. yep! or if it takes you places that make you say, woah. and their hair looks like this. or someone says, the doors come off. then you just know what it was.

what it is. and what it always will be. because when you're an original, there's only one. your record label is taking off. but so is your sound engineer. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. our advanced matching helps find talented candidates, so you can connect with them fast. visit indeed.com/hire

why choose a mobile network

built for places you'll probably never be... ...instead of for where you are most of the time? xfinity mobile was designed for where you need it most. xfinity internet customers, ask how to get a free 5g phone and a second unlimited line free for a year. 27 past the hour. we have some new reporting just in that the martin county sheriff's office is looking to release the body cam footage of the apprehension of this suspect at some point today. just a reminder for our viewers, yes, palm beach county is where this incident initially took place, but the suspect who you see there was able to get in his vehicle and drive about 40 miles north on i-95 and was actually apprehended by the martin county sheriff's office. so that's why they're the

jurisdiction here. josé, we will be looking for that body cam footage later. >> indeed, it will be very important part of this whole investigation. we're also continuing to look at what it could mean for the 2024 campaign. both campaigns. joining us now nbc news senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell and ashley parker, senior national political correspondent at the "washington post," she is also an msnbc political analyst. kelly, let me start with you, what are new security measures that are being taken by both campaigns in light of what happened here? >> reporter: well, they don't talk about specifics, but they are saying that the president, the sitting president, president biden, had authorized additional security for donald trump and for the vice president who of course is now the candidate and that includes of course ramping up some secret service protections. so one example is that at the golf outing yesterday former

president trump had lots of measures that for a typical different era you would not have seen for a former president. not even for a general election candidate. so they had drones, they had counterassault, they had an intelligence unit, all of that working with respect to his visit to the golf course. when a sitting president has higher levels of security, that often means closing roads and there is a balance that they try to strike between how it affects the local community, so, for example, there in west palm beach, local residents or passersby would not even be able to be near the golf course. so weighing those different needs of the public's right to move about and the security needed for a candidate or former president, all of that has to be measured. certainly secret service officials and people with knowledge about protection say it is always a risk when a candidate, a protectee, is out in public and a golf course is

very much that. there is no dome over the golf course. so perhaps some different changes need to be made. the president this morning said that he wants congress to provide the secret service with whatever resources are necessary. one of the big challenges in talking with officials is that there is not an unlimited number of trained and ready to go agents to fill these positions, they are already taxed at a great level and they have other responsibilities like the coming gathering of international visitors and leaders from around the world the u.s. hosting the u.n. general assembly where 100 world leaders will be in the country and the secret service protects them, too. changes to ramp up have been in place but more scrutiny on this will follow and what types of tools can be used and what decisions about how a candidate or a former president goes forward. one change we've seen since july 13th, the butler incident, is using ballistic glass at certain

outdoor events for mr. trump, for ms. harris, when they are speaking and there's concern about line of sight. so much of the security material is not readily listed or disclosed for obvious reasons, not wanting to tip off would be assailants, but it's also a very complex picture about resources, money and manpower. josé. >> we are also learning, kelly -- actually, josé, that the u.s. secret service is expected to hold some kind of a press briefing this afternoon around 4:00 eastern is what we are told. along with other law enforcement, specifically related to this investigation. ashley, as the campaigns now try to maybe recalibrate following this latest incident, what are you hearing about their plans for the next 50 days and whether there will be any changes? >> well, what's interesting is on the democratic side you saw president biden, vice president harris, minnesota governor tim

walz all come out with sort of the obvious boilerplate statements of condemning political violence. this is now the second assassination attempt, we believe, against former president trump and after the first there was briefly a lot of discussion by people in his orbit said he had become spiritual, he was a changed man, he was going to be a uniter which lasted for about three days. what you actually saw happen politically was in many ways he doubled down on his dark conspiratorial, oftentimes false and utterly fictitious world view, this view that people were after him, that the democrats and the department of justice and the witch-hunt was really ramping up. so, again, it's interesting to see these initial reports. we haven't heard about him becoming more spiritual, we have heard he's been in good spirits, he wanted people to know he was shooting a good golf game before he was raced off the course, but

if history is any attempt by that previous attempt about 65 days ago i think we will see if anything changes on the campaign trail beyond all of those security measures kelly outlined so well. it may be that donald trump and his orbit, again, retreat into what we've already been seeing which is a dark, dystopian and oftentimes quite false and inaccurate world view and using real life data points to buttress what they're kind of saying. >> is there any concern within the white house about the secret service's ability to protect the former president? this is the second time in just over two months. but then just concern about protection of trump but also of vice president harris? >> reporter: i honestly don't hear that concern expressed. what i do hear is that the threat level and the threat environment is particularly dire. so the distinction i'm making there is i don't hear any concerns about the capability of the secret service to do the job. what i hear routinely is that the threat environment is so

great. the kind of suspect that is described in this incident from the weekend is the kind of worry that keeps people up at night. someone who has access to weapons, who has a lot of views, who may in certain cases seem to be acting erratically. that lone figure is very worrying to law enforcement and to officials because they know how hard it is to protect against that when someone is determined to take action. and so the answer is there is always worry. i sense there is confidence in the capabilities of the secret service, but real questions about are there enough resources, is there enough manpower and will congress authorize more, and will local departments and state officers and different communities that have either residents who are former presidents or visiting presidents or visiting candidates, think of all the battleground states, think of

where former presidents live and do those departments have the resources? think of the overtime, think of the closing of roads. all of those things, a very complex picture of how do you bring about a security plan that can withstand the unpredictable. there is no question anyone who pays any attention to donald trump knows he goes to one of two golf courses that he owns in southern florida frequently and it's not hard to take a guess to say that could be where he is. and then, you know, it's just very difficult to protect against that and it's really extraordinary they were able to spot the alleged gunman before anything terrible happened. that's too close for anyone's comfort and so is there worry? certainly there is worry and the threat environment with the heated rhetoric and actions that we've seen. remember, there was a case where president biden was the alleged target and there was a shootout that claimed the life of a man who had made threats against

president biden in the last year or so. so it's a real danger. >> all right. thank you very much, kelly o'donnell and ashley parker. we have a press conference i'm going to take you to now, this is the martin county sheriff holding an update on this apparent assassination attempt. let's listen in. >> -- from the incident at trump international was flown to the scene by the palm beach county sheriff's office and he was able to make a positive id. so it was then we knew we had the right suspect. >> and he was not armed when you took him into custody? >> he was not armed when we got him out of the car. we didn't search the car. we waited until the fbi got there and then we used our flatbed -- traffic was horrible out there you can imagine -- which had our flatbed sheriff's office wrecker put the vehicle up and take it down to wherever they wanted it in palm beach county. >> [ inaudible question ]

this was the biggest test of that communication, talk to how this led up to that. >> preparation is always the key. we have worked so closely with sheriff bradshaw and his people over the years, we have a task force, we're all together, so it was really a seamless handoff of the information and that was critical. you know, they knew the vehicle they were looking for. had they not gotten it to us quickly, we would have missed that car. having not had all the experience we have, because we invariably are stopping high-profile felony cars coming out of palm beach, coming out of broward county, we are used to that. so the preparation, the large trucks, the take-down mannerisms that we use really worked out because had that subject had the opportunity to chase, had we just turned on blue lights and he would have taken off, we would have had -- we would have had to pit him and crash him on

i-95. i will say this, it was probably the highest profile stop this sheriff's office has ever made. we were stopping the man who was involved in an assassination attempt of the highest profile target on the planet and i am thankful to the men and women of this sheriff's office that put themselves in harm's way and apprehended that suspect without incident. >> talk about the delicacies of not escalating this situation into a high-speed chase because he could recognize that there were people following him and turn it into that. >> yeah, good question. you know, the technicalities that went into not getting this elevated into a high-speed chase. once we saw that vehicle and got the tag, we were locked on. we had a green light. there was no backing down at that point. there was nothing he could have done that would have shaken us loose. he could have fired at us, he could have driven that car as fast as it went. there was no way we would have

pulled off that chase because of the high profile nature of what he had done. so the fact that our troops out there, the men and women on the street, knew don't get in there and just turn on blue lights and play dukes of hazzard. slowly move our cars into place, wait until we have adequate resources and just get him and that's exactly what we did. it just works out. we have a lot of practice. you know our tag lin -- and it worked. >> [ inaudible question ] >> yeah, that's a good question. the uncertainties of the stop, i mean, i think in this case they knew it. i'm real proud of them. we've released body worn camera to you all first, our local people, and you should have that coming across. you're going to see a textbook case of a traffic stop of a felon -- a known felon and,

look, i say it all the time, i don't deserve any credit. i'm standing up here because i'm the sheriff. i was home having a cup of coffee after church and then i did get out to the scene, but i wasn't right there. they deserve the credit. they took the chance. they saw the car. they approached it. they got it stopped and there is no force that can stop them from getting himmer. >> in the situation it's all about communication. did you guys communicate with volusia county -- >> the question is were they all engaged? everybody on the treasure coast was engaged but we didn't let him get through martin county. go ahead. >> how many -- you mentioned -- how many sheriff's deputies' vehicles were kind of behind him or involved in the stop, i suppose?

>> the question was how many people -- how many of our deputies were behind him. we had every available unit in the martin county sheriff's office headed that way. obviously we didn't pull them in from india town, we would have been a south county unit that wasn't there, but we had detectives, we had s.w.a.t. guys that came from home. i think at the end of the day we probably had 30 units either there or heading there before it was over. >> and regarding the actual stop itself, you mentioned it was a pickup truck. this gentleman was not pulled over using stop sticks or the pit maneuver, right? >> right. yeah. the question is did we use a pit maneuver or did we use stop sticks. the answer is no. we have these big heavy duty f-250s with the bumpers and we just surround the vehicle and then force it to a stop. maneuvered it off the interstate. remember, we have two concerns. our primary concern, primary, no

matter what happens is the safety of the motoring public. we don't want to create a situation where we are in a high-speed chase or shootout and there's innocent people. that's what we saw first our concern. so with that concern in mind we followed our procedure and that is get the car to stop, don't give it a chance to run and, you know, onus is on the driver and if he had not stopped it would have been a mess out there. >> sheriff bradshaw, i may be correct, i believe he mentioned license plate readers and that's kind of how they determined this guy was going north on 95. did that -- did you guys use the license plate reader technology as well to kind of get a leg up? >> the question is did we use license plate technology. my practice is never to mention methodologies or sources, resources, but we didn't have to in this case because palm beach county had already told us what

to look for and that's all we needed. they gave us the vehicle description, they gave us the tag and we were on t it's weekend traffic on i-95. thank god we found that car and were able to give -- i think we were able to give former president trump a peace of mind. the men and women that were involved in the stop he invited them to go to mar-a-lago and be thankful for what they did. >> trump extended that invitation? >> he did. >> do you know roughly where the deputies sort of spotted the vehicle? was it sort of bridge road? >> we originally picked the vehicle up somewhere around the palm city exit so that would be 714 and it took us about two miles to get all the resources in play so we could surround that vehicle and force it to a stop. >> how was the driving lane [ inaudible ]. >> how was he driving when we saw him? he was smart, he was just

driving with the flow of traffic. yeah, i think that he may have thought he got away with it. of course, he couldn't have known that there was a witness who really did the right thing and took a picture of him, took a picture of the tag. he was just going to drive himself back to wherever he came from. >> did he have any -- to your knowledge -- any ties to martin county or the treasure coast? >> to my knowledge did he have any ties to martin county? to my knowledge the answer is no, i have no knowledge. i think what we're finding out he is not from this area which raises the bigger question is how does a guy from not here get all the way to -- to trump international, realize that the president, former president of the united states is golfing, and able to get a rifle in that vicinity? i think that's a question the fbi and secret service are laser focused on today. is this guy part of a

conspiracy? is he a lone gunman. >> he is a lone gunman president trump is that much safer because we have him, but if he's part of a conspiracy then this whole thing really takes on a very ominous tone. >> you mentioned a witness. when it comes to that witness you guys always when it comes to cases saying please let us know if you see -- that one witness made possible what you guys did. >> yeah, that's good. your comment and question, did the one witness make it all possible? the answer is unequivocally yes. let's say he got down there, attempted assassination, nobody sees him, he gets away, actually, he would have gotten away but a civilian saw him and they would still be looking at him now. they would be doing fingerprints, all the things that we do and then we would have to find him. so, yeah, that witness deserves a lot of credit. >> [ inaudible ] -- situation in

martin county, as sheriff what's going through your mind saying this is actually happening in our county? >> what's going through my mind as sheriff as we made this stop is that this is a once in a career, once in a lifetime event. i mean, how many people get a shot off at the former president of the united states. i mean, the poor guy has already been shot once and then for that suspect to come into this county -- i already had somebody asking me does it feel like lee harvey oswald and jack ruby situation where the dallas police, they catch the assassin in that case of john f. kennedy. i feel like without been hyperbolic there is a touch of history and -- but the credit, again, i just have to stress that the credit goes to those

road patrol officers that made the stop and took the chance. >> do you know where exactly on 95 -- where the actual -- where things ended i suppose. >> where did things actually end? we picked the car up at about the 110, northbound, at which time we shut down all traffic. we had units lining i-95 to slow everybody down and within two miles of 110 we were able to get the stop in and neutralize the subject. >> [ inaudible ]. >> yeah, by body camera. >> [ inaudible question ] >> you know, i'm not sure that we do. only the traffic units have the dash cameras [ inaudible ] -- we

have video of the stop then the body cameras were all activated but [ inaudible ] -- pictures of the steering wheel, you've all seen it. >> well, that was sheriff william snyder of martin county, florida, with an update in a press conference. back here in west palm beach, if i could, i just want to give you -- and the sheriff was talking about the fact that they had the car id'd, they had the tag id'd, there was no way, the sheriff said, that that stop was not going to be carried out because they had that information on him, but i just want to give you a little context. let's just say that they didn't have that information on him, imagine how difficult it would be -- this is the entrance here to the trump international golf club. if you come out of this entrance and go straight down that way, a mile and a half behind this golf

club is palm beach international airport. 1.8 miles away. and if you continue going on summit boulevard, you don't take left to go to palm beach international airport, you go right into i-95, you turn left on i-95, going north, which is where they spotted that suspect in the palm city exit, two and a half miles right after that spotting they had him, but think of the -- what the search would have included had that person not said, i'm going to take a picture of this car, i'm going to take a picture of this tag, and i'm going to reach out to officials. really important, really important, that person, that role that person played. joining us now is thomas gibbons-nef, ukraine correspondent for "the new york times," who interviewed this suspect last year about his attempts to recruit afghan soldiers to fight in ukraine.

thomas, thank you for being with us this morning. what were your impressions of routh when you spoke with him? >> thanks for having me. mr. routh was a lot of those men and women who fled ukraine in the war's opening months, definitely had a particular mind-set and attitude, and mr. routh was definitely no different. he seemed way in over his head and very driven to help where he could. but, that being said, it sounded like he was encountering a lot of obstacles and had no real idea. >> you talk about your impression being he was in way over his head, i read the article you wrote this morning since his arrest. as you reflected on that conversation and you write that his plan to recruit these fighters to help in ukraine

sounded ridiculous, you said, but the tone in mr. routh's voice said otherwise. he was going to back ukraine's war effort no matter what. no matter what. that determination, what does that tell you about the way he operates? >> i think you can't really underestimate ukraine and russia's invasion and what it's like to be there. i use the term loosely, drinking the kool-aid. i think he was inspired by the ukrainian people. he was talking to afghans who were in terrible living conditions having fled the taliban takeover in august of 2021, and i think, you know, was well meaning, but, at the same time he has a criminal record. and like many of those that fled to ukraine as volunteers, routh was looking to re-invent himself. i want to make it clear, there are many volunteers in ukraine

who are well meaning and are there for the right reasons. >> quickly, if you will, did you have any concerns about his state of mind when you spoke with him? >> honestly, i mean, his state of mind was familiar to me and reminded me of a lot of people in that sphere that were very similar. and when i heard that he was accused of attempting to assassinate former president trump, it struck me as surprising but also not that surprising. >> thomas gibbons-neff, thank you very much for sharing your reporting with us and your observations. we appreciate your time. >> thanks for having me. >> very much so. thank you very much. up next, the political fallout of two assassination attempts on a presidential candidate and what it means for both campaigns. you're watching special coverage right here on msnbc.

56 past the hour as we continue our special coverage of the apparent assassination attempt of former president trump on his golf course sunday. now we're taking a closer look how this incident will shape the 2024 race for the white house with just 50 days until election day. >> joining us now, victoria defrancesco-desoto at the university of arkansas, also an msnbc political analyst. it's great to have you here with us, victoria. what's your reaction to this moment we are in where there have now been two apparent attempts on the life of a presidential nominee? >> there's an environment of fear, of anxiety that we're feeling as a nation, as an electorate, and, quite frankly, in terms of what this may

translate into with so little time for the election, as i think about the risk of apathy. we actually need more people to participate democratically to express themselves through the ballot box and not through violence, but we know that sometimes violence and fear and anxiety can paralyze people and that paralysis i fear and i hope it does not translate into apathy and people saying, i'm going to sit this one out. it's too ugly. >> i mean, victoria, the role that political discourse plays in any or all of this is certainly something that should be discussed, but it's just the toxic nature of our politics today, the toxic nature of people's -- how they choose to speak about each other, how you criticize others with an intention to destroy rather than

to show differences. it's just like how can this political discourse be tamped down? >> words matter, jose. as the mom of a 9 and a 10-year-old, this is what you keep telling your kids. words matter. be careful what you say. think about what you say. and the same thing holds for adulls in political context. we have been seeing a hyper polarized and we do need to tone that down because as we have seen with these two assassination attempts words matter and translate into a real and tragic event. >> victoria, thank you very much for joining us this morning for our special coverage. that wraps up this hour for us. i'm anna cabrera here in new york. >> i'm jose diaz-balart. thank you so much for the

privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more coverage right now. good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington with special coverage of what the fbi is calling an apparent assassination attempt against former president donald trump. the second in just nine weeks. >> the threat level is high. we have increased the amount of assets that we've supported, so we are -- we live in danger times. >> the acting director of the u.s. secret service now in west palm beach, florida, where sources tell nbc news he has surveyed the golf course personally and will be briefing mr. trump this afternoon. a secret service agent stopped a would-be assassin, apparent assassin, apparently lying in wait. 58-year-old ryan