and john hinckley, junior joins me now, john. it's fascinating to speak to you tonight.er thomas matthew crooks shot tom, you spoke out, you posted on social media, you said violence is not the way to go. give peace a chance. why do you feel the need to speak out well, erin, i feel the need to speak out because this country is just a really bad place right now. >> there's so much violence so many guns and it's just really fraught time right now in america. and i wanted to do speak out is someone who knows a little bit about what happened because of what happened to me in 1981 i wanted to speak to the american public and just tell people to please try and reject violence and bring peace and love into their life i know you have expressed remorse for trying to kill president reagan, but of course it is surprising and uncomfortable for many people to hear you even now, commenting on the assassination attempt on trump, who are you hoping to reach most? >> with your message? >> just anyone and everyone who is out there in it's going through hard times back in 1981, i was going

and tonight, an outfront exclusive, erin burnett spoke with john hinckley, junior all right.the man who attempted to assassinate president ronald reagan, this is sink li's first interview since a man shot and tried to assassinate former president trump. and tonight he is calling for an end to political violence. here's arun with more on that message and hinckley story starting when he shocked the nation and clearly changed the course of american history hinckley shot reagan as he left a washington hotel in 1981 of the bullets he fired punctured reagan's long and lodged just an inch from his heart. >> he also seriously wounded white house press secretary james brady, who was partially paralyzed and eventually died as a result of his injuries 3s metropolitan police officer thomas delahanty and secret service agent tim mccarthy. were also shot now a jury acquitted hinckley by reason of insanity but he spent 34 years as an inpatient at if a psychiatric hospital, he was released in 2016 and doctors at the time said he had recovered from mental illness two years ago. all court rest

ronald reagan was shot by john hinckley jr. who had no political motive at all.ive was to get the attention and the affection of a movie actress that he had fallen in love with named jodi foster. people remember that. the man who tried to kill george wallace, a candidate for president back in the '70s, and actually later as well, he was a man named arthur bremmer, similar to john hinckley, very disaffected, isolated young man who was trying to basically become famous, get attention and get affirmation. he had a lot of bad experiences in school, being bullied. he had a bad childhood and trouble with a girlfriend who just broken up with him, very similar to hinckley. the secret service has performed a psychological profile of people who have tried to kill presidents and tried to kill vice president harris or senior political officials. what they found was these people overwhelmingly are not motivated by politics. they're motivated by an internal disaffection, isolation and a need to feel important. >> just thinking that would be perfectly describing gerald ford, ri

through a lot of talk or i to go through that and march of his first year in office, he's shot by john hinckley. and at the time people said, well, he wasn't coming close to death. it okay, not a big problem. but now we know he came very close to death. is that right? he but it was really i titled chapter on the shooting finest hour because was really his finest hour. and that was when he really cemented his bond with the american people because he showed unbelievable grace in the most adverse as he was literally at death's door. he was joking around, he was telling nancy reagan. honey, i forgot to duck. he telling his doctors as they were about to operate on him. i hope you're all republicans. you know, when when when people heard that, i think it established kind of a personal bond between the president and the public that had not been there before. now, when he left office was criticized for making too much money, some speeches and so forth. but we were million dollars in speeches in japan, which seemed like a lot of money at the time, was a lot today. what would you say is the main thing he

shots ring out and john hinckley is all of about 15 feet from the president. so he has the ability to kill him. what is wonderful about this episode if you can say anything is wonderful about something. so traumatic. gunfire on a dc street aimed at a president is that everybody on the president's detail immediately reacts? instantly with their root and eyes training that they didn't have when kennedy was shot. the routinized training is called attack on the principal and they drilled in this day in day out attack on the principal is i hear something. i see something it sounds like a bad psa and this is my job when that happens. the gunfire goes off. hinckley is able to get off six shots in. less than two seconds not all of them very well aimed but still. jerry parr hears. it doesn't look up doesn't turn to his right. does it turn to his left? he just starts shoving the president towards the open black door of the limousine and they are three yards away from it. so it's not easy to shove ronald reagan that far but that's what he does and he almost according to

through a lot of talk or i to go through that and march of his first year in office, he's shot by john hinckley. and at the time people said, well, he wasn't coming close to death. it okay, not a big problem. but now we know he came very close to death. is that right? he but it was really i titled chapter on the shooting finest hour because was really his finest hour. and that was when he really cemented his bond with the american people because he showed unbelievable grace in the most adverse as he was literally at death's door. he was joking around, he was telling nancy reagan. honey, i forgot to duck. he telling his doctors as they were about to operate on him. i hope you're all republicans. you know, when when when people heard that, i think it established kind of a personal bond between the president and the public that had not been there before. now, when he left office was criticized for making too much money, some speeches and so forth. but we were million dollars in speeches in japan, which seemed like a lot of money at the time, was a lot today. what would you say is the main thing he

reporter: the secret service confirms the name of the suspect as that of john w. hinckley, jr. sara sidner: one of the most protected men in the world had now become the target of gun violence. what were the days like immediately following the attempted assassination of president reagan, your dad? patti davis: my most lasting memory was the shift of mood in this country and the people who came up to me, who i'm sure were not all supporters of my father, where politics was set aside and they were simply coming to me with compassion and with humanity and with the awareness that i had almost lost my father. tim naftali: the american people rallied to ronald reagan, regardless of their political point of view. the country shared a sense of trauma and grief and concern. the assassination attempt did not divide us. david gergen: as soon as he came out of the hospital, the first thing he did was, the very next day, he went up to capitol hill for a joint session of the congress. and they were up roaring with support for him. ronald reagan: thank you very much. douglas brinkley: the cou

to our attention and in the case of the assailant, to me as i overlay him over the top of, say, john hinckley who tried to shoot president reagan, i see an individual based on information that i have now, some of the great work the f.b.i. has done. we have an individual who is a loner. we have an individual who was focused on donald trump and joe biden. hinckley traveled the 80 campaign and know he followed president carter. just in march of 1981 he happened to show up in washington, d.c. and saw an opportunity to try to attack president reagan. so when it comes to the secret service in 1981 was a watershed moment for us. we have people that are, for whatever reason, fixated on carrying out an attack against the president of the united states or one of our protectees. and in this instance, you have the assailant who is a loner, obviously he was researching, he had researched the democratic national convention, he had researched and googled or used the search engine about the president, the former president. and so i think he had moved towards an idea he was going to try to do something. and s