The Attempted Assassination of Donald Trump

from The New York Times I'm Sabrina. Tavern and this is the. daily the nation is waking up to a new. reality after former president Donald. Trump was injured in an apparent. assassination attempt gunshots ripping. through a Pennsylvania campaign rally. and carving their way into the history. books I heard pop pop I think a lot of. people in the crowd just thought it was. fireworks going off I knew immediately. it was gunshots and everybody's. screaming drop and you can see the blood.

like splatter on his face and the Secret. Service just barricades him and you know. it was just like so. scary today senior law enforcement. officials say the gunman was a. 20-year-old man from Pennsylvania the. gunman was on the roof of a building. several hundred feet from the Lecter. where Trump was speaking joining us what. we know about the attempted. assassination of former president Donald. Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania I just. go back to this idea that something has. been fundamentally changed people are. desperate for answers to figure out how.

this could have happened how to prevent. it my colleague photographer Doug Mills. recounts what it was like to witness the. shooting and reporter Glenn thrush on. the state of the investigation into the. man who did. [Music]. it it's Monday July. [Music]. 15th oh this is him.

um I have to reroot through this thing. though hold. on Doug hey Sabrina how are you how are. you H um still a little shaken up. actually um never thought I'd ever be in. a situation like this or be part of a a. story like this it's not something I. ever dreamed of having happen in my. career and it shakes you up I mean.

it's pretty damnn. frightening Doug Mills has been. photographing presidents for the times. for the past 40 years I spoke to him on. Saturday night about 4 hours after the. shooting what's in your head right. now H my first thought is obviously I am. thankful that the former president's not. more seriously injured than he is I'm. saddened that other people lost their. life I um I mean as much as I cover.

president of United States whether it's. former president Trump or President. Biden or President Obama all the way. back to Reagan it seems you know more. and more intense and more and more. divided and sadly scarier as the days. grow on and just having this happen in. front of you and I'm sitting here in the. car and it's been I'm in a dark parking. lot and I'm you know just hearing those. gunshots where were you how far from the.

former president were you when the shots. came from him I was. probably less than three feet from him. maybe four at the most because I was. right up against the stage and he was. directly above me oh my God Doug you. yourself could have been hit believe me. Serena I I when he was whisked off I. turned around and I saw people. scattering and and I thought oh my God I. was right in the line my heart was.

pounding through my chest and I was. shaking and you know I was just like I. can't believe this happened so tell me. exactly what you saw through your camera. lens dug what were you looking at right. before and then what did you see exactly. at the moment that it happened I was. focused on the president as he was. making his remarks there was a huge flag. American flag above him flying I was. trying to do something that showed him. on the podium and him with the flag up. there.

and I was in the right moment as far as. concentrating and being right there so I. could see him and then the former. president was making remarks he was. gesturing towards his. right and when he put his hand out to. gesture something said take a look what. happened there were these three or four. loud. pops and I just kept taking pictures.

and it all became a blur I just kept my. finger on the. shutter and then he grabbed his ear and. then fell from behind the podium I. didn't see him behind the Trump sign and. I ran to the left to try and see what. was going on and by that time he was. being covered by in the Secret Service. and there was a lot of yelling and. pushing and you know just them trying to. protect him and getting over of him I I.

I'm positive I heard them say sir sir. sir you know and I think they were just. trying to see how bad he was he was hit. and after that it was very chaotic there. was a lot of like move back get out of. the way move back did you know where the. gunman was no I only knew that the pops. came definitely from my left ear I could. hear it very loud so I assume that's. where they came from and did that person.

continue to shoot I thought I heard. maybe two or three more. shots after the former president. disappeared from your lens correct yeah. and I don't know if that was a secret. service shooting back at that point but. I did hear more than you know the first. three or four I mean they were very. quick which now that I look back I was. an idiot to be that close but instincts. just brought me closer you know to the. stage to try and see what was going.

[Applause]. [Music]. on and then when he they brought him up. I thought oh my God he's okay he's alive. and then he put his fist up and then as. he got closer to the steps he kind of. stopped with the agents and I could tell. the agents were trying to put their arms. over him to Shield him and he was. defying and putting his fist up and he. didn't say anything but he just pumped. his fist. [Applause].

what did you think when you saw Trump do. that you captured that moment what did. you think when he did that oh I was he. was just so just pissed off like defiant. that's all that I could think of is God. he's mad as hell he is really. mad you know the image that you took of. former president Trump pumping his fist. in the air with the blood on his face. with a secret service all huddled around.

him the one you referenced this photo is. in many ways already becoming really the. iconic photo of this moment defining the. episode in history really did you know. immediately that would be the. case I I didn't Sabrina I. didn't I didn't know what I you know. because it was happening so fast and at. that point my camera went from in my eye. to lifting it up above me and just. because there were people in front of me. that you know I just I had no idea that.

it would be the image it is until I saw. it on the camera afterwards when I was. shaking and looking at my pictures. thinking oh my gosh oh my. gosh you know it brings chills to me it. is definitely an image that I'll think. about when I close my eyes tonight to go. to sleep at some we hour in the. morning Doug there's one photograph you. took with a kind of blurred moving image.

and it looks like it might actually be a. bullet a a bullet streaking past the. former president can you talk about that. photo is that actually one of the. bullets I never thought that I would. have a picture of the bullet behind him. but after the event had happened and I'm. looking through my camera at pictures. that I'm going to send to the office and. I said to the editor Jennifer listen Jen. I'm sending you the sequence of when he. was speaking.

when the shots rang out and please look. at him closely because at that point. there were speculation that he was not. shot and you know I called Maggie one of. our reporters and Maggie Henman said hey. Maggie I definitely think he was shot. because he looks to his right he. flinches he grabs his ear his hand is. has blood on it at that point and then. he went down so when I asked Jen can you. look at him closely and Jen said I will.

and she literally text me back a minute. later and said you won't believe this we. think there's a picture of the bullet. flying behind the former president's. head and I said what and I'm getting. chills now because I now that I've seen. the picture and I I'm looking at the. sequence because there's nothing there. nothing there nothing there and then. it's right behind his head and well of. course we haven't at this hour 9:54 p.m. exactly confirmed that this is the image. of the bull that hurt him but it.

certainly seems like it could be that. you captured the exact moment that he. got shot it it was I mean from what I. can tell it's definitely a bullet that. was fired at him whether it hit him or. not is um TBD I just don't know at this. time like you. said Doug you said that when this. shooting happened that your instinct was. to keep your finger on the shutter and. you know that's a pretty unique Instinct. it's it's photographer Instinct and I.

love that I'm assuming that's all kind. of your accumulated experience over the. decades you know you referenced this. earlier but you've covered presidents. for four decades you've captured the. most historic moments probably present. for more of the history in our country. than any other journalist in. Washington how are you thinking about. this event in the context of all of the. others that you've been present for yeah. this is by far the most remarkable and.

sad situation that I've ever witnessed. you know the see a person running for. president of United States someone's. trying to end their life and you know as. a photog you hope that if you're there. for that day that you you're able to do. your job and then you're in the right. place to do your job and that's all I. kept thinking you know was I was trying. to run around the stage trying to you. know just to see you know how the.

president was doing and um I hope I. didn't. [Music]. blink I hopefully captured what happened. and that's what my job is to record. history and um this is definitely one of. those historic moments that sadly I was. a part of but also I'm grateful that I. didn't I didn't Flinch and I didn't. blink and I wasn't shot. so I'm grateful for.

that yes you were our witness. Doug well thank you. [Music]. suprema we'll be right. [Music]. back Glenn you've been reporting ing on. the investigation into the shooting at.

president Trump's rally on Saturday. we're talking to you at 4:55 p.m. on. Sunday before we get to the details of. what's been found so far what do we know. about how Trump is doing how he's been. in the hour since the shooting. remarkably well while it was sort of. shocking on television you could see the. blood splatter across his cheek it was. an injury on his ear but his injuries. were relatively minimal he was cleared. at a local hospital flew back to his.

Golf Resort at Bedminster in New Jersey. and has made it entirely clear that he. doesn't have any intention to skip the. Republican National Convention in. Milwaukee this week and do we know for. sure it was a bullet that hit him that's. a little bit ambiguous there were some. reports that he was injured by flying. glass from his teleprompter but in a. truth social post he said he was shot by. a bullet and in a conference called. today with the FBI they refused to.

address the issue at all got it and what. about the people in the crowd who were. also hit one man was killed his name is. Corey comparator and he was apparently. shielding his family from the gunfire. and in addition two other bystanders. were seriously injured and they were. taken to the hospital so Glenn what is. the picture that law enforcement has. pieced together about what happened on. Saturday well the FBI and Department of. Justice are investigating this is. an assassination attempt and also a.

potential incident of domestic terrorism. and here's the picture that they've. compiled it started off as a regular. Trump rally uh everything seemed to be. in order people were in a in a good mood. Trump started speaking at around 6 p.m. and roughly 10 minutes into his speech. Trump was talking about immigration. that's when a gunshot is heard Trump. stops mid-sentence then he flinches uh. Trump then clutched ear and you could.

see the splatter of blood across his. cheeks then another two shots are. quickly fired and he ducks behind the. podium and almost immediately this whole. clutch of Secret Service agents. surrounds Trump uh and then you hear a. burst of about five more. shots the crowd was completely. disoriented some people were sort of. cheering other people started screaming. and you could see behind Trump that. folks were responding to those uh people. who had been injured at some point a.

secret service sniper shoots back and. kills the shooter we know from looking. at footage that at this point he's lying. dead on a rooftop about 4 500 feet away. from Trump and some of the images show. an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle. laying near his body the Secret Service. are still laying on top of trump. shielding him then you hear a couple of. seconds later shoot her down shoot her. down and it's at that point that they. start to move the agents that surround. him kind of in a shell slowly move him.

off stage and the thing I found most. extraordinary having covered Trump on. and off all these years is how quickly. when he realized that he was physically. okay that he pivoted to a complete. understanding of what the image was what. the moment meant politically right and. and there's just this extraordinary. moment of defiance where he balls his. fists uh and the crowd starts to chant. USA USA USA I I just can't emphasize how.

extraordinary that was and just like he. had this Instinct that this may have. been a horrific event but he was somehow. seeing it as a political one he was. making use of it and and really. connecting with the people at the rally. somebody worked with Trump for many. years said this to me a long time ago a. lot of other politicians play the music. they can read the notes Trump can hear. the music and that was one of those. moments where he intuitively Ood the. moment understood the image understood.

the sound and behaved in a way that. maximized his position going forward it. was really really something. else okay so on the shooter it wasn't. that he somehow passed through a. security check or evaded a security. check he was just completely outside the. zone that the Secret Service considered. the zone of danger right the shooter was. completely outside the event on a. warehouse roof outside of where Trump.

was speaking there's some reporting that. he may have attempted to get in earlier. but but part of the complication here. was that he wasn't actually within the. perimeter of the event itself got it and. what is the Secret Service saying about. why it was that that building with an. apparent clear shot of the podium was. outside the perimeter well the Secret. Service is an independent Security. Agency that's responsible for the. protection. of the president and other senior.

American officials candidates get. protection as well but they don't. operate in isolation when they come to a. town they often coordinate with local. law enforcement sometimes you'll see for. instance State Police sealing off. highways when the motorcade comes. through well often times Secret Service. will have control over the event itself. while local law enforcement is tasked. with controlling things outside of the. perimeter that appears to have been what. happened in Pennsylvania there were four.

counter sniper teams on Saturday two. secret service and two local and the. building outside the perimeter would. typically have been under the purview of. local law enforcement got it so. basically Secret Service was taking care. of security inside the lines of that. perimeter and local law enforcement was. taking care of the security outside. those lines and that's where the shooter. was shooting from outside the lines do. we know. what happened with local law enforcement.

there how this shooter getting to the. top of a roof ended up kind of falling. through the cracks for them nobody's. quite sure but the speed with which this. happened seems to have been an important. Dynamic it wasn't like this guy was. camped out for hours it appears that he. scrambled up onto the roof of the. warehouse moving rather quickly and. planted himself and then fired so there. wasn't a lot of time for law enforcement. to react apparently and what do we know.

so far about the shooter what have. investigators learned his name is Thomas. Matthew Crooks he is 20 years old he's. from bethl Park Pennsylvania which is. about 40 miles from the scene of the. shooting he was generally regarded in. school as a quiet intelligent guy and. he'd been working as a dietary aid at a. local nursing home and investigators. told us that he was interested in chess. and that he had recently taken up. computer coding and what did the. authorities say about his motive they.

don't know that is the big question the. public record is very scant he is a. registered Republican this would have. been his first presidential election. voting and it appears that he gave $15. According to some reports to a group. that generally identifies as liberal but. mostly I would say investigators are. exasperated by the lack of any kind of. directionality in terms of what his. motivation or political beliefs have. been he has for instance. not written any kind of a political.

Manifesto and there aren't even a a. trail of social media posts to to fall. back on they're really hoping that once. they are able to breach his cell phone. that that will unlock a trove of. information that will Point them in the. right direction but he really is an. enigmatic character right now do. authorities think his attack was highly. planned and is there any indication that. more attacks were planned. nobody really knows the gun that he used.

was purchased by his father authorities. are not clear whether or not his father. gave it to him lent it to him or if he. took it from his father but they don't. believe his father bought it on his. behalf what they did find were some. explosive devices there were apparently. some canisters found in the car that he. had been driving which served the. purpose of delaying the investigation. for hours and hours yesterday um as the. bomb squad removed and deactivated these.

devices and a law enforcement official. told me that there was also a suspicious. device founded his residence so he. clearly had some knowledge of both. firearms and explosives but they aren't. sure where he picked it up and what he. intended to do so this of course as you. know is the first time in about 40 years. that a current or former president has. been wounded in an assassin assination. attempt Ronald Reagan of course was shot.

in. 1981 what fundamentally went wrong here. is there any way to see this other than. as a colossal failure by the Secret. Service I think this is going to be. regarded as one of the darkest days in. the history of the Secret Service now. all of us who have covered the White. House have traveled with agents. tremendously high level of. professionalism and the job is difficult. bordering on Impossible at times but.

allowing someone to have a clear firing. line to a major presidential candidate. in the middle of this kind of Highly. polarized environment is frankly. inconceivable and I think the other law. enforcement agencies including the FBI. and Folks at the Department of Justice. were fairly unvarnished in private in. their criticism of the way that the. Secret Service planned this so there are. a lot of unanswered questions and some. lawmakers have called for there to be a.

significant investigation of this uh and. the house oversight committee will call. the head of the Secret Service to. testify over the next couple of. weeks what has Trump said since the. shooting he's been relatively muted I. think one of the really amazing moments. and something which has been kind of. overlooked Joe Biden called up Donald. Trump and they seem to have had a civil. exchange I think it was this very very. rare and brief moment of Comedy in this. campaign which is just suffused with.

negativity and hostility and then Trump. called for National unity and he's. basically kind of kept up that Vibe for. the past 24 hours but in his signature. defiant way he wrote in a text message. to supporters I will never s surrender. and on Truth social he called for his. supporters to Stand United and not to. allow quote evil to win but he really. seems to be Towing the line. between his typical bombast and adopting.

a tone which is a little more. conciliatory at a moment when Americans. of all political stripes are extremely. uneasy and many are just frankly. terrified and what have been the other. reactions to this assassination attempt. what's been happening in Washington what. have the people been saying Democrats. and administration officials have called. for Unity essentially saying that this. was not just an attack on Trump but an. attack on democracy look there's no.

place in America for this kind of. violence it's sick it's sick President. Biden made it very clear in a couple of. appearances over the weekend that he. condemned the violence we cannot allow. for this to be happening we cannot be. like this we cannot condone this and. said that this kind of reaction. regardless of your political stance was. completely. unacceptable Republicans had a wider. range of reactions there were some in. the party who took took a measured. approach everyone needs to turn the.

rhetoric down like from Speaker of the. House Mike Johnson um you have political. opposition and political opponents but. we're all Americans and we have to treat. one another with dignity and respect but. you also heard some Republicans taking a. far different approach you had people. like Mike Collins a kind of a Firebrand. republican from Georgia writing on. social media that Joe Biden sent the. orders to shoot Donald Trump wow. obviously there's no evidence for that I. I do believe that Joe Biden is. responsible for the shooting today you.

had Lauren bobbert from Colorado in a. television interview saying Joe Biden is. responsible for the shooting everyone. who has called him a fascist everyone. who has called him a threat to democracy. who said that he should be essentially. saying that it was Democratic rhetoric. that caused this again there's been no. evidence whatsoever yet that the shooter. was motivated by that kind of rhetoric. but that was a common Republican talking. point that you saw emerging to say that.

using all of this uh description of. trump as an existential threat to. democracy had somehow whipped up people. to enact violent acts okay so there some. Cross currence of rhetoric here in the. aftermath of the shooting and we see. some signs of unity but it seems. undeniable that this is a very fraught. political. moment how much have you been hearing in. your you reporting about the possibility.

of further violence it's a huge fear and. it's building upon concerns that FBI and. Justice Department officials have talked. to us about for months and months and. months that they are worried about. violence springing up in this election. on a call on Sunday they reiterated that. the threat level is really high for. months they've been telling us that. they're worried about shootings spawning. copycats and also outside of violence. it's this wave of. misinformation that tends to accompany.

these big events uh that can also create. a bad cycle people get whipped up and. that in turn incites more violence so I. think there is a level of tremendous. uncertainty and political conventions as. we have seen in years past are a. gathering point for for all kinds of. folks mostly people who are engaged in. peaceful protests but it's also uh been. catalytic for individuals uh who want to. create create all kinds of problems I I.

think if there is a silver lining it is. that this near miss this near National. catastrophe uh has alerted law. enforcement agencies particularly the. Secret Service um to to up their. vigilance to the highest possible level. so uh to a certain extent like a a near. Miss of an airliner potentially crashing. it might have the positive impact of.

having people pay more attention at a. time of what appears to be maximum. danger Glenn what happens now I mean you. mentioned political conventions the. Republican National Convention is. starting on Monday do we have any idea. of how that event will play out given. what just happened how this changes. things well first and foremost I think. you're going to see a level of security. at both conventions. uh that's. unprecedented in terms of the political.

impact that's a little harder to predict. um this presents Donald Trump with an. enormous opportunity to reset His Image. but it's an entirely unpredictable. political environment and the situation. could. change I think its greatest meaning its. most resonant meaning is that our. politics is changing and moving into a. dark ER and more dangerous place and the.

question is are we entering an age where. political violence becomes common place. or is this a moment where we realize. collectively that this is not the future. we can accept and what happens in the. next few days is going to be quite. important to help give an answer to that. indeed Glenn thank you thank you. [Music].

we'll be right. back here's what else you should know. today on Saturday Israel conducted a. major air strike in the southern Gaza. Strip that it said targeted hamas's top. military commander who was allegedly one. of the AR ARS of the October 7th attack.

on Israel gazen Health authorities said. that at least 90 people died in the. assault but by Sunday night it was not. clear whether the commander targeted in. the strike Muhammad di was among. them today's episode was produced by Rob. zipco Shannon Lynn Lindsay Garrison and. Stella tan with help from Carlos PR it. was edited by Patricia willins with help. from Paige cowt fact checked by Susan.

Lee contains original music by Maran. Lozano Diane Wong Sophia lman and Pat. mccusker and was engineered by Alyssa. Moxley our theme music is by Jim. brunberg and Ben lansberg of. [Music]. wonderly special thanks to Beth Flynn. Simon levian and Jessica Meer. [Music].

[Music]. that's it for the daily I'm Sabrina. Tavern see you tomorrow. [Music].