House Homeland Security Committee to investigate assassination attempt
The House Homeland Security Committee will investigate the assassination attempt on Trump, committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., said today.
Green said he spoke with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle regarding “pressing questions” about the attack, adding that he also discussed the committee’s “numerous information requests” with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Cheatle pledged to brief committee members this week and to appear before them when the committee is back in session, according to Green, who called the attack “a watershed moment in our history.”
“The American people deserve thorough and prompt answers to what led to the first near-assassination of a commander in chief in more than 40 years,” Green said.
Biden address tonight mirrors 2020 election victory speech
Biden's words from the Oval Office tonight revolved around unity and toning down political rhetoric, which he called for on Nov. 7, 2020, when he addressed supporters shortly after he was projected to be the winner.
"It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again. Listen to each other again," Biden said in 2020.
Speaking to those who voted for him and those who voted for Trump, the then-president elect added, “To make progress, we have to stop treating our opponents as our enemies. They are not our enemies. They are Americans. They’re Americans."
At RNC protest kickoff event, concerns about counterprotests
The main leftist protest group demonstrating against the Republican National Convention held a kickoff concert at an event space outside the downtown Milwaukee security perimeter, where attendees expressed enthusiasm for their cause and concerns about counterprotest efforts.
Hosted by the Coalition to March on the RNC, the event is intended to raise money that would potentially be needed for bail costs if protesters with the group are arrested during its protest march tomorrow — one of the only major protest efforts that has been organized during the four-day convention.
Attendees nodded their heads and sipped their beers as a lineup of punk and metal bands belted out tunes, while supporters sold merchandise and baked goods to raise money.
Speaking over a chorus of throaty lyrics, Jason Burczyk, who runs booking for the event where the group is hosting the concert, said he “absolutely” supports the Coalition to March on the RNC, which he described as “level-headed.”
He's concerned that people who may show up to counterprotest — a concern that he said became sharper after the assassination attempt on Trump.
“I’m not so much worried about this group as I’m worried about the detractors and the outside forces that will come in later whose goal is destruction,” he said. “Hopefully, we will just all get through it in one piece.”
RNC speakers told to leave speeches unchanged in wake of Trump assassination attempt
Speakers at the Republican National Convention have been given specific advice on how to handle their speeches in the wake of yesterday’s attempted assassination of Trump: Change nothing.
Trump aides and RNC leadership have not told those speaking at the weeklong convention in Milwaukee to alter their original speeches after the shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump did not want to show signs of weakness or signal that the shooting affected the long-planned convention, according to seven people who are either set to give RNC speeches or their aides.
Biden decries political violence: 'We are not enemies'
Speaking from the Oval Office, Biden denounced political violence and implored Americans to "lower the temperature" and remember that "when we disagree we are not enemies. We’re neighbors, friends, co-workers.”
Biden compared the attempted assassination of Trump to the attack on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, last year and the alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
"The political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated,” Biden said, telling viewers that “American democracy is where arguments are made in good faith … where the rule of law is respected.”
“It’s time to cool it down,” he said. “We all have a responsibility to do that.”
Suspected shooter was member of Pennsylvania gun club
The suspected shooter in yesterday's attempted assassination of Trump was a member of an area gun club, the organization said in a statement.
The Clairton Sportsmen's Club confirmed the membership of Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, but said it could not provide more information amid the FBI probe into the roots of the attack.
"Obviously, the Club fully admonishes the senseless act of violence that occurred yesterday," it said. "The Club also offers its sincerest condolences to the Comperatore family and extends prayers to all of those injured including the former President."
Corey Comperatore, 50, a former chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company, was identified as the sole victim fatally shot by Crooks during yesterday's attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. Crooks was killed by at least one Secret Service sharpshooter, authorities said.
Clairton Sportsmen's Club President Bill Sellitto said the organization was unsettled by yesterday's events.
“We’re sick over this," he said. "It’s just a terrible thing."
The club operates multiple ranges, including facilities for skeet shooting, high-power rifle exercises and archery practice, at its location in Clairton, Pennsylvania.
‘A commander in chief moment’: Inside Biden’s response to the Trump rally shooting
Within an hour after the first shots were fired in the attempted assassination of Trump, Biden had been briefed on what had unfolded, he was preparing a written statement condemning it and planning an address the nation, and he had tried to call his rival in the election.
Biden’s swift response yesterday to fast-moving developments is uncharacteristic for a White House that tends to react more slowly to crises than even some of its allies would like. The pace was designed to leave no question about how seriously Biden was taking the attempt to assassinate his political opponent and to set the tone for how he wants to be seen by the country as he navigates one of the most horrific moments in American history.
DNC chair and RNC chair had a 'brief call,' DNC spokesperson says
DNC Chair Jaime Harrison and RNC Chair Michael Whatley had a "brief call" yesterday, according to a DNC spokesperson.
Harrison offered "his thoughts and condolences" and highlighted "the Democratic Party’s continued opposition to any and all forms of political violence," the spokesperson said.
An RNC spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Biden campaign previews Biden's Oval Office address
A campaign official said that in tonight’s address, Biden will call to end political violence for good.
The official argued that Biden has stood against political violence his entire career by starting in politics after the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. — and then coming back to run for president after the 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
“He has been clear that we don’t settle our differences through violence,” the official said. “We settle them at the ballot box.”
The official slammed Republicans who were suggesting without evidence that Biden’s use of the word “bull's-eye” when he was speaking to donors last week was partly responsible for the assassination attempt on Trump.
“In a moment when Americans should come together and unite to condemn this horrifying attack, anyone, especially elected officials with national platforms, politicizing this tragedy, spreading disinformation and seeking to further divide Americans isn’t just unacceptable — it’s an abdication of leadership," the official said.
The campaign faces questions about whether the assassination attempt hurts one of its central arguments: its accusation that Trump is a threat to democracy. The official said that the shooting reinforces the campaign’s point that political violence in any form must end and that it doesn’t plan to shy away from that message.
Former Secret Service source: Shooter's location was well-known vulnerability
A former senior Secret Service source familiar with the Trump rally site’s protocols and planning told NBC News that the roof where the shooter was located was a well-known, high-priority vulnerability for the agency, known from previous Secret Service protection at rallies at the site and identified the day before during a walkthrough.
The source also said that two counter-sniper teams were on site and that they did not need approval to shoot.
The source called the assassination attempt a security “failure.”
“I mean, I think anybody with a little common sense, with no prior experience, just looking to the right of the stage, [would know] that is a very, very vulnerable spot to have a building for one thing, with a roof,” the source said. “You have multiple teams, you know, the CAT [counter assault team], the CS [counter sniper] team, the CAT team, the actual site, advance team, supervisor. I mean, they should have all called that out.”