Attempt Assasination of Donald Trump
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00:00But police and FBI have now confirmed it to be an assassination attempt.
00:09They say it is still an active crime scene.
00:13Police officially still not identifying who the shooter is though, although they say they
00:16are close, they say they are waiting until they are 100% confident.
00:21Some complications have slowed down a positive identification because there was no ID on
00:26the shooter, they say, so they are conducting DNA checks and they say there is no reason
00:30to believe that there is any other existing threat, so a lone wolf, a solo shooter.
00:35But aside from that, the New York Post is right now reporting the shooter to be 20-year-old
00:41Thomas Matthew Crooks.
00:43They've got a photograph there that has been published again.
00:47This is the New York Post.
00:49It's an image of what appears to be that shooter on the roof with blood on his face and security
00:56standing over his body.
00:59That there, one of the images of the day, the 20-year-old shooter there on the roof,
01:05Thomas Matthew Crooks.
01:07Again, this is according to the New York Post, a little over 100 metres away from where Donald
01:13Trump was giving that campaign speech.
01:16So let's back things up and recap what's happened today.
01:19There has been an assassination attempt on the former US President Donald Trump as he
01:24was campaigning in Butler in Pennsylvania early today.
01:28Donald Trump was grazed by a bullet on his ear, his right ear, and he has been discharged
01:34from hospital.
01:35That's the good news.
01:37He had reportedly been taken to be treated in Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania after a shooting
01:41at that nearby campaign rally.
01:44He's now been discharged or has left the county where the shooting took place and is under
01:48the protection of US Secret Service as well as the state police.
01:53So this is what we know about the shooting so far.
01:56The former president and the current challenger had been holding a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania
02:01when audience members reported hearing multiple gunshots.
02:04It's not just audience members.
02:07That video that's beaming around the world now, we can all hear multiple gunshots.
02:11Trump then seen falling to the ground after clutching his ear where he was quickly surrounded
02:16by his armed security staff, the Secret Service.
02:20He was then escorted away from the scene.
02:23The Secret Service says Trump is now safe and has launched protective measures.
02:29So backing things up again, this is the moment that the shooting took place.
02:33If you want to really see something that's said, take a look at what happened.
03:23Shooters down.
03:24Are we good to move?
03:25We're good to move.
03:26We're clear.
03:27We're clear.
03:28Clear.
03:29Clear.
03:30We're clear.
03:31Clear.
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04:16Clear.
04:17Clear.
04:18Clear.
04:19Clear.
04:20Clear.
04:22CLEAR CROWD NOISE
04:26SILENCE
04:40Umm, yes.
04:41Look we've got a fresh angle now of what actually transpired in those frantic seconds
04:45that there was that assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
04:49We have pictures of a reverse angle here that shows Donald Trump actually speaking at the
04:55podium, and then we see one of those Secret Service detail guards on a rooftop firing
05:01back towards that gunfire.
05:02Have a look.
05:03And you know, that's a little bit old, that chart, that chart's a couple of months old.
05:08And if you want to really see something that's said, take a look at what happened.
05:16Wow.
05:18Now, we're also just learning that the Associated Press is reporting that an AR style rifle
05:23has now also been found at this scene.
05:26We understand it was found outside, again, the perimeter of this event today.
05:30But those pictures, they're quite shocking.
05:32It shows the seconds in which the Secret Service detail who were there, and there was a huge
05:38detail.
05:39They follow a former president around, and they are stationed on those rooftops around.
05:44They have responded in seconds, guys, they're quite a remarkable angle to what has transpired.
05:50You know, David, that's extraordinary, because that's happening, reacting in milliseconds
05:53there.
05:54We'll keep a look at this vision.
05:55But just as we're talking, we're being told right now that he has definitely left the
05:58hospital as well, David.
06:01Yes, we've just heard that in the past couple of seconds.
06:05In fact, his motorcade has been seen leaving.
06:07We assume that the former president Donald Trump is with that motorcade right now.
06:11We're looking at these pictures, they have lights and sirens going.
06:14It is the way that Donald Trump travels, he gets that privilege, he gets to ride like
06:18that in that motorcade with the Secret Service, so nothing too unusual there.
06:23But he is leaving just hours after being taken into that hospital to be checked by those
06:28medical professionals.
06:29So we've already heard from the former president, he said he's fine, but perhaps an example
06:34of that right there, he is now leaving hospital.
06:37Sorry, David, you were saying earlier that he actually had a planned event this evening.
06:41Do we think he's going to go ahead with that?
06:44Would he do that?
06:45Well, yeah, we're just trying to firm that up at the moment.
06:49There had been a suggestion that he had been scheduled to actually attend a UFC rally in
06:54Denver, Texas.
06:55Now, I don't know if you've seen pictures of Donald Trump actually attending these rallies
06:59before, but if there was a Venn diagram between US fans and MAGA fans, there is a huge overlap
07:05in the middle.
07:06And often when he walks into these stadiums, he gets a hero's welcome.
07:11So he had been scheduled to attend one of those.
07:14We are just trying to firm up if indeed he is now still going to attend that event.
07:21But if he did, that would be remarkable, given what has happened today.
07:24David, I just want to talk to what we're looking at the screen.
07:26I know you can see it as well.
07:27I'm amazed by this.
07:28This is an extraordinary moment because the snipers are reacting within milliseconds here.
07:34So look, Trump's down the bottom right.
07:36There's the sniper on the roof.
07:38Trump ducks.
07:39The sniper begins to fire.
07:41From this, we can deduce that the snipers have stopped that attacker shooting Trump
07:47further.
07:48The reaction is that quickly, that fast.
07:52As you point out, it is within milliseconds.
07:55You can see that person.
07:56Well, first of all, you see Donald Trump react.
07:58He's up there.
07:59He throws his hands around his head.
08:01Something appears to be bothering him.
08:03We now know that they are bullets.
08:05And then in the background, that Secret Service detail, I'm just looking at those images now.
08:09He reacts within seconds, as you say.
08:11They are trained to do this.
08:14The good news is they haven't been forced to actually draw on those skills in a very,
08:18very long time in American history, at least modern history.
08:21But here we see it in action.
08:23This is what these guys actually trained for.
08:26And we see these guys at events, major events all the time.
08:29And Ange, you know this from your time here as well.
08:32You go to any event.
08:33It could be a Joe Biden event.
08:34It could be a Donald Trump event.
08:35They take no chances with security.
08:37There are that detail.
08:39They are on rooftops often around the event perimeter, particularly if it is an open air
08:44event.
08:45And we've seen it there now.
08:46They respond within seconds.
08:48An incredible effort there from the Secret Service detail.
08:51But just on that, guys, and I'll just tell you one one extra thing as well that we're
08:55starting to learn is that the head of the Secret Service is now going to be called in
08:59for Congress.
09:00And of course, there is going to be a major investigation into how this actually happened
09:05and how it was actually allowed to happen.
09:07So congressional leaders are already demanding answers.
09:10David, let's stay in this moment, though, because we're going to bring up a still image
09:13on the on the screen, which we've sourced from an AP photographer.
09:17Now, what's circled in red might explain what Donald Trump said in his statement about he
09:22heard whizzing.
09:24Now, that's a bullet, as best as we can make out, that's traveling to the right of screen
09:30past Donald Trump's right hand side.
09:33We know from what he said his first hand account was he heard a whizzing sound.
09:38Then he felt a bullet striking him at the top of the right of his ear.
09:42Now, look, we're sourcing this from an AP photographer.
09:45We'll take that as gospel at this stage.
09:47But that would be an extraordinary image, if accurate, of one of those bullets that
09:51would appear to have missed Donald Trump or perhaps might be the one that struck him and
09:55carried on.
09:58That is going to be photo of the century, if indeed it is a real photo at the moment.
10:02We must preface all of this by saying that the Internet right now is flooded with false
10:06information.
10:07And we are trying to get those images and that information from the best sources that
10:11we can right now.
10:12But that has been attributed to a photographer at The New York Times, an incredible picture.
10:17It does appear to show that bullet.
10:19And what is quite remarkable about this is Donald Trump is now saying that that bullet
10:23has gone on to pierce his ear on the right hand side of his face or the right hand part
10:28of his ear.
10:29How it has then avoided his skull is another question entirely.
10:34The logistics of that seem quite incredible at this stage that Donald Trump has walked
10:39away from this unscathed.
10:41But that picture itself, I mean, that paints a thousand words.
10:45The terror of that moment, that bullet whizzing towards a man who was the former president
10:50of the United States and, of course, a man who wants to be a guy.
10:53So the FBI, I'm being told, has now identified the shooter.
10:56Do we have the identity?
10:57Can we have this?
10:59OK, so here we are being done with the FBI and we just read this right here.
11:04The FBI has identified the name is Thomas Matthew Crooks.
11:08He is 20 years old of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the subject involved in the assassination
11:13attempt of former President Donald Trump on July 13th in Butler, Pennsylvania.
11:18This remains an active and ongoing investigation, and anyone with information that may assist
11:23with the investigation is encouraged to submit photos or videos online.
11:29And while we're talking about this, let's bring in former U.S. Army Reserve Captain
11:32Abe Hamaday on this.
11:33I think it's important, but to you first, Aaron Cohen.
11:37It seems to me like everybody who's got this information now of a Thomas Matthew Crooks,
11:4220 years old from Pennsylvania, is now going over and looking at his social media footprint
11:48and trying to find out who he was involved in, what exactly was his ideology, if any,
11:55and what his background was, because that's kind of what what we can do nowadays.
11:59Well, we just profiled him based on the age in the last 30 seconds that we were talking.
12:04He's 20 years old.
12:05It's impressionable.
12:06He's physical.
12:07He's a male.
12:08He's white.
12:09He's got a history of being able to get up on that rooftop.
12:11Again, very, very disturbing that it wasn't covered, that particular building.
12:17Not going to point my finger at the Secret Service, but as the FBI continues to do their
12:21investigation, and I agree with the former detective that you had on, let them do their
12:24job.
12:25Most of these guys are very well, highly skilled, very good agents.
12:28They mean well.
12:29They've got a lot of tools in the kit, and they're going to continue to unravel based
12:32on search warrants and subpoenas that are going to get issued.
12:35They're going to start tapping.
12:36They're going to start looking at the cell phone records.
12:38They're going to start peeling away all of those layers to figure out who he's connected
12:44to, if he was acting alone, what his belief system was to try and figure out what those
12:50motivators were that got him out on that rooftop on the day.
12:54The fact that the FBI released this, to me, that's a sign.
12:57They realize that there's a lot of eyeballs on right now, and I think that they understand
13:02that that transparency is really, really important, especially with the fact that Donald
13:08Trump is as boisterous as you can be, and so I think they're doing it right to try and
13:13get this information flooding as quick as possible.