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Former President Donald Trump was hit in the ear during a Pennsylvania rally when a shooter opened fire. One attendee was killed, two are critically injured. The Associated Press reporting that this is being investigated as an assassination attempt. And we actually had a reporter on the ground, Heydriana Lowen Crunch. She joins us. Now, Heydriana, are you with me? Now?
Yes, I am. Thanks for having me.
And you were actually there when all of this happened. Can you sort of set the scene for us? Sure?
I mean, it's important to note that he former President Donald Trump, started at around six o'clock. It was originally supposed started at five. People come hours in advance. They're waiting outside. It's extremely hot. You know, there's water being passed around left and right, so there's a lot of anticipation, and there's there, you know, it's a very big crowd
and everyone's close together. And so a couple minutes in, fifteen or so minutes in, at around six fifteen, he's in the middle of speaking and all of a sudden, you hear what sounds like a gunshot. You're not entirely sure, it's you know, people have heard fire works before, but not everyone has heard gunshots before. There was screaming, everyone immediately ducked down. There was just so much chaos that
people couldn't even kind of figure out what was going on. Obviously, as we know, the Homer president was immediately rushed off the stage after grabbing his ear. You know, there was blood, and I was actually around a lot of the attendees who were running, a lot of them with kids, you know, grabbing the kids. Some others kind of milled around. They weren't sure would he come back. Everyone was just kind of in a state of confusion and chaos. So it really it really was a sight, Adrianna.
I understand that there were metal detectors there fifteen thousand people attending this rally, So it makes sense that unless you had a bird's eye view or a pulled back view like the rest of us who were watching on television had, it would be if you were sort of you couldn't see the forest for the trees as it were, you would get caught up in that chaos. Did you also see a level of security there when you were there?
Yeah, So this is definitely not my first Trump rally. I've been too many. I've been to some inside that are a bit smaller, some that are outside, this of course being a bigger one, huge open space, not a lot of buildings, so you know, it was really interesting kind of just seeing everyone react. I mean, I'm sure again as you mentioned, if I had a bird's eye view, seeing what it must have looked like everyone ducking at once.
You know, it was just very clear to see everyone kind of drop and then of course see everyone, well not everyone, but you know, some people start running, others kind of again more confused, sticking behind, but they're definitely were officers around. As you had mentioned, there are always metal detectors. People immediately were trying to you know, rush people. The officers were trying to rush the attendees out as soon as they could. But it really was a state of state of chaos.
And now they're this this particular rally, and Donald Trump's speech was sort of gearing up for the Republican National Convention, which is supposed to start on Monday in Milwaukee. Have you heard yet anything, and I know it's very early about more security, about different different schedule, about about more protection for the presidential candidate himself about anything going on.
With that, right, I mean, as you mentioned, this was this was a big weekend for him. He had had another rally in Florida. He has this win today heading off to Milwaukee. This is a big event of the year, of the cycle for the Republican Party. Know, he already got enough delegates to be the nominee, but this really makes it official. And so this is big. And you know, to your point, I think there will definitely be conversations
about what that will look like. They were already, you know, very intense, you know, and had he detailed security planning going on. You know, as someone you know myself, I will be attending that I've been kind of freefed about what that will look like.
So that's That's that.
Conversation has already started, and I'm sure this will only exascerate that.
All right, Thank you so much, Adrianna, and I want you to stay with us. By the way, Hedriana, don't go anywhere. We're going to turn now to Bloomberg's Joe Matthew, who also Joe, are you already in Milwaukee.
We just touched down a short time ago, Amy, and you know that flight of course, was from Washington, d C. Where we are based, and so it was an airplane full of media and political operatives, all of whom found out about this upon landing. And that's because the Wi Fi was not working on the airplane. There were members of the Trump campaign on that airplane, and it was quite remarkable to look up and down the aisles and see everyone glued to their phones realizing what had happened.
And then, of course, you know, we're surrounded by a lot of folks who are coming here to cover the convention, a lot of producers, a lot of reporters who were all on the phone trying to get their arms around this, and you know, you just pointed us in the right direction. Amy. This is going to be a real interesting twenty four hours to see how plans are potentially adjusted around this convention. Donald Trump was supposed to announce a running mate here
in the next twenty four to forty eight hours. There was likely event planning around that that we didn't know about yet, and all of this stuff is probably changing under our feet. That statement from Donald Trump is interesting as we try to learn more about what exactly happened, but it's hard to tell. Is he going to be in public tomorrow is the first day of the convention going to happen, And what are they going to do
with security here in Milwaukee. These are all big questions that have yet to be answered.
Tonight, I wanted to ask about the worldview. I want to just take a great, big, thirty thousand foot view, because we are hearing now not just from Democrats and Republicans, but from world leaders. We're hearing from the new prime minister in the UK, We're hearing from the Brazil's president, We're hearing from Central America. We're hearing from everybody, and they're all everybody is in one voice, condemning violence, particularly
condemning political violence. Okay, so where does it go from here? Because, as you know, Joe, there was a poll, a Bloomberg poll back in May where voters, both Democrats and Republicans, mostly independents, were concerned that this particular election, this particular election, would be marked with some sort of some sort of political violence.
Yep. Look, this is a very hot time, a very device of time in American politics. And no one knows right now what this means for the election. No one knows what it means for security surrounding these people who are running for the highest office, and it's going to take a minute to figure this out. The first job is going to be learning exactly what happened. The next job, or maybe the simultaneous job, is going to be lowering
the temperature here. Talk of retribution has become a daily event on this campaign trail, and it's not only Donald Trump who talks that way. So you know, Amy, we're reporters here and we try to deal with facts as we learn them, and we don't have a lot right now, so it's difficult to make a lot of judgments. You're going to see a lot of statements like the ones you're mentioning from around the world, from lawmakers in Washington.
We've heard from former presidents already here and everyone's holding their collective breath. They say Donald Trump is okay, and that's a real good start. The potential for lone wolf activity, the potential for people becoming more entrenched in their political views because of this, is high, and this is something that we should be all worried about as Americans right now.
Yeah, I've asked David Gurrow about this as well as Laura Davison and Jody Schneider. Is it possible? And maybe it's just because I like thinking of the sunshine and the happy part of life, But is it possible that this would be the catalyst for people to go you know what, maybe we should dial the rhetoric back a bit, Maybe we should not be so entrenched.
I like the way you think anything is possible right now, but that's why we shouldn't be casting about with predictions or clutch analysis that you're going to hear a lot of tonight the Sunday morning shows tomorrow, and look, people are going to be angry about this. I'd love to think that this is a turning point for the better in American politics, but I'm not sure we have the ingredients for that at the moment. It's very difficult to tell.
But let's also acknowledge the opportunity here for these two leaders. Donald Trump could go in a lot of different directions rhetorically and with this convention tomorrow, and so could the people surrounding him. For crying out loud, He's going to have Fana White from you know, the UFC on stage with him this week. This was a real brawler's kind of event that was coming together here, and that's part
of rallying your base. Well, look for him and for Joe Biden, this is an opportunity to maybe find some calm.
I want to just jump in. And to that point, when when former President Trump stood up and he was surrounded by the Secret Service, you saw him. He raised a fist and he screamed fight, fight, sort of rallying the troops. And also I think it was his way of letting people know he was okay.
You know, yeah, watching him pump his fist in the air, and he was clearly shaken. Any of us would be if we were thrown to the ground by a group of Secret Service agents, never mind clipped in the ear by whatever that was, if it was a bullet or a piece of glass. He says that it was a bullet that pierced his ear. I'm sure he was in shot. But also to have the presence of mind amy as a true performer that he is to take that moment to briefly rally the crowd, to pump his fists like this.
These are images that are going to last forever and probably at this point will eclipse the mugshot in terms of the historic images of this campaign.
Is it gonna eclipse the conversation about Biden's age.
Well, that's a great question. I'm not sure anything ken right now. I mean, just consider the dual storylines that we're looking at suddenly on both sides of this campaign. Thank god he was not hurt more than he was. But these are to your words earlier uncharted times, Joe, I'm.
Going to ask you to stay right there. We've got Rick Davis, Bloomberg Politics contributor joining us now, and Rick I wanted to jump on the line with you and ask about the campaign. Where things go from here. We know that the Biden campaign has stopped their outgoing communications. They've stopped the commercials. They pulled all their television commercials and I presume some of their radio commercials as well, at least for the time being. That seems like the
appropriate move. What do you think about that? Sure?
I think that that makes total sense. Most of their ads right now we're targeting, you know, Donald Trump negative campaign ads. Totally inappropriate to have those up on the air, you know, in a moment of crisis right now. And I say that from a political perspective, this really does have a significant impact on the political mood of the country. We haven't seen this kind of assault, assassination attempt on a political figure at this level in a long time.
Most people have grown up in a relatively benign environment. We talk a lot about political violence has been cropped up, but now we've seen it firsthand, and by tomorrow morning,
people will be waking up profoundly impacted by this. And I think that it's the right thing for the Biden campaign to have suspended their campaign in essence and focus on the health and well being of the former president and ensuring that we can keep the mood of the country calm and focus on the issues that bring us together, not those that divide us.
Rick, you have some experience with the Republican Convention. I believe you were heavily involved in two thousand and eight. What's the next step for them, what's the direction that they can take at this point.
Yeah, I've been to every Republican convention since nineteen seventy six and ran a couple of them, So this is going to have an impact on a lot of different things. Obviously, there was a very choreograph plan to announce the vice president. Over the course of the next forty eight hours, and obviously the president's condition is number one, and will he get back on track with his existing schedule as a lead up to showing up at the convention on Monday.
But you know, just to remind people listening, there's supposed to be a role call vote on Monday with both Donald Trump and his vice presidential nominee, and right now we don't.
Know who that is.
And the question is does this impact even the schedule at the convention based on the president's you know, availability, he may change his mind on how he wants to approach the entrance to this convention based on what's just happened to him.
Let's look ahead also at the Democratic National Convention. We've been focusing so much on the Republican National Convention because it's right around the corner, and this speech was his lead up to that. But the Democratic National Convention is in August, and all eyes were on that because of the controversy over President Biden's age and mental acuity and whether he would be challenged at this convention. Do you expect any of the focus to shift because of this?
Well, certainly, you know we're talking right now about Donald Trump, which we haven't really done at all in the course of the last two weeks since the debate, because it's all been focused on Joe Biden, his disasters to pay performance, and whether or not he would be able to continue his campaign. This will take Joe Biden out of the limelight. This will be focused on Donald Trump for the next week and appropriately so, even regardless of this incident. Today,
this is his convention. He's one of the very few in history of our country to have achieved what he's achieved by becoming the nominee of this party after having already served the president term and then skipped one. So it was already set up to be a historic event by any stretch of the imagination politically and now personally.
You know, every delegate who was planning to come to the convention books with this week, you know, is saying a prayer for Donald Trump and his family right now to ensure his safety and speedy recovery, whatever kind that may be. And so all the plans that Democrats were making about what attack they were going to make on Donald Trump, what were they going to be doing, all
that's been blown open. Having done this many times. Six months ago, they were nailing their program down at the Democratic Committee saying, here are the speakers we're going to want to have here, the themes we're going to want to talk about. They were all based on the campaign that existed before today. That campaign is now going to
have to be reevaluated from top to bottom. I cannot imagine a scenario where Joe Biden goes back on the road after this week's Republican Convention and attacks Donald Trump. It's just not going to seem the right tone for a campaign that's been affected by this assassination attempt.
Joe, if you're still with me, I'd like to turn to you and ask you a couple of questions if I could. We're now learning that Bill Ackman says he has just endorsed Donald Trump for president. Now, this is not a shocker. We kind of saw this coming. But this seems to have pushed him over the edge, right and has this whole event, maybe this was the time
for him to do it. Expect more of that, More of people who may have been on the fence or may have just been sort of leaning toward Trump now saying yeah, he's the guy because of this maybe.
And you're right, we thought this might happen anyway, So maybe not much of a nudge was needed for Bill Ackman. I just saw that headline cross the terminal as well, maybe and ask myself the same thing. And I just think this is why we can't spend time tonight trying to predict what's going to happen, because these are going to come in one other time, and we're going to see and hear things over the next twenty four hours that will probably be remarkable when we add them to
the composite of this whole campaign. But it's difficult to say, you're asking me about a potential you know, sympathy play here. I'm looking at these images as I talk to you, with blood streaming down his face, hiss in the air. These are dramatic images that are going to affect the way people look at him and look at this race. And to Rick's point, this really poses a real challenge
to the rhetoric on the Biden campaign. And people are circulating this remark that he made about putting Trump in a bull's eye, and I I'm sure he had no idea we'd be talking about it in this context tonight, But that's how sensitive people are going to be coming out of this, and to think that we're going to have a four day Republican convention, assuming that happens with the raw rah and the red meat that comes with this, I can't imagine what it's going to look and feel
like here. This is something we're going to have to experience together.
Could this possibly change the tone or the conversation when it comes to gun legislation? Oh jeez, I know, because the reason I ask is because the Secret Service just released a statement saying that it was an Ar gosh Ar fifteen rifle from like two hundred yards away. Let me look, And so I'm wondering if that might play into this an AR style rifle from two hundred feet away.
I think you'd have to wait to hear from Donald Trump. I mean, you know, he is an NRA card carrying Second Amendment proponent here, it's a big part of his platform. Is that going to change the way he talks about gun violence? That will probably impact the way his face thinks about it. I'm not sure I'm going there in my head though, to be honest, Certainly, after what we saw in the wake of Uvaldi and the rhetoric and
sort of the debate that surrounded that sense. I don't know though, I mean, these are these are things we shouldn't try to predict, but I think that would be a remarkable moment, in an unexpected one of that.
I want to turn back to Rick Davis, Bloomberg Politics contributor. You're there, You're in Milwaukee. Just like Joe, Joe described the scene where they were all on the plane and there was not really a Wi Fi, so they didn't know until they landed that this was going on. Very shocking. I'd like to know how you learned about.
This, Yeah, the same way. I was seated next to Kelly and Conway on the plane coming out here, and as soon as we got into range of cell service, everybody was really just you know, gasping. And it was very early after the incident, and people didn't have really any information of what happened or what Donald Trump's condition was, and so there was a real somber mood on the plane, and the few words exchange with Kelly, Anne and and and other reporters who were also on the plane following
the same news was you know, pretty pretty dramatic. So, uh, it was. It was an odd thing to be sort of captured on a plane with no Wi Fi and oblivious to probably one of the most historic events in modern political history. And uh, and here we are on the ground, surrounded by Republicans from all over the country, you know, getting ready to party on for Donald Trump
this week. And it's definitely going to change the mood of the delegates, the officials and members of Congress, the governors, everybody who is a Republican officeholder will be here and and and and will be impacted by today's events.
Well, Rick, on that note, we want to bring you the audio of what happened at that rally. This is what it sounded like moments before, and during, and just after former President Trump was shot. Now you're going to hear gunshots. We want to warn you that it contains the sound of gunfire. It contains the sound of people screaming, and you can hear the Secret Service barking orders and shouting to each other about what to do next. So we're going to roll that piece of audio right now.
Oh, that's a little bit old.
That that charts a couple of months old.
And if you want to really see.
Something that said, take a look at what happened.
To spare was there?
What are you ready, I'm you ready? Bows here, ready, get ready?
Are you ready?
Shoot? Were good?
Shooters down, I'll be good.
We're we're going. Let me get my shoes.
Let me get my shoes, sir, I got you.
Let me get my shoes.
Hold on head, bloody, So we gotta get to bunch.
Let me get okay, okay. That was some pretty graphic audio that we have from the rally and Joe I had not heard that part before where they said shoot her down so quickly, so fast, shoot her down, shoot her down, and then President Trump saying, or former President Trump saying, I got to get my shoes like it knocked him out of his shoes.
Yeah, I you know. He then went on to say fight, fight, fight three times while he was pumping his fist. I'll be honest with you, that's so disturbing hearing that that. I'm not sure we're going to be playing that tape for a lot longer.
No, I completely agree. I wanted to. I mean, yes, you're absolutely right, it's very chilling. It's disturbing, and that it happened during a campaign rally, Rick somehow makes it all seem so much worse.
Yeah, and what you couldn't hear or see is the presidence of mine of President Trump, who once they got him to his feet and headed to the card. Of course, at that point nobody knows what his condition is. I recall in the White House was Ronald Reagan when he got shot. He got stuffed into the Secret Service car. Nobody had any clue whether he'd actually been shot or or what had happened to him. It was very reminiscent
of that episode. But he stood up President Trump and as Joe remarked, you know, thrusting his fist into the air, saying fight, fight, fight. And what you don't hear right after that clip is the crowd breaking into a chant for USA. So you know, they had their own way of sending Trump off, you know, in a way that I think is going to be emblematic of how his bage feels about this incident. Now, just just going to fire him up.
Just after the shooting, we were already saying, well, the White House needs to release a statement, somebody needs to say something. I mean, we need we need the president to seem presidential. And it was about an hour and a half, maybe two hours later, President Biden did step in front of the cameras, and this is what he had to say.
I'm thoroughly by all the agencies in the federal government. It's this situation based on what we know now. I have tried to get a hold of Donald. He's with his doctors. They apparently he's doing well. I plan on talking to them shortly. I hope when I get back to the telephone. Look, there's no place in America for this kind of violence. It's sick. It's sick. It's one of the reason why we have to unite this country. We cannot allow for this to be happening. We cannot
be like this. We cannot condone this. And so, and I want to thank the Secret Service and all the agency, including the state agencies that have been engaged in making sure that people and we have more detail to come relative to other injured, other people may be injured in the audience. I don't have all that detail. We'll make
that available to you. I may be able to come back to a little later tonight, but we'll put out a statement if we don't, if I am not able to get it, if it's not communient for you, will The bottom line is the Trump rally, the rally that he should have been able to be conducted peacefully without any problem. But the idea, the idea that there's political violence or violence in America like this is just unpard of, It's just not appropriate. I mean, everybody, everybody must condemn it. Everybody.
I'll keep you informed and if I maybe will speak to the to Donald, I'll let you know that as well. So far it appears he's doing well. Number one. Number two, that there's thoroughly investigating what happened to anyone else in the audience. I have, we have some reports, but not final reports, and every agency in the federal government, and I'm going back to my phone to speak with the federal agencies are to be put together again to give
you an updated breefeas as anything happened. They learning more in the last couple hours. So thank you very much, and I hope I get to speak to him tonight and I'll get you back to you if I do.
President, Do you think this was an assassination attempt?
I don't know enough to have an opinion, but I don't have any facts, so I want to make sure we have all the facts before I make some comment.
Anymore comments.
Thank you now again, that was President Biden about an hour and a half, almost two hours ago now talking about the shooting at Donald Trump's campaign rally. And I want to turn to you, Rick. We needed the president me as Americans needed the president to be presidential, and we needed him to be clear and concise and able to share his thoughts, something I'm having a hard time doing right now. Clearly, did he pull it off.
Yeah. I think he did exactly what you were suggesting that he should do. He was concise, He told the American people what he knew to be sure, and didn't speculate on anything else. And I thought it was really striking. Twice in his remarks he referred to former President Trump as Donald. I thought, I don't recall him using that kind of, you know, conversational remark toward President Trump. And and I saw that as a very positive thing. It was personal, uh, you know, there was no stiffness to it.
Uh.
And and look, I mean in this situation, the one thing we all do know about President Biden is that he has a great capacity to care about what happens
to people. And I think that came out in this In this press briefing, he didn't sound like the guy who has been battling Donald Trump for the last two years, if not for the last decade, and and sounded deeply concerned about his well being and registered the appropriate amount of disgust with what occurred in the commitment that they'll do everything that can is our government to be sure
that that doesn't happen again. So yeah, I think he did the right thing, and I hope that that kind of tone and tenor goes beyond today's press briefing and can create a more benign environment in the politics.
That we have. Also, well, we've certainly heard from a lot of political appointees, political leaders, world leaders. The Secretary of State Anthony Lincoln just releasing this statement, I'm shocked and saddened by the shooting at former President Trump's rally, grateful that he is safe, and as Potus said, as Biden said, there is no place for political violence in America and we must all condemn it. And for those of you who are just joining us, I want to
get you up to speed on what's going on. Donald Trump says he was hit in the ear during a Pennsylvania rally. Says it literally pierced to the top part of his ear. The shooter is dead, and attendee was killed. Two are critically injured. Donald Trump says he's fine. He was evaluated at a medical facility. President Biden, of course, in that statement you just heard, says he wants to speak directly with Donald Trump, and then if he's able to do that, he'll probably get back in front of
the cameras and talk again to the American people. The Secret Services multiple shots were fired from an elevated position, and of course President Biden, along with so many others, saying that there is no place for such violence in our American system of democracy. So, Joe Matthew, what are you going to be watching for the next I don't know, twenty four hours before the RNC really gets ramped up.
Well, when we actually see Donald Trump in public again is going to be the moment, right, How do they handle this tomorrow? What will be the venue, how will he appear? Is going to be bandaged? Will he be joined by his running mate? This is still something that
has yet to be revealed before the convention. It's also something that we could learn at the convention on Monday, I suppose, But they don't have too much time to make that announcement considering the actual business that needs to be had at the convention here, which is why we're here, the actual nominating process. So I suspect and Rick Davis can speak more to this. He's actually one presidential campaign.
There are probably a lot of people talking about a lot of different ideas right now about how they're going to do this, and that probably goes for both campaigns as well. How does Joe Biden respond to this, knowing that he's dealing with a lot of issues on his own right now as Republicans gather here in Milwaukee. I think you're right, twenty four hours is what we'll spend here, probably being fascinated by what we learn.
Yeah, and the Democratic campaign, the Biden campaign is going to have to really reassess too. As we've discussed earlier, they've already pulled their commercials, they've already stopped all outgoing communication from the Biden campaign, So they're assessing, they're regrouping. The attention and we talked to about this a little bit too. The attention now it's definitely been taken off of Biden's mental acuity. Let me ask you, Joe, you
heard him in that press conference. There was no teleprompter there, there were no prepared remarks. He came out there and sort of shot from the hit oh gosh, sort of spoke off the top of his head.
Yeah, I think that's true. Whether they, you know, see that as a good moment for him, since this seems to be a moment by a moment issue for the Biden campaign right now, I guess has yet to be seen. But you know, it was fairly early in the day. He had a very specific topic, and we know that Joe Biden, as the consolar in chief, is pretty good at this. And you know, as you guys were discussing kind of reaching out to Donald which was an interesting moment.
Maybe they wouldn't have done that if there had been a teleprompter in the room. But chalking up wins for Joe Biden political wins kind of tough this weekend.
Yeah, no, of course, I want to also update you president former President Trump's current whereabouts have not been confirmed. This is according She's senior Washington correspondent for Bloomberg Sialia Mosen. She says, about thirty minutes ago, as we brought to you, there was an update from Trump posted on his account on truth Social But we don't know exactly where he is right now, and that's perfectly fine as long as
he's safe. Immediately after the shooting, when he was seen with blood on his ear in his face, he was speaking, and microphones, as we heard earlier, picked up his voice saying, let me get my shoes. Let me get my shoes. So he is in a safe, secure location. We want to turn now to Terry Haynes of Pangaea Policy. Terry, we've got a little bit more information. Now. Do we know that Donald Trump was injured. One rally goer was killed, Two other rally goers are critically injured. The shooter was
taken down very quickly. If that audio is to be interpreted that way, What are you hearing at this.
Point, Well, I'm hearing and looking at all the same things you're looking at. Frankly, you know, I'm from western Pennsylvania. I have some familiarity with that ground and it is it is fairly you know that stage, aside that that's a fairly open area. And I don't know what they did in order to secure the perimeter or anything else. And I'm certainly not blaming the service for doing their jobs,
but that's a difficult perimeter to defend. And you know, I think we're all we're all fortunate that the president got out, the former president got out with as little apparent injury as he did.
It's interesting that you would bring that up. We were talking with one of our reporters who was actually there, and she said there were fifteen thousand rally goers, there were metal detectors, and that the perimeter had been swept, and that it seemed I mean, most people who we've talked to about this have said that they were really surprised anybody could have gotten up onto an elevated position with an ar rifle, an ar style rifle, as the
Secret Service has described it. Clearly, Uh, security is going to be beefed up for everybody at this point, no, no question about that. But at the same time, it's not like we weren't worried about this already. And by we, I mean the American people. We did a Bloomberg poll back in May that showed Democrats, Republicans, and mostly independents were concerned that this particular campaign would be marked with political violence.
Uh. Yeah, there's yeah, all those all those things are true, and I you know, was subscribed to what you just said one hundred percent, I will say on the perimeter, and I'm looking at one network that's got a kind of a Google map style visual of the thing. Uh, you know that there's you know, my concern about it was as far as the perimeter goes is yeah, they I'm sure they swept everybody was in. And at the same time, it's the stage aside, it's a really open area.
It's not like we're talking about a baseball park or something right for the complete enclosure. So uh yeah, I am. You know, I'm surprised and saddened to hear that. You know, somebody could get rifle access, but even from a great distance. But my recollection of the places that that you know,
is that might well have been possible. Now that said, as far as the as far as the political violence goes, you know, we've got a situation for markets, and I'm always careful to talk about it, talk about things in a in a market sense. You're still there, I am, I am, yes, okay, good because I'm getting one of your producers calling me different life anyway, the uh anyway, the uh, I'm always careful to talk talk with you
all about market sense. I mean, we're already in a situation where there's the highest twe of political risk in fifty years, where we're in increased US political instability was already essentially given for US and world markets, and now you know that's increased markedly tonight between tonight and between the events of the last two weeks with the President Biden and the Democratic attempts to remove him as the nominee. So you know, this goes well beyond a bad look
for the United States tonight. There's a lot of people around the world that are saying that are our friends, saying what is exact exactly is going on over there, And there was a lot of our enemies that are very much cheered by what happened tonight, and that's all very bad for markets.
That is exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. We have been seeing all of the post's social media posts, the releases that have been coming from world leaders all condemning political violence, that they all seem to be of one voice. And yet here we are and we just had NATO in Washington, d c. Leave just yesterday. You know, the world leaders with NATO, does this speak to I don't know our system, how America is right now, the
Biden administration, a future Trump administration. What does this tell you?
You know, I'm gonna I'm gonna take the other side of the usual rhetoric at a time like this. Uh, this says, this says I believe, and I would tell anybody there's there's less here. I don't just I don't make light of any of this, but I think there's a little bit a lot less here than than meets the eye. What you've gotten, what you've gotten in American politics is a situation where we're purists on both sides. I'm not going to call them extremists, but purists on
both sides. Certainly, people who want their way in no other way are are over over important factors in American political life. When the vast majority, I mean the vast majority of people in this country want solutions, they want bipartisanship, they want people to kind of work and move forward. I mean, what you've got is, uh, is is people on both sides straining is the bit to have everything their own way, and uh and uh kind of frustrating
that sort of progress. And so what you see both in the rhetoric, the and the way the rhetoric politically, the way politicians pander to it, the way and uh, and the events that surround it, uh and again on both sides. I think this is is true of what's going on with the Democrats and President Biden as it is of what happened tonight. What you've got is a situation where a lot of that, a lot of that
sort of spilling out. It's easy to make it into a funhouse mirror where it indicts the entire political system and in the country at large. I don't think that's true, but it's a but it's a very bad moment for the country, and we have lacked Our politicians on both sides have lacked, among other things, humility for quite a while, and they act as if there's no consequences for what
they might say or do. And it's time for them all to understand that there are consequences of these sorts of things, and one of the consequences I think we're seeing tonight.
President Biden. During his statement earlier, he indicated that he wanted to talk directly to a former President Trump and called him Donald, which I don't know that I've heard him do that in a long time, especially since the campaign has really become so geared up as we approach. Remember he called him Donald. Seems like that personal note that he was trying to put out there. If you're President Biden, what could you possibly say?
I think you say, I'm sorry that this happened to you. You know, I feel for you. I hope you're well. Uh tell me about that, and let's let's well and let's let's let's work together. I mean, if I were President Biden, what I would say to former President Trump is very simply, Uh, let's work together to try to lower the lower the rhetoric and lower the tone. Uh,
lower the lower, the lower the high tensions. Uh and uh and try together, uh to create a situation where uh where the high tensions of the moment, uh, you know, don't continue and our lesson to some extent. Uh and uh. You know, if I were advising President Biden, that's certainly what I would advise him to do, and I would hope he would.
Uh. Terry Haynes with Pangaea policy, I want you to stand by if if you don't mind, I've kept you quite a long time. If you could just take a breath. I'm going to turn for just a moment to Jody Schneider with Bloomberg. She is on the ground in Milwaukee, Jody,
just to sort of recap what we've been seeing. We're getting a lot more information, of course about who's been injured, who was killed, a president, former president Trump's status, and now we're seeing that BET's on a Trump victory in the November elections surged after he posted on truth social that he was shot in the right ear when gunfire erupted at his rally. Does that at all surprise you?
It really doesn't surprise me. There tends to be a lot of sympathy and things in these kinds of situations. And also it plays into president the former president's narrative that you know, he is tough, he is strong, you know this this kind of this happening at a rally, it has this whole kind of it would appeal very much to his maga crowd. So that doesn't surprise me. Now again, these situations, thinks are you know, very fluid at first, you know, you took a poll. Now it
will tell you one thing. A week from now, it will tell you something. It could tell you something very different. But the timing is certainly very interesting, given that he is to come to Milwaukee, uh, you know, to for this week to be his sort of the real affirmation of him as the head of the ticket, the Republican nominee and really they head of the Republican Party.
Now.
So this happened just before he was to come here. This is his last rally before he showed up in Milwaukee for his nomination.
Yeah, this was supposed to be the big gear up rally before the Republican convention, and at that convention, all eyes were on the convention because everybody wants to know who the vice presidential candidate is going.
To be, right, We thought that was really you know, that's what we were all trained on at this point to see what that was going to be. And news sets a way of kind of changing the narrative, doesn't it. But at this point, you know, we're starting to talk some people in the field here and there's and the Republicans who are starting to gather here are telling us that, you know, they're very much behind him, and it looks like this will bolster it will probably also bolster his funderation.
Oh indeed, I have not even thought about the fundrating. Yet what else are you hearing on the ground there in Milwaukee? Are people beginning to gather in the city to prepare for the event that begins on Monday already?
Yeah, there's not big crowds yet. Most of the people who are coming, you know, we'll start coming in tomorrow and then it really starts on Monday. But we were hearing from some Republicans, you know, the registered Republicans saying, first of all, there's you know, shocks. You don't think something like this is going to happen, but they think it helps him. It shows that you know there that there's a lot of people behind him. Uh. And of course we don't know much about the shooter or what
you know, that will come out in coming days. But at this point, I think, you know what the themes that we're hearing this early on, and it is early on, it's only hours since it's happened, is that a lot of support for the former president and also the current president and others law makers and Capitol Hill Democrats and Republicans both giving their support, saying this should not be happening,
condemning this kind of political violence. We heard from President Biden into the camera, made statement and had also sent a statement and said he was reaching out to President the former president when he would hope to speak to him this evening.
Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about President Biden's statement. We have been so focused on his age and his mental acuity over the past couple of weeks. But he came out and made that statement. As far as I know, he did not have a teleprompter. He was just speaking. Whether it was exemporaneously or not, I do not know.
But yeah, it's interesting how the narrative changes. Right, We've been so focused on that, and in this moment, he was being kind of the comforter in chief. He was the president of the US talking to us at a moment of shocks.
Significant that he referred to former President Trump as Donald.
Yeah, it's interesting. You might have thought he would have said the former president. But he clearly though, was trying to speak in a way that was comforting and that was condemning violence, that was saying that this has no place in America, which is a very kind of presidential thing to do. Joe Biden is good in these moments.
He has been a good comfort in chief. He came, you know, had a lot of tragedy in his own life and with you know, family members, and I think he you know, it is something he is he is skilled at in terms of these kinds of moments.
And Jody, I know that you were on short on time this evening, but I did want to get your thoughts on something that we talked about earlier. I was speaking with Bloomberg's Joe Matthew and he made the comment, and I think it's it's important to remember, you know, over the next twenty four to thirty six hours, we're going to hear a lot of rhetoric. We're going to hear a lot of conjecture. We're going to hear a lot of new is going to be coming at us
full steam ahead. I'd like to know what you because this is your gig, this is what you do. What are you going to be watching for? What's important?
Yeah, I think we're going to be watching for, first of all, any news about the shooter and what the uh, you know, what what we can find out there about what the intentions were, perhaps whether this is at all organized, you know, I think that will tell us some things. It is also going to be Obviously the security in Milwaukee will be very, very tight. It was already expected to be tight. What does that mean? What does it
mean for the schedule in Milwaukee? Things may change and there's a lot of events, you know, does this change that at all?
Uh?
And also what does this do in in the race?
You know?
Again, what will well, obviously this one would expect that the supporters of the former president, this will make them even more for supporters. But what does it change anything about those who are undecided people in swing states? And again, the current president and how does this affect his chances and the situation with him and his party?
All right, Bloombrooks, Jody Schneider, thank you so much for taking the time with us this evening. We've kept you a very long time and we appreciate you staying with us. And we are continuing our coverage of the shooting that happened at former President Donald Trump's campaign rally. It was a rally that was designed to sort of gear up into the Republican National Convention, which kicks off on Monday. That's where Jody is. In fact, she's in Milwaukee along
with Bloombergs Joe Matthew getting ready for that convention. Donald Trump says he was hit in the ear during that rally. The shooter who opened fire is dead. An attendee was also killed, and two other people were critically injured. Donald Trump saying that he is fine, He's been evaluated at a medical facility. And now we are just looking ahead to see how this impacts not just the convention and not just the campaign, but the rhetoric that surrounds the
politics in America today. Turning now back to Terry Haynes at Pangaea Policy. I asked this question of Joe, I asked this question of Jody, and now I'm going to ask you, Terry, over the next twenty four to thirty six hours, how do you separate the week from the chaff? How do you listen to everything that's going to be coming at us and figure out what's important and what's just noise.
I think the next twenty four to thirty six hours, frankly, is going to be mostly noise and very little signal you're going to get. Then you you've referred to a lot of this already tonight. Yeah, they're going to try We're going to try to figure out who the shooter was what that person's motivation was. We're gonna We're going to figure out uh the other, uh, the other damage that happened to at least one person apparently killed, others
potentially injured. There's going to be a storyline surrounding, surrounding the Secret Service, frankly, about whether they could have done anything more or less or anything else. Aside from that, what you're going to get is you're going to get Trump going to the going to the convention of Milwaukee. And what I would be looking for, frankly, is whether Trump takes this as kind of a business as usual
moment or its kind of a triumphalist moment. You know, we've seen Trump as a politician over the last decade, and a lot of what is a lot of what his reactions to events have been in the past would lead would lead people to a conclusion that he's going to be triumphalist. In the convention, tone will get even shriller and and you know, of shrill, even more shrill
than it is right now. He'd be wise, though, I think, and I'd watch this wise to take a little bit more presidential tone and do things to try to lesson the rhetoric provide a performance very similar to that which he did in the debate, which frankly, would have a broader appeal to the rest of the party which he needs and the independence which he needs because right now, unlike twenty sixteen, he's not presiding over a united Party and he's not appealing to the majority of independence. He
needs to do that. He can't do that by ramping up further the rhetoric of US versus them. He can do that by being a little bit more presidential.
We do have a statement from the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee and would like to read it to you and get your thoughts. As was communicated earlier this evening, President Trump is doing well and grateful to law enforcement and first responders for their fast action. President Trump looks forward to joining you all in Milwaukee as we proceed with our convention to nominate him to serve
as the forty seventh President of the United States. As our party's nominee, President Trump will continue to share his vision to make America a great again. So we're hearing from the campaign, but it seems very vanilla. You know, He's okay, He's going to be here. He's grateful. Let's move on. That's what it sounds like. Am I wrong?
Yeah? No, you're right. And you know, vanilla is underrated as a great flavor in politics, and they need to put shorter what I did longer a minute ago. They need a little more vanilla. There's plenty of spice in their candidate. There's plenty of spice in their campaign. They need a little more vanilla. And you know, you know, like that that great Julie Andrew's character had of a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, and they
need a little more of that. So you know, that might be the beginning of will be beginning of what I'm suggesting.
Now, there's this thought, and you would be able to speak to this better than anyone. I think that we we don't dismiss this. This was very, very serious, but the candidate's okay, let's move forward. Let's try to do business as usual, maybe with a little rah rah. I survive an assassination attempts, sort of like you know, this happened to me. I made it through. I'm strong, I'm tough.
Let's keep going. There's also the school of thought that they could make a bigger deal out of it and use it to not use it, but speak to the divisive rhetoric in this country, Like what should a campaign do when something like this happens. Do you move forward and try to dismiss it at least somewhat or do you use it?
Well, you use it regardless. But what I would suggest is that maybe a little counterintuitive to people, you know, you use it in this way. People already understand. I mean, you know, everybody in the country understand what happened. They understand it's a big deal. They understand that Trump just had a brush with and I you know, I don't think that that's too much to say he did the But I think the last thing you need to do is stand on a soapbox and yell all those things.
Uh they you know, you you you take them in, you embody them. Uh, but you say, look, let's go forward. This only shows how important the issues that we're fighting for are. Uh, you know, you know, and and you know frankly, what we need to do and uh And the political twist on this, I think is that, uh, you say that you are the candidate best able frankly to you know, move past this moment in politics and uh and do what needs to be done and uh
and express how it needs to be done. Uh. It is a symptom, I would say, you know that they should say, Uh, it is a this is a symptom of the very kinds of things we need to do to change Uh, not just the tone of the debate and the country, but actually kind of move that move the country forward. Uh. You put the other side on the back foot without without overtly appearing to do it, and and uh, I think that's that's the tactic that works best with people.
Uh.
You know, I would not suggest, just to be really clear, I would not suggest that we're in a situation where that we would be with almost any other Republican where Biden's difficulties over the last two weeks mean that there is a leakage that goes directly from Biden to the to the other side. There is a huge resistance by people even that are marginally for by UH to to
voting for Trump. So you're not gonna if you're Trump, and you understand that, and you know it, and I do think they do the last thing you're going to do, the last thing that's going to be beneficial to you politically is overdoing it on overdoing it on the politics,
overdoing it on the uh. You know, we've battled at the gates of the Lord sort of thing, and you know this is a you know, this just just shows how wonderful and pure we all are and how terrific all this is, and you know how important it is. You don't you know, you don't need to say any of that. You need to actually disassociate yourself from that and just say, you know, we're the best position and
move forward here. And you know, I'm offering my hand to people who want to change the country for the better. And you know, I think he gets the I think he gets much more political benefit out of that than getting shrill.
One last question before we let you go, Cherry. The Biden campaign, they have a fine line that they have to walk.
Well, they have a very fine line they have to walk. I think the president, you know, you know, in terms of you know, politics is a hard business and his cold business. And the hard and cold part of this is that the president gets to demonstrate his sentience, the fact that he's there, he's with it, and that he's you know, responding to this tragedy and dealing with it affirmatively, and he gets to use that. So I think you'll see a lot more out of the White House. I
don't think Biden statement is a one off. I think you'll see a lot more out of the White House over the next twenty four forty seventy two hours about this, what they're doing, how they're investigating, how they're trying to move forward, all the rest. The other thing is that, you know, in the middle of all this, the president is getting mixed signals from his own party, with some party luminaries wanting him to go, and many others and this guy buried in the news tonight, but many others
even in Congress, suggesting that he ought to stay. And he needs to keep working that and keep moving that forward. He is breaking a he's breaking a big convention this week by having press interviews, including Monday night with NBC, and I expect him to keep breaking those norms over the week. But he's you know, he needs to keep you know, without respect to Trump, but he needs to
keep showing that he's up to the job. And if he does that, and in part by dealing with the assassination attempt, you know that best helps him.
Terry Haynes, Pangaea Policy. On that note, we're going to let you have the rest of your evening. Thank you so much for spending the evening with us, for helping us bring this down to some manageable proportions. This has been a very, very interesting and pivotal day on the campaign trail, and we thank our audience for staying with us throughout this. After former President Donald Trump says he was hit the ear during a Pennsylvania rally when a
shooter opened fire. That shooter, now dead, an attendee of that rally, also killed two other people. The Secret Services have been critically injured. Donald Trump says he is and that he is ready to attend the Republican National Convention, which is set to begin on Monday. This rally, in fact, was the gear up to that convention. We are learning from the Secret Service that multiple shots were fired from
an elevated position at the rally. President Biden came out with a statement saying there was no place for such violence and that he hopes to speak with Donald Trump in the near future that after he does, he will have something else to say before the American public. Much more of this still to come. You've been listening to continuing coverage of the shooting at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania. Thank you for joining us. I'm Amy Morris and this is Blimber