The NPR Politics Podcast - Update: Trump Assassination Attempt & Biden Oval Address

Episode Date: July 15, 2024

President Biden addressed the nation from the Oval Office. He used the remarks to again decry political violence, which he said has no place in American democracy.The alleged shooter, who was killed by the Secret Service, has been identified by law enforcement as Thomas Mathew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park, Pa., a town south of Pittsburgh. The motive behind the attack is not yet understood.This episode: political correspondent Susan Davis, justice correspondent Carrie Johnson, senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith, and White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez.A note to our NPR Politics Podcast+ supporters: We've postponed publishing this weekend's bonus episode, but we'll reschedule and drop it in the feed soon. As always, thank you for being an NPR Politics Podcast+ listener! The podcast is produced by Jeongyoon Han, Casey Morell and Kelli Wessinger. Our intern is Bria Suggs. Our editor is Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi. Listen to every episode of the NPR Politics Podcast sponsor-free, unlock access to bonus episodes with more from the NPR Politics team, and support public media when you sign up for The NPR Politics Podcast+ at plus.npr.org/politics.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Support for this podcast and the following message come from Autograph Collection Hotels, with over 300 independent hotels around the world, each exactly like nothing else. Autograph Collection is part of the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio of hotel brands. Find the unforgettable at AutographCollection.com. Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. It is Sunday, July 14th, and it is 9.34 p.m. Eastern. I'm Susan Davis. I cover politics. I'm Keri Johnson, national justice correspondent.

I'm Tamara Keith. I cover the White House. And I'm Franco Ordonez. I cover the campaign. And tonight, the latest on the assassination attempt targeting former President Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday evening, as well as President Biden's message to the nation tonight. Carrie, let's start with the investigation. Last night when we did the podcast, we did not have details about the shooter. Today, we've learned a lot more. Tell us who he was. The FBI's identified him as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from suburban Pittsburgh. He was killed by the Secret Service after he allegedly fired those shots yesterday at the rally. And right now, authorities have his cell phone. They've shipped it to the FBI lab in Quantico to try to extract all the data from it. So far, they still have no motive. They don't understand why this person did what he did.

And they're looking to create a picture of his last days and weeks of people he contacted, websites he may have visited. But so far, no connection to any particular ideology. And authorities think that he acted alone here. So the investigation is extremely hot and heavy. We've still got evidence technicians on the ground in the field in Pennsylvania. We've got agents knocking on people's doors. Authorities are interviewing the shooter's family members. We hear that they are cooperating, but they're trying to figure out why he did this. And right now, nothing is immediately forthcoming.

Do you know how he got the gun? The ATF has traced the weapon to his father. The weapon was legally purchased by the suspect's father. We don't know yet whether he stole the gun, whether he had the gun with permission or what happened with respect to that. But the FBI says that the father is cooperating at this point. Carrie, we should also note a rally attendee was also killed in the attack last night. Can you tell us who he was? A terribly sad story. His name is Corey Comperatore.

He was 50. And Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania said he died protecting his family, diving on his wife and kids, his daughters who were there. He was a former firefighter, a churchgoer, and a big fan of former President Donald Trump, the governor said. Tam, we heard from the president two times today, including an Oval Office address just earlier tonight. What was his message? His message tonight was that the temperature needs to be turned down in American politics

in the wake of this assassination attempt. He delivered those remarks from the Oval Office, which just sitting behind the Resolute desk brings a weight to any remarks that are delivered. And, you know, he conceded that passions run hot in politics because the stakes are so high. But he said that there is no space in this country for political violence. He also listed all of these recent incidences of political violence, members of Congress being shot, the storming of the Capitol on January 6th, the hammer attack on former Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, and then concluding with the attempt on former President Trump's life. And Biden said that this sort of violence cannot be normalized. Disagreement is inevitable in American democracy.

It's part of human nature. But politics must never be a literal battlefield, a God forbid, a killing field. I believe politics ought to be an arena for peaceful debate. And you know, that debate is going to begin again in earnest. Things have been pretty quiet since the attack.

But the Republican National Convention starts tomorrow here in Milwaukee, where Franco and I are sitting right now. And Biden, although he canceled one event that he is doing tomorrow, he was supposed to go to Austin, Texas, for an event at the LBJ Library. He is still planning to do the interview with Lester Holt on NBC News. That interview will, of course, now focus on his calls to rid America of political violence. And then he's going on to Las Vegas, where he's going to have a couple of campaign events, speaking to the NAACP and a group called UnidosUS later in the week. So the campaign is going to begin again. It's inevitable even in this moment of, you know, national trauma. And Franco, Donald Trump did not speak publicly today, but he did put out a statement. What did he say?

Yeah, I mean, it was really interesting. You know, we just heard from Biden, and I was really kind of struck by some of the language by Biden, you know, talking about cooling down the political rhetoric, simply because, you know, Trump has also been a bit tempered in his language today and last night. I mean, Trump has also called for unity and resilience, you know, as messages from Donald Trump, Not common, not common at all. I mean, you know, he also thanked his supporters for their thoughts and prayers and, you know, called on them to, quote, remain resilient in our faith and defiant in the face of wickedness. You know, that's a quote. I mean, really, really unlike Trump, you know, and that's, you know, that's kind of a message that's been discussed among, you know, extending beyond just Trump, but also among leaders of the Republican Party, like Speaker Mike Johnson.

You know, Trump announced today that he was going to come to Wisconsin today, and he's actually here now earlier than we expected. I'll be watching very closely to see if that kind of tempered message continues. Franco, there was also a message statement put out today by Melania Trump, the former president's wife, who is someone who has been almost completely absent from the campaign trail and is not, at least as of today, scheduled to speak at the convention. But she put out a rather lengthy and emotional statement about what happened. Yes, it was very interesting to hear from Melania, especially in this context. You know, she gave a very, you know, personal message and, you know, painted a picture of the former president in a way that we have not seen. You know, she talked about the shooter being a monster, who she said recognized her

husband as a, quote, inhumane political machine, and that he tried to wring out Donald's passion, his laughter, his love of music and inspiration. You know, she said he tried to bury his human side. But this statement from her about the former president is quite revealing. All right, let's take a quick break and we'll talk more about this when we get back. And we're back and Carrie now begins the investigations. Members of the House and Senate have already announced that the two chambers will be launching competing investigations. But of course, this is an active criminal investigation. Where does the federal law enforcement investigation go from here?

There is a lot of work to do, Sue. And today, the FBI told reporters they've already received more than 2,000 tips. They've got to run all those things down and dig deeply into the alleged shooter's social media accounts and really get a handle on what is on his phone. As President Biden told us today, we still don't know whether this person had any help or support or whether he communicated with anyone else in advance of this shooting. And so those are some of the central questions the FBI is racing to get to right now in the near term. And in the long term, they're going to have to be interviewing Secret Service agents and maybe state and local police about why this all went so wrong.

There's also, Carrie, going to be a lot of tension between the people I cover and the people you cover, because already you've heard from Capitol Hill, deep frustration with the Secret Service and with law enforcement handling of this. And already, even amid an active investigation, they're trying to get people like the head of the Secret Service up to Capitol Hill to testify in public. I mean, it feels like there's also going to be sort of an internal government clash here a bit as well. No, same as it ever was. Remember, the Hill is still fighting with the attorney general over those Biden tapes with the special counsel, Rob Herr. This is something we've seen all the time, although in this case, which is so awful and so tragic, the stakes are

somewhat higher. Tam, as you noted earlier, the Biden campaign has largely put campaigning on hold, at least for the immediate short term. But I think we have to talk about this as well. It does seem like one of the unintended consequences of Saturday's events is that calls within the Democratic Party for Joe Biden to get out of this race have completely silenced. Yes. And you would have been hearing those calls from the hillside of things, too. No, no more statements have come out from members of Congress saying President Biden's going to lose and we want him to leave. Now, they may still feel that way, but this has just completely changed the conversation. And in this moment, President

Biden is in this place of he's not just a man running for president. He's also the president of the United States right now. And the job of the president of the United States in a moment of national trauma is to provide comfort and reassurance and guidance to the American people. And that is certainly what he has attempted to do today, while also, you know, appearing on everyone's television screens twice in the same day, which doesn't normally happen with him. And, you know, this terrible thing that has happened and this discussion of political violence happens to be, it falls into one of the themes of Biden's reelection campaign. President Biden often talks about the need to reject language that is divisive, to be more

united as a country. But Republicans would argue, and many have been arguing in the last 48 hours, that Biden himself, by using language that describes Trump as a threat, by focusing on these existential concerns that Biden brings up, that he too is using language that is Trump as a threat by focusing on these existential concerns that Biden brings up, that he too is using language that is divisive. The campaign is in this moment of trying to have this careful balance between him being president and him being a candidate, a candidate who happens to also be embattled. I mean, the Lester Holt interview on NBC News that everyone will be watching, initially, everyone was going to be watching it to see if President Biden was able to carry on an unscripted interview without, you know, any unforced errors. And now, that's not the primary

reason that this is going to be getting attention. Frankel, you're in Milwaukee. I mean, I know it's early, but do you have a sense of how this might just be changing what people should expect from the convention this week? I mean, it's a little to be seen. Of course, I mean, the Republican Party says, you know, the convention will continue as planned. But I mean, we've all been doing this for a while. There is no question at all that this is going to have a big, huge impact. It is going to be a topic of discussion on and off the floor of the convention. You know, delegates, platform committee members we've all been speaking with these last couple of days have been talking about it. You know, you can rest assured Donald Trump, the former president, is going to be talking about this in his speech.

He's sending social media posts about it. You know, one thing, though, that I will be watching for and listening for very carefully is how and how it's framed. You know, I've spoken to Republicans who are calling for this, say this is a chance to kind of reflect on this type of violent rhetoric that has been going on and kind of take some responsibility for it. But there's also a question is how much will there be reflection? How much will there become more of a, can it be like a rallying cry? I mean, which could instead lead to more violent talk. And, you know, as we were just saying before, you know, the former president, Donald Trump, is not one to tone down the language usually. So it will be very interesting to see, you know, kind of what Donald Trump we see when he does appear publicly and how does he address supporters? And does he keep that same

tempered mode that he's been talking about? Or is it, you know, kind of what we're used to? Franco, I can't think of a presidential election, at least in modern years, in which the vice presidential pick has gotten so little attention. But it's worth noting Donald Trump has still not announced his running mate. Yeah, I mean, that is what we were, you know, all, you know, on pins and needles yesterday before the shooting. I mean, Trump had been teasing who it was going to be. Many people thought he might announce it yesterday at that rally in Pennsylvania. But he does need to announce it soon, very soon, because they have to go through the nomination process and he needs to announce it before the roll call here in Milwaukee so that all the T's can be crossed and the I's dotted to make it official.

All right. Let's leave it there for today. I am grateful for all of you and all of your hard work this weekend. We'll be back in your feeds tomorrow. But again, a reminder, we're going to be late every night with episodes that will wrap the night of the convention with all the news and analysis from Milwaukee and beyond. I'm Susan Davis. I cover politics. I'm Carrie Johnson. I cover the Justice Department. I'm Tamara Keith. I cover the White House. And I'm Frank Ordonez. I cover the campaign. And thanks for listening to the NPR Politics Podcast.