good evening. continuing aricept national coverage of the assassination attempt on former resident donald trump rooted in a moment of great challenge for our country, president biden addressed the nation tonight from the oval office, stressing a message of national unity and and and to political violence. tonight, i want to speak to what we do know. a former president was shot eric an american citizen killed while simply exercising his freedom to support the candidate of his choosing. we cannot and must not go down this road in america. we have traveled it before throughout our history. violence has never been the answer. whether it s members of congress in both parties being targeted and shot or a violent mob attacking the capital on january 6, or a brutal attack on the spouse of the former speaker of the house, nancy pelosi. information and intimidation on elected officials with the kidnapping lot against a sitting governor and an attempted assassination on donald trump y
sync across all the places you sell. it doesn t have to be lonely at the top. join the millions to finding success on their own terms. start your journey with a free trial today. through that area. do any of the dignities, anybody working with the white house, with the campaign staff, anybody like that, with a pass through that area or is it only for attendees? no, absolutely, delegates will be passing through there. of course, for donald trump and his motorcade they for marco rubio elected officials and delegates, they will be walking through the soft perimeter area here. they had made the case that they are in the position, a again, we have seen a law enforcement from the likes of the department of homeland security, the fbi, ohio law enforcement, a whole hands on rc deck effort here, and even this evening, we can tell you we have seen a ramped up security presence here, and i think this is a moment, this is not the first national convention that republicans have go
undetected, before he opened fire. the shooter has been identified as a 20-year-old thomas matthew crooks, but his motive remains a mystery. officials may learn more clues now that they have obtained his phone for examination. later tonight, president biden rather earlier tonight , president biden addressed the nation from the oval office, denouncing political violence in any form. this kind of violence, any violence, ever, period , no exceptions. we cannot allow this violence to be normalized. the political record in this country has gotten very heated. it is time to cool it down. let s go to george the lease in butler, pennsylvania. darkness, there, now. let s talk about what you have been hearing, george, from some of those people who attended the rally and witnessed the shooting. that tone and tenor the president took in the oval office, and a lot of that is what we heard right after the shooting occurred. you heard people who said this has gone too far. this rh
investigation at a critical stage. what compelled a 20-year-old man to drive an hour from his home to open fire on the former president, wounding trump, killing one rally spectator, and injuring two others before he was killed by law enforcement. plus, growing questions about the security readiness at that pennsylvania rally. how was a man with an ar-style weapon able to scale a building less than 150 yards from a former president? clearly visible to bystanders on the ground. president biden has launched an independent review, and members of congress are readying probes as well. also today, the republican national convention begins in milwaukee. donald trump is already there. in a new interview, he reflects on that attempt on his life saying, quote, i m supposed to be dead. let s get you the very latest on the ground with nbc s george solis in pennsylvania and also nbc s dan de luce. george, law enforcement is still processing that rally site. i understand you spoke to so
president donald trump. donald trump will be in the convention hall later today as he is officially chosen as the republican nominee. it will be his first public am appearance since a shooter tried to take his life on saturday. it is here where we have just been told that he will also announce his vp pick later today. and all of that coming against the backdrop of a sprawling investigation into trump s assassination attempt in pennsylvania and the security failures that led up to it. but we start with an extraordinary legal victory for the former president that came down just a short time ago. judge aileen cannon dismissing the florida classified documents case on the grounds that the appointment of special counsel jack smith was unconstitutional. we have a great panel to talk to about it. nbc news justice and intelligence correspondent ken dilanian. vaughn hillyard is in milwaukee. also with us, andrew weissmann, former fbi general counsel and with me here in studio msnb