Pennsylvania rally shooting: Trump recounts assassination attempt in RNC speech

Trump held a moment of silence for slain rally attendee Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief, at the Republican convention as Comperatore’s jacket and helmet were onstage.

“He was a highly respected former fire chief — respected by everybody,” Trump said.

The jacket and the helmet were wheeled on a stand onto the stage as Trump took the stage to give his acceptance speech. He walked over and kissed the helmet during his speech.

Comperatore, 50, former fire chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company, was killed and two other people who attended the rally were shot and wounded in the assassination attempt. Trump was also hurt and has said a bullet pierced part of his right ear.

Trump said he has spoken to two people who were shot and wounded.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Comperatore’s family told him Comperatore, the father of two daughters, dived on them to protect them from the gunfire. “He died a hero,” Shapiro said Sunday.

Trump said tonight, “He lost his life selflessly, acting like a human shield.”

Trump said a bullet at his rally Saturday “came within a quarter of an inch of taking my life.”

Trump said tonight from the convention stage that he was prepared to turn his head even further when he heard a sound.

“I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me really, really, hard on my right ear,” he said. “I said to myself, ‘Wow, what was that? It can only be a bullet.’”

Trump said he put his hand up to his right ear, and his hand was “covered with blood.”

“I immediately knew it was very serious, that we were under attack,” he said. He praised the Secret Service agents who helped him.

Trump said he would not recount what happened again because it’s “too painful to tell.”

The young Pennsylvania man who opened fire on Trump may have posted an ominous message on the gaming platform Steam hinting to fellow users that Saturday would be eventful, lawmakers were told yesterday.

During a congressional briefing yesterday, lawmakers were told that Thomas Crooks was on the platform and had hinted that he’d be in the news Saturday.

Two senior U.S. law enforcement officials told NBC New today that the FBI is trying to determine the authenticity of the Steam account and whether or not Crooks made the post.

Read the full story here.

Corey Comperatore’s family said today that they are finding peace from people around the globe after the retired firefighter was fatally shot at Trump’s rally Saturday.

Visitation was being held today for Comperatore, who was 50.

“Corey Comperatore was our beloved father and husband and a friend to so many throughout the Butler region. He was a local leader and a veteran, a former fire chief, and a committed Christian, who found peace and joy through our church. He loved and cared for us, his family,” the family said in a statement.

“Our family is finding comfort and peace through the heartfelt messages of encouragement from people around the world, through the support of our church and community, and most of all through the strength of God.”

“We thank the countless people who have prayed for us throughout the past week. We deeply appreciate your kindness.”

The funeral will be private, the family said.

A group of Republican senators confronted Cheatle at the convention, saying they wanted more answers about the Trump rally shooting. Cheatle kept walking as they shouted questions at her.

Later, in an interview with NBC News' Kristen Welker, Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota criticized Cheatle's "hostility" toward senators and called on her to resign.

An examination of Trump rally shooter Thomas Crooks’ online search history showed searches of images of Trump and Biden, said a person on a briefing call with officials.

The search history also included dates of Trump appearances and of the Democratic National Convention, to be held in Chicago, the person said.

The internet searches specific to Trump, a rally and the Democratic convention were this month, a senior U.S. law enforcement official said.

The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general’s office today announced a third probe into the Secret Service after the assassination attempt.

The watchdog office said it initiated a review “of the USSS planning and implementation activities for protective operations.”

“Our objective is to determine the extent to which the Secret Service plans and implements protective activities to ensure the safety and security of designated protectees,” the office said in a statement.

It previously announced two other reviews, one about preparations into the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday and a second about Secret Service counter-sniper team operations.

Despite a growing number of calls for Cheatle to resign, she doesn't plan to do so, the chief of communications for the Secret Service said today.

“Continuity of operations is paramount during a critical incident and U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has no intentions to step down," Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement.

"She deeply respects members of Congress and is fiercely committed to transparency in leading the Secret Service through the internal investigation and strengthening the agency through lessons learned in these important internal and external reviews,” he said.

Cheatle spoke this week with Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, which represents over 373,000 members, including Secret Service agents and Pennsylvania State Police. 

Cheatle called Tuesday in response to the FOP's statement criticizing her comments as contradictory and saying they unfairly cast blame on local police for not securing the building from which Crooks fired. 

After the conversation, Cheatle and the Secret Service changed their account to say local police were not in the building; instead, they were in an adjacent building. They repeated that the responsibility to secure the building ultimately fell on the Secret Service. 

Pasco spoke to NBC News exclusively about the call and said that by the end, Cheatle agreed local police were not to blame. 

“It was a frank exchange but ended up in agreement that local police agencies had no role in the development and execution of a plan except as requested by Secret Service,” Pasco said.

A member of the church Comperatore regularly attended said she and her husband were attending service at Cabot Church in Cabot, Pennsylvania, on Saturday night when the shooting happened.

"Our sermon was all about God in darkness and how God is still there in tragic situations," said Ciara DeWalt, 28. "And instead of saying, ‘Why, God, why would you do this?’ it was all about trusting that God knows the bigger picture."

She said she and her husband wondered as they were driving home whether they knew the shooter.

"We never thought in a million years that we would know the people that were killed or victimized," she said.

DeWalt said the hardest part has been seeing conspiracy theories posted online.

“It’s one of those things where, like, ‘Oh, that never happens,’ and then there’s, of course, people doubting the realness of it, which I get. There’s a lot of questions that need answered, but the trauma and the realness of what the family is going through is not fake.

“And I think that’s the most frustrating part, is people saying how it was staged and he’s not actually dead, and all this whenever you’re watching your community suffer and go through this together.”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, posted on social media today that Cheatle needs to resign after the security failures at the rally. He also said Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are asking Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., to hold a hearing on the matter "so we can finally get some answers for the American people about how this happened."

NBC News homeland security correspondent Julia Ainsley joined "Meet the Press NOW" to report on a Department of Homeland Security probe into the Secret Service’s handling of the shooter threat at the rally.

The head of communications for the Secret Service has said Crooks was "never identified as a threat."

NBC News reported last night that Crooks was reported as a suspicious person an hour before the shooting, according to three sources familiar with a briefing for senators.

The Secret Service spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi, told NBC News last night that Crooks was instead identified as a "suspicious person," meaning that there was no indication that he was a danger but that he required further investigation.

"It’s not accurate to say we were aware of a threat prior to the time that we identified him as a threat, which was when he was neutralized," he said in an interview. 

"We were notified of a suspicious person possibly carrying a backpack and golf range finder. There’s a big difference between a threat and suspicious person," he said.

In the days after a gunman nearly killed Trump, scrutiny of the Secret Service has focused on the failure to secure the rooftop where the shooter took up a sniper position.

But what happened after a bullet nicked Trump’s ear was also galling, according to former Secret Service agents and experts in protecting prominent figures. While Trump’s detail performed well in quickly converging on him when the bullets began flying, they say, the agents’ actions in the immediate aftermath were contrary to the most basic protocols — and they put Trump’s life at unnecessary risk.

Read the full story here

A video clip newly shared on social media shows the confusion and disbelief among the crowd at Saturday's rally.

A supporter was seated to the right of the stage recording Trump as he spoke about immigration statistics.

Then the supporter, wearing a pair of stars-and-stripes sunglasses and a bandanna, pans the camera toward himself. Before he can rotate his phone back toward Trump, three sharp snaps are heard.

The man and the people around him hit the floor as more shots are heard and people shout "get down, get down!" and "somebody got shot!"

The crowd applauds wildly as Trump gets back to his feet, led by Secret Service agents, and chants of "USA" erupt.

Rallygoers then begin to clear the path for an injured person to be taken away for treatment.