The networks scrambled into live mode when shots were fired at the rally for former president Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, which saw Trump sustain a bullet wound to the ear moments after he took the stage. The shots happened at 6:10 p.m., according to published reports.
CBS News said it went live at 6:19 p.m. Adriana Diaz, CBS Weekend News Saturday anchor, anchored the coverage. Correspondent Scott MacFarlane and reporters Olivia Rinaldi and Jake Rosen were on the ground at the rally. MacFarlane said, “That there was some type of explosive noise. The former president had to be tackled and taken offstage by a Secret Service with blood appearing to come from his head. That a crowd of thousands at a presidential rally had to hit the ground. Some of them colliding with each other. Equipment falling on their heads and our heads at one point. No matter what this ends up being, this is a security failure at an event that is secured by the U.S. Secret Service and any number of other law enforcement agencies, where everybody in the space had to be screened and wanted by metal detectors and officers. It’s just calamitous as a failure.”
Margaret Brennan, CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent and host of Face the Nation, and correspondent Robert Costa reported from Washington alongside Diaz.
NBC News said it went for a special report at 6:20 p.m. ET, anchored by Jose Diaz-Balart, who anchors the Saturday NBC Nightly News. Anchor Lester Holt came on at 6:54. Additional coverage came from correspondents Dasha Burns and Tom Winter and Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker, among others.
ABC News went live with World News Tonight Saturday anchor Whit Johnson in New York at 6:23 p.m., and senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott leading coverage at the rally. She reported: “Within minutes of former President Donald Trump taking the stage, we heard a series of popping sounds. Within seconds, it appeared that Secret Service then rushed up onto the stage as members of the crowd started screaming. Then the former president was taken down to the ground for several moments, and then all of a sudden, he did emerge back up as Secret Service was escorting him off of the stage. He did raise his fist at acknowledgment that he appeared to be okay.”
A bloodied Trump was escorted from the stage in Butler by his security detail, pumping his fist in defiance and mouthing the word “fight.”
On cable, Fox News coverage featured Shannon Bream, Fox News Sunday anchor, with America’s Newsroom co-anchor Bill Hemmer and chief political anchor Bret Baier and chief political analyst Brit Hume contributing.
CNN reported that at least one audience member at the rally was killed in the shooting, and two more are critically injured. The shooter was killed too.
On the local side, KDKA Pittsburgh, part of CBS News and Stations, identified the shooter. “The FBI has identified Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the subject involved in the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump on July 13, in Butler, Pennsylvania. This remains an active and ongoing investigation,” it reported.
The coverage continues Sunday. On NBC, Savannah Guthrie and Willie Geist anchor a special edition of Today Sunday morning starting at 7 a.m. On CBS, CBS News Sunday Morning has been preempted, with John Dickerson anchoring a live CBS News special report 9-10:30.
