Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar says time is of the essence in finding out what went wrong with security this weekend at a rally where former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential candidate, was injured in an assassination attempt.
The FBI has identified the shooter as 20-year-old Pennsylvania man Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park. The gunman was immediately “neutralized” by the Secret Service, according to the agency’s chief of communications, Anthony Gugliemi. Besides injuring Trump, one man was killed and two others were shot. Both are hospitalized in stable condition.
"We have to get to the bottom of what happened and we can't wait to figure out what went wrong two months from now," Klobuchar told WCCO Radio. "We have to get these facts now so that we can fix this going forward, both at the Republican Convention which is upcoming, and then the Democratic Convention and other public events."
Klobuchar, who serves on the Senate Judiciary committee, says security also needs to be tightened for other elected officials.
Klobuchar is also among the many elected officials calling for a toning down of the violent rhetoric heading into the election. She says this week's RNC will be pivotal.
"Bringing down the heat and talking about the fact that everyone agrees," Klobuchar said. "There's no place for political violence in our democracy. Bring down the heat by having civil discussions about things that we disagree on. This is a pivotal moment this week to see if we can bring down that rhetoric and bring people together."
The Republican National Convention kicks off this week, with delegates and officials descending on Wisconsin amid the tumult that follows the assassination attempt on Trump as he prepares to become the GOP’s official nominee.
Minnesota delegates to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee have been given assurances that the even will be secure and safe. Minnesota GOP coordinator Barbara Sutter says there will be subtle security changes.
"While nothing will change in the street so to speak, the police presence, none of that's being changed," Sutter explains. "But they are putting extra security now at the Fiserv Forum itself. So we're guessing that's going to mean longer lines, longer waits."
There are about seventy delegates and alternatives from Minnesota attending the convention. Sutter says the delegates want to enjoy the process of the convention, but also noted many were still stunned when the began checking in Sunday, just hours after the assassination attempt on Trump.
NOTE: WCCO's Susie Jones will be in Milwaukee for coverage of the RNC all week. Hear her reports every morning at 8:20 a.m. on the WCCO Morning News with Vineeta Sawkar, during WCCO's news throughout the day, and on wccoradio.com.
PRESIDENT BIDEN RESPONDS
The quadrennial event takes place not only as Trump leads a party in lockstep behind him, but also as Democrats roil over President Joe Biden’s viability and if they should replace him as their nominee.
On Sunday during a national address, Biden confirmed that he and former President Donald Trump had talked over the phone and then went on to plead with Americans not to jump to conclusions before investigators could complete their work and find out what happened.
Biden also shared that he is directing the Secret Service to aid Trump in every way possible this week as he gets set to appear at the Republican National Convention.
“I’ve directed an independent review of the national security at yesterday’s rally to assess exactly what happened, and we’ll share the results of that independent review to the American people, as well,” he said, adding that we “must unite as one nation.”
DONALD TRUMP WILL "CHANGE SPEECH"
Following the shooting, Trump told The Washington Examiner that he has rewritten the speech he was set to deliver at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Thursday.
“The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger,” he told the news outlet in an article posted Sunday evening.
In the interview, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee says he will now call for a new effort at national unity, noting that people from different political views have called him.
“This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together. The speech will be a lot different, a lot different than it would’ve been two days ago,” he said.