Trump rally shooting live updates: FBI still investigating shooter's motives as authorities warn of 'retaliatory' attacks

ABC News reports:

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at a campaign event in Michigan earlier this afternoon and began her speech by addressing the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump during a rally on Saturday.

"It was a heinous, horrible and cowardly act," she said. "The bottom line is that no one should have to fear for the safety of a loved one because they serve in public office."

Harris reiterated President Biden's earlier calls for unity, saying, "Violence is never acceptable."

“We must also embrace a robust discussion about what is at stake in this election,” she added. “The surest way to reaffirm the strength of our democracy is by engaging in a vigorous and civil exchange of ideas.”

Many key aspects of last Saturday's rally attack have yet to be explained. The security lapses that enabled the alleged gunman to get so close to Trump have not been fully accounted for.

Authorities have yet to determine a motive for why the 20-year-old suspect tried to assassinate Trump.

Yahoo News explores six of those unanswered questions here.

Multiple White House reporters say the U.S. Secret Service will deliver a House-wide update on their investigation into Trump's assassination attempt today at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Ronald Rowe, the deputy director of the Secret Service, and Paul Abbate, the deputy director of the FBI, will lead the briefing. This will come right after a planned phone briefing with Senators at 3 p.m. ET.

One of the men who was wounded at Trump's Pennsylvania campaign rally on Saturday was shot in the liver and chest — but is now out of a medically induced coma, the Marine Corps League of Pennsylvania said.

The rallygoer, identified as David Dutch, 57, was in critical condition but is now stable, ABC News reported on Tuesday, citing the organization.

Dutch, a longtime Trump supporter from New Kensington, Pa., who served in the Marine Corps, was hospitalized over the weekend after the shooting in Butler, Pa.

His sister, Jennifer Veri-Grazier, told the New York Times: "He was exercising his rights and went to the rally, and he didn't deserve any of this."

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. apologized on Tuesday after a behind-the-scenes video that showed him on the phone with Trump was leaked on social media.

"When President Trump called me I was taping with an in-house videographer," Kennedy wrote on X. "I should have ordered the videographer to stop recording immediately. I am mortified that this was posted. I apologize to the president."

In the video, Trump can be heard sharing anti-vaccine rhetoric. He also can be heard telling Kennedy: "I would love you to do something. And I think it'll be so good for you and so big for you. And we're going to win. We're gonna win."

Trump then shared details of his Sunday call with President Biden, which he said was "very nice actually." He said Biden questioned him about the assassination attempt, asking, "How did you choose to move to the right?"

"I just turned my head to show the chart and something raps me," Trump continued. "It sounded like a giant, like the world's largest mosquito. And, uh, it was. It was a bullet."

Jack Black has ended the band Tenacious D's tour after his comedy-rock duo bandmate, Kyle Gass, made a remark about Trump's assassination attempt.

Gass was speaking onstage Sunday at the Tenacious D concert in Sydney, where he was presented with a birthday cake, according to the Associated Press.

When he was asked to make a wish, Gass replied, in an apparent reference to the shooting at Trump's rally on Saturday: "Don't miss Trump next time."

Black wrote in an Instagram post that he "was blindsided by what was said at the show on Sunday. I would never condone hate speech or encourage political violence in any form."

“After much reflection, I no longer feel it is appropriate to continue the Tenacious D tour, and all future creative plans are on hold. I am grateful to the fans for their support and understanding.”

Gass himself went on to apologize, saying he "improvised" the remark, which he described as "highly inappropriate, dangerous and a terrible mistake."

“I don't condone violence in any kind, in any form, against anyone. What happened was a tragedy, and I'm incredibly sorry for my severe lack of judgment.”

The Homeland Security Department and the FBI issued a bulletin late Monday warning of possible "follow-up or retaliatory attacks" in the wake of the weekend attack against Trump.

ABC News, which obtained the bulletin, reports:

Read more from ABC News here.

Authorities have yet to determine a motive in the assassination attempt against Trump.

One Pennsylvania man, Corey Comperatore, was killed in the attack, and two other spectators were critically injured.

The FBI said in an updated statement on Monday their tech specialists have gained access to suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks's cellphone and are analyzing his electronic devices.

Investigators added that they have "conducted nearly 100 interviews [with] law enforcement personnel, event attendees and other witnesses. That work continues."

“I urge everyone — everyone, please — don’t make assumptions about his motives or his affiliations,” President Biden said about the gunman on Sunday. “Let the FBI do their job and their partner agencies do their job. I’ve instructed that this investigation be thorough and swift.”

Reuters reports:

On Monday, NBC News will air an interview with President Biden during the Republican National Convention. In an advance clip released by the network, anchor Lester Holt asks Biden about whether, given the shooting incident at a Pennsylvania campaign rally that left Trump injured, he regretted using a "bull's-eye" metaphor during a recent call with donors.

"You called your opponent an existential threat in a call a week ago. You said it's time to put Trump in the bull's-eye. There's some dispute about the context, but I think you appreciate that words matter," Holt said to Biden.

"I didn't say 'crosshairs,' I was talking about 'focus on,'" Biden responded. "Look, the truth of the matter was, what I guess I was talking about at the time was there was very little focus on Trump's agenda—"

Hold then interrupts Biden. "Yeah, the term was bull's-eye."

"It was a mistake to use the word. I didn't say 'crosshairs,' I said bull's-eye, I meant focus on him. Focus on what he is doing," Biden responded. "Focus on his policies. Focus on the number of lies he told at the debate."

On Sunday, Biden delivered remarks from the Oval Office in which he urged Americans to "lower the temperature in our politics."

Trump has joined the calls for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running as an independent presidential candidate, to receive immediate Secret Service protection.

Trump on Monday said it was the "obvious thing to do," given the Kennedy family's history, which includes the assassination of Kennedy's own father, Robert F. Kennedy Sr., who was killed while campaigning in 1968, and the assassination of his uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, in 1963.

"In light of what is going on in the world today, I believe it is imperative that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. receive Secret Service protection — immediately," Trump posted on his platform, Truth Social. "Given the history of the Kennedy Family, this is the obvious right thing to do!

Following Saturday’s assassination attempt against Donald Trump, shares of the former president’s social media company, Truth Media & Technology Group, rose more than 30 percent soon after trading, according to the New York Times.

Trump is the largest shareholder of Trump Media, the parent company of the Truth Social Media platform.

The Times reported that shares got another boost on Monday when Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the classified documents case against Trump. The collected gains reportedly added “hundreds of millions of dollars” to Trump’s net worth.

In Buffalo Township, Pa., volunteer firefighters gathered on Sunday to pay tribute to their fallen colleague, former fire chief Corey Comperatore.

Comperatore, 50, died at Saturday's shooting while shielding his daughter Allyson from bullets.

"He was a great man that deserves honor and respect in the highest of high," Comperatore's former colleague Craig Cirrincione told the Washington Post. "He wouldn’t want us to sit here and be sad. He would hate it."

Cirrincione added that Comperatore "wouldn’t want to be thought of as a hero, but that’s definitely how he should be remembered."

"We don’t do this for the thanks or the pat on the back, nothing like that," he said. "We do it because we love it and we have a passion for it, and that’s what he did saving his family, was because of the love and the passion he had."

On a Facebook post shared on Sunday, Comperatore's daughter wrote that her father "shielded my body from the bullet that came at us," adding that "he truly loved us enough to take a real bullet for us."

Dawn Comperatore Schafer memorialized her late brother in a post of her own, writing, "My baby brother just turned 50 and had so much life left to experience. Hatred has no limits and love has no bounds."

On Monday, Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the classified documents case against Donald Trump. In response, the former president posted on Truth Social, accusing the Justice Department of politically orchestrating the multiple legal cases against him.

"This dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in Florida should be just the first step, followed quickly by the dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts — The January 6th Hoax in Washington, D.C., the Manhattan D.A.’s Zombie Case, the New York A.G. Scam, Fake Claims about a woman I never met (a decades old photo in a line with her then husband does not count), and the Georgia “Perfect” Phone Call charges," he wrote on Monday.

In an interview with Business Insider, a former Secret Service agent predicted one of the top questions investigators will try to answer is how the shooter got on the roof in the first place.

"Why wasn't this roof secured, and were there agents or law enforcement in there checking IDs?" he asked. "How did this kid figure out a way to get out on the rooftop and slither across that rooftop?"

The shooter fired at least three rounds from a rooftop 150 yards away from where Trump was speaking at his rally on Saturday. He was shot dead by a Secret Service counter-sniper who was on another rooftop.

In the heat of a tight Senate race in Pennsylvania, Republican businessman Dave McCormick, who is running against Democrat Sen. Bob Casey, has proposed to his opponent to halt negative advertising after the attack on Trump.

"In light of the assassination attempt on President Trump in Butler, I agree with President Biden and propose to Senator we both suspend our negative advertising," McCormick posted on X. "This is a time to come together as Americans to recognize that what makes our country and its people exceptional transcends party. Let’s take some time to put aside the negativity."

McCormick was at the rally in Butler when Trump was shot.

The post comes as President Biden urged Americans Sunday night from the Oval Office to cool the political rhetoric.

Biden's campaign has also halted its political communications and pulled its television ads in light of the assassination attempt.

Democrats have worked to pull down ads on 57 municipal buses in Milwaukee, where the Republican National Convention begins Monday. One ad on a bus read, "Tale of the Tape: Trump: CONVICTED FELON: TRUMP: OVERTURNED ROE V. WADE, TRUMP: 80K BADGER STATE JOBS LOST ON HIS WATCH."

However, pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. said it would "not be following suit” to freeze ads, according to the Washington Post.

More information has emerged about two attendees wounded at Saturday’s shooting at a Trump rally in Western Pennsylvania.

David Dutch, 57, from New Kensington, Pa., was identified as a U.S. Marine veteran by the Marine Corps League’s Department of Pennsylvania. He is currently hospitalized with damage to his liver and broken ribs. Although he is currently in stable condition, his sister told the New York Times that he is in an induced coma and is currently awaiting another surgery.

James Copenhaver, 74, from Moon Township, Pa., is married with at least one son and plays in a band, his friends told the New York Times. He is retired, and according to his LinkedIn page he used to work at the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.

The shooting also took the life of 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, former fire chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company in Pennsylvania who also worked as an engineer at SJP. His daughter, Allyson, wrote on social media that her father "shielded my body from the bullet that came at us," adding that "he truly loved us enough to take a real bullet for us."

In a ruling Monday, Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump, calling the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith a violation of the Constitution.

Trump pleaded not guilty to 40 criminal counts regarding his handling of classified materials while he was in office. In 2022, National Archives officials claimed they had found 15 boxes of presidential records Trump had taken to Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach, Fla., residence, after leaving the White House.

In November 2022, Attorney General Merrick Garland asked Smith to help with the Justice Department's criminal investigation.

Trump's attorneys had argued that Smith's involvement violated the Constitution's Appointments Clause because he was not approved by Congress before being hired by Garland.

Read Judge Cannon's order here:

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas weighed in on Saturday’s assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, stressing that the shooter shouldn't have had a “direct line” of sight on Trump in the first place.

"A direct line of sight like that to the former president should not occur," he said on ABC's Good Morning America on Monday, before acknowledging that President Biden ordered an independent review of security on Saturday.

"We are going to really study the event independently and make recommendations to the Secret Service and to me, so that we can assure the safety and security of our protectees, which is one of our most vital missions in the Secret Service, the Department of Homeland Security and across the government,” he stated.

Mayorkas later appeared on CNN, where news anchor Kate Bouldan pressed him on who failed to ensure security during Saturday’s attack.

“When I say that something like this cannot happen, we are speaking of a failure,” he said. “We are going to analyze through an independent review how that occurred, why it occurred and make recommendations and findings to make sure it doesn’t happen again. I couldn’t be clearer.”