A bitter presidential campaign took a turn for the violent Saturday afternoon when former President Donald Trump was rushed off a stage after a shooting at a rally in Pennsylvania.
Trump's ear and face was bloody when the Secret Service led him offstage. It was a surreal moment, to say the least. While broadcast and cable networks don't generally cover Trump rallies anymore, there were enough journalists in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the rally was held, to paint a compelling and dramatic picture of the incident.
The networks swiftly switched to live coverage. Here’s how some of them responded:
CBS News: Went live at 6:19 p.m. with correspondent Scott MacFarlane reporting from the scene. Margaret Brennan and Robert Costa reported from Washington. CBS reported '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.'
NBC News: A special report anchored by Jose Diaz-Balart began at 6:20 p.m. ET, with additional coverage from Dasha Burns and Tom Winter. 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 Whit Johnson in New York at 6:23 p.m., and senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott led coverage at the rally. 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.”
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.
NextTV.com reports the coverage continued 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.
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