You're listening to KFI AM six forty wake Up Call with Me Amy King on
demand on the iHeartRadio app ok F I and KOST HD two Los Angeles,
Orange County and Dad you your haste, Amy, Okay, good morning.
It's Monday, July fifteenth. This is your wake up call. I'm Amy
King and thrilled that you're getting your day started with us today. Holy cow,
what a weekend. I was sitting on my couch watching Despicable Me because
Despicable Me four is out, so I wanted to go watch the other ones.
And I can't get around much right now because I'm still dealing with the
broken toe thing. Good excuse for me to be on the couch. And
then people start texting, Hey, are you watching the news? Friend calls,
Hey, I got a question for you about some newsy stuff, like
what you're interrupting my Despicable Me? So I turned on the news. Who
knew an attempted assassination on former President Trump? Crazy? Crazy? We're going
to be talking about that all this morning. We've got lots of experts coming
on. We're going to be talking with Stephen Portnoy, who's at the convention.
How the convention is changing because of the attempted assassination. Attempt what security
is like. We're going to be talking to ABC's Jim Ryan. We're gonna
talk to Karen Travers because she's got the president's response to the attempted assassination.
And we're also going to talk to John Cohen, who is a former counter
terrorism coordinator at the Department of Homeland Security. He says, nobody should be
surprised that this happened. Lots going on, and then on top of that,
Hollywood, tough weekend. Shannon Doherty died fifty three after a valiant fight
with breast cancer. Richard Simmons died at the age of seventy six, and
doctor Ruth Westheimer doctor Ruth Stephen or not Stephen, but kno, do you
even remember doctor Ruth. It was kind of before your time, don't think.
So. She was pretty revolutionary for how she talked about sex with people.
And she's just this cute little lady and she'd go, oh, nah,
are you going to have the Uh. I'm not going to say what
she said because it makes me blush, but yeah, tough weekend. All
right, let's get started. Here's what's ahead on wake up call. President
Biden says the temperature in politics needs to be lowered following the assassination attempt to
former President Trump. In an Oval office address last night, Biden said violence
has never been the answer in American politics. He said, we need to
settle our issues at the ballot box, not with bullets. We're going to
be talking again with Karen Travers to hear more about that and what's next.
The man killed at the Trump rally was a former fire chief who died protecting
his family from the gunfire in the stands behind former President Trump. Corey Commento
Comperenore used his body as a shield against the bullets. He was fifty years
old, and next door Neighbors says that he's literally a hero. The Daily
Show has canceled tapings of its show this week in Milwaukee following the assassination attempt.
The show posted on x said there were logistical issues and also because of
the evolving situation. The Comedy Central news satire show had been sold out for
multiple nights of tapings at six oh five. It's Handle on the News.
Of course, Handle's going to weigh in on everything that happened over the weekend
and can't wait to hear his take on everything. Let's get started with some
of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Former President
Trump has arrived in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention, a day after he
was shot during a rally in Pennsylvania. ABC's Stephen fortnoy S's Trump's going to
be nominated by his party this week for another term as president. Local and
federal officials were adamant yesterday that there would be no change to the security protocols
here as a result of the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania. Conventions always take place
under strict security protocols, and officials say there's no need to make them even
more strict here in Milwaukee now. Trump was shot in the ear Saturday as
a shooter fired several shops from a rooftop, killing one person in the audience
and critically injuring two other men. Trump posted on his truth social site yesterday
he was going to delay his trip to Wisconsin and the convention by two days,
but then decided he cannot allow a shooter or potential assassin to force change
to scheduling or anything else. Politicians in California have denounced the political violence against
the former president. They say violence has no place in our democracy. Governor
Newsom says his thoughts are with President Trump and everyone impacted at the rally.
LA Mayor bas says what happened in Pennsylvania is unacceptable and tragic. The Republican
Party of Orange County says the attempted assassination should shock the soul of our country.
Let's say good morning now to ABC's Karen Travers. Karen, A day
after an attempted assassination a former President Trump, President Biden took to the Oval
Office. What did he have to say? Yeah, I mean he has
now spoken three times since the shooting on Saturday night at the Trump rally,
three different addresses to the American people. The White House really wants to get
him out there. And last night this was the President calling on Americans to
lower the temperature in our politics. It was a rare office address, only
the third time he's done that in that formal setting so far in his presidency.
And he said, you know, we may disagree, and yes,
there are certainly your disagreements right now in this he did political campaign, but
he said, we're not enemies, we're neighbors, we're friends, co workers,
and more importantly, were fellow Americans. And you know, he's looked
at other instances of political violence in recent years. He said, we can't
go down this road, talking about January sixth, the attack on how Speaker
Nancy Pelosi's husband, the intimidation of election officials, that we've seen, the
kidnapping plot on Governor Whitmer of Michigan. And he said, you know,
there are a lot of things we don't know yet what happened on Saturday night,
and there are thorough investigations underway. Let them do their jobs. But
he said, what we do know is an a former president was shot.
An American was killed while just exercising their freedom to support the candidate that they
liked. And he said violence has never been the answer in this country.
Do you think or have you talked to anybody who is responding on did the
president's message hit the mark? You know, the campaign certainly feels it has
they feel, of course, and you know, talking with some Democrats,
you know they say this was important for the president to come out and do
this, and that you know he did hit that. Now will it change
politics? I don't know, we'll see. The President also acknowledged that this
is the week of the RNC and that the other side is certainly going to
be criticizing his record, and he said that's not surprising, that's what politics
is. But there's a way to do it, and he said he'll be
out there on the road this week drawing contrast between his vision his record and
that of Donald Trump and Republicans. Again, there's a way to do it,
but do it by bringing down the temperature, dialing down the heated rhetoric,
and that you can still have debate and disagreement in this country without letting
it cross over the line like we saw this weekend. I think one place
where he kind of missed the mark on this was he, as you mentioned,
he talked about the attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband, and talked about January
sixth, but he failed to mention the Republicans who've been targeted like Steve Scalise
and when Judge Kavanaugh, Conservative Justice, when somebody showed out it showed up
at his house with a gun. He only talked about the Democratic you know,
victims or whatever, And I think that he missed that opportunity to bring
both sides together saying we need to dial it down. It it all needs
to stop. That's just my takeaway from it. Yeah, that's put absolutely
and it's still too soon to do. We know, we don't know if
the campaign's going to change tack at all. No, I think it's not
going to. I mean, the President canceled an event today at the LBJ
Library that was focused on civil rights. I think a lot of that was
just kind of in the immediate impact. They're regrouping and figuring out the schedule.
He's also getting another update today from Homeland Security and law enforcement officials,
so they wanted him to be at the White House, but tonight he's traveling
to Las Vegas and I'll have events there tomorrow. Andy, and the President
and his team making it clear, you know, they're going to still be
drawing that contrast with Trump this week because the RNC is continuing as is.
There's no change to the schedule or programming of the RNC. Okay, ABC's
Karen Travers, thanks so much. We're going to be watching. Have a
great day, all right, take care. Let's get back to some of
the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Law enforcement officials
in southern California say they are on heightened alert following the assassination attempt of former
President Trump. LAPD Interim Chief Choi says the department is monitoring the shooting and
that there is no known threat or connection to the city of La Elly.
Kenny Sheriff's department issued a similar statement yesterday. Long Beach Police says it is
in constant contact with law enforcement partners in the region and will have an increased
police presence. The family of the man killed at the rally he died says
he died protecting them. They say he got in front of them when the
shooting started. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro says Corey, a comparatour, died a
hero, using his body as a shield to protect his wife and daughter.
Ory was a girl dad. Corey was a firefighter. Corey went to church
every Sunday. Corey loved his community. The president of the Buffalo Township Volunteer
Fire Company called comper a Tour, a stand up guy and a true brother
of the fire service. Sheriff's deputies in Orange County are warning people to watch
out for strangers who appear to want a hug. A man in Rancho Santa
Margarita reported two people pulled into his driveway a couple weeks ago, approached him
with arms out for a hug, then robbed him of a gold chain he
was wearing. The Sheriff's department says the same people were possibly involved in similar
robberies in Orange and surrounding counties. A woman has been killed in an attack
in Lancaster. Another person was hurt last night. La County Sheriff's Department says
the woman was pronounced dead at the High Hospital from a head injury. A
lieutenant said a person had been detained, but no other information was given.
A federal courthouse in downtown La could get a new name. The US District
Courthouse on First Street is currently known officially as First Street US Courthouse. Democratic
Congressman Jimmy Gomez, who represents that part of downtown, has proposed changing it
in honor of civil rights activists Beliciitas and Gonzalo Mendez. They were part of
a landmark federal court case in nineteen forty seven that ended the segregation of Mexican
American students. Gomez's resolution has passed the US House and now waits for action
in the Senate. Last week, the La County Board of Supervisors approved Emotion
in favor of the name change in downtown La. Michael Monks KFI News.
Disneyland and California Adventure Park will be closing six attractions next month for refurbishment.
Artificials say Space Mountain, the Disneyland Railroad, Disneyland Monorail, Love the Monorail,
the Animation Academy, which is one of my favorite places where you can
go and draw pictures of the characters. They teach you how to do it
and they actually end up looking like the characters. Turtle Talk with Crush and
Anna and Elsa's Royal Welcome. They're all going to temporarily close next month as
part of Disneyland's standard refurbishment schedule. Former President Trump has arrived in Milwaukee for
the Republican National Convention, which gets underway today. There was talk of Trump
not going after the assassination attempt, at least delaying it, but Trump said
he cannot allow a shooter or potential assassin to force a change in his schedule
or anything else. He's expected to announce his VP pick during the convention.
At least ninety Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a humanitarian
zone in Gaza. Israeli officials say they were targeting a Hamas commander who was
one of the main planners of the October seventh attack on Israel. They're not
sure if he was killed in the air strike amass The commander's alive, but
hasn't offered any proof. Okay, almost time to look up in the sky.
The annual Perseed media or shower has begun. Going to be able to
see meteors in the night sky from now until September first, but the showers
are going to peak August eleventh and twelfth, So for peak viewing, you're
going to have to wait a little bit while longer. At six oh five,
it's Handle on the news, and as I mentioned, Bill Handle's going
to have a lot to say about the attempted assassination, the RNC, and
so much more that's coming up just after six o'clock. Right now, let's
say good morning to ABC's Stephen portnoy steven. Less than forty eight hours after
an assassination attempt, the Republican National Convention gets underway. Today is it going
to be business as usual. I think in a lot of respects it will.
But the tone may change. Look, and you're already hearing from the
former presidency arrived here in Milwaukee last night, pumped his fist in the air
as he climbed down the steps of his plane, that he's going to change
the tone of his speech on Thursday. Will see if other speakers do the
same. Look. The former president expressed astonishment that he survived the assassination attempt
on Saturday. He said to The New York Post. I'm not supposed to
be here. I'm supposed to be dead. He says, by luck or
by god, he survived because his head was turned a certain way at that
moment when the bullets whiz by. Look. Trump said that he was going
to give a hum dinger of a speech, an extremely tough speech. But
now he says it's going to be more designed to unite the country. But
then he had it. He goes, I don't know if that's possible.
People are very divided. So let's see how this convention changes. You know.
The word from organizers yesterday was that they weren't aware of any substance changes.
And then they told us that they're adding Nikki Haley to the speaker's list,
which is a demonstration of party unity. That the long running Trump rival
in the campaign in this past year would, after not being invited, would
accept the invitation come and speak on behalf of the standard bearer of the party
who she railed against in the primaries is a significant and symbolic decision. I
think it's going to be interesting to hear what she has to say, too
well, but also rather predictable, right, I mean, I think to
what she'll say, is that right, right, but in in the broader
context and compare it to what she has said in the past. And I'm
sure she'll be appropriately respectful of her own positions in the past, but also
explain why she doesn't want to see Joe Biden and Kamala Harris reelected to another
four years. Right, And the programming is still going to focus on economy
and immigration. And then, like Trump said, probably weave a little unity
message, but it's still going to be pretty probably pretty vicious against the current
president. But I wonder, oh yeah, I mean, look, you
could expect Marjorie Tiller, Green, Charlie Kirk, Matt Gates are all still
speaking here. So it's going to be the brands the party, right,
And so the question is, well, I think a lot of us in
journalism will be wondering how how intense will some of those remarks be prior to
the ten o'clock Eastern time, seven o'clock Pacific time prime time hour where the
whole country's flewed in across all the networks. You know, obviously c Span
and maybe the cables will be taking the earlier programming hours, and obviously it'll
stream online if you're really interested, But you know, how how intense will
some of these speeches get? That'll be part of the story too. Okay,
So I have a question for you about the convention. So you're talking
about the speakers and stuff. Do they have speakers all day long or do
they have little like little just planning sessions or what do they do during the
day? Great question. So the only day where there is sort of day
side activity is today, and that's where it's the formal nomination of the ticket,
the adoption of the party platform. How do you formally nominate the ticket
without knowing who the vice presidential candidate is going to be? You can't.
So I suppose that means if they're going to move forward with their afternoon schedule
as planned, that we're going to hear in the next few hours who the
running mate will be day No, no, no, because that again,
unless they change the plan on all of us, for thousands of delegates and
reporters. The plan is for all that to happen this afternoon, and again
it's hard to do that unless you have a name. So let's see who
it is. Of course that person will be speaking on Wednesday. We know
that that's the plan, and then on Thursday it's the formal address the acceptance
by the nominee of the party for presidents. So other than today, no
day side activities are planned. All of it is their evening sessions meant for
a television audience. Look, time was the convent. Prior to the early
nineteen seventies. These conventions were organized to make a choice. This is before
the decision was made in the nineteen seventies to democratize the process and have voters
in each of the states choose who the nominee is going to be. Prior
to this, the party, you know, big whigs would get here and
then it would be decided amongst themselves, and that was the way things worked
from the earliest days of American politics. But since these have been an opportunity
for the party to communicate directly to the American people, and the networks and
stations of the country give the time over to allow the parties to make that
case to the public. We covered as a news event, but there's a
lot less news these days other than what the remarks are used to be.
We had to figure out what's going to happen. It was not sure that
the outcome was not certain, and so we would be on the edge of
our seats as the ticket would take shape before our eyes. Is it'ld be
wrangling and backdoor dealing. Well, that's not how it happens. Now.
We just cover the speeches. A lot less interesting for reporters, but not
so bad television viewing and radio listening to. Okay, and you were going
to be there all week, and we get to check in with you again
a couple of times, so I'm thrilled that we'll be getting information from you.
Is Trump expected to appear tonight. I know he's not speaking until Thursday,
but last time he showed up early. Well, I think looking at
the pattern of the twenty sixteen convention in Cleveland is apt. It would be
a big surprise to me, given the fact that Donald Trump is now in
Milwaukee, that he doesn't appear on the stage here every night. But I
don't know. We'll see, and you can imagine that the crowd is going
to go wild, especially after Saturday. Oh my, I mean, my
goodness. Yeah, I can't imagine. It's a good thing. I've got
my earphones with some padding. It's going to get loud in that hall.
All right, Stephen Portin, I thanks so much, and we'll look forward
to talking to you a little bit more later this week. All right.
Take care. President Biden says he wants people to reject political violence and resolve
their differences peacefully. He says the attempted assassination of former President Trump could cause
political tensions to run high, but the US cannot descend into violence. A
former president was shot, an American citizen killed while simply exercise his freedom to
support the candidate of his choosing. We cannot, we must not go down
this road in America, Biden say Socrats and Republicans can compete forcefully over different
policy visions, but must be civil about it. The FBI says it's investigating
the shooting as a potential act of domestic terrorism. The Secret Service says it's
investigating how the shooter was able to get close enough to shoot Trump. ABC's
pter Thomas says a police officer did confront the shooter on Saturday, but was
not able to stop him. The Butler Township police officer was vaulted up to
the rout where the shooter was perched, adding the suspect quickly turned and aims
his gun at the local officer, forcing him to retreat and fall down.
Well, it's later that suspect firing several shots toward Trump. Thomas says.
Members of Congress are calling on the Secret Service director to appear before Congress on
July twenty second, so a week from today, to explain the lapse in
security. More than a quarter million customers are still without power almost a week
after Hurricane Barrel barreled through Texas. The power company in Texas says it may
take until July nineteenth for some areas to get power restored. A white supremacist
in Santa Anna has won a new trial on part of his murder conviction because
of a new state law. The state Supreme Court overturned the gang enhancements tied
to the death penalty conviction of Public Enemy number one gang leader Michael Lamb.
A judge sentenced Lamb to death in two thousand and eight for executing a fellow
gang member for doing a news interview that was supposed to be anonymous. The
ruling Thursday cited the new state law, which requires prosecutors to prove a killing
made the gang money or was revenge against a rival gang, and no longer
allows such enhancements if the killing only benefited a gang's reputation for violence. Corbin
Carson KFI News sixty one California police officers have traveled to Wisconsin for the Republican
National Convention, which gets underway in Milwaukee today. Governor Newsims's forty CHP officers
and officers from Long Beach, Bakersfield and Fresno police departments will be helping with
traffic control, public safety, and crowd management. Thunderstorms could roll through the
Annalo Valley, parts of the San Gabriel Valley, and the northern Ventura County
Mountains today. The National Weather Service says there's a potential for torrential rainfall that
could cause splash flooding as well. Nothing Despicable about the money. Despicable Me
took four took in in its second week in theaters. It finished in first
place with more than forty four million dollars. The horror movie Long Legs was
second with twenty two million. Inside Out two has added another twenty million dollars
to its massive five week total, finishing in third. Kind of a surprise,
fly Me to the Moon, the new Scarlett Johansson Tatum Channing movie.
Channing Tatum movie finished in fifth place at five point fifty. We're going to
be talking to ABC's Jim Ryan, who is at the RNC, is going
to be talking security and what to expect. But right now, let's say
good morning to ABC's John Cohen, who is a former counter terrorism coordinator at
the Department of Homeland Security, so he knows this stuff. So, John,
you say, no one should be surprised about what happened with the attempted
assassination on Saturday. Why is that? Hi, It's great to be with
you. I say that because over the last year I've been working with law
enforcement and election officials across the country to ensure that the nation is better prepared
to deal with the current threat environment. And I'll say to you what I've
been saying to police chiefs and sheriffs around the country that in my view,
the nation is in the midst of the most dangerous threat environment We've experienced in
the last forty years that I've been working, at least in law enforcement and
homeland security. We're divided in green nation, where people tend to view those
who disagree with them as the enemy. Growing a number of people believe violence
is an acceptable way to express their ideological or political beliefs, and we're experiencing
significant levels of violence fueled by a median online ecosystem that's saturated with conspiracy theories,
and that content is posted with the intention of inspiring illegal action or in
violence. So these are the factors that are at the foundation of the current
threat environment, which is why law enforcement has been in a heightened posture for
well over a year. And in spite of that, there's lots of buzz
about how anybody was able to get that close to the president or former president
with a clear line of sight to him in an area that's supposed to be
highly secured Yeah, there's going to be an after action review on the circumstances
on Saturday. And what that review will look at is was there intelligence that
was missed either by the locals or by the Secret Service or appropriate security measures
in place? With the security bubble big enough, you raise a really important
question. It's basic trade craft that if you have an elevated position with a
line of site to a protectee, in this case, the former president,
you sweep that location, you ensure that there's no threats present, and then
you secure it. And you secure it by even by either restricting access or
by placing an agent or a police officer on the roof. So there's also
questions about how quickly the Service, the Secret Service reacted when the attack begins.
So those are the questions that the Secret Service will have to provide answers
for, and they're going to be critically important because, as you pointed out
earlier, the Republican Convention starts today, in a few weeks, the Democratic
Convention begins, and they're going to have to evaluate their security posture with those
events. Yeah, and with how does law enforcement keep this kind of thing
from happening again? Like you said, the terror or maybe not the terror
threat, but the threat is so high because people are so divided and they're
more prompted to violence. How do you lock down an area? You need
to Well, of first, there needs to be greater awareiness amongst law enforcement
of the volatility of the threat environment. They need to do. They need
to expand their intelligence analytics activities. They need to use that activity to inform
their investigative and security planning. You know, part of the concern that I
have, and I've been speaking about, including with you all over you know
at KFI, is that you know, the threat environment has changed. The
tactics of terrorists and domestic violent extremists and criminals have changed, and quite frankly,
law enforcements and security officials have been slow to change. So that change
needs to happen. It needs to happen quickly. Okay, And is Trump
is still expected to hold his massive outdoor rallies or is it? Yeah,
that's before I leave you, that's unclear to me. I mean, I
think that we are seeing that the campaign is and I'm sure the Secret Service
is re evaluating what will happen and going forward. There's always a natural tension
between what the goal of the candidate or the campaign is versus these you know,
the security be planning. The Secret Service wants to wrap people in bubble
wrap and keep them contained. That's how you keep them safe. And in
politics that's just not possible. Okay, John Cohen, thank you so much.
I know you've got to run, but we so appreciate your time and
all the information this morning. I'll join you anytime. Thanks. All right,
great, Thanks John. Let's get back to some of the stories coming
out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. The man killed at the Trump
rally was a former fire chief who died protecting his family from the gunfire in
the stands behind former President Trump. Corey Comparatour used his body as a shield
against the bullets. He was fifty years old. A next door neighbor of
Comparatours says he's literally a hero. Activists in Milwaukee say they're going ahead with
their planned protests on this first day of the Republican National Convention. Omar Flores
with the Coalition to March on the RNC, says they met with local officials
to affirm what they're calling a handshake agreement with the city. Something like this
is like living and breathing for us, right, this is not new for
us. We've been organizers for many years. We know exactly how to de
escalate, and we're feeling very confident when we're coming into this. Protesters say
they're hoping to call attention to things like abortion rights, economic justice, and
the war in Gaza. California has sent sixty one law enforcement officers to Wisconsin
to help with security at the convention. They include forty members of the CHP
and officers from Bakersfield, Fresno, and Long Beach police departments. Governor Newsom's
office says the request for the officers has been planned since May and is being
coordinated by the Governor's Office of Emergency Services. The head track coach at Godina's
High School in Santa Anna has been arrested for allegedly contacting miners with the intent
of committing a sex crime. Aaron Rayah was taken into custody yesterday at his
home in Santa Anna. Police say they got a call earlier in the day
from a mom who found inappropriate texts between her daughter and the coach. Police
say Special Crimes detectives identified at least two other victims and former Godinez students and
say there could be more. Argentina has won it second straight Copa America championship
despite Lionel Messi injuring his leg in the second half. The match yesterday started
more than an hour late because of crowd trouble at hard Rock Stadium. Fans
who didn't have tickets tried to force their way into the stadium. Some were
seen climbing into what looked like the stadium's air ducts, raising security questions with
the venue set to host the World Cup Games in twenty twenty six. Soccer
fans in downtown LA got rowdy following Columbia's lost to Argentina in the Copa America
Soccer final. The LAPD says there was a large group of people fighting last
night on Union Avenue near James Wood Boulevard. A news videographer that had appeared
hundreds of people were involved in the fight and that there were some serious injuries.
The former police captain who was killed in the assassination attempt against former President
Trump was the nephew of former Menifee City councilman Tom Furman. Furman says six
of his family member we're at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday,
including fifty year old Corey Comparatore. La area law enforcement remain on heightened
alert following the assassination attempt on former President Trump. Interim Police Chief Choice Ses
There are no known threats locally, but the LAPD will work with federal partners
to ensure that La remains safe. The Hollywood teamsters have warned they're not close
to a deal in ongoing negotiations with the major studios and streamers. The union
is headed into its final week of negotiations over wages, benefits, staffing minimums,
and AI. Union officials have accused studio negotiators of a lack of urgency
in the proceedings. Current labor agreements expire on July thirty first, with the
union saying they will not extend them if negotiations don't succeed. Now, let's
check in with ABC's Jim Ryan. So Jim is at the RNC in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. So let's talk security. Mm hmm, yeah, yeah,
yes. Lockdown is a good way to put it. I think Amy,
I got here on Friday evening and you could move around fairly easily. You
could go into the events center, then you find SERF Forum, where the
Milwaukee Bucks play and where the main part of the convention is taking place.
Saturday, things were locked down a little more. Yeah, to show your
crinshom yesterday, big concrete barriers were being hauled into downtown and streets being blocked
off, and steel mesh barriers being put up along some of the sidewalks,
so you can see that every hour it seemed the security was being boosted.
The Secret Service said that was part of the plan initially. This is nothing
in response to what happened in Pennsylvania on Saturday. Of course, I'm not
sure they would have revealed if it were any different, but it is a
suffice to say, really a very secure area, especially within the footprint of
the convention. Okay, now, because you're there, what does it look
like. You said that they brought in some barriers and that kind of stuff.
I mean, is there is there just a huge belief presence. You
have to show credentials wherever you go. I mean, what does it feel
like. Well, there are very specific points where you can get into the
footprint and you have to show your credentials, be have them scanned, have
your backpack or you might be carrying searched before you can get in there.
But other than that, I mean, businesses are open. The restaurants and
the bars along the main street here in downtown Milwaukee are open and then doing
a pretty good business considering all the folks who are in town for the convention.
So in a way it looks very controlled and very you know, lockdown.
That in another way it looks kind of normal. Looks kind of normal.
And do we know how many people go to that convention. It'll be
about fifty thousand altogether. Fifty I thought, no, Well, it's twenty
four hundred delegates and about twenty four hundred maybe more than alternates. Those are
the official folks who are inside actually voting on matters. But then you've got
thousands of media members and thousands of police officers, something like four or five
thousand police officers who are here from every level from city, county, state,
federal, and folks coming in from all around the country. And then
just visitors to the event. So the city of around five hundred thousand on
a normal day will grow to about five hundred and fifty thousand for the next
week or so. I mean, okay, and if people wanted to go
to the convention. Could anybody go or do you have to, like,
do you have to be invited or part of the party or well, I
mean as far as delegates and alternates that they're chosen at at the precinct level,
are very orderly method of choosing those folks to go. But in terms
of folks who just want to visit, no, inside the building, it's
very limited to delegates, alternates, media, police, and the folks on
the stage. And that's just about it, okay, And we of course
would be remiss if we didn't talk about protests. Are a lot of protests
expected? Yeah, well, they are expected, and that's something that comes
with every convention, every political gathering. Essentially, there will be demonstrations.
There is a zone where protesters are to be restricted, and they've been working
with local police and city leaders and the Feds as well to be briefed exactly
on where they can and can't go, what they can and can't do,
and what's likely to get them arrested. So yeah, there will be protests,
okay. And are the protests permitted? Yes, they are, They're
permitted. I mean in a couple of ways, yeah, they are.
I mean, like permitted, Like here, you get a permit, so
you get protest correct, right? Yeah? Which you know I think groups
that often stage demonstrations say that's a violation. You shouldn't have to get a
permit to say what you want to say. But in an environment like this,
and especially given what happened on Saturday, the person you are going to
be very careful about what what can be done. Does that mean they're going
to shut down protests? No, not at all, Okay? And like
are there fifty different protests? Are there four groups or do we know?
Not? Really, there haven't been. We'll just have to see who shows
up in that that particular area on the outside of the perimeter. And you
know, it could change from day to day. There may be folks who
decide not to come for demonstrations, others who may decide that because of what
happens Saturday, they will come here. So I think here a lot of
different voices on that on the perimeter, in that that designated protest zone.
Okay, And then you were talking about the protest zone, which I'm curious
about because you said it's outside the perimeter, so can they even see the
convention center or do they keep them far back. Now you can see it.
It's a huge building. It's for the Milwaukee Bucks play a giant,
a beautiful place, and it's visible from all over downtown. And so I
think, yeah, where the demonstrators are are held, where their protests are
going on, they will be able to see the place. Now, will
the delegates here or see what the message is that the protesters have. Maybe
maybe not, but you know, but that's kind of the price you play.
And you're right, And it's an interesting phenomenon because they're here protesting in
hopes of a getting attention to the media but also getting the attention of the
delegates and alternates inside and and you know, it's just part and parcel.
I've been covering convention since nineteen eighty four and there's always a big demonstration component.
Okay, and you're going to be covering this one in ernest. You're
going to be there all week, and we get to talk to you again
a little bit later this week, so we'll be interested to hear what it
feels like once everybody's there and what the vibe is and all of that,
and hopefully the protests don't get out of control. Yeah, Yeah, that's
exactly right. I think the protests and the demonstrators are really kind of It's
not necessarily a group protest, organized demonstration that cops are worried about or Secret
Service. It's that lone wolf situation like we saw in Pennsylvania, a guy
who apparently was acting alone and found a way past this net or what should
have been a mesh of security with a gun. So those are the folks
that I think that law enforcement is more concerned about other than the demonstrators.
All right, well, I'm going to hope that everything goes smoothly. Thank
you so much, Jim Ryan. We'll talk to you again later this week.
Thanks Amy. All right, let's get back to some of the stories
coming out of the CAMFI twenty four hour newsroom. Former President Trump has praised
the Secret Service for their response to the shooting on Saturday. Agents swarmed Trump
and kept him down into the or behind the podium until it was safe to
move him to an armored vehicle waiting nearby. Trump has said he's supposed to
be dead and that it's a miracle he survived. He says the shooting has
given him new perspective headed into the Republican National convention to unite the country.
President Biden says the risk of political violence is high because of the attempted assassination
of former President Trump. He says it's time to cool things down. Yes,
we have deeply felt strong disagreements. The stakes in the selection are enormously
high. I said it many times that the choice in the selections we make
in the selection is going to shape the future of America and the world for
decades to come. In a primetime national address from the White House last night,
Biden said political passions can run high, but we must never descend into
violence. A Western Lowland gorilla at the San Diego zoof Safari Park has died.
Zoo officials say fifty two year old Winston had a string of age related
conditions. He'd been getting medical treatments for heart disease, degenerative joint disease,
and kidney disease. Wildlife care teams monitoring Winston's hearts say they noticed signs of
decline over recent years. Winston fathered nine off spring, was the grandfather to
eight and great grandfather to one. La Metro's looking for two thousand people to
use various transportation options at no charge Metro's Mobility Wallet Project manager Hector Gutierrez says
the transit agency will offer eighteen hundred dollars a year to low income users for
the second phase of a study. We're trying to determine how the mobility increases
access to opportunities, it reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and how does it support
the economic and heal the outcomes. The first phase was only in South LA,
but now it's open to anyone in La County. The grand funded program
will allow riders to use not just Metro buses and trains, but also Uber,
Greyhound, Amtrak and other services. This is KFI and KOSTHD two Los
Angeles, Orange County. We lead local live from the KFI twenty four hour
newsroom. I'm Amy King. This has been your wake up call, and
if you missed any wake up call, you can listen anytime on the iHeartRadio
app. You've been listening to wake Up Call with me Amy King. You
can always hear wake Up Call five to six am Monday through Friday on kf
I AM six forty and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.