At a Trump rally, shocking images fill TV screens. Then reporters rush to find out what it means

The images filled television screens across a rattled country on a hot Saturday evening — former President Donald Trump reaching for his bloodied ear as he moved down to the floor of a stage at a Pennsylvania campaign rally and U.S. Secret Service agents rushing to surround him.

While the video was instantly available and repeated dozens of times, its meaning was not as evident. And viewers watched the painstaking process of reporters rushing to fill in the blanks of a political assassination attempt.

“It's really, really a scary moment in American history,” CNN's Wolf Blitzer said.