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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt

Suspected Gunman Charged With Attempted Assassination of Trump; White House Blames Dems For Inciting Political Violence; Now: King Charles, Queen Camilla At White House For State Visit. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired April 27, 2026 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: THE ARENA WITH KASIE HUNT starts in just a few seconds. Thanks so much for joining us this afternoon.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Breaking news as we come on the air this hour, the man suspected of attacking the White House Correspondents' Dinner now charged with attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump.

Hi, everyone. Welcome to THE ARENA. I'm Kasie Hunt.

The suspected gunman, Cole Thomas Allen, was just charged with three federal crimes, including attempted assassination. Moments ago, the U.S. attorney for D.C., Jeanine Pirro, announced that more charges would be added as the investigation unfolds.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANINE PIRRO, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Make no mistake, this was an attempted assassination of the president of the United States, with the defendant making clear what his intent was, and that intent was to bring down as many of the high-ranking cabinet officials as he could.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Prosecutors allege the 31-year-old Allen carried a shotgun, a handgun and knives as he rushed past a security a Secret Service checkpoint on Saturday. Just feet away, thousands of people, I was among them, as were a number of the guests on our show today. We were all gathered there.

After hearing gunshots, we ducked for cover under our dinner tables and as we all came to realize with horror that we were in the middle of yet another senseless act of political violence. Secret Service agents evacuated President Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and a number of other high -- of the highest ranking officials in the United States government.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TODD BLANCHE, ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL: Violence has no place in civic life. It cannot and will not be used to disrupt democratic institutions or intimidate those who serve them. And it certainly cannot continue to be used against the president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Let's get off the sidelines head into THE ARENA. My panel is here joining us.

And we're also going to get started with CNN crime and justice correspondent Katelyn Polantz. She's outside federal court, and CNN's senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes.

Katelyn, I want to start with you because you were inside the courtroom as the alleged gunman made his initial appearance.

I mean, what happened? What did you see? And what are we hearing now from the Justice Department

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Cole Allen, he was in court for the very first time today before a federal magistrate judge here at the courthouse in downtown Washington. He's been in custody since he fell to the ground or was downed by law enforcement outside of the ballroom at the Capitol Hilton on Saturday night. And he's going to be remaining behind bars, at least for the next couple of days.

In court today, Allen was told the charges he now faces the top line there is that prosecutors believe that they have enough evidence specifically from that manifesto that he sent to his relatives and to a former employer at the exact same time that he is alleged to have run through the security barriers in the ballroom or outside of the ballroom that charge and attempted assassination of the president of the United States. He was told that in court and looked at the complaint before I him.

There were also photos of the two guns, at least that prosecutors recovered on the scene. The rifle, the long gun that he appeared to have gotten one shot out of, and then another pistol that he had that prosecutors had found. Those are all part of the charges, and he is already being shown those things.

But this is an ongoing investigation. The acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, said in that press conference just a few moments ago that they are still working through witness statements, search warrants, other evidence, and we might see more in the coming days as there's going to be a detention hearing for Cole Allen on Thursday. And again, in this federal courthouse. Here's a little bit more about what Todd Blanche said has been found so far. What law enforcement officials have put together on what happened that night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLANCHE: He ran through the magnetometer, holding a long gun. As he did so, U.S. Secret Service personnel assigned to the checkpoint heard a loud gunshot. One Secret Service officer was shot in the chest, but was wearing a ballistic vest that worked.

This heroic officer, who was hit fired five times at Allen, who was not shot but fell to the ground and was promptly arrested.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POLANTZ: Now, Kasie, I was in the courtroom today and Cole Allen, he had to speak several times to the judge as they went through this initial appearance for him.

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He spoke very clearly, very loudly. He stated his name very confidently. He also told the judge that he had a master's degree. Some of the things that we had been learning about him as a person leading up to this moment in time. He also addressed the judge very politely several times. Yes, your honor. No, your honor. Yes, sir. No, sir. When asked various questions.

But one thing we learned from the charging documents so far today is that Cole Allen. He has remained silent when law enforcement has tried to question. And invoking his right against self-incrimination and not speaking to investigators up until this point -- Kasie.

HUNT: Okay. Katelyn, thanks for that.

Kristen, the White House is saying that security protocol was followed here, but that they're also going to put things under review. Some things. What more are we learning about what they're saying, especially after the president said he wants this event to happen again in the next 30 days?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And those discussions are happening behind the scenes, although it's unclear if they actually will go through with another one of these dinners. One thing to note and just I think it can't be overlooked because we've seen President Trump go after the Secret Service before. Currently, the director of the Secret Service was the head of president Trump's detail when he was out of office, somebody that President Trump trusts with his life. He believes he has saved his life.

So, it would be very bizarre to actually see President Trump come out against Sean Curran somebody that he put into that office. But just because they are praising their actions does not mean they're not after-actioning what happened. And it also doesn't mean that they're not considering changes.

Listen to what Karoline Leavitt said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I definitely wouldn't say changes are out of the question. I think, again, it's up to the White House here and we view it as a great responsibility to ensure the maximum safety of the president and the vice president and the entire cabinet. And so, we're always looking for ways to improve security. I think if you just sit here and say everything is perfect all the time, that's not a good way to operate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And of course, she also called on Democrats to fund DHS. She blamed Democrats and parts of the media, saying incendiary political rhetoric. She did not mention any of President Trump's own rhetoric.

But what we're going to be watching for in the next couple of days, we're told Susie Wiles, the chief of staff, is going to be holding a meeting with top operational officials, with top DHS officials, just to talk about moving forward and what that looks like. Specifically, President Trump has a lot of big events on the horizon with America 250 and they need to know and be able to communicate to the public that those events will be safe for Americans to attend. So that's likely going to be something on the agenda. We're keeping an ear out for any other kind of changes they might make in the future.

HUNT: All right. Katelyn Polantz, Kristen Holmes, thank you both very much for getting us started today.

So, let's zero in on what Kristen was talking about just there. What the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, said earlier today. She blamed Democrats, quote, "systematic demonization, excuse me, systemic demonization of President Trump for Saturdays shooting," adding that, quote, "much of the manifesto of the would-be assassin is indistinguishable from the words that we hear daily from so many."

Leavitt then read the following comments from Democratic elected officials. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEAVITT: Hakeem Jeffries just this April this month said, we are in an era of maximum warfare everywhere, all the time.

Governor Josh Shapiro said heads need to roll within the administration.

Senator Alex Padilla said people are, quote, "dying because of fear and terror caused by the Trump administration".

Senator Elizabeth Warren, President Trump is making the country look like a fascist state.

Senator Adam Schiff saying President Trump using a dictator playbook.

Senator Ed Markey calling President Trump a dictator, saying that this administration's actions are authoritarianism on steroids.

Governor J.B. Pritzker, "Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, disruptions. These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Not know a moment of peace, she said. So that's how the White House is framing things in the aftermath of this attempted shooting.

Joining me now to discuss Democratic Congressman from Colorado, Jason Crow.

Congressman, thanks very much for being here.

When you listen to what Karoline Leavitt said, she ran down those comments from a list of prominent Democrats. Do you think she has a point?

REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): Every American should condemn political violence, including this most recent horrible incident. Right? We are in an era of increased political violence. The threats against members of Congress have quadrupled in the last couple of years.

This was the third assassination attempt, and I have never, ever faltered and failed to condemn it and to pursue justice and answers, which is why I was the lead Democrat on the bipartisan task force to do a thorough and comprehensive investigation after the two prior attempts against Donald Trump's life.

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That was an investigation we did in a fully bipartisan basis. We did it over five months. We interviewed dozens of senior officials at every level of law enforcement, and we issued 180 recommendations to the federal government for reform to keep elected officials safe.

HUNT: Why do you think it's happening over and over again to President Trump? Why are we seeing this level of increased political violence?

CROW: Well, I think we see a heightened political environment. Things are very tense. There's a lot of rhetoric coming out of a lot of different places at the same time is guardrails I think have gone down, right?

The ability of federal, state and local law enforcement to address the quadrupling of threats against local elected officials, state elected officials and federal officials is just not there, which is why in our recommendations, we said we need vastly more resources. We need comprehensive reform. What I would like is some answers out of the Secret Service and the administration as to how many of those 180 recommendations we made have actually been implemented, or have they just been sitting on a shelf over the last year collecting dust?

HUNT: You said there's a lot of rhetoric coming from a lot of different places. Do you think any of the rhetoric that's been coming from Democratic corners has contributed to the environment that we're living in?

CROW: There are instances of rhetoric that I have disagreed with, and I have called my own colleagues out when and if that happens. But what I do reject is some sense of a false equivalency that somehow this is coming equally from both sides. You know, I condemn this violence across the board. I will call it out, whether it's Democrat or Republican. But at the same time, I have an obligation as an elected official to call out things, bad things that are happening in this country that are inconsistent with our values, that are threatening my constituents.

And me as an elected official, as the voice of my constituents in Colorado. I cannot stop doing that. I have to do that responsibly, and I have to be very clear with folks that when I'm engaged in political debate, sometimes that's fiery debate, that that is what we are doing, and we are condemning political violence.

You know, America has to be good enough to know the difference between those things. And for people that are mentally ill and don't know the difference between those two things, that's where we have comprehensive law enforcement reform. That's why we have to increase the level of defenses, sometimes literally and figuratively, around our elected officials to keep them safe.

HUNT: What do you say to Democrats who place blame -- who place the blame for the escalated environment on President Trump?

CROW: I don't think it's ever appropriate whenever there's an act of violence to try to assess blame. Theres a big difference, in my view, between calling out rhetoric generally or even specifically. But when there's an act of violence, what our country needs is leadership that comes right out and says, this is not okay.

We resolve our differences in a democracy at the ballot box, not with bullets. And it should never be okay. And we all need to take a step back.

You know, that should not be too hard to do. And again, that is not inconsistent with having fierce debate. You know, I call out this administration, this president, all the time for egregious things they do, for things they're doing that literally threaten my constituents. And I'm not going to stop doing that.

At the same time, we as a country and as a democracy have to be good enough to know the difference between that debate and that discourse versus calls for violence.

HUNT: So given what happened on Saturday night and this climate that we are now living in, do you think we need to reevaluate whether we should be putting the entirety, essentially, of our government in the same room? I mean, one of the only people in the presidential line of succession who was not in that room on Saturday night was Senator Chuck Grassley.

CROW: Well, if we do that, Kasie, then criminals and people who are trying to destroy our democracy with incidents like this, like, make no mistake, this would-be assassin was trying to destroy our democracy, to deprive Americans of the ability to select their leaders. And I simply am not going to allow those people to win.

If we pull back and stop having public events, if we pull back and stop acting in the way that a democracy should act, then we lose, right? So, I'm not willing to do that. We actually have the capability. We have the technology, we have the

professional law enforcement. We have the ability to do this to protect ourselves, but we have to actually resolve to do that.

We have to spend the resources, we have to get the right people in place. We have to get the right technology in place, which really was the result of that five-plus month investigation that I helped lead. That looked comprehensively at whether or not we are structured to protect our elected officials, right?

And that's going to require massive reform. One of our biggest reform items was actually taking the Secret Service, which falls under the Treasury Department, and making it an independent entity so it can advocate for budgets. It can make its own decisions, as well as greater collaboration between law enforcement at all levels.

There are many things we can do that can fix this problem. Short of pulling back and stop acting like a democracy, which I am not willing to do.

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HUNT: When I was on the air yesterday afternoon, in the aftermath of all of this, I talked with Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who -- he's a member of your party, although somewhat of a contrarian of late. He posted about attending the dinner.

He was a few tables in front of me at the dinner, and he wrote this. He says, quote, "We were there front and center. That venue, meaning the Hilton Hotel, wasn't built to accommodate an event with the line of succession for the U.S. government. After witnessing last night, drop the TDS, and build the White House ballroom for events exactly like these."

Do you agree with that -- with that, Congressman?

CROW: No, I don't, I don't at all. I don't think the lesson out of this at all is that there was even a security failure, for that matter. Right? I have some very deep concerns. Right? Why was the security perimeter inside the hotel versus outside the hotel?

But it is too early to tell right now to come to those conclusions. We need a full and comprehensive investigation. If there were security failures or reforms that had to be put in place, then we should do them.

But again, this goes directly to my point, Kasie, that the takeaway from this, the lesson learned from this cannot be we have to stop being accessible. We have to stop going out in public. We have to stop being available to the American people that we represent, that we have to put ourselves behind a higher fences and behind, you know, ballrooms, buried in bunkers in the White House.

That is not the takeaway for me. We have the ability to do this. The United States of America -- nobody's going to tell me the United States of America who just through flew a couple of astronauts around the moon, can't figure out how to protect its elected officials. Of course, we can do that. We just have to take politics out of it and dedicate the resources and the professionalism and the people to do it. And we can continue to act like a democracy in the way that we should.

HUNT: Very much appreciate the sentiment that America can rise above all of this.

Congressman Jason Crow, thanks very much for your time, sir. I always appreciate it.

CROW: Thank you.

HUNT: All right. Coming up next here in THE ARENA, our panel is here. As the political blame game goes into overdrive with Democrats and Republicans pointing fingers, saying it's the other side inciting political violence, while also saying the heated rhetoric needs to stop.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK: What we saw at the press correspondents' dinner is one part of a very troubling reality across this country, which is how political violence has become part of our politics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNT: -- who are traditionally posted at the doors. This state visit coming at a time of heightened concern, shall we say, amid the arraignment of the alleged shooter at the White House Correspondents' Dinner last evening.

There were, of course, some questions, a bit of a scramble yesterday to figure out whether or not this visit would go forward as planned. Ultimately, the palace concluded that it would, with a few operational behind the scenes adjustments.

Jeff Zeleny, can I bring you into this conversation because you've covered the White House for many years, you've covered this president, and he's somebody who very much likes a royal visit.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: He absolutely does. And one of the highlights of his first term in office, I'm thinking back to now, when was President Trump had the opportunity to see the queen in England.

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And that was one of the moments that he has talked about remembering the most. Of course, he was in the U.K. just last fall for a dinner that King Charles hosted, but this is the first opportunity for President Trump to host a state dinner on his terms here. So, it's not surprising at all to me that this is going on. And we are learning that President Trump is taking a very personal details in the state dinner tomorrow evening.

Also not surprising, he was in the hospitality business. But this meeting also is significant for a variety of things. The king obviously is coming to deliver an address to a joint session of Congress tomorrow.

Very important, but more importantly, the relationship between the U.S. and the U.K., which has been rocky, but not with the king. That's the prime minister. And I think we'll see a distinction between that.

HUNT: Yeah.

ZELENY: I would assume there'll be a much, many gestures of niceties this week and very little controversy. But we shall see.

HUNT: Right. In many ways, the king has an opportunity to smooth things over, perhaps in a way that is not necessarily available to the prime minister, the political leader of the U.K.

All right. We're going to continue to monitor the state visit. Well bring you news out of that as it happens. But we do want to get back to our coverage of this weekend's shooting.

The acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, calling for an end to political violence and criticizing the media following this weekend's shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL: Just as guilty as a lot of people on x, when you have when you have reporters, when you have media, media, just being overly critical and calling the president horrible names for no reason and without evidence, without proof, it shouldn't surprise us that this type of rhetoric takes place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: His comments coming shortly after the White House press secretary said the Democrats rhetoric has contributed to the current political environment.

Just within the past few minutes, the top Democrat in the House, the minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, responded this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: I think that what's interesting to me, as you've pointed out, is that the so-called White House press secretary, who's a disgrace, he's a stone cold liar had the nerve to stand up there and read talking points, being critical of statements, all taken out of context that Democrats have made and didn't have a word to say about anything that MAGA extremists have said or done.

And this so-called White House press secretary wants to lecture America and lecture us about civility? Get lost. Clean up your own house before you have anything to say to us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. My panel is here in THE ARENA.

CNN chief national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny; chief White House correspondent, excuse me, for "Puck", Leigh Ann Caldwell; former DNC communications director, Mo Elleithee; and Republican strategist, CNN political commentator Brad Todd.

Welcome to all of you.

This is a conversation I wish that we didn't have to keep having. Especially in the wake of January 6th, finding ourselves. I know a couple of you at the table were at the dinner last night as well.

Leigh Ann, I think you were there on both days as well. And it's one that -- I mean, it took 24, 48 hours for this descent -- to descend into a partisan blame game.

What is the, you know, Congressman Crow was saying, you know, this is America. We shouldn't let -- let these people win. But what is the answer? It's getting worse, not better.

LEIGH ANN CALDWELL, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, PUCK NEWS: Yeah. It's a familiar pattern, right. You have 12, maybe 14 hours of unity. The president came out Saturday night after this. Did not blame anyone. Thanked everyone, was extremely gracious.

And then I start to see that breakdown the next morning. Senator Tim Scott, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate Republicans campaign arm, tweeted, blaming the left, the left wing, the leftist media, and that is who is responsible for what happened on Saturday night. The campaign arm retweeted that, and that was the beginning.

And I was -- I wondered if he was going to be an outlier. But now we have seen that more Republicans have started to also blame the left or the press. And what it all comes down to is this is about leadership at the top. There is a choice of how you respond to this and what sort of message you want to send to the public. And it is always an opportunity to try to bring the country together. And we are seeing once again that that is not going to happen.

HUNT: Brad Todd, I mean, I know, you know, the way that conservatives have been feeling about what has happened very much under siege, Charlie Kirk's assassination, other things.

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What is your sense of whether this blame game, though, is productive? I mean, what, how -- how do we get past this, in your view?

BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, we have to get past it for sure, but I don't think its blaming to note that the rhetoric that Cole Allen the attempted shooter use is in his manifesto almost exactly mirrors what you see grassroots liberals using on social media all the time.

You saw J.B. Pritzker today in question here on CNN. Asked if he regretted calling Donald Trump a Republicans Nazis, he said no. You saw Jamie Raskin from Maryland, the chairman of the -- of the Judiciary Committee of Democrats were to win the House, say this weekend, under questioning from Dana Bash -- did he regret calling for -- calling Donald Trump a fascist? No.

I mean, Democrats are not backing off here at all. And I think that's a -- that's a real problem. Zohran Mamdani you saw in the bump there, he called Donald Trump a despot the night of his victory speech.

The way the left has demonized Donald Trump, I think, has been taken the wrong way, taken too far by a lot of really unstable kooks, if you will. But it is a lot of -- people in the liberal establishment who built a hot house for these kooks. It's nurtured them.

MO ELLEITHEE, FORMER DNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I -- I'm so tired of this. I'm so tired of this conversation. And let's not pretend that this is a problem that is limited to the left. I think there is a problem on the left, and I'm probably not going to get a lot of angry tweets my way, but it is equally a problem on the right.

You talked about J.B. Pritzker calling Donald Trump a Nazi. So did J.D. Vance call Donald Trump a Nazi. When Paul Pelosi was brutally, brutally attacked in his own home by an assailant who was trying to find Nancy Pelosi, the current president spent the rest of the campaign trail making jokes about it.

I think there is plenty of hateful rhetoric that I so wish would stop on the left. But, you know, I actually didn't like Hakeem Jeffries' tone in the clip we just played. But the substance of what he said was not wrong in that this is a White House, this is a -- that refuses to own up. I want everybody to own up when they make these types of comments, because it's the only way we get past it. Otherwise, we're playing this rhetorical arms race where everybody is trying to mobilize the hate and the anger on their side, and we have no chance of healing.

TODD: It's not a one-party problem. Donald Trump says the press is the enemy of the people. They're not. He needs -- he needs to do better. And many times he does. As Leigh Ann talked about Saturday night, he was -- his first press conference after the event was exactly what the country needed at that moment.

But there is a demonization of Donald Trump on the left that -- he's the guy that's been shot three times. Like that's -- there's a demonization. There's a connection.

When the Russell Vought -- the guy who showed up at Russell Vought's house trying to kill him, said it was a fascist takeover. Fascist. That's a word that Elizabeth Warren uses all the time about this administration.

ELLEITHEE: I don't like that kind of name-calling when I hear it from my own side. But we see the same kind of attacks on Democrats and on the left that often mirrored the rhetoric that we hear from right wing Twitter, from right wing ecosystem, and sometimes even from the president.

Like we cannot, in moments like this sit here and say, well, of course this happened. Listen to what this one side says. No, this is a pox on all of our houses, and we all have to be better.

ZELENY: And I think a question going into this midterm election year, are any candidates on either side going to be rewarded by voters for taking a position outside of the mainstream of their party, a Democrat to take a position to say no, enough of this. And a Republican to say, enough of this.

And are they going to be rewarded by voters? I think there is space there. We live in such a world where our viewpoints are fed to us directly because of algorithms. I was shocked after leaving the hotel ballroom when we finally got internet service about 10:00 p.m. or so, that the conspiracy theories had already taken hold from the left, just as they have in other things that we've covered from the right.

But that's my question. If a candidate or a member of Congress either side sort of steps up, will they be rewarded by voters, or is that just, a pollyannaish thinking? I would like to think it's not, but it may be.

HUNT: I mean, look, this is where how many years out from January 6th, 2021? And the number of these incidents, right, including multiple assassination attempts against president of the United States have continued to happen. And, you know, the thing that I keep coming back to again and again is how to contribute to a world -- to contribute to the world in a way that makes that better. And every single time something like this happens, it gets harder and harder to answer that question.

[16:30:00]

I do want to touch on, while we still have a couple of minutes, something that I imagine we can all agree on at this table, which is that the Secret Service conducted themselves admirably. The protection that we got from all of the officers that were there in that room we were so privileged to be protected by them because there are Americans across this country who go through things like this, who feel that fear, who see worse than what we saw, who are not protected by dozens of men with guns who are there to protect the government. So, of course, our thanks to them.

However, anyone who has attended this dinner at the Hilton, I think you probably have both attended previous dinners, although you were not there before this security situation at this hotel has not been updated in decades like, are we ever going to have this dinner at this hotel again? Should we? Because it seems to me as someone who's been there, you know, going on 20 years, we should not -- does anyone disagree?

TODD: There are larger rooms and larger -- and larger buildings with more secure perimeters in Washington. It's -- if you're down in a basement, there are very few ways out. It's a tomb in many ways, almost became a literal tomb.

HUNT: I walked in that night with a friend, and we looked up at the ceiling. Because you are. You're -- like, it feels subterranean. The exits are very I happen, you know, I've been doing it long enough and have come in with the president at least once. So, it's like, I kind of know how you would get out, but you're so -- it's so packed that it is really. It could easily be turned into a killing field.

Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt.

TODD: You're right.

HUNT: Here it is. Yeah. So, this is -- this is the ballroom. And you can see the stage where it was. It is just impossible to overstate. I mean, it can take 20 minutes to go from the back of the ballroom to the front of the ballroom, through the chairs, and the people that are crammed in to the ballroom.

And of course, this, Jeff, has led the president to immediately come out and say, well, this is why we need a ballroom in the White House.

ZELENY: I mean, that was probably one of the least surprising things on Saturday evening. He waited a couple minutes, but not more. And look, I mean, there's always at least a shred of truth and reasoning behind an argument. And now this will go forward. We should remember. I mean, I would not be surprised if Congress will now do something to vote to approve it. I mean, at the basis of the legal argument against the ballroom is that it was done without congressional approval. So, I could see something like that happening.

But look, there are other venues, in town, the Washington Convention Center, a much newer venue. It's bigger and other things. I mean, we sound very insular when we're sitting here in Washington talking about this because most people, you know, are doing other things and living their lives. But it's like any crowded concert or an event. I mean, it's very familiar, but you're right.

HUNT: There's the whole government -- I mean, the whole government of the country was in this -- in this room.

CALDWELL: Yeah.

ZELENY: Except for a couple of cabinet secretaries and the person in the fourth in line to the presidency.

CALDWELL: The 92-year-old.

ZELENY: The 92-year-old Senator Charles Grassley, who was at home in Iowa recovering from gallstones, we're told.

CALDWELL: Yeah. Well, you know, I think that's another question is the fact that so many people in the cabinet so important were in the same space, same time.

HUNT: Right. And this was not -- is not designated a national security -- special national security event, which other events that draw the same level of attendance from the highest levels of our government usually do.

All right. We're going to have more on this throughout the hour, but also coming up here in THE ARENA, more on the royal visit. Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla, now at the White House meeting, the president and the --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANINE PIRRO, U.S. ATTORNEY, WASHINGTON, D.C.: There will be additional charges as this investigation continues to unfold. But make no mistake, this was --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:37:39]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLANCHE: We're still we want to get that right. So, we're still looking at that. It appears. And I don't want to overstate because we are still looking at this, that there were five, five shots that law enforcement fired. We are -- we have all the evidence is being examined very carefully and expeditiously, and we'll know more soon.

We do believe that as the complaint lays out, that the suspect, the defendant, fired out of his shotgun, and we know that that happened. But as far as getting into exacting ballistics, I'm not going to do that today because it's still being looked at and finalized.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. We're continuing to follow the breaking news. Acting Attorney General Todd blanche moments ago, saying it appears that law enforcement fired five shots at the White House correspondents dinner on Saturday night, although he cautioned the evidence is still being examined.

Blanche also said that the suspect, 31-year-old Cole Thomas Allen, fired out of his shotgun.

Joining our panel now is former FBI official, active shooter expert Katherine Schweit.

Katherine, thank you so much for being with us.

Can you walk us through what we heard from this press conference with blanche? Were you surprised they didn't know more about how these shots were fired?

KATHERINE SCHWEIT, FORMER FBI OFFICIAL: Hi, Kasie. You know, I think that surprised. Not that I think they know more. They just don't want to say more. So, I think that there's some uncertainties that were pretty evident. He said -- of course, it's not his place to speak necessarily about all the evidence until he has it collected and hears back from the evidence team at the FBI Washington field office.

But in addition to that, you notice he said five rounds were fired by law enforcement. If you look at even the preliminary videos that came out from the hotel, there were a lot of guns out, a lot of guns potentially being shooting in what we would call blue on blue, right. Law enforcement against law enforcement who might have been shooting from different directions.

[16:40:00]

So, I don't think they want to -- they know more information because they know what likely hit the law enforcement officer. We know the shotgun had around in it, and it was shooting birdshot. If the officer that was hit was hit by birdshot, that's one thing. But if he was hit by a bullet, that means it was a blue on blue hit.

And I don't think they want to throw that suggestion out there until they're confident that. And they know for sure what you know, what rounds went where.

HUNT: I want to play a little bit more of what Blanche said at the press conference. This about the manifesto that we've been reporting on, that the alleged shooter had left behind. Explaining a little bit about his motive.

Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLANCHE: The complaint lays out the -- what I think is described as a manifesto, which is something that that he allegedly sent to many folks, his family. That's what we have so far as far as his motivation as the U.S. attorney said a few minutes ago.

What is clear from the complaint and from what we have so far is he was targeting President Trump. He described that in his manifesto. He was targeting administration officials. He described that.

But as far as us understanding additional motivation, that's for the FBI and law enforcement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: How unusual is it to have something as clear as this? I mean, certainly we didn't have this level of clarity come out about the person who shot at President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, for example.

SCHWEIT: Yeah, we didn't get a lot, Kasie. And I think that's the frustrating part, right? You don't really know. If, if you're going to have, you don't really know for sure all the details on what we're getting because they're still, even though they have this document that the families released and people have gotten access to, you know, that there's -- there's a computer and there's a phone, and those are being reviewed by analysts probably at Quantico. So, we don't have any of that from we don't have that kind of detail

from Butler and why we don't -- I don't know why, right? But it would be helpful to know because we're talking about a bigger issue, which is political violence, which has become so much more prominent when it comes to this kind of targeted violence.

HUNT: And you, of course, are also an active shooter expert. You know, I have to say, my children, my children who are, you know, my three- year-old daughter has done more active shooter drills than I have in my life, right? Because this has become so embedded in our lives. I've covered enough of these shootings to have some semblance of an idea of what to do here.

But at the same time, when you're in that situation, it's -- it's, unless you've trained for it aggressively, it's very difficult to even remember what to do. When you think about it and you see the pictures of that ballroom. What is your assessment of whether a dinner like this should be held in a venue like that? Considering the sort of constraints of it?

SCHWEIT: Yeah. I think that there's no question that that ballroom is jammed. I mean, I've been in that ballroom before. It's jammed. And when you have to get on a chair to move across the room, that's not good. And that's not safe in terms of protecting people who we pay Secret Service to protect.

So that -- that's a difficult challenge. And I heard you guys talking earlier about that. And I think it is a challenging room as we continue to increase and jam more tables in there. It's not a good setting for it, no question about it.

But I want to go back to say about your child and because I think that speaks very much to America right now, parents and grandparents are listening kids. Their kids go through this kind of training at school. Some businesses go through run, hide, fight training, school children go through some version of run, hide, fight training.

But a lot of people don't because they think they're not going to face it. And I think what I saw that night were a tremendous number of the media and a tremendous number of politicians who are feeling what the parents and teachers and business owners are feeling kind of all the time when they open their shop up, because you can create a seal around this location for the next dinner.

But every location is vulnerable as long as the political violence continues, as long as we have, you know, troubled people getting handguns or getting shotguns or getting rifles. So, we have to build a better mousetrap in order to protect people who are in these most vulnerable states, whether they're in a correspondence dinner or whether they're in a school.

HUNT: Well, and as I've said even earlier this hour, but as I've talked about this, you know, we benefited from being protected by some of the best trained, most highly armed law enforcement agents that operate in the United States of America, and our school children do not benefit from that. In these kinds of events. So even this was a rather privileged way to experience an extraordinarily terrible and very unfortunately American phenomenon.

[16:45:03]

Katherine Schweit, thank you. I really appreciate your time today.

SCHWEIT: Thank you.

HUNT: All right. Ahead here in THE ARENA, we're going to have more on the royal visit. What's in store for King Charles and Queen Camilla during their first state visit to the U.S.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNT: All right. Here's a picture you don't see every day. It's a king and a president.

Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla arriving at the White House just moments ago, their first stop on his state visit to the U.S. The king due to address Congress tomorrow.

Let's bring in British journalist, long time royal watcher Trisha Goddard, along with CNN royal historian Kate Williams.

[16:50:01]

Kate, let me start with you. I mean, the president has been part of two state visits to the U.K. This is the king's first visit to the U.S.

To the extent you can, can you take us inside the White House? Do you know what's going on or what kind of tea are they drinking?

KATE WILLIAMS, CNN ROYAL HISTORIAN: Well, we -- they are having tea at the moment. A private tea that we've seen, a teapot, a silver teapot being used. Apparently, there's honey at the tea as well. So, it's a very traditional tea.

And then after that, there's going to be a garden party and a wider celebration, a military review. And we really are looking forward, particularly, I think, as royal watchers to tomorrow when the king gives his address to Congress, the first reigning monarch to address Congress since 1991, when Elizabeth II did so. But we understand, I understand from sources that the king's speech to Congress is going to be longer than her majesty's. About half an hour, and he is also going to be making, I think, some points about peace, about civilization.

So, you know, I think in the same way that he made points about sovereignty when he spoke in Canada, when there was talk about the president taking over Canada, there may be some political message, whether subtle, but a political message. And this meeting is both about creating a special relationship between U.K., U.K. and U.S., which is somewhat battered at the moment about bolstering it.

This photo opportunity we're seeing here with the four of them, but also, you know, really, Charles sees himself as a world leader and wants to make wider points about peace and understanding. HUNT: And, Trisha, to pick up on that point. I mean, obviously, the

United States launched a war with Iran that has impacted the world and did so without extensive consultation of traditional American allies in Keir Starmer, the prime minister, in some ways have had, you know, some spiky moments, if you will.

This, of course, a different tenor of visit. But what would you say about kind of the overarching themes here?

TRISHA GODDARD, HOST, "THE WEEK WITH TRISHA GODDARD: Well, one of the interesting things is when you consider about 45 percent of Brits were against the king actually coming over to the United States. There are a lot of things that I'd say it's -- that special relationship, as you touched upon, has definitely been fractured, not just by Iran, by things like the environment, what President Trump said about the pope, you know there are so many things, so many hot spots that Charles feels passionately about.

So, I think it is going to be really interesting because people -- when people suggested that perhaps the king shouldn't come. Apparently, he's really invigorated and excited at the chance to do something really meaningful because remember, he's been a king in waiting for so long and he doesn't want to just cut ribbons to supermarkets. He wants to be an instrument of change.

So, I think just like we heard, it's going to be, I cannot wait to hear his address to Congress because I tell you what, that speech will be pored over and picked over, so -- so many times. And Charles is -- prince -- King Charles is very, very good at diplomatically but firmly putting his beliefs across.

HUNT: And, Kate, very briefly, as we wrap up, these two men are very similar in age. Are they similar at all?

WILLIAMS: Two men, very similar in age. And they do get on personally, we understand that to be the case, but not similar at all I think in terms of personality. And that's the point for the king.

He's not here to express his personality. He's here to represent Britain, but also to, to, you know, try and create world understanding. That's what he sees as his mission, as Trisha was saying.

HUNT: All right. Kate Williams, Trisha Goddard, thank you both very much for your expertise. Really appreciate you being here.

All right. Ahead, something a little bit different. Why suddenly burrata salad is a symbol of unflappable calm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNT: All right. We've been covering a lot of breaking news today and throughout the weekend. But thanks to the heroes in law enforcement, last night wasn't or last weekend was not a tragedy. And of course, our thoughts are with the Secret Service agent who is recovering. But on that note, before we go, we want to take a quick break for

something just a little bit lighter. Meet salad guy. If you haven't met him already, this video from the correspondents' dinner. This is, as you can see, everyone else besides super agent Michael Glantz is cowering under the tables, hiding.

But you know he is a star talent agent. Just continues to eat his burrata salad. Everyone else trying to figure out what's going on. Glantz told TMZ that he felt safe because of all of the police and, quote, "not every day you see something like that go down," end quote.

I was not -- full disclosure. I was down on the floor. I was not calmly eating burrata salad. I don't know about you all, but I guess hats off to Michael?

TODD: At least he wasn't absconding with any wine on the way out.

HUNT: Oh, I saw no small amount of that. Yeah, some of it ended up at the White House, I think.

CALDWELL: I think so, and I think that they should have. It was unopened wine. Don't waste it. It's already been bought.

HUNT: I will say to Michael, while I both appreciate his sentiment that there were many law enforcement there to protect us, I was actually like, okay, I got to get out of the way of that because they're about to start protecting us. And my head needs to be down so they can do their jobs anyway.

Thank you very much for being with us today. Don't go anywhere.

"THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts right now.