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White House to Meet with Secret Service and DHS This Week to Review Security Protocols for President Trump; Trump Calls CBS Correspondent Norah O'Donnell a Disgrace; Interview with Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA): Suspect's Note Listed Grievance, Anger Toward Trump Administration; Iran's Foreign Minister Delivers Red Lines on Negotiations in Islamabad. Aired 8:30-9:00a ET

Aired April 27, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we do have some breaking news. We're getting some new reporting just in on plans within the White House to address or discuss the events Saturday night in Washington, the shooting of the White House Correspondent Dinner. This is new reporting from CNN's Alayna Treene.

Let's get to her at the White House now. Alayna, what are you learning?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, so we're learning that the White House Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, is planning early this week to have a meeting with U.S. Secret Service and leadership at the Department of Homeland Security to discuss security protocols and best practices following what happened on Saturday night at the White House Correspondent Dinner. I want to read for you just what this senior White House official told me about this meeting.

They said quote, "The meeting will discuss the processes and procedures that work to stop Saturday's attempt while exploring additional options to ensure all relevant components are doing everything possible to secure the many major events planned for President Trump."

Now, one of the things that I was told from this senior White House official is they had specifically pointed to a lot of the planning that is currently underway for the Celebrations for America's 250th birthday. I'd remind you this is a big event that the president is planning. There's going to be a lot going on with these major events in the city of D.C. And so, a lot of, I think, this conversation is likely to be focused on how can they prevent what we saw happen with the shooter on Saturday from happening, of course, at any future events.

I do want to be clear as well that this official told me that the president and the White House are still standing by the U.S. Secret Service. And they reiterated what we've heard now from the president throughout the weekend, which is that he believes that they did a great job in neutralizing the shooter on Saturday night and ensuring that the president, the first lady, the vice president, all of the cabinet members inside that ballroom on Saturday were moved to safety pretty quickly.

But I would also just remind everyone, you know, that there are still so many questions. And I've been hearing this, John, in my conversations with administration officials, with allies of the president, that there are huge questions that remain about the security of the broader event. Again, even though they are supportive of how the Secret Service handled the actual shooter, there are questions about how he was even able to make it down to that one level above where the president and everyone else was sitting, one level above the ballroom, through the magnetometers that were there to secure, you know, how he was able to get there. A lot of questions over that.

And so they're going to be meeting early this week to go through all of it and to look ahead to best practices moving forward -- John.

BERMAN: You know, absolutely. To analyze what happened, take a look at it, see what can be improved. You make a great point going through Washington over the weekend.

Preparations for the 250th are everywhere. There are going to be a lot of public events in that city the next few months. Thank you for sharing your new reporting, Alayna Treene, at the White House -- Kate

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: A lot of this is about lessons learned or lessons to be learned here. And here's another one.

After the shooting of President Trump, he appeared on CBS's 60 Minutes, where the president took a reasonable question asked by Norah O'Donnell in the sit-down, simply reading him excerpts from the suspect's reported writings. And the president took real umbrage with it, real issue, and went off. The excerpt O'Donnell read did not mention Donald Trump by name.

She even seemed genuinely surprised that he took it as being about him. Let me play this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NORAH O'DONNELL, CBS CORRESPONDENT, 60 MINUTES: He writes this quote, "Administration officials, they are targets." And he also wrote this. "I'm no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes."

What's your reaction?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would because you're, you're, you're horrible people. Horrible people. Yes, he did write that.

I'm not a rapist. I didn't rape anybody.

[08:35:00]

O'DONNELL: Do you think he was referring to you? TRUMP: Excuse me. Excuse me. I'm not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person. You should be ashamed of yourself reading that because I'm not any of those things.

O'DONNELL: Mr. President, these are --

TRUMP: And I was never -- excuse me. Excuse me. You shouldn't be reading that on 60 Minutes. You're a disgrace.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now is Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst and national political correspondent at Axios. It's good to see you, Alex. You know, as Axios put it, this morning, one uncomfortable question was all it took for President Trump to resume hostilities with the Washington Press less than 24 hours after their shared brush with death.

And this shows what do you think, Alex?

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It shows that one night does not change the overall pattern. In fact, if the dinner had gone on as planned, my understanding is that President Trump was going to use his speech very much to lambast the press at a dinner celebrating the press. And that was some of the anxiety about having him come to dinner at all.

And I think it's some of the anxiety right now about having the dinner again, because it's expected that he will use the speech to, you know, in some ways, insult the press. So, you know, I was not surprised by his reaction to the question. And I don't think anyone should be if, you know, they've been paying attention the last the last 10 years.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And what are you hearing? Do you think this is going to this dinner is going to get rescheduled?

THOMPSON: My understanding is that the plan is to have it rescheduled. And I would be surprised if it doesn't. But yes, there are many unanswered questions, including some of the security questions that Alayna was talking about before about how to make the event more secure.

So there's a lot of hoops to go through. But my understanding is the intention is to have is to reschedule the dinner.

BOLDUAN: One of the things that's put the spotlight on is not only the relationship between the president and the press, but also the right and the left. As Politico put it this as well this morning. "It's becoming a pattern, a possible threat to President Donald Trump's life calls from both sides to turn down the temperature. And then a pivot." In terms of both sides blaming the other for where things have landed and where things have ended up or who has more responsibility to be turning down the temperature. Is it a fool's errand at this point?

THOMPSON: Well, I mean, we saw this, you know, I remember very distinctly covering the 2024 campaign. And right after the assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, there were similar calls. And those lasted maybe a few days.

And then we had one of the most vicious negative, you know, campaigns that we've seen in a long time. And I mean, fool's errand. I don't think it's ever fool's errand to try to bring down the temperature.

But I think we should also be clear eyed that in this current political polarization environment that we just are probably not going to see the temperature come down, at least in the near term.

BOLDUAN: Yes, that's a great way -- that's a much better way of putting it. I actually really appreciate that, Alex.

One of the things that we've seen just this morning on the show is we've heard from two Republican lawmakers, Warren Davidson talking to John saying that Saturday night showed that security worked. Marlin Stutzman telling me that what Saturday night showed is he has real concerns about a lack or lacks security at the event. And then you have, you know, Alayna and Kevin Liptak's reporting about how Susie Wiles is going to pull together a meeting to try to, you know, have a conversation with Secret Service about best practices going forward.

What do you think is to come of this?

THOMPSON: Well, while Secret Service was successful, you know, and everyone ended up being safe except for the shooter himself, no lives were lost. There are real just security problems with holding that big of an event with so many high officials at that particular hotel. You know, there's some early reporting that the suspect, you know, didn't make his way into the perimeter, you know, flashing a pass or a ticket to the event, but he was a guest at the hotel.

And so I think there are real questions given, you know, the number of high profile people, the number of people in the line of succession, not just Donald Trump, but J.D. Vance, so many members of the cabinet, you know, is this the right, you know, hotel or venue? There aren't many places of that size in Washington, D.C., which is one of the reasons why it's historically held in that event. But I do think there's going to be some open questions going forward about having so many high profile people, you know, in that in that sort of room.

BOLDUAN: Also raising questions about the future of DHS funding, Secret Service is under the umbrella, of course, of DHS. There's, you know, a lot of conversation coming from the new secretary of when this latest round of emergency funding is going to run out. Are there contours about what -- that exists about what actually could bring both sides to the table together to finally fully fund the department?

[08:40:00]

THOMPSON: Yes, I mean, Democrats are going to be under enormous pressure this week. It's already building, especially because Secret Service agents may not receive their first paycheck starting this Friday. And Democrats are going to be under enormous pressure to basically pass a version of funding DHS by the end of this week. There's been a standstill because you do need 60 votes in the Senate. Democrats have not been willing to do it without serious reforms to parts of immigration enforcement. I think you are almost certainly going to see enough Democrats get this over the line, given the events of this last weekend.

BOLDUAN: Yes, it's good to see you, Alex. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you so much, Kate.

Joining us now, Democratic Congressman Eugene Vindman of Virginia. Thank you for being here. Let's start with what happened over the weekend. We have a suspect that is in custody. He will be arraigned this morning.

The president and nearly his entire cabinet were in the room. The Secret Service even did manage to neutralize the shooter before he got into the ballroom. But nevertheless, a guy carrying a shotgun, a handgun, several knives did get in. Do you see this as a fumble by the Secret Service?

REP. EUGENE VINDMAN (D-VA), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Look, I think I'm a former prosecutor, and so we need a full investigation of exactly what happened. It's been less than 24 hours. And so the Secret Service certainly stopped the shooter before he was even on the same floor or was in the same room as the president and other senior officials, including my Democratic colleagues.

And so I think they did do their job, but there will need to be a full assessment of the security in the building, access and all those things. And then I certainly would expect a report to come to Congress and then look for ways to address those issues going forward.

SIDNER: All right. Now to what's happening online, because it's almost impossible to ignore the vitriol that exists there. Our security analysts point out that there is a whole culture of encouragement for political violence on social media now.

It has a huge influence. We're already seeing lawsuits blaming social media for things like deteriorating mental health. Congress has not managed to regulate social media at all, really.

What's it going to take, you think? Is this something that needs to be addressed?

VINDMAN: It is absolutely something that needs to be addressed. I think this is a significant deficiency in current law, and I think social media needs to be held accountable. We've had recent cases that have held social media accountable for deaths of children.

And I think as we fully start to understand now a decade and more into having social media, the dangers associated with it, we need to better regulate social media. But I will say, you know, the proliferation of violence and conspiracies on both sides, whether it's the left or the right, is highly problematic. And society is becoming more violent and unacceptable. We need to tone down the rhetoric. We can agree and disagree respectfully without getting into political violence.

SIDNER: Do you think that is even possible with this political class, with the vitriol that comes out of the White House, with the vitriol that's been thrown back at it, that this political climate is ever going to actually change? Isn't it a fool's errand to believe that we're capable of doing better?

VINDMAN: No, absolutely not. And look, I think you're right. A lot of this does come from the White House, as you said.

I think it needs to be toned down. But there are plenty of things that bring Americans together. Just a few weeks ago, we had a moon landing and everybody, Democrat, Republican, eyes were glued to what was going on there.

We took pride as Americans in that accomplishment. I think we can focus on the good things, the positive things, as long as that's where political leaders are wanted to focus on.

SIDNER: Look, I do want to get to the war in Iran. Look, we're coming into about eight weeks beyond the four to six weeks that the president had said that the length of this war would be. And at this moment, do you have any sense that we are any closer to finding an end to this and an end game for this as the struggles with the Strait of Hormuz continue to drive up prices across the world?

VINDMAN: Yes, look, I guess we're now days away from the 60-day war powers milestone. That's a significant milestone for Congress. And the president owes the American people in Congress some answers.

Later this week, Pete Hegseth is going to appear before the House Armed Services Committee, where I sit, and he's going to have to answer some tough questions. Over the course of the last year, he appeared a year ago, a lot has happened.

[08:35:00]

And so, we're going to expect accountability and answers. And I will tell you that I'm not particularly optimistic about what's going on in Iran. I think this was a war of choice. I think that there was no real plan on how we would deal with the Strait of Hormuz being closed.

And the costs to the American people are enormous. Americans are paying a dollar or more at the pump. Oil prices are around $100.

In fact, there was a report that came out that said global GDP would be down close to three points this quarter because of the president's actions. And so I want to hear from the president. I want to hear from his senior officials what they will do, what the plan is and how we can get the ship back on the rails.

SIDNER: Are you prepared to vote against potentially the budget for this war? VINDMAN: I should say the train on the rails but mixing my metaphors. In any case, look, I'm going to want to see what the budget is, the full outline of the budget. And, you know, the president is proposing a $1.5 trillion defense budget. And just weeks ago, he said, well, when we're spending $1.5 trillion on defense, we can't afford to pay for health care and Social Security and daycare. That is not what the American people want to hear. That is not why the president was elected.

And right now, the Republicans are focused on exactly the wrong things. They're not focused on affordability, on costs for the American people. What they are doing is they're rubber stamp for the chaos, cruelty and corruption that we've seen from this administration for the last 16 months.

And so we again, this is another area we're going to expect to hear answers from the administration on how they're going to be able to get us out of the mess they got us into.

SIDNER: Congressman Eugene Vindman, I do appreciate your time this morning. Thank you -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: King Charles heading to Washington. Details on the important and delicate mission that he is now on to restore frayed relations between the U.S. and U.K. over the war with Iran. We'll be right back.

[08:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: All right, on our radar for you this morning, U.S. Southern Command confirming three people have been killed in a strike against another alleged drug trafficking boat in the Eastern Pacific on Sunday. CELCOM says the vessel was engaged in what it said was narco- trafficking operations. At least 185 people have now been killed in strikes on suspected drug boats as part of Operation Southern Spear.

Also happening today, King Charles III and Queen Camilla are kicking off a high-stakes visit to the United States, his first as monarch. The royal couple's four-day trip will mark the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence. The visit also includes a White House meeting, a state dinner and an address to Congress.

Both sides hope the visit will help strengthen ties between the two longtime allies. Buckingham Palace said the decision follows security discussions between U.S. and British officials after the shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

A man from Kenya made history at the London Marathon this weekend. This is incredible. Becoming the first athlete to ever finish a competitive race in under two hours. That's less time than it takes to do this show.

I mean, think about that. Sabastian Sawe clocked in at one hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds, shattering a previous record set in Chicago. A sub-two-hour marathon has long been considered a major barrier for athletes, almost like the four-minute mile.

John, you've done the marathon situation.

BERMAN: Yes, well, yes, in roughly twice as long as it takes them to do it. I will say, they wear those new sneakers, he showed the new sneakers they run.

SIDNER: Yes, yes.

BERMAN: Part of it is that they offer spring. If we wore those during the show, maybe we could do it more quickly.

SIDNER: I'm going to get us some.

BERMAN: Yes.

SIDNER: Sponsored by whatever the sneaker is.

BERMAN: Exactly. Take it from a three-hour show to a two-hour, 45- minute show. Excellent.

SIDNER: I like the way you think.

BERMAN: New this morning. Axios reporter and CNN analyst Barak Ravid reports that Iran has sent a new proposal to the White House focused on opening the Strait of Hormuz and perhaps lifting the blockade there. And what it would do is it would leave negotiations over Iran's nuclear program to a later date.

The White House, Barak reports, has not yet responded to the proposal. And this comes after talks stalled between the United States and Iran over the weekend.

Let's get to see an international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, I think is still in Islamabad waiting for more on talks that may or may not happen.

Nic, what's the latest you're hearing?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: John, we're here to scrape up the minutiae and try to read the tea leaves, if you will. And there's a lot going on. The Iranian foreign minister's meetings over the weekend have been illuminating.

But let's just start with the big point issues here. These red lines that Iran is talking about from the main state media news organization in Iran, Tasnim, which is really a representation of what the IRGC is thinking, they're talking about breaking the talks down into several phases. The first phase is the United States needs to agree to a permanent ceasefire, unconditional going forward, doesn't change, don't go back to war.

The next phase is about the Strait of Hormuz. And this is where it begins to get really interesting. It's not just about lifting the blockade, there's a lot more to it than that.

[08:55:00]

And the travels by the Iranian foreign minister get us into a better understanding of it. So let me break that part of it down.

What the Iranians are saying is they want to see a sort of a new legal dispensation over the Straits of Hormuz. It's as if they feel that the war has sort of given them a greater legitimacy and legal entitlement to the shipping that passes through the Straits of Hormuz and, therefore, potentially financial gain.

And we got further illumination on that because the Iranian foreign minister over the weekend went to Oman, which, of course, is the other country that has a border, a coastline with the Strait of Hormuz. And I will just read you what the Iranian foreign minister said for the reason for that trip, or part of it, "Engage with other coastal states on the Straits of Hormuz, that our shared interests can be secured." Shared interests can be secured.

It is clear Iran is setting a high price on what it wants out of the Strait of Hormuz, and it wants that dealt with before it then moves on to all the other issues. Iran is trying to lock in what it thinks are gains. Does that take it closer to what President Trump wants to see?

Doesn't seem so at the moment.

BERMAN: All right, Nic Robertson in Islamabad, as you said, keeping track of all the minutiae and the details. And they really do matter here if there's going to be progress. Thank you so much, Nic.

With us now is CNN military analyst, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Admiral James Stavridis. Admiral, thank you so much for being with us. So this offer that Barack Ravid at Axiox is reporting is, you know, open the Straits, end the blockade here of the Iranian ports in exchange for pushing off discussions about Iran's nuclear program.

What do you think of that offer? What does the fact of that offer tell you?

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST: It's reality. And we're now in a tale of two blockades, if you will. The U.S. blockade of the Strait to all Iranian shipping. And by the way, it's a global blockade going after Iranian shipping everywhere. That's blockade number one.

Blockade number two, of course, is the one you've just circled in green right there. It's the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. So I think the most logical next step is what one could call a two- point peace plan. Let's keep it simple.

We return the Strait to its previous open international situation. That's the correct place for the Strait to be. In return, we stop attacking Iran, and Iran gets some financial relief, some sanctions relief, some measure of oil exporting.

That's about as simple a deal as you can construct. And John, you're absolutely right. Then you place the nuclear piece of this, which is going to be six months to 18 months to negotiate, put it in a sidecar.

The material's buried under Isfahan rubble, and let's get the Strait open. I think that's where this lands, probably 60 percent chance.

BERMAN: Yes, if that's the case, though, does Iran have any incentive to make a deal on the nuclear issue? Which the administration continues to say was one of the primary fundamental reasons for this war.

STAVRIDIS: The way to play that one is to give Iran a little bit of taste of the economic benefits, and then you couple progress on the nuclear issue to fully opening it back up. And again, I think the shape of a deal is there. It's some way to deal with 1,000 pounds.

You can filter it down. You can ship it out of the country. You can put it under permanent watch.

It's in Isfahan, correct. And at the same time, you would give them a little bit more, a little bit more of economic relief as you go forward. And they forswear nuclear activities probably for a period of time.

I think the administration would like to see a 20-year ban. The Iranians are coming in with a five-year ban. Guess what that sounds like, a 10-year ban ultimately.

Again, 60 percent chance. I think that's where it lands. Final thought, John, 40 percent chance the wheels can come off here in a big way.

We continue fighting, straight remains closed. Iran uses terror, maybe cyber attacks. There's a lot of darkness in that 40 percent.

Let's hope our better angels succeed here.

BERMAN: I'm most impressed that your percentages do add up to 100. If I were doing the math there, it would be a little bit less certain there. But that's why, you know, you're an admiral and I'm not.

Listen, I do want to ask you very quickly. One of the other things that's happened is that the foreign minister of Iran traveled from Tehran here, you know, north to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin. Senior Iranian officials meeting with the most senior Russian official.

What's the concern there, if any?

STAVRIDIS: No surprise, Moscow has been the primary advocate, protector. But it's going to remain diplomatic, John. I don't see Vladimir ...

END