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Press Dinner Suspect Charged With Attempting to Assassinate President Trump; St. Louis Under Tornado Threat Today. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired April 27, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:50]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": The suspect in the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner is appearing in court right now. The first charge, attempting to assassinate the president of the United States. We are tracking the latest.

Plus, a royal visit. King Charles and Queen Camilla arriving in the U.S. just minutes from now. A high-profile visit at a critical time in the special relationship between the U.S. and U.K. And millions are in the path of severe weather right now. A new round of storms set to pound the central U.S. with a threat of tornadoes after deadly storms tear through the region over the weekend.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN New Central."

Breaking news to CNN. The shooting suspect's arraignment is now underway and we are getting new details. Let's go straight to the federal courthouse in D.C. where CNN's Paula Reid is outside for us. Paula, what are you hearing?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Boris, we are getting live updates from our team inside. This is the first time we're hearing the specific charges Allen is facing. As you noted, the first charge that was read, attempting to assassinate the president of the United States. And this is a charge that can come with a sentence of up to life in prison.

And there are two additional charges, both dealing with firearms. The second is transportation of a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce with the intent to commit a felony. The other one is discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence.

Now what's notable about this is that they have added this assassination charge. This is something that Acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche told our colleague, Dana, over the weekend that he might potentially add to this case. But what we're not seeing is any charge connected to shooting of a law enforcement officer.

On Saturday, before they started executing search warrants and doing their investigation, the U.S. Attorney Bureau, she said that that would likely be one of the charges. But it is still unclear if whatever hit that officer, if that bullet came from this gunman, Mr. Allen, or if it was some sort of crossfire. That might explain why that charge is not actually in today's document. So this is significant.

He's learning for the first time the charges that he is facing. Otherwise, this will be a pretty straightforward procedural hearing. He came in. He was asked a series of questions about his age, his education, all the standard questions you would ask a defendant. He's also asked for court appointed counsel.

Now, the hearing is ongoing. He's being asked more questions and it is expected that he will likely be detained going forward. And then in a short time, Boris, we will also hear from top Justice Department officials, the acting attorney general, the FBI director, U.S. Attorney Bureau. We will, of course, have a lot more questions about what they're learning in the course of this investigation, because we know as of Saturday night, they were writing up search warrants.

They've been executing some of those over the past 48 hours. And so it will be interesting to hear more about what they've learned in the course of this investigation. And how that will impact any additional charges and this overall case. Easily one of the most high profile the Trump Justice Department has dealt with so far.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, Paula Reid, live outside the courthouse for us. Thank you so much. Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Just last hour, White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt condemned what she called the third major assassination attempt against President Trump. She also said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This political violence stems from a systemic demonization of him and his supporters by commentators, yes, by elected members of the Democrat Party and even some in the media. This hateful and constant and violent rhetoric directed at President Trump day after day after day for 11 years has helped to legitimize this violence and bring us to this dark moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Alayna Treene is live for us at the White House. Alayna?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, look, I think what we heard from Karoline Leavitt was a strong defense of Secret Service. Even as, of course, we are hearing about this meeting that Leavitt confirmed that we reported on this morning that the White House Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles is going to be convening the U.S. Secret Service, as well as leaders from the Department of Homeland Security to kind of review what happened on Saturday night and some of the security breakdowns just of having the shooter get so close to the ballroom. [14:05:15]

But of course, again, being very supportive of them being able to neutralize the shooter so quickly, but also going through some of the best practices and protocol moving forward. And what Leavitt did to kind of acknowledge is that they're sure there could be changes that are established after everything that happened on Saturday night during this review process. But one other thing she did point to as well and you played that clip, was kind of condemning the rhetoric that she says has been stemming from Democrats and also she argued people in the media.

She did bring up Jimmy Kimmel, the late-night host, and it's something actually we did just hear moments ago from President Donald Trump calling on him to be fired after he made a comment on his show, I should note, the comment -- the show was Thursday night, you know, two nights before the White House Correspondents' Dinner. He had done kind of this skit during his show where he commented on the First Lady, Melania Trump, saying look at Melania, you have a glow like an expectant widow.

This is what the president said in response to those remarks. He said, quote, "I appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel's despicable call to violence and normally would not be responsive to anything that he has said, but this is something far beyond the pale. Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC."

Now, part of the reason I do bring this up is, one, he is calling on Kimmel to be fired. He has done this before. He has gone head to head with Kimmel in the past over comments he has made, but this is clearly the direction that we are also seeing this White House kind of heading now that everything is settled a bit since Saturday. I think, one, we did see the president and he's continued to do this I should note in the last two days, call for unity, say that something like an event like what happened on Saturday brings everyone together.

But more and more in recent hours, we have seen the White House want to point to what they argue was rhetoric that contributes to the rising violence in this country, all to say there is going to be a lot of things that need to be addressed at this meeting that Wiles is hosting earlier this week with Secret Service and a lot of questions that still remain about what had happened on Saturday night, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. Alayna Treene, live for us from the White House, thank you very much.

Still to come, questions being raised about the future of the White House Correspondents' Dinner, not just about security for this year, but what it could mean for the event in the years to come. Stay with CNN.

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[14:12:20]

KEILAR: We're standing by right now to hear from Justice Department officials after the man suspected of opening fire at the White House Correspondents' Dinner made his first court appearance.

SANCHEZ: 31-year-old Cole Thomas Allen is charged with three counts. He's accused of attempting to assassinate the president, discharging a firearm during a violent crime, and another count for transportation of a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce.

Let's go live to CNN's Katelyn Polantz, who was just in the courtroom. Katelyn, what did you see?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, what the prosecutor told the judge here is what we know about this case so far, that Allen traveled across multiple state lines, and on the 25th of April, he attempted to assassinate the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump.

That is what the prosecutor said to Judge Sharbaugh, and as Allen was read his charges initially in court today, he wasn't entering a plea at this time, and he wasn't even found that he's going to be detained yet pending trial. He will be behind bars for the next couple of days, and there's a hearing set in three days where both sides will get to argue more. But in court, there were a couple things that happened.

He was given attorneys from the public defender's office. They were, at one point in the hearing, handed photos of the guns that Allen is alleged to have carried the whole way from California to the Capitol Hilton on Saturday night. And the other thing about him that was quite striking in court is that Allen is extremely tall, more than a head taller than every single U.S. Marshal in that courtroom, and by my count, there were 10 of them, including the Head of the Marshal Service in D.C.

Also in the courtroom today, the U.S. Attorney, Jeanine Pirro. She sat in the front row. She was watching the judge very intently. I didn't see her glance over at Allen directly that many times at all, but at one point in the hearing, he looked directly at her as if he wanted to meet her eyes. I did not see them exchange any glances.

And at this time, this charge, this attempted assassination charge that he is facing, it is only about the president of the United States. But a reminder that the alleged manifesto he is said to have had and sent says that he was interested in killing several administration officials in attendance of the dinner, and Pirro herself was there on Saturday night and evacuated out of the building, along with all of the other attendees.

So this was just an initial hearing at this time, but one that is likely to kick off a very closely watched case where Cole Allen is expected to appear in three days again before a judge, and then another hearing is scheduled for the beginning of May.

[14:15:00]

SANCHEZ: Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much for that update. Let's discuss now with Jeff Mason. He's a White House Correspondent for Bloomberg, also a former President of the White House Correspondents' Association. And also with us is Frank Figliuzzi,. He's a former FBI Assistant Director and the current Host of "The Frank Figliuzzi Show" on Substack.

Frank, I'd love to start with you because we just got some sound in from a witness who watched what happened just outside the ballroom on Saturday night. Let's go ahead and listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN THIELMAN, WITNESSED SHOOTING: It was a shotgun. Yes. And he was running right in my directions, magazine clips around his body.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Had you already climbed all the stairs?

THIELMAN: I had already climbed all the stairs.

BLITZER: So you were on the same level as him?

THIELMAN: He dropped right at my feet.

BLITZER: When you say he dropped right at your feet?

THIELMAN: He fell face first.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Frank, just given what you see in the video, what you're hearing from this witness, what does it tell you about the level of sophistication, perhaps, that this assailant, that this alleged shooter had in mind for the event on Saturday?

FRANK FIGLIUZZI, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: There's an interesting dynamic between the level of planning and premeditation that appears to have gone into this. He got a room at the hotel in advance. He planned to take his train all the way across the country. He chose a shotgun with buckshotting, a great deal of thought reflected in the manifesto about what he's about to do.

Yet in the execution of it, I see far less sophistication. I mean, he appears to have thought that he was going to breach security and get all the way in and execute his plan against the protectees. And that didn't happen.

So, you know, two things can be true at the same time. There was a lapse in security that he exploited, but there was a success story in that he was taken down far enough away from the protectees.

KEILAR: Yeah. And Jeff Mason, as we said, you're formerly the President of the White House Correspondents' Association. The president, it was very clear that we just heard Karoline Leavitt say that he was fighting the Secret Service for this to resume. It ultimately did not, which made sense, I think, that it did not resume that night. But he wants this to be rescheduled within 30 days.

And it's really difficult to see how that would happen. Talk to us a little bit about that.

JEFF MASON, FORMER PRESIDENT, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS' ASSOCIATION: Well, there's a lot of planning that goes into that dinner. The ballroom is booked out a year in advance. In addition to the basic logistics of invitations and getting people there. There's the food. There's the fact that, I mean, in this case, the food has been paid for and used.

Would they sell tickets again? Would you do the same number of people? And would you have time to address all of the security issues that have now been raised as a result of what happened on Saturday night?

KEILAR: Or find another place, right?

MASON: Or find another place, slim it down. I mean, there are certainly ways to do it. And I think that he was -- I mean, I think he was trying to create a gracious tone by saying that on Saturday night, which, by the way, is not often the tone that he uses with the press. But he did on Saturday. But logistically, I just don't know if that's possible in that period of time.

SANCHEZ: In terms of perhaps having it at another venue, the president has talked repeatedly about this being a reason to have the ballroom that he so covets built at the White House, right? The issue there, of course, is that there are perhaps ethical, even legal considerations, and space. This ballroom is set for 3,500 people versus about 1,000, which is what the White House ballroom would have.

Do you think the Correspondents' Association would consider hosting something like that in a future ballroom?

MASON: Well, first, let me say, I don't speak for the association anymore. So important to note that. But it is not an apples-for-apples comparison, that ballroom versus a ballroom at a hotel. The White House Correspondents' Association is a private organization. Journalists are members. Journalists do not work for the White House.

This is not an occasion in which we would have an opportunity to rent or use White House facilities any more than someone planning their daughter or son's wedding would be able to. So it felt to me like one of those don't-let-a-good-crisis-go-to-waste situations, where the president is using the moment to make an argument for his ballroom. But it is not apples-for-apples in any way.

KEILAR: Frank, I think, and you tell me what you -- you're the person to tell us. But what happened on Saturday, we saw security ultimately work in that no one died, right? But I think it also opened a lot of what ifs. What if this gunman hadn't been alone? What if this gunman had come with explosives? What if? And that was really, but for the grace of whatever this man, this suspect, chose to do, right?

So what kind of questions now does Secret Service have to be brainstorming for the kind of can of worms that this opens up?

FIGLIUZZI: Yeah, I'd add to the what ifs. What if he had accomplices outside as everybody was coming out and surging onto the sidewalks and somebody was waiting to ambush them?

[14:20:00] So what's the next step moving forward, particularly if we want to do this again in 30 days? First, you've got to reconsider having that many people in the line of presidential succession sitting in the same room, number one. Number two, you've got to consider moving your hard perimeter farther out even onto the street so that your so-called mag and bag operation, the magnetometers, the checking of bags, takes place as far away as possible so that if something goes bad, it happens as far away from your protectees as possible.

Number three, you should be reconsidering this idea of a paper ticket that you flash at somebody and get in. I have seen greater security at the after parties for this dinner --

(LAUGH)

FIGLIUZZI: -- than I have for the dinner itself. Electronic code on your phone, QR codes, double checking your ID with your phone electronically, two sets of mag and bag. I've been in after parties where the mag and bag happens on the sidewalk. So all of that needs to be reconsidered. And then the obvious. Why are you having this event in a fully operating hotel with 1,100 guest rooms?

SANCHEZ: Yeah, that is a considerable security consideration. I also wonder, Frank, what you make of these initial three charges, including an attempt to assassinate the president.

FIGLIUZZI: Yeah, as Paula said, I'm really struck by the lack of the charge of assaulting a federal officer. And I think Paula has got it right. Either they can't yet prove that the round that struck the officer came from the suspect, they're waiting for the internal book (ph) review, or they've already proven that it did not. So that's interesting.

I also think we're going to see more charges. I would not be surprised if at a minimum, we see an attempt to add a domestic terror sentencing enhancement at sentencing, but even back that up. Within the last 60 days, we saw DOJ charge American citizens with being Antifa, and they were convicted of material support to terrorism. Highly unprecedented. I think we'll see that tapped on here.

SANCHEZ: Jeff, last word to you. Is this perhaps a moment where we see the rhetoric tamped down? It doesn't seem like it.

MASON: You know, I heard the briefing today and I heard Karoline Leavitt talk about rhetoric. I just think we've seen a lot of events where rhetoric comes up as an issue and the rhetoric doesn't really change.

But it's the right question to ask. It's for thought leaders and politicians to lead the way. But I can certainly say as a journalist who's covered this, that that rhetoric absolutely comes from both sides.

SANCHEZ: Jeff and Frank, thank you both so much.

Still to come, a royal visit to the White House today. We'll discuss how King Charles' trip to Washington could be a key to strengthening relations between the U.S. and U.K.

KEILAR: Plus, St. Louis is now under high risk of severe weather. We have the latest forecasts on the potential for intense tornadoes across several states. We'll have that and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

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[14:27:35]

KEILAR: Minutes from now, Justice Department officials are expected to give an update on the investigation into the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner over the weekend. The attack is now being treated as an attempt to assassinate the president. And now, at least two House committees are demanding a briefing from the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security.

We're joined now by Democratic Congressman, Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia. He's on the House Oversight Committee. He was outside the hotel ballroom when the shooting happened.

You were actually on your way down toward the ballroom, though. Very close. Tell us what your experience was.

REP. SUHAS SUBRAMANYAM, (D-VA) HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: I never made it to my table. I was going down the escalator to the floor where the ballroom was. And the first thing I saw was two law enforcement people with assault rifles running through that lobby and telling us to take cover and try to avoid crossfire.

Those were their words. And so I got behind a pillar, eventually found an exit with the other folks who were around me.

KEILAR: So you very quickly understood what was happening.

SUBRAMANYAM: At first I thought it was fake, because you never think it's going to happen to you, right? And so at first I thought, is this some sort of act or are they being very precautious and just walking around? We have people in the Capitol walking around with long-arm rifles all the time, so I thought maybe this is just them being precautious.

But when I realized this was a real thing, you know, I tried to find a way to get out.

KEILAR: So it was very scary. And I wonder if, as we're just starting to get a sense of these charges, which have changed from the initial ones in this initial appearance of the suspect here, are you having any reactions to what you're learning?

SUBRAMANYAM: I've read a lot of the manifesto. I'd say that generally, you know, there is heated politics right now happening, and generally this environment is not conducive to preventing these types of situations from happening over and over again. And so those are the things that come to mind when I hear about what's going on. You know, the charges, it seems like he may have been going after the president, given some of the things he wrote in his manifesto. But I'm interested to see more about how he got to the point where he wanted to take guns into that room.

KEILAR: I want to listen to something that the White House press secretary said about political rhetoric. Here's what she said a short time ago during the briefing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEAVITT: This political violence stems from a systemic demonization of him and his supporters by commentators, yes, by elected members of the Democrat Party, and even some in the media. This hateful and constant and violent rhetoric directed at President Trump day after day after day for 11 years has --