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Justice Department Hold Briefing as Press Dinner Suspect is Charged; Acting Attorney General: Law Enforcement Did Not Fail During Press Dinner Shooting; Press Dinner Suspect Charged with Attempting to Assassinate President Trump; Interview with Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-CA): Press Dinner Suspect Charged with Attempting to Assassinate President Trump. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired April 27, 2026 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: ... And that is when we will continue to disclose information. I know the public has a yearning for information. But just remind yourself of how much information you have already received, how transparent this administration has been.

In less than 48 hours, you know almost every single thing we know. And what we have not told you yet, we will tell you in short order. So once again, from me, as director of the FBI, I want to thank the interagency.

I want to thank the United States Secret Service and their director, Markwayne Mullin, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Attorney General, the United States Attorney, Pirro, and ADA Cox, for springing into action on a night that should have been celebrating free speech. But we will be doing it again shortly, as the President said. And we look forward to seeing you all there.

TODD BLANCHE, ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL: Pierre.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two questions, please. Beyond the evidence in what the judge described as the manifesto, what other evidence can you point to that tells us that the President was the primary target of the suspect?

BLANCHE: So we're a day and a half into the investigation. As we talked about earlier, we were able to get multiple devices from various locations, the hotel room, and also where he lived in California. We have started that process.

There's nothing more that would be appropriate to share at this time, until we have thoroughly gone through it -- which we're doing -- and we'll share that information as appropriate in the future.

Second question. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beyond the assassination attempts against President Trump, you had someone try to burn down the mansion where the governor lives in Pennsylvania. You had those state lawmakers attacked in Minnesota. You had two Israeli embassy staff members murdered in the city here.

You had the Charlie Kirk assassination. You had the National Guardsman killed in the city. Can you, each of you, describe the current threat environment and what DOJ's stance is about it?

BLANCHE: Well, you just described the current threat environment pretty accurately, which is that the political violence and rhetoric has got to stop. And that's something President Trump said right after the incident on Saturday night. It's something that Karolyn Leavitt talked about a couple hours ago.

It is something that is -- when you have a president who, and many people in this room, if we're going to be honest about it, has done as well. They're just as guilty as a lot of people on X. When you have reporters, when you have 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.

If you look at what it appears that this defendant had in his past, we're talking about somebody who was college educated, who has a job, who was otherwise living his life. And we'll find out more about him, as I expect, in the coming days and weeks. But he chose to do what he did.

And so our threat environment is, we are ready. I mean, I'm not going to go through what Director Patel just talked about with the way we responded. But this was something that we will always be prepared for.

And it's sad that it has to happen, but it's not a new thing, unfortunately.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you been able to determine whether the gunman fired shots? If so, how many shots he fired and who exactly -- whose bullet hit the agent?

BLANCHE: 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 shots that law enforcement fired.

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, that the defendant fired it 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you for taking my question. You personally have called for a construction of this ballroom at the White House. The President has called for this as well.

Today, the National Trust President put out a statement, says that they're grateful that everybody's OK, but, and I quote, we are not planning to voluntary dismiss our lawsuit, which endangers no one, and which respectfully asked the administration to follow the law. Ballroom construction is continuing unabated until June 5th at the earliest because the injunction is on hold. Where does the Justice Department go from here?

And then I have a follow-up on that.

BLANCHE: Well, we filed a motion today asking the court to do what the plaintiffs refused to do. We absolutely believe that there is no better example of why this ballroom is necessary, aside from all the very positive things the ballroom will bring to this country and to Washington, D.C., than what happened on Saturday night. You guys, many of you all were there.

That's one of the only places in D.C. that you can hold an event like that due to its size and the structure of what we need.

[15:35:00]

So we're basically stuck at this point in the city with having an event like that at a hotel, so underneath a ton of hotel rooms. And so the fact that we, aside, again, aside from the fact that the ballroom is spectacular, it's going to be beautiful, it's going to make this country look great every time it's used, it's also a meaningful safety issue. And so, I'm not -- I very much wish that the plaintiffs and their counsel would take a different view. But if they don't, we are going to continue to fight in court like we have been.

And hopefully, the judges at the D.C. Circuit Court will do the right thing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you aware of --

BLANCHE: Not you, the red.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. Are you investigating connections that Cole Allen allegedly had to left-wing groups? I think one is called the Wide Awakes, reportedly.

BLANCHE: Yes, of course, we're investigating that. You.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you aware of his video game development past, including a potential shooter-style RPG game?

BLANCHE: I've seen the news reports that talk about that. I think that the positive and negatives of this type of case is that there's a lot of people investigating this man right now, including the FBI. But the only investigations that truly matter in the court of law are the ones that Director Patel and his men and women are doing.

So, we'll wait for them to do that and get an answer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just really quick. Do you know anything about his alleged Christian past, Christian faith past, because he said something about it in the manifesto?

BLANCHE: I have read reports in the news. And I've read reports that say various things regarding his views of Christianity, his views in the past of Christianity. And I'm certainly not going to speak to news reports.

I will wait, as I hope all of you would, for the investigation to continue until we actually have answers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A little technical question. You mentioned that so far you think that Alan fired at least one shot. That doesn't say that in the affidavit yet.

So, I'm just curious if you can explain the discharging of weapon charge at this point.

BLANCHE: Well, he's charged with violating 924(c), discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence. So, by definition, that charge means that it was discharged. I can tell you from what I know, with the understanding that we're a day and a half in, that this is the gun that he discharged.

And as those of us that have ever shot one of these know, what happens when you shoot that, is the casing stays inside the firearm. And then if you reload it, it pops it out. My understanding is that it was inside the firearm, but hadn't been ejected, which means that it hadn't been pulled back again.

But again, I want folks to understand I'm the acting attorney general. I'm not on the ground doing the investigation. So, I'm telling you what I've been told.

And if that information changes, I'm sure that we'll let you know. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just want to ask you about this letter that you posted yesterday that's a dissent from Brett Schumacher, the plaintiff in that lawsuit. It says that the Washington Hilton is, quote, demonstrably unsafe for the president of the United States. It said that with the ballroom, that Trump will no longer need to venture beyond the safety of the White House perimeter.

Just engaging with those lines, was there an assessment in advance of the dinner that the Hilton was demonstrably unsafe? And if so, why was President Trump allowed to attend it? And then separately, just the idea that by building the ballroom, that President Trump wouldn't need to go outside of the confines of the White House.

I mean, is that something that the American people should find acceptable, that the president would have to be, for major events, confined to the White House? It seems like a catastrophic situation.

BLANCHE: That is obviously not what he means by that. And the fact that that question comes with respect to President Trump is laughable in the extreme. I mean, laughable in the extreme.

You have a president who willingly speaks with you guys multiple times a day, I would say seven days a week. He is active all over the country. I think keeping it to the four corners of that statement, when he says demonstrably, it's demonstrated by what happened on Saturday night. So that doesn't mean that the Secret Service would ever let the president go into an unsafe environment. I know that the director of the Secret Service will be focused on making sure that we always keep him safe. And by the way, as we said before, and as anybody that was in that room knows, we were safe.

We were safe. We heard a lot of loud noises that at the time, many of us thought could be guns going off. It was mostly plates falling because of the staff, understandably, were running.

So my reaction to that is, I'll leave anything with respect to security up to the great men and women of the Secret Service. But when we talk about having an environment like the ballroom, it's an environment like what you saw last night. So an environment where you have a unique blend of cabinet members, leadership of this country, leadership of Congress, reporters, and members of the public coming together for an event like that, that's different than other public- facing situations, which I have no doubt President Trump will continue to do as he said he would on Saturday night.

Ian.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Is there, for FBI director, is there any other credible threats at this time related to events in the city, including King Charles? And then separately, the manifesto, I don't really want to give too much weight to this, did mention your name in it as someone that they maybe were not targeting.

Do you want to elaborate on that? And then also the political motivations there.

PATEL: As to the latter, no. As to the former, the FBI and the interagency is constantly evaluating intelligence provided to us by interagency collection methods. Our partners in the federal and state and local levels, we are constantly relaying that information to the White House, to the Attorney General, to the United States Attorney specifically here in D.C. And we will always assess each piece of intelligence and base it on the credibility that it was received and give it the due weight that it has. But as the U.S. Attorney has stated and as President Trump's task force for Washington, D.C. has shown, we have reduced crime in this city by historic levels and we will continue to do so. We will continue to safeguard the men and women that call Washington, D.C. their home.

BLANCHE: All right, just a couple more.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Acting Attorney General, in paragraph 14 of the complaint today, it says that the suspect fell and you said that he was tackled. I just want to see if we can try to make sure we understand.

BLANCHE: Well, I think that both can be true. And I would rely on the complaint because that was sworn to by an agent and not by the words out of the Acting Attorney General, who most certainly was not there. But I think both can be true. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. Attorney yesterday also mentioned that one of the charges possibly would be for assault on an officer. And I noticed today it's a different charge. Is this because you've determined that what he shot didn't actually strike the officer?

BLANCHE: We're still looking at that. And I think that that's something that you'll hear about in the coming days as we know the answer to that. It doesn't legally matter in that situation.

But when after an event like this happens, not surprisingly, there's initial charges that we consider. Then you have the U.S. Attorney's team and the FBI looking through the evidence and figuring out what's the best thing to do. And that's what you have.

Just one more question.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have two quick questions.

BLANCHE: All right, two questions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just wanted to clarify. You said the one officer fired their weapon five times. Was that the only officer who discharged a firearm?

BLANCHE: I want to be very careful in answering that question because this is when you do ballistics evidentiary collection and research, it is very complicated. So when you fire a bullet, the bullet ends up somewhere. Sometimes you find it. Sometimes you don't.

And so from that, with that qualifier, we believe right now that there was five shots fired from the same firearm. But this is -- there's a team of folks looking at this that are experts.

And the evidence collection team that were in that area of the hotel where the shots were fired will work all night. They have the evidence they collected. But it's not an exact science from the standpoint that, for example, the buckshot, when that shots, it scatters everywhere.

Sometimes it just disappears, actually, depending on where it hits. So you don't have to -- hopefully with that qualifier, that's where we are right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the timeline, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just wanted to ask what law enforcement has learned about why he was targeting President Trump. Do you guys believe he was upset about a certain policy or decision by the president?

BLANCHE: The complaint lays out what I think is described as a manifesto, which is something that he's 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.

All right. Thanks a lot, guys. I appreciate it. Thank you.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right, listening there to Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, and also Kash Patel, the FBI director. But he was asked about the evidence that the president was indeed the primary target, aside from that manifesto that has been made public. And he said that they have taken multiple devices from the home of Allen.

He said it's not appropriate to share at this time, but he did seem to indicate that there is going to be a lot more information ultimately coming out than what we've seen in this initial court document. And he was asked very quickly near the top about the political threat environment in America right now, a reporter sort of listing through all of the different things we've seen, which, you know, it's a it's a bipartisan affliction.

[15:45:00]

And he said that the political violence and rhetoric has to stop.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Yes. He also explicitly said law enforcement did not fail -- responding to criticism about the ability of this suspect to get about a stairway away from the ballroom, where thousands were gathered, including the president, vice president, other members of the cabinet.

Josh Campbell, I wonder what your reaction is to what you just heard.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, he did take the security issue head on there, in fact, saying that according to the acting attorney general, that there were hundreds of federal agents between the suspect and the president. As we've been reporting, he was actually apprehended on a different level from where that ballroom was at that lower area. And that doesn't mean that none of this is going to be reviewed.

We know the Secret Service will be doing an after action review. But the attorney general coming out very forcefully saying that, look, he's backing the law enforcement officers here. I think, you know, as you listen to this complaint, read through this complaint and then listen to the press conference, it is chilling hearing the actions of that Secret Service officer, as we were discussing earlier, according to the complaint.

So the suspect makes a dead sprint past that security checkpoint and then officers hear a firearm, a loud boom. That officer is struck in his chest. And it's that same officer who then draws a service weapon and fires upon the suspect.

The suspect was not hit, but it seems at that point that that's when the suspect went down and was then arrested. We don't know if he tripped, if he was trying to avoid the gunfire. We don't have those details.

And then just the last thing, which Brianna had mentioned, and this is, you know, the additional evidence that they now have in the digital space, we had had indications, I'd heard from a law enforcement source that an FBI jet had arrived here where I am in the Los Angeles area to take evidence back. Officials there are saying that they dispatched those resources because they wanted to analyze them very quickly. Why is it important?

Because right now, they're pinning this on this manifesto, which the suspect appears to lay out his reason for wanting to do this. But there could be a lot more evidence on those devices once they're processed.

KEILAR: Yes, and I hear you saying that this happened on a different level from the ballroom, but we do just have to be very clear for viewers who are not familiar with the space inside of the Hilton. It's sort of like saying if it was up the stairs, if you were in your house and you have stairs, this is the difference between kind of the top of the stairs, if you are on the level at the bottom of the stairs.

The distance between where this gunman was stopped and where the doors into the ballroom were is actually quite small. It is a quite short distance. I spoke to a witness who was at the bottom of those stairs and actually experienced all the glass that was raining down from the stairs as the shots were firing.

And that person, I would say, was probably between five and 10 seconds from being in the line of fire. So very close to the doors indeed.

Elie, legally, you know, we get some new information from this filing, which is important, but there are also a lot of questions that it raises as well.

And we're also going to be seeing this suspect having a number of court appearances coming up as well. Just take us through sort of the top lines of what you're seeing and what that press conference answered and did not.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Brianna, I think the two biggest questions that I raised beforehand were just answered. First of all, how strong is the attempted assassination of the president charge? I think when you look at the affidavit -- and I want to read a bit from it in just a second -- that charge is rock solid.

It hardly could be any clearer than looking at the words and the actions of this shooter. The other thing I raised is, will we expect to see additional charges based on attempted assassination of other officials? Jeanine Pirro was asked just that, and she said quote, "There will be additional charges."

And I just want to read one passage from this affidavit, which just came out. This is an affidavit that was filed by the Justice Department in this case relating to this shooter. And what they're doing here is they are quoting from the shooter's manifesto. It's paragraph 19. And what this is, and Jeanine Pirro referenced this, this is the list of the shooter's, quote, rules of engagement, who he prioritized shooting. So here's what he writes in this document.

He writes, "Administration officials, not including Mr. Patel, they are targets prioritized from highest ranking to lowest, Secret Service. They are targets only if necessary and to be incapacitated non-lethally, if possible, aka, I hope they're wearing body armor because center mass with shotguns messes up people who aren't. Hotel security, not targets at all, if possible, unless they shoot at me.

Capitol Police, same as hotel security. National Guard, same as hotel security. Hotel employees, not targets at all.

Guests, not targets at all." But then he says, "I would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary." So that's a statement that DOJ has put in their affidavit quoting from this manifesto. And I think it's chilling.

[15:50:00]

And I think it shows you that this person had very specific plan and intent. And I think it shows you that the criminal charges are well- founded.

KEILAR: Yes, because he says in his manifesto that everyone in that room was complicit, as he put it, for attending the speech of the president. This was the an event that is held every year put on by the nonprofit White House Correspondents Association. Included in those guests, we should just be clear, a number of aspiring journalists and scholarship winners, people who are dedicated to journalism and the First Amendment, looking for a future in that so that they can go out, report the truth.

I just want to be really clear about the public servants, wait staff, law enforcement, people in government. This was almost 3,000 people. Mothers, fathers, sons, daughters. We should just be very clear about who all was in that room.

Elie Honig, Josh Campbell, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

And ahead, more on the shooting at the press dinner and the reaction to it. We'll speak with a Republican congressman about this next.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: The breaking news today. The Department of Justice just wrapping up a press conference, giving more details about the suspected shooter and his motive at Saturday night's White House Correspondents Dinner. With us now to discuss, Independent Congressman Kevin Kiley of California. Congressman, thank you so much for being with us. First, I just want to get your reaction to what we heard from the acting attorney general, Jeanine Pirro and Kash Patel as well, regarding law enforcement's response and some of the actions that they're taking to prosecute this suspect.

REP. KEVIN KILEY (I-CA): Well, obviously, I mean, he needs to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. In terms of the assessment of what happened here. Anytime you have an incident of this nature, of course, we need to have a full assessment. We need to learn from what went wrong.

The officers on the scene clearly acted heroically and effectively. But you don't want weapons being fired in that close of proximity to the president.

SANCHEZ: Two things can be true at the same time. These agents acted and responded bravely. And yet, as someone who was there, I can tell you that security didn't seem as tight as it had been in the past.

To get in, I just flashed a ticket to someone and I just walked right in. A big part of the public is allowed to be around the lobby of the hotel, which is sort of adjacent to where a stairway is that leads to the red carpet. And even in the manifesto, which I hesitate to cite, the suspect's pointing out that if he were an Iranian agent, let's say he had some other weapon on him, he could have done way more damage than he did.

Are you concerned that security at this event was not what it should have been?

KILEY: I think it is concerning on the face of it. And yes, if you had some sort of coordinated attack, then you can imagine how more threatening things could have been. So we absolutely need to have a full investigation of this.

And by the way, we need to make sure we pass the funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security immediately as well.

SANCHEZ: I do want to ask you about that. But I also wanted to get your thoughts generally on Saturday's event, given that the president wants to have it again within 30 days. It's unclear if that's feasible or not, just given the parameters of the situation.

But are you comfortable with the president, the vice president and all these members of the cabinet being in the same place at the same time? Is that something that should be reexamined?

KILEY: I think perhaps it should be. I mean, the protocols around that I think have been around for a long time. But when you're talking about something like the State of the Union happening in the Capitol, that's one thing which has its own sort of inherent security to it.

When it's another location, then maybe that's something that they should look at when you have that many people in the line of succession. SANCHEZ: Before we get to the funding bill, the last question on the idea of the venue, because the president has now talked about this incident being proof that there should be this ballroom at the White House, that there's a long legal fight over it. It's important to note the dinner is hosted by the White House Correspondents Association. It's not put on by the federal government.

So there are legal and ethical questions about it being hosted at the White House. And further, there are questions of space as well. When a judge wrote that it would be unreasonable for the president and his legal team to claim that the entire ballroom was necessary for national security.

Do you agree with that? Do you think that this incident in any way changes the case?

KILEY: I think maybe there's an argument to be made that it shows that it would be good to have a secure location at the White House for these larger gatherings. I think getting Congress involved in this would be a good idea, too. That way we could make sure that the nature of the project is calibrated to what the real national security need is.

SANCHEZ: So, Congressman, on the funding bill for DHS, we heard from Speaker Johnson today saying that there is a modified version of the Senate bill that he believes is better for both chambers. Essentially, the disagreement here is whether or not this funding bill should have money for ICE and Customs and Border Protection, which largely has already been funded. It hasn't been affected by the shutdown because of the Big, Beautiful Bill that was passed last summer.

What's your reaction to this?

KILEY: Well, I'd like to see a full funding bill for the entire Department of Homeland Security. But if we can't reach that, then at least we should fund the other departments or the other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security that very much need funding. And folks are going to start missing paychecks in just a few days.

It really, Boris, is just a very clear example of the hyper- partisanship in this country. It is weakening us. And we can't even get a Homeland Security bill through at a time of heightened threat environment.

SANCHEZ: And to that point, Congressman, you posted, quote, after Saturday, "We should all dial down the rhetoric and aim for greater civility and unity in our political culture." Who exactly are you speaking about? Do you think the president should lead the way in toning down his own rhetoric?

KILEY: I think all of us need to. I wouldn't even exempt I wouldn't exempt myself from that. I think we all should be more mindful about our rhetoric.

I mean, political division is number one, leading to gridlock where we can't even get the basics of a Homeland Security bill through. But it's also leading to, you know, this sense of divisiveness that I think has really gotten out of hand in a lot of ways. And I think, you know, we've had a lot of traumatic incidents now as a country.

We need to all, I think, step back and say, how do we dial down the rhetoric? How do we aspire to a greater sense of civility and unity in our public life and remember the things that unite us as Americans?

SANCHEZ: Congressman Kevin Kiley, we very much appreciate the time. Thank you so much.

KILEY: Of course, thanks for having me.

SANCHEZ: Appreciate it.

"THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts in just a few seconds. Thanks so much for joining us this afternoon.

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