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Gunshots Heard During White House Correspondents' Dinner. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired April 26, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST AND POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Welcome back to CNN's breaking news coverage. I'm Kasie Hunt. This afternoon, we're following breaking news, new details on the suspected gunman who charged through a security checkpoint outside the White House Correspondents' Dinner. It's, of course, an annual event designed to honor America's free press and the First Amendment.

Now, a source telling CNN that the suspect shared a manifesto with family members just minutes before this incident unfolded. The source added, the manifesto made clear that the suspect wanted to target Trump administration officials.

I was there last night, heard the shots ring out. I was, of course, one of thousands of people who ducked under their dinner tables for safety. Up on the stage, the president, the vice president, several senior members of the administration. We were sitting with a member of the cabinet at our table. All were rushed to secure locations as the chaos unfolded.

Sources say authorities have identified the alleged gunman as 31-year- old Cole Tomas Allen of California. A CNN team reported seeing FBI agents going door-to-door in the suspect's Southern California neighborhood. Agents say they were looking for ring cameras. The U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, said the alleged shooter will be arraigned tomorrow and is facing multiple charges related to the indictment.

We, of course, have been, from the moment this began happening, covering this story from all angles. We are continuing to do so tonight. And joining me now is CNN senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes. She is live at the White House. CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller is also with us. Now, Kristen, I know you have been spearheading the reporting for us about this manifesto. What else can you tell us about what it says, what we're learning, what authorities are taking away from it?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kasie, I've spoken to a number of people that I have obtained a copy of this document. Of course, we're not going to read it in full, we're not going to glorify what he was there to do, but I do think it gives insight at least into what law enforcement is looking into, into the investigation and to motive behind why he was there, why he showed up with the gun, why he opened fire.

In part of this so-called manifesto, he says very specifically that administration officials are the targets prioritized from highest ranking to lowest. Then he goes through a variety of different guests, security, saying that essentially no one is going to actually be a target other than those administration officials, although he does note that if any of these security guards, secret service, hotel security, Capitol police stand in the way of his -- quote, unquote -- "mission," they could end up being targets. We know he did exchange gunfire with one agent who, of course, was safe because of that bulletproof vest.

I'm also told by multiple sources that they are still trying to determine the exact timeline around the distribution of this manifesto. I was told that it was sent to family members, to the suspect's family members, 10 minutes before the actual incident took place. Now, originally, a White House official had told us that immediately, the family had called local P.D., again, moments before the event took place. But now, it seems as though they are reevaluating that timeline.

[17:04:55]

I have an official saying the family didn't even see this so-called manifesto, of course, it was a Saturday night sent via email, until after the incident had already happened and then, of course, they did inform the local police department.

We also know President Trump has been being briefed regularly on all of the information that they are finding out about the circumstances around this and that individual in particular.

HUNTE: All right. Kristen Holmes, thanks for that. John Miller, I want to go to you. I know you were up late into the evening last night following this as it was breaking while many of us were, of course, in the ballroom, evacuating the ballroom. What are you looking at this point in terms of where the investigation goes from here and also, you know, steps that may be taken around events like this in the future?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Well, the investigation is going to go backwards. They're going to try and reconstruct literally every minute of the prior 24 hours before he stormed that checkpoint and allegedly opened fire, and then 48 hours, and then 36, and then 72. They want to trace his steps through those train rides from Chicago to Washington and from L.A. to Chicago and where and when he created that document, which is why they've seized his computers and phones where he goes through what his plan is and what his motive was. So, that's the beginning.

As far as what does it mean for events like this in the future, this event is going to be reconstituted, according to the White House and the organizers, hopefully within the next 30 days. The real question here is, does it go from being a regular event where the president is going to attend and cabinet officials where there's layers and layers of security to a national -- national security special event, an NSSE. That's the kind of security designation they give to things like the Super Bowl and other major events where they pull out --

HUNT: And the State of the Union. I mean --

MILLER: -- conceivable stuff for security.

HUNT: -- candidly, candidly, John, I mean, why wasn't this already designated that way? I mean, more of the government was in that room, honestly. I mean, I guess minus the Supreme Court. That is when I go to the Capitol to cover the State of the Union, which is a national security designated event.

MILLER: You know, when they -- when they designate a national security event, it's like the U.N. General Assembly, the Super Bowl. It's a massive event that's going to occur over multiple days in multiple locations that's really going to exhaust the resources of the Secret Service. And, frankly, the White House Correspondents' Dinner for years has been a plan that the Secret Service takes out, dusts off, updates every year.

HUNT: Yes. It has been the same for 20 years I've been going.

MILLER: Now, the fact that President Trump hasn't been there --

HUNT: Yes.

MILLER: Right. The fact that Trump hasn't been there in recent years meant that they had to dust off an older plan. But this is a hotel, a facility they know very well, and they were pretty confident that they had it secured.

And I hate to be the one to argue this, but while everybody is saying, well, they weren't checking photo I.D. and they weren't doing this and they weren't doing that, I have been involved in numerous presidential security packages in New York City where we have gone over every detail, checking photo I.D. of an event where thousands of people are coming into the hotel and a couple of thousand are going to this event, nobody's photo I.D. says they're an assassin, but they do have a layered security plan --

HUNT: I should laugh.

MILLER: -- that did work in this case.

HUNT: Yes.

MILLER: Well, I mean, people keep saying what they thought security people should have done. The Secret Service had a very well-worn plan for this to guard their protectees. And as it was, this guy --

HUNT: They did.

MILLER: -- didn't get anywhere near the president or any other cabinet officials.

HUNT: Yes, they did. John, stand by with me. Our panel is here. Jeff Mason of Bloomberg, Meghan Hays, Democratic strategist, David Urban, Republican strategist, CNN commentator. I mean, Jeff Mason, I will say -- I mean, I alluded to this earlier. I mean, you've been attending this dinner, you've run this dinner.

JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, BLOOMBERG: Yes.

HUNT: OK. I've been -- I was in the -- the first time I ever was at this dinner. I was a cub reporter for "The Associated Press." I was in the press pool. OK? So, I was escorted with the president through the door that David Urban thought he was going to go through to get out safely. It was the door that I was escorted in the first time I ever attended. I was seated with the press pool right in the front. George W. Bush was president at the time.

This is a well-worn playbook. I mean, I, quite frankly, was using the same back, very insecure exit to this hotel. I've been using it for years. Every year, I wonder, are they going to figure out that this is a giant security vulnerability and fix it? And the answer is no, they hadn't fixed it by last night. But it speaks to, I think, because, frankly, when I started doing this, this wasn't how the world was. We weren't terrified that political violence was going to come to the doorstep.

[17:09:56]

I mean, we had started to see -- obviously, Columbine happened in the late 90s, shortly before the first time I attended this dinner. We started to see this culture of gun violence in America, and then has since expanded into a divisive culture of political violence. But this dinner and its security protocol has stayed the same and it's clearly can't stay the same.

MASON: Well, I think that's definitely conclusion that everyone will draw and has drawn from last night. I think it doesn't answer the questions about where the dinner will continue, how the dinner will continue.

The one interesting thing about what you were saying about the Hilton is there are measures at that hotel or there's infrastructure at that hotel that is unlike any other hotel in Washington for presidential arrivals. And Meghan would probably be able to talk about this more with your advanced background.

HUNT: She has probably done it with the president, right?

MASON: But that -- those -- there's a special entrance. That may be the entrance that you went in in your first time --

HUNT: Yes.

MASON: -- for presidents of the United States to go to that hotel. That was put in place after President Reagan was shot there. And that's unique in Washington. And that's one of the reasons that this event and other big events take place in that ballroom and at that hotel.

HUNT: Do you want to speak to that a little bit? MEGHAN HAYS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: Yes. So, there's actually an area where the beast, the president's limo, drives in and the door shuts. And that's normally really unusual. Normally, they do a tent for arrivals, and then they go down some stairs into what's considered a hard room. And this is the only place in Washington --

HUNT: Hard room. Back up. What is a hard room?

HAYS: A hard room is a secure room that no one can get in or out of unless you're with the president. And so, it's -- and it's very much cordoned off from other things, which is back of House, so which is behind the event that you don't see, the public doesn't see. So, this is the only place in Washington that is built like this, and that's one of the reasons that a lot of events are held there.

We've gone -- when I worked for President Biden, we did union events there. There were other types of galas and balls that are held in this ballroom. It also is the biggest ballroom in Washington besides the Convention Center.

HUNT: Yes. I mean, David, when you -- when you and I saw each other last night and you pointed at that door, it had been years since I had thought about that. But I came in through the back of the House, through that room because, you know, for -- I think a lot of our viewers are familiar with what this means because they've heard some of us talk about it. But when you are traveling with the president in the motorcade, there is a small group of press that always travels with him, quite frankly, for this exact reason, right?

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: Yes.

HUNT: He is the leader of the free world. History can happen at any time. Having reporters who can cover it objectively is incredibly important. There were reporters like this with President George W. Bush on 9/11, and that's why we were there. And, obviously, nothing bad happened the year that I did it with George W. Bush. This particular Hilton, interestingly, has two versions of the back of the House, OK? There's this one for the president. There's another one for the employees, and that's the one that, quite frankly, remains a little bit too accessible for what we saw.

But David Urban, when you were talking -- when you were pointing at that door, I was thinking, oh, right, that's what that hallway looks like, that's where they're going to take the president. It's a totally different place.

URBAN: That's where the vice president got swept off, too. That's where the cabinet members were escorted out. That's kind of the hard room space. Two different hard room holds backstage, one for the vice president, one for the president, you know, is alluded to. And when you travel with the president, you see -- interestingly, when I traveled with president during the campaign, when he was president in 2016, the packages that go with the nominee versus the president versus the potential candidate versus -- they kind of ebb and flow. When you're a candidate, you get Secret Service protection. Then when you're a nominee, you get more Secret Service protection. With the president, it becomes quadrupled. And the cat team, we talked about this matter, you see the CAT team normally that --

HUNT: Explain a little bit --

URBAN: So, it's a counter -- counterlike action. The SWAT team, for extensive purposes, they're always standing backstage, they're at full gear helmets. They look like, you know, Delta Force rangers ready to go. And, you know, normally, they're not -- they're kind of in the hallway, staying there outside the Green Room or the hard room where the president is.

HUNT: Guns down.

URBAN: The backstage. Guns down. You know, they got everything ready to go on a moment's notice. You know, a hundred -- you know, 99.99 percent of the time, they're just standing there. The one -- the .001 percent of the time, they're left into action yesterday, protected the president, protected the cabinet, protected every in that room yesterday, you know, magnificently, I think.

And so, you know, you see those things, you know, play out. I'm sure they'll have a hot wash and go through all this afterwards and see what they can do better, how they can improve. I think the service is going to come out looking pretty good in this instance that there's going be debate about the hotel, how it gets secured. But to Meghan's point, they're there to secure the package, and the package is --

HUNT: The package is the president.

URBAN: -- the president, the vice president, a few people, right?

HUNT: Yes.

URBAN: And the first lady, right? So, they're not there to secure the entire hotel. So, there will be a lot of debate about that. You know, I think we also need to talk about the fact that, you know, political violence continues to grow. We've had now -- this is the third attempt presumably on this president's life. You know, what about that? When I was leaving the hotel, there were actually protesters with cardboard signs basically saying, kill Trump.

[17:14:58]

I mean, unbelievably standing outside, like shouting, like, you know, kill Donald Trump. I mean --

HUNT: They were shouting, kill Trump?

URBAN: I can't remember exactly if they were, but they were terrible, terrible human beings.

HAYS: They were there in the beginning. So, you have to walk --

URBAN: Terrible human beings.

HAYS: -- scream at about all kinds of things.

URBAN: Yes. You can just, you know, Google. Look about it. There is currently online a bar like in upstate Wisconsin. It was, you know, the owner was celebrating this fact that the president was almost assassinated. I mean, there are sick people out there, sick individuals, and it seems to be focused, you know, on Donald Trump.

This isn't whataboutism thing. This is for -- the Trump derangement syndrome is real. In this case, you see it time and time again played out, right? I mean, how many attempts to Barack Obama's life? Republicans don't -- they don't love Barack Obama. I think probably none. How many attempts were there on Joe Biden's life? Republicans don't like Joe Biden. None again. This is the third attempt on Donald Trump's life. There got to be something about it. I understand my good friend, Josh Shapiro, was almost killed in his home and --

HUNT: There is not an exclusively left-wing --

URBAN: However, though, there's something about Donald Trump that has got to stop. It just got to stop.

HAYS: I think the difference, I think, between Barack Obama at the time is what's in our phones. People can now just say whatever they want, and they create a culture and an environment on their phones that people are like-minded, and it gets people radicalized, whether it be the left or the right. And it's really unfortunate and really crazy because your phone is not real. What goes on in your phone is not real life. What happened last night is real life, and that's what's scary.

URBAN: If the algorithm is encouraging people, right? Then, it's terrible. And I see this. You know, you saw Brett Kavanaugh, Charlie Kirk. I mean, this has real consequences in people's lives. It got to stop with this president specifically. We got to have it stop.

HUNT: I do think it is important to underscore, and Meghan, I'm glad you raised, I mean, President Obama saw an unprecedented number of threats directed at him on his life for very difficult and horrible reasons, and it was an elevation in threat that we had not seen until he took office.

But yes, not only are the algorithms encouraging things, it's also allowing you to figure out like where are these events, right? The speed with which information is moving, the capabilities that people have led us to a point where we are now in a very polarized environment. To your point, David, this president has clearly seen an extraordinarily horrible --

URBAN: How do you feel if you're Melania or his kids? I mean, this guy is -- he's a father, right? He's a grandfather. It's -- it's -- it's -- he's the president of the United States, a polarizing figure, but he's a human being as well. And people lose -- lose touch of that, right? I mean, he's got a family. What do you think about, like, anything Melania felt for the third time having her husband almost assassinated? It's got to be sickening.

HAYS: But I think that a lot -- but I think that we've dehumanized all of our politicians. We never treat them as like they're people, and that's really not a good place to be. And I do think that the phone, and you create a culture, and you create your own little world and your own environment, and we are doing this across the board to people. These people are human. They put their pants one leg on -- one leg at a time as well.

HUNT: Right. All right. We clearly are going to be having a version of this conversation for a long time to come both here on CNN and as a country as well. Coming up next here, a manifesto left behind by the suspected shooter. New details of the investigation taking place coast to coast right now. Plus, as the president was whisked to safety, those of us were in the crowd, hid under our tables, under chairs. Ahead, I'm going to talk to somebody else who witnessed the scene, CNN media analyst Sara Fischer. She was there. She'll join us live.

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[17:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNT: Welcome back. Last night, chaos and confusion filled the ballroom inside the Washington Hilton at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. After a gunman opened fire nearby, everyone, myself included, I was there, ducked under tables, under chairs for safety.

Joining our panel, CNN media analyst Sara Fischer, who was also in the room last night. So, from your perspective, and I, you know, welcome everyone here who saw some of this, what did you see? What was your experience like?

SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST, MEDIA CORRESPONDENT FOR AXIOS: So, we had a cabinet official that was sitting with us at Axios. And we saw people starting to duck. We heard the commotion. And, to me, the first thing that stood out was Secret Service was like lizards going over fire. They were hopping over chairs and tables to pull that cabinet official out of our table and to pull their wife. Actually, this is video that I shot on my phone of the incident. You can actually see them just pulling them out.

And what was so striking was after, and most of us were under our tables, after I saw that, I looked up to see the same exact scene happening at many tables all over. So, you could tell it was like a SWAT team coming in. And then my eye moved to the big stage area, which is where the award recipients sit, the White House Correspondents Association members sit, and then also the president and the vice president. And at that point, we've just seen them start to pull those officials out, and you saw members of the Secret Service with large guns.

At that point, after all the officials were taken out, I'm sure you all had similar experiences if you were there, we used to have a lot of information, and what stood out to me about last night was that the Wi-Fi was pretty weak. A lot of people didn't have cell service.

[17:25:00]

HUNT: If you had AT&T, it was fine, I will say.

(LAUGHTER)

FISCHER: Some people had it, some people didn't, but that became a security issue, too. We had CEOs that were sitting with us. They had their own security teams and protocols. We couldn't necessarily get in touch with members of their teams to let them know what was going on or what was happening. We also wanted to communicate back to our newsrooms to be able to do live reporting. And so, being in a basement structure where everyone is trying to be on their phone with limited service and not always the strongest Wi-Fi was also a security challenge that we faced last night.

HUNT: All right. I want, Jeff, for you, bring in a little bit of breaking news that we're learning about. The president spoke with "60 Minutes" after the shooting. We're just getting a first look at that interview. We don't have the video yet. We will bring it to you and play it for you as soon as we have it. But the president told CBS that he -- quote -- wasn't making it that easy on the Secret Service because he wanted to get up and look and see what was going on." He said he probably made them act more slowly because he kept telling them to -- quote -- "wait a minute, wait a minute, let me see."

And, of course, I think this may come in response to, you know, the initial video showed the vice president immediately running out of the space. I think it's Getty who had, you know, filmed footage of the vice president leaving.

And then the president remains at the dais with obviously protecting -- you know, there are Secret Service in front of him, but he kind of remains there for little while. And there were some questions about the speed with which this happened. The president seems to be saying, well, it's my fault.

MASON: That's very interesting. I mean, he has been very complimentary of the Secret Service for the last 24 hours. So that is in line with how he described the incident last night when he was at the White House press briefing room. Also, it was interesting, he had said at the briefing last night that he initially thought what he heard -- that he had heard the gunshots and thought initially that it was a tray that had fallen. But if you look closely at the video of him, it doesn't look like he heard it at all.

So, it's interesting. I'm sure that he's looking back on it now and as we all are and reflecting on what happened and filling in blanks. But it's -- he certainly, if that's the message that he gave to CBS, is not -- not directing any criticism at the Secret Service. And as he said before, if he was critical or felt critical, he'd be saying it.

(LAUGHTER)

URBAN: I can tell you from campaigning with the President in 2016 when he was still just a candidate, when I had an interaction with the Secret Service and disputes with the Secret Service about getting the president more accessible to voters and the people specifically --

HUNT: And this is a constant fight. Most people don't understand, right?

URBAN: Yes.

HUNT: You cover the president, right? You're traveling with the president. The president of the United States and his communications team, they want him out with the people, right? They want him to be able to be more accessible. And consistently, the Secret Service, to their credit, right? Like their job is to protect the president or the candidate or the nominee or whoever they are from any threats. And there's this constant tension. Anyway, continue.

URBAN: So, we were doing a rally in Ambridge, Pennsylvania inside a gymnasium back in those days, about 5,000 people in the gym, and there were about 4,000, 3,000 people in the overflow parking lot, big screens. I talked to the site agent on site. I said, let's go up there quickly. But when he arrived, kind of doing off the record stops. Nobody in the parking lot knows he's coming. We'll double bike racket. He'll run up.

HUNT: Double bike racket. That means put two bike racks in a row around it to keep people from --

URBAN: Twelve feet. Right. So, we put a lot of space up there, we pull in the tent in the back, and I explained to the president what we're going to do. And so, the site agent had approved it. But the agent who travels with the president is the chief.

HUNT: The arbiter.

URBAN: And he said, no, we're not doing that, right? And so, he and I got in a fight about it. And the president said, well, I want to go see the people. So, this comports with the reporting.

The president wants to be -- he wants to see people, be accessible. He wants people to see him. Think about after Butler when he was like -- fought to let him get back up again. This president wants people to see that he's OK. It's also a great sign for the leader of the free world to say, I'm not going to be coward, I'm going to do this. And I guarantee you, he wanted to come back out and at least see everybody and say, wave, I'm OK, everything is good, we're going to do this again. And the service is probably, like, there's no way you're going out.

MASON: That was clear last night, too, I think, in how long it took for us to get direction. I think that was in part because the president clearly wanted to stay. Weijia Jiang, the president of association, came out and said the program will resume at one point.

URBAN: He wanted to come back out. I'm sure he did not want to be cowed. FISCHER: There were reports that he wanted to come back out. But Melania's face was what was so telling to me. The mentalist, Oz, was actually in the middle of doing a trick for both the president and the first lady, and her face is the first to give it away, that something is absolutely wrong. The president, of the three of them, was the last, I think, to realize it.

URBAN: I would say Oz the mentalist may have dropped down a little. He didn't call that one.

(LAUGHTER)

HUNT: All right. Sara Fischer, thank you for coming in. I appreciate it. All right, we will be right back.

[17:30:00]

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HUNT: All right, we have heard from the president multiple times since the shooting outside the White House Correspondents' Dinner ballroom, including when he spoke at the White House last night. But he also just sat down with CBS's "60 Minutes" to talk more about what happened last night. Here's a preview of that interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: You see the security moving quickly --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Right.

UNKNOWN: -- within seconds, grabbing the vice president by his coat, lifting him up, bringing him out. Then the counterassault comes in, took 10 seconds for them to flank you, Mr. President, and then 20 seconds to get you out.

[17:35:01]

It looked chaotic. At one point, you were down. What was happening?

TRUMP: Well, what happened is it was a little bit me. I wanted to see what was happening. And I wasn't making it that easy for him. I wanted to see what was going on. And by that time, we started to realize maybe it was a bad problem, different kind of a problem, bad one, and different than what would be normal noise from a ballroom, which you hear all the time.

And I was surrounded by great people. And I probably made them act a little bit more slowly. I said, wait a minute, wait a minute, let me see, wait a minute. So, you know, I'm telling guys --

UNKNOWN: Just at that moment where it looks like you go sort of down with the service, you were telling them to wait?

TRUMP: Well, I don't know what happened. Then I started walking with him, I turned. I started walking, and then he said, please go down, please go down on the floor. So, I went down and first lady went down also. But we were asked to go down by the agents as I was walking. In other words --

UNKNOWN: They wanted you almost to crawl out.

TRUM: I was standing up -- pretty much. I was standing up, then turned around the opposite direction, and started pretty much walking out, pretty tall, a little bent over because, you know, I'm not looking to be standing too tall, but I was walking out. I was pretty about halfway there, and they said, please go down to the floor, please go down to the floor. So, I dropped to the floor, so did the first lady.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, I want to welcome Scott Jennings to our panel. Jeff Mason and Meghan Hays are still with us. So, Jeff, you heard there, the president's kind of recounting of the night. What stands out to you there?

MASON: I think -- I mean, he's telling his story. I think what I'm thinking about a little bit is just how he is engaging right now. How he, when he left the ballroom last night, wanted to stay as we were talking about earlier. And since he couldn't stay, he scheduled a press conference at the White House in order to tell the story. Now, he's doing an interview with CBS News with "60 Minutes" to tell the story. It is a -- he is a storyteller. He likes to control the narrative. And this is -- and I'm not saying that's good or bad control. That's just something that President Trump likes to do.

HUNT: He's a television producer by training.

MASON: A hundred percent is a television producer. And you're seeing that in this live action event that we all experienced, that he experienced last0 night.

HUNT: Yes. Scott Jennings, you were in the room. And I know we've been, you know, sort of having this conversation about what it was like to be there, kind of the security implications of what happened. The president there clearly wanted to talk about the experience he had being taken from the stage. He seems to want Americans to know. I mean, there's a moment in the video where you see him go down to the floor, some speculation that he had tripped and fallen. He insists that the Secret Service told him to get down at that point. Clearly, as Jeff has alluded to, he's someone who thinks a lot about how things look, the optics of things.

But one thing he has been very careful to do throughout is to praise the efforts of the Secret Service agents --

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH, SALEM RADIO HOST: Yes.

HUNT: -- who were protecting him throughout. I mean, I'd be interested to hear. I know you've been on our air. I'm actually -- I'm sorry, you were not at the dinner.

JENNINGS: I was sitting right here.

HUNT: You were sitting here on our air last night, my apologies, doing great work, of course. But, you know, kind of your reflections on kind of what this means. We've also learned in this time that there was a manifesto --

JENNINGS: Yes.

HUNT: -- from the alleged shooter, that he was planning on or trying to target members of the Trump administration.

JENNINGS: Well, first of all, the president, I'm sort of amazed at how unflappable he is. They tried to assassinate him three times now. He was shot in the ear once. And now, he has lived through this thing, and he goes back to the White House, and, I think, struck the correct tone. He was calm. I mean, I think most people would be kind of freaked out after living through this over and over and over again. The president, on the other hand, shows up and kind of projects this calm and control, which, I think, was vital.

And to hear him talking today, that plus -- our government is functioning properly here. The feds handling the charges. We had the mayor yesterday, I thought, gave a great press conference. It's -- I think, for the American people, to see the different layers of our government and our elected leaders kind of calmly communicating with them, handling our business, that is a terrific thing.

Regarding this manifesto, look, I'll just tell you how conservatives are feeling. They're feeling threatened. I mean, we've had numerous left-wing violent attacks against different people, Trump, Charlie Kirk, Brett Kavanaugh, go down the list. And, you know, people are -- people are buzzing about this idea that once again, you see somebody who was very clearly from the left, who is saying things in his writings that are basically indistinguishable from some of the left- wing punditry out there on certain social media sites --

HUNT: Hey, there's a big difference between punditry and taking violent action.

[17:40:01]

JENNINGS: I understand. But if you look at what he has written, the connection that's being made is, wait a minute, some of the things he's writing are basically what you're hearing certain people say, and then he took an action on it. And that -- I'm giving you an idea of what's on the conservative mindset today, and that is part of it. So --

HUNT: The video of Erika Kirk leaving the dinner in tears was absolutely --

JENNINGS: Terrible.

HUNT: -- heartbreaking and horrible to watch.

JENNINGS: Yes. I mean, obviously, the president has been with her lately and went to Charlie's funeral. I was here today. Well, you and I were on the air together --

HUNT: We were.

JENNINGS: -- when Charlie was shot and killed. And I was sitting in this room the night of Butler, Pennsylvania. And so, we keep living through these things as conservatives. And people are, I think, rightfully freaked out about it. Now, the president is projecting calm, which is incredible. But conservatives are definitely feeling sort of a knot in our stomachs because it just seems to keep happening.

HUNT: All right. We're going to sneak in a quick break, but our panel conversation is going to continue. Coming up, Melania Trump's visible shock after those shots were fired outside the White House Correspondents' Dinner. We're going to take a closer look at the enormous security challenge of protecting cabinet officials, the president's family, thousands of people at one of Washington's most high-profile events.

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[17:45:00]

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HUNT: All right, we're back now with our breaking coverage of the shooting last night at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Joining us to discuss is retired FBI supervisory special agent, Jason Pack. My panel is also here. But Jason, let me start with you. I mean, so this is one of the most heavily secured events in the country. But as some of us at this table have been talking about, I mean, this is an event I've been going to for -- going on 20 years. And, quite frankly, the security posture has not changed terribly in that time, while the culture that we have been dealing with in terms of political violence, in terms of gun violence, mass shootings in our schools and other places has changed pretty dramatically.

When you think about how this happened and you think about the fact that the president says he wants to hold this dinner, some version of this dinner again in the next 30 days, what does that need to look like?

JASON PACK, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT, HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR: Well, clearly, they need to take a second look at their plans. And like you said, when you were that cub pool reporter going to the thing for the first time, things haven't changed that much. We like to think of security plans, particularly at these known venues, like an iron skillet. You don't want to get a new one every year. You just want to season that a little bit. And that's what happens with these after- action things.

But these flying pants also have a handle, and that handle was exploited last night, I think, when the subject showed up with that shotgun in the lobby there, and I think he did it by checking in a day early as a guest of that hotel. As we all know, I was there three years ago walking up that hill, Kasie, to get into the front. It's hard to get into the front normally, so he bypassed that just by checking in and placed himself in closer proximity. So that may be one of the things they should take a look at.

HUNT: Yes. I have hesitated to say on air the way that I -- the sort of back door entrance that I've been using to go to this dinner for 20 plus years, that I was remarking upon with my colleagues, was still open last year. I will continue to keep it to myself just for the sake of whatever events are going to continue to be held here.

But when you think about how a room like this, right, I mean, it's closed in. Like if you've ever been into that ballroom, right, it's a massive space. This particular event, it's packed. I mean, you can barely walk in between the tables, let alone run to an exit. There are no windows. The doors, you know, there are a number of doors, but it's unclear where any of them go. Are we -- I mean, have we reached a day and age where we simply can't host events like this in spaces like these with people like -- I mean, the entirety almost of the Trump administration was in that room.

PACK: Yes, there are a lot of cabinet officials there, a lot of high- profile folks. Certainly, nobody -- I think everybody can agree on both sides that nobody wants people who result to violence to win. So, I think having these events and working the way through them, changing them up a little bit, will be the way to go. And there may be some significant changes.

But I think, in the end, you want to be able to go back out there, we're a free country, and have these types of events. It may look a little different coming up, and they've had some changes in these outdoor venues, as we've seen over the area. And so, these familiar venues, you know, D.C. Metropolitan Police, FBI, Secret Service, Parkways, they are no strangers to doing events in Washington but, sometimes, it may be time to take a look at it given the temperature of the country today.

HUNT: All right. Well, Jason Pak, I really appreciate you taking some time with us. I'm sure we will see you again on the air in the coming days. Thank you very much for your time.

PACK: Thank you, ma'am.

HUNT: All right. Coming up next here, a new reaction from world leaders after the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. We'll talk about it.

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[17:50:00]

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HUNT: All right, welcome back to our breaking coverage. World leaders are speaking out, voicing their relief that the president and attendees at the White House Correspondents' Dinner last night are safe after the shooting that unfolded outside the ballroom there. Canada's prime minister, Mark Carney, said this: Quote -- "Political violence has no place in any democracy and my thoughts are with all of those who have been shaken by this disturbing event."

My panel is back. And, of course, you know, we are actually preparing here in Washington for a very high-profile visit from King Charles and Queen Camilla. And I think there has been a very sort of keep calm and carry on sensibility that has come out of this. Certainly, I mean, we at CNN, and this is public information, we typically host a brunch celebrating the First Amendment in the wake of the events, and I think there was a feeling that it was important for that to continue. I know the British ambassador was very forthright in saying, you know, that event is going to go forward, it's going to be secure.

[17:55:02]

And it's unfortunate that these are the times and the reality in which we live. But it also does seem important to carry that sensibility forward, Scott.

JENNINGS: I totally agree. We're going to have a great week this week. The king is going to come. We have a special relationship between our countries. But also, over the next few weeks and months, Washington is going to be full of these events because of America 250. You know, we've got a National Day of Prayer coming up on the mall very soon. They're going to have this big state fair thing on the mall as well. We'll have the big fireworks. So, there's going to be a series of events in Washington, D.C. The city is being beautified. And this is a time for us to celebrate America, celebrate our Constitution, celebrate our independence and our freedom. And a lot of people from all over the country are going to come here to do it.

And so, I think it's so important that we keep going because you can't let people with violence in their hearts believe that they can put a stop to any of it. That's not who we are as Americans. We roll on. And that's why I think when the president came out, that was important. That's why I think this world leader visit this week going on is important. The things that we do have to continue so that they don't -- the violent people don't think, hey, look how easy it is to stop them.

HAYS: That's right. I agree with you 100%. We cannot stop living. We cannot stop living in our democracy. We cannot let other people instill fear in us. And I think it's really important for these state visits. There will be an added level of security. I think that that will be needed.

MASON: It's appropriate.

HAYS: It's needed at this juncture. But it is so important for everybody in America to see that we in Washington and the seat of their government is continuing to move forward.

HUNT: All right, our panel is going to stand by. We've got much more breaking news coverage. Coming up, new details emerging about that suspect in the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting. The investigation is underway into how he got so close to this event that the president was attending.

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[18:00:00]

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