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FBI Searching Home In California Tied To Suspected Gunman; Source: Suspects Writings Indicate Anti-Trump Admin Ideology; U.S. Confronts Rising Political Violence After WHCD Attack; Correspondents' Dinner Shooting Suspect To Be Arraigned Tomorrow; Police: Suspect Had Shotgun, Handgun And Multiple Knives; Iran's Top Diplomat To Meet With Putin As U.S. Peace Talks Stall; Some GOP Lawmakers Call For End To DHS Shutdown After Shooting; Buckingham Palace: King Charles' U.S. State Visit Will Go Ahead. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired April 26, 2026 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[21:00:00]
JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Right. And trying to get some -- something here.
AARON DAVID MILLER, AMERICAN MIDDLE EAST ANALYST: Yes. I mean, again, he -- he was in Oman, Pakistan, and now -- and now Russia. And --
DEAN: Right.
MILLER: -- and again, I think the Iranians are going to try to demonstrate that they actually do have friends, although the Chinese and the Russians, frankly, have more or less been MIA here.
They have a -- a real long history of not standing up for their putative allies.
DEAN: Right.
MILLER: The Russians let the Libyans go, the Iraqis go. And I suspect they'll have no choice but to -- to take a step back with Iran as well.
DEAN: All right. Aaron David Miller, always good to have you. Thank you so very much for that.
The next hour of --
MILLER: Thank you.
DEAN: -- "CNN Newsroom" starts right now.
And you are in the "CNN Newsroom." Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in Washington.
Federal investigators learning more about the man who tried to storm the White House Correspondents' Dinner and tried to attack a room full of some of the most powerful officials in the U.S. government.
The gunman ran past Secret Service in an area upstairs from the White House Correspondents' Dinner. You see it in this video here.
The president tonight offering his own description of this moment and the response by law enforcement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, some of these people, they may be crazy, but they're not stupid, and they figure things out.
He ran 45 yards, they say, and he just went to it, and then, boom, he popped through it. I mean, he ran like a -- I think the NFL should sign him up. He was fast.
When you look at it on tape, it's almost like a blur.
NORAH O'DONNELL, CBS NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Right.
TRUMP: But it was amazing because as soon as they saw that, you could see them draw their guns. They were so professional. Aim their guns and then they took them down immediately.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Cole Tomas Allen is a 31-year-old teacher from California. We're told he referred to himself as the, quote, friendly federal assassin in writings he shared with his family members.
In those writings, he stated clearly he wanted to target members of the Trump administration.
Law enforcement spent the day going door-to-door in his hometown of Torrance, California.
Let's bring in CNN's Kyung Lah who joins us now from the suspect's neighborhood there in Torrance.
Kyung, what have you seen throughout the day? What do we know, if anything, about what investigators have been able to discover so far?
KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's start with what we have seen. It is the FBI going door-to-door. That video that you were just sharing, Jess, it is from what we can gather. We could hear them say that what they were seeking is any sort of evidence like Ring cameras.
I can see a number of homes here that have ring cameras. And so presumably, that is to try to figure out the -- the timeline, the tick tock of his movements. And these are just two agents we happen to come across.
We understand that the perimeter is actually extending beyond this, that there were other pairs of agents walking throughout this section of Torrance throughout this neighborhood. So this is very much in the evidence collection phase. What they're trying to understand is how did this happen? What was happening in this -- in this man's mind that he took the weapons, he left Torrance, and then went to Washington, D.C. There is this picture, this extraordinary picture to people who know him here in Torrance, this is quite a stunning image where he's not wearing a shirt. He's covered in a Mylar blanket and really just helps express this -- the fact that this man has not the person that they knew here growing up.
What do we know about him? He seemed like a good kid. Came from a good family. His father is a teacher. He went to a great school, Caltech. He got an engineering degree. He had his a master's degree. He was teacher of the month in December of 2024. It's his part time tutoring job.
While this was happening, he purchased two weapons. In 2023, he purchased a handgun. 2025, a shotgun. This photo is the shotgun that he purchased. It was stored along with that handgun at his parent's home in Torrance. The parents did not know, according to information that CNN has been able to obtain, that those weapons were stored here.
At some point, he got on some rail transportation, left Torrance and went to Washington, D. C. with those weapons, also had multiple knives on him.
When officers tackled into the ground, they recovered those weapons. He is facing two serious charges when he is arraigned tomorrow morning at 9:00 A.M. Eastern using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon.
And, Jess, you were talking about this manifesto. This really does help explain at least some of his thinking. He put his words down on paper, at least in this -- in this art -- in -- he typed the message. The messages certainly helped understand that he really was targeting the Trump administration, that he had a political motive.
[21:05:09]
His sister talking to law enforcement said that he had been practicing at a local gun range and that he had increasingly been involved with left-wing political activity here in -- in Los Angeles.
So all of this, the FBI is still trying to piece together from Torrance now to Washington, D.C. Jess.
DEAN: Really across the country. All right. Kyung Lah there for us in California. Thank you so much for that.
CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller joining us now along with CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem. Good to have both of you.
Here we are about 24 hours later. John, investigators have a lot of information about this suspect. We were just hearing a lot of it from Kyung there.
What do you think is still the -- the biggest piece of the puzzle that they're still missing, that they're probably still trying to find?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, they've got the what and they've got the where and they've got the how. And a lot of the why, based on that letter that he wrote and sent out, which pretty much delineates at least what he says is his -- his motive, what they're missing is a little bit of the who and the when.
One of the central questions for the FBI is going to be, was there anyone else involved? And if so, who? And the when. How long has this been in the planning stage? And what evidence can they find about what the trigger was that began that planning?
Did it start a couple of weeks ago? Or is this something that he's been thinking about for a number of weeks or months? So between running down those leads, which is, is there anybody else who had foreknowledge of this? And how long has this been in the works? And what steps did he do that they can document? Those are the gaps right now.
DEAN: And, Juliette, we've mentioned these writings that -- that -- that authorities now have. When -- when you look at -- when you read those and -- and -- and kind of take in what's in -- in those, what do you gather from them?
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, there'll -- there'll be a starting point, as John was saying, to motive and the political -- his political consciousness, if it is in terms of a left- wing motivation, hates -- hates Donald Trump, hates the Trump family, hates the administration.
It -- it all is unlikely or able that that would be the only writing. So, what they will also be looking at is, who was he communicating with online? He's said to be a gamer. We know these platforms have, you know, chat rooms or -- or other ways that people communicate.
So, they're going to be looking to see, is -- is there sort of a totality of narrative that then begins to -- to be able to focus specifically on his radicalization process only because that gives us some information, not just about him, but of course about the radicalization process that's occurring throughout the country that is targeting a -- a political people in political positions.
And so I think it will be very important to -- to determine, not just the manifesto, but who read it, who -- who was sent it, who -- what else was he writing to have an understanding of that -- of that process.
DEAN: And, John, just generally when it comes to political violence and this moment in -- in the -- in the United States. I mean, you've been in law enforcement and -- and now analyzing it for many, many years.
Everyone I've talked to, myself included, felt -- last night was so surreal to -- to kind of see that all play out. And yet, we live in this environment where political violence continues to just really be this pervasive, ugly thing that keeps happening. Where would you put us right now in terms of just in your career, this moment in time?
MILLER: At an unprecedented moment in this kind of crisis, because if you look at the pace of targeted violence, political violence and -- and other violence, you could start in Butler, Pennsylvania with the first attempted assassination of Donald Trump by basically a kid.
You could move up to the next attempted assassination on his golf course while he was still a candidate by an individual who had a strange and unclear agenda and a sniper rifle who hid, you know, behind a fence.
You could go through the assassination of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare by an individual who thought he was going to right the wrongs of the healthcare business. Or go to the Charlie Kirk assassination by an individual who thought Charlie Kirk, you know, spewed hate.
And you could look at the Minneapolis politicians who were stalked at home by a man posing as a police officer to get them to open the doors who attempted to kill them and did kill one of them and wounded others.
The pacing of these things and the normalization of this kind of violence where there is the act and then there's the manifesto and then there's the coverage that goes with it, and then the questions about security, it has become a very dark kind of Kabuki theater where we all seem to know our moves.
[21:10:17]
And it is a sign of the brittle nature of our communications, whether it's in the media, over social media in particular, among each other. Our political discourse has gotten extraordinarily harsh and maybe a driver in this.
DEN: Yes. Oh, yes. It's so -- it's so true. And just like watching it all play out, knowing how it goes, the normalization of it.
Juliette, a similar question, I think, to you. It's just like, is this just where we are now? And is this a thing that America has decided to accept?
KAYYEM: Well, I certainly hope not. And I think, you know, I think John is right, that you can't normalize assassination attempts, no matter how -- how common they are now. This is a behavior that has to be condemned.
Regardless of the particular motive, there's no -- like you don't say, well, it's bad to assassinate but, know, dot, dot, dot. That is just not acceptable. It's not acceptable from the masses online. It is not acceptable from political leadership.
It also will require a de-escalation of language from everyone from the president to his -- to his opponents to people on air. You -- if you -- if you make people seem not real, right? I mean, in other words, they're -- they're just your enemy. They're some sort of animal. They're -- they're -- you -- you objectify them. You dehumanize them. That allows for violence.
In the past, and as John was saying, this pace is very -- is -- is -- is horrifying. The closest analogy we have is sort of the 1968 period with -- with major assassinations across the United States. And then you sort of had been the early '70s.
People got -- how did it end? People got tired of it. I mean, it basically becomes a sort of exhaustion of political violence in which American citizens then begin to reflect through voting in their leadership, their absolute, you know, frustration and exhaustion of this kind of political behavior.
So I am not giving up yet on this country. The genie has been out of the bottle before, but there are ways that responsible leadership, responsible media, responsible citizens can begin to put it back in the bottle.
DEAN: All right. Juliette and John, thank you for your time. We appreciate it. Good to see you both.
KAYYEM: Thank you.
DEAN: We are hearing more from President Trump about that shooting, including this new interview he just gave to "60 Minutes." That's next.
Plus, the different views supporters on each side of the aisle have about last night's attack.
And new details about King Charles' visit to the United States. How it will change after Saturday's shooting?
You're in the "CNN Newsroom."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:15:37]
DEAN: New tonight, President Trump again calling for the White House Correspondents' Dinner to be rescheduled in the next 30 days, telling "60 Minutes," he didn't want, quote, a crazy person to succeed in canceling it. And tonight, investigators are combing through a message sent by that suspect.
Let's bring in senior White House correspondent, Kristen Holmes. Kristen, let's talk about that message, those writings that the suspect did and sent to his family members. There's some confusion about when they were sent to the family, how that all played out. What have you learned?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So this is what administration officials and investigators are referring to as the suspect's manifesto. It outlines why he was in Washington, why he was doing this and what he was setting out to do.
In particular, I'll read one line from it. He talks about administration officials saying they are targets prioritized from highest ranking to lowest. Then says, he does not want to confront law enforcement. Obviously, he did end up confronting law enforcement.
In the timeline, what we've learned from White House officials and administration officials who are part of this investigation, and being briefed on the investigation, is that the suspect sent this to his family 10 minutes before the incident took place.
Now, what I'm told by one of these administration officials is that the family members, at least the ones that have been interviewed, did not read this until after the incident had already taken place and that is when they went to local law enforcement.
And that is an important point to distinct here because of the idea of whether or not local law enforcement knew anything before the president actually entered into that room. And it doesn't appear that they were given any kind of tip or heads up from the family who didn't see this so-called manifesto.
Now, we also heard from President Trump. And I do want to play one part for you here because he spent a lot of the interview really praising the first lady, Melania Trump, noting that she had never been through this before. He has been through it twice now. And he talks about the moment that they all seem to realize that something might actually be wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They're asking a name of Karoline's child that he didn't know, I guess, but he was --
O'DONNELL: Your press secretary is expecting and he was trying to guess the baby's name.
TRUMP: That's right.
O'DONNELL: You mentioned the first lady. Her face. She looked very alarmed.
TRUMP: She was.
O'DONNELL: Was she scared?
TRUMP: Well, I don't want to say, and people don't like having it said that they were scared. But certainly, I mean, who wouldn't be when you have a situation like that? By that time, I think she realized ahead of time that that was more of a bullet than it was a tray.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And he later said that he was trying to figure out what was going on that's why there seemed to be a delay when he was being taken out, saying he was telling the agents and officials around him, wait, wait, wait. And he was trying to look around the room to figure out what exactly was happening.
And I will note that we heard from the interviewer there, Norah O'Donnell, pushing him on this idea that there was lapse in security. And he really held on to the idea that he was proud and thankful to the Secret Service for what they did to protect him last night.
DEAN: All right. Kristen Holmes at the White House, thank you so much for that.
We are joined now by CNN presidential historian and former director of the Nixon presidential library, Tim Naftali. Tim, thank you for being here with us.
We were just talking just a little bit earlier in this hour with Juliette Kayyem and John Miller about political violence and -- and just where we are at this moment in time.
As a presidential historian, I think it helps us to maybe look back as well. And -- and I'm curious what you think this attack and what we've seen in the last couple of years says about where we are right now and where we've been.
[21:20:10]
TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, I think John made -- well, Juliette too, but John made some points about the cycle of violence that we have seen in the last couple of years.
They're very important points because we're seeing a real spike in political violence. And it's not that -- it does involve the left and the right. It also involves a lot of incoherent politics, but there's a central theme that runs through whether it's the Mangione assassination or the -- the -- the attempt to -- to -- to or the -- the killing of Hortman -- Melissa Hortman and her husband.
And it's -- it's this sense that -- that these killers, they're twisted, of course, but these killers feel that the only way to change politics is with a bullet. And -- and -- and a bullet in a democracy is never an appropriate way to achieve social or political change.
In an authoritarian regime, in Nazi Germany, that's a different question and that raises different moral questions and issues.
But in a democracy where you still have elections, where you have strong institutions, there is never, ever a justification for seeking to make -- to change through a bullet. And yet, we have seen now a series of young men and one not so young, but all charged are full of the sense that the only way to change America in whatever direction they want to change it is through murder. That is on a scale that is now unprecedented for us.
DEAN: Yes. Yes.
NAFTALI: The two -- the two assassinations, Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy of 1968 were chilling and -- and -- and certainly traumatic for the nation, but we've gone beyond that right now. And what -- what's not clear is -- is how this stops. Because at the root of it is a weaponization of hate that has also been monetized. There are people who are making money as influencers by provoking and giving the idea that everything is an apocalyptic struggle. And you know when it's an apocalyptic struggle, you have a moral imperative to act.
That kind of language provokes and triggers twisted, diseased, weak minds. And we've now seen it one time after another. And this is a moment really for a national conversation about it that should be nonpartisan. It should just be America.
DEAN: Be America and about -- about be having a strong democracy. Tim Naftali, thank you so much. It's a great perspective. We appreciate it.
NAFTALI: Thank you, Jessica.
DEAN: We are learning new details about the Secret Service response to last night's at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. We'll talk more about that when we come back here in the "CNN Newsroom."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:25:53]
DEAN: We are learning some new details at this hour about the moment law enforcement was able to stop the suspected gunman outside the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
In a picture obtained by CNN, Cole Tomas Allen is seen shirtless and covered with a Mylar blanket. His clothes removed by officers who searched him for weapons and wounds.
CNN national security and law enforcement correspondent Josh Campbell is joining us now. Josh, what are your sources telling you about those moments after law enforcement apprehended him?
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY AND LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We're getting a lot more clarity on what actually happened.
Now, there was a question about how he actually arrived on that terrorist level of the Washington Hilton just before he then rushed that security checkpoint and then shots rang out.
I'm told from a law enforcement source that he actually came down from a room that he had rented up in the hotel via a stairwell to that terrace level. And then he comes. He had a -- a bag with him that contained the weapons that he had, rushes that checkpoint. He is then quickly engaged by law enforcement officers.
And it was a question about whether there was an exchange of gunfire, whether he was the only person shooting. I'm told that indeed a uniformed member of the Secret Service actually opened fire on him, did not strike him. He was obviously running very fast. It was a lot of chaos. And then he was ultimately taken into custody.
That image that you showed that I received from a law enforcement source showed him after that arrest. Again, he has that Mylar blanket. There was a question because of the exchange of gunfire, was he hit? Did he have any additional weapons that were on him? They wanted to do a full search in order to make sure that there wasn't an ongoing threat.
They have him in custody now. He is facing at least two charges right now. Expected to be in federal court tomorrow. But this happens as the investigators are still trying to get to that full extent of a motive.
As we've been reporting, CNN has obtained this so-called manifesto that he reportedly sent to members of his family. And looking through that, it is filled with all kinds of grievances. And if that manifesto is indeed connected to him, there seems to be very little question that this was a -- an attempted political act of violence based on the animus that you see throughout that manifesto towards President Donald Trump, towards members of his administration.
And oftentimes in these cases, whenever there's a, you know, a manifesto, people try to make some sense of, well, you know, what was going through this person's mind? Oftentimes, there isn't a good answer, because a lot of this is simply illogical. I've read through that manifesto many times, and, you know, time that appears to be simply delusional.
But nevertheless, that will be a key piece of evidence as authorities try to build this case of which we're waiting to see whether additional charges uh focused on a threat to the president himself.
DEAN: Yes. And -- and in terms of the weapons that that suspect had when he tried to get into the room, what -- what can you tell us about those?
CAMPBELL: Well, he was heavily armed. I'll show you a picture I got from a law enforcement source. You can see the shotgun that he had with him there on his person. This is extremely powerful weapon, particularly at close range, that he then is suspected of firing, that hitting a law enforcement officer.
Thankfully, that officer had a ballistic vest on that stopped that round from actually being fatal. But he also had a handgun. He had knives on him. And when I say knives, I'm not talking, you know, pocket knives, according to a source. We're talking combat-style knives, survival-style knives with long blades.
[21:30:15]
Again, you know, we may never know exactly what he was attempting to do or whether he thought he would actually make it into that ballroom with that weaponry.
But nevertheless, he was heavily armed as he arrived there. And then there will be a big question in addition to the investigation about the security posture there. The Secret Service will no doubt be doing an after action report to determine if all the processes were fired.
One thing we do know and, you know, it's easy to think about this, know, person rushing the security checkpoint towards where the president is. He wasn't on the same floor as the president. This was -- he was taken down well in advance of getting anywhere near that actual ballroom. And so that's important to note.
But nevertheless, you know, Secret Service sources tell us that anytime that there's an attempted breach here of a venue, they will simply certainly go back and look and see if everything was followed. If there are any additional changes that may be made to their protocols.
But we know that there was no loss of life here. Major part to those Secret Service agents springing into action very quickly and subduing him, Jessica.
DEAN: Totally. Absolutely. And we are so thankful for that, Josh Campbell. Thank you so much.
As President Trump and top officials were rushed to safety after that gunfire was heard outside of the ballroom, others dove under tables and chairs seeking cover from another horrific act of gun violence.
One of them was CNN's Brian Stelter, who today writes, quote, "Thousands of media and political elites have now gone through what countless millions of other Americans have experienced in their schools, offices, malls and churches. And on most of those occasions, there were no Secret Service agents."
Let's bring in Brian now to talk more about this. Brian, you make such a good point there. This is just an American experience at this point that unfortunately and horrifically too many Americans have experienced.
What's sticking into your mind right now? Yes.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, that's why -- today, I've been having some memories come back from last night, but I've also been thinking about Shreveport, about the mass murder a week ago.
I was thinking about the -- the mall shooting in Louisiana where that teen girl died a few days ago.
The scourge of gun violence is all too common in America and just it happened to influence journalists and politicians last night. And it's crucial that we be covering this possible attempt and assassination very thoroughly here on CNN, but this is an everyday occurrence.
And I've been thinking about how people process it. I -- I know today, Jess, my sources, my contacts, my friends who were in the room with me, they're processing the traumatic stress. And I know for me personally, the memories have been flooding back today.
I remember the talking to House Speaker Mike Johnson two minutes before all this went down. And then I remembered as we were crouching on the ground hearing people shouting, get down, and wondering if there was some assailant who was loose in the ballroom.
So those memories are coming back. And -- and I'm also thinking about how people who work at places like CNN, people like this. We have access to counselors. We have access to employee assistance programs. We typically have health insurance.
But what about folks in Shreveport, right? What about folks who -- who experience this in their communities, in their hometowns, in their schools, in their churches? Do they have that support? You know, the journalists in the room last night are not special.
What happened last night was not extraordinary, except for the fact that Trump and his cabinet officials were there. It was actually incredibly ordinary. That's the sad reality. And so that's what I've been thinking about. Jess, what about you? I know you were on the way to the dinner because you had been anchoring all afternoon. Did you --
DEAN: Yes.
STELTER: -- actually get into the ballroom when it -- when it happened?
DEAN: No. No, that's what was so weird. And I -- I actually, thank God, was running a little bit later than I thought I would. And so I was in a car. And my husband who was already in the ballroom, texted me as I was getting out of the car to go into the Hilton and -- and said something's happened. We're on the -- we're on the ground.
And what was striking, Brian, and I know you've talked about this and other -- all of our friends that were in there and -- is just how much little informa -- it got really quiet and the people in that room didn't know for a minute what exactly was going. There were so many --
STELTER: That's right.
DEAN: -- questions.
And so I just -- and it was just really interesting to see people pouring out of there, because obviously I -- you know, I saw police zooming by me very, very quickly to that location.
But you're right, I think everybody's processing it a little bit differently. And it is something that far too many Americans --
STELTER: And it's going to take time.
DEAN: Yes, experience.
STELTER: You know, a lot of us have covered this, you know, with -- with other people where you hear about PTSD, which is much more of a long-term thing.
And listen, I don't want to overstate this. There were some people in that ballroom who were crying. There were other people who were very calm and maybe in denial about what was happening. But we've heard from President Trump tonight talking about how he understand that everyone in that room was scared because they didn't know what the threat level was. And that's really why this was such a shock for people in the ballroom.
DEAN: And just before I let you go, Brian, the president's reaction to all of this, how has that struck you?
STELTER: Well, listen, we heard from him tonight on "60 Minutes" reacting in a defensive posture at points. At one point Norah O'Donnell asked about whether this will change his relationship with the press. He essentially says, he doesn't think so, although he appreciated the sense of unity last night that everybody had experienced the same thing and was going through it together.
[21:35:17]
But, you know, I'll go out on a limb here and say I don't think anything's really going to change about the dynamic between the president and the press.
Just tonight in this interview, he called CBS anchor Norah O'Donnell a disgrace and said she was terrible for asking perfectly fair questions. This president wants attention, but he does not want accountability.
Journalists are going to keep providing accountability in every way. For example, Trump today promoting his ballroom plan. Journalists are going to keep scrutinizing that, keep asking questions about that.
So, the dynamic is not going to change, nor should it. It is a good thing to have that dynamic, that back and forth, that push and pull. That's how it should work. And I don't see that changing as a result of this.
DEAN: Yes. And the president also said that he wants the dinner to be back in the next 30 days. He wants it rescheduled. Are you hearing anything about that?
STELTER: I do too, but I -- I would be -- I'm skeptical. We know the White House Correspondents' board was planning to meet today to discuss that, to discuss possible options, but I think a lot of folks are skeptical that that could actually be pulled off.
DEAN: All right.
STELTER: Listen, I still want to Oz Pearlman perform on stage in front of thousands of people, you know, maybe someday.
DEAN: I know. All right. Brian Stelter, good to see you. I'm glad -- I'm glad you're OK. Glad -- glad --
STELTER: Thank you.
DEAN: -- everyone's OK. Thank you so much for being with us. Talks to end the war with Iran appeared to have stalled. Now, Iran's top diplomat is preparing to sit down with a key ally, Russia. More on that when we come back here in the "CNN Newsroom."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:40:19]
DEAN: Tonight, as the war with Iran enters its ninth week, President Trump has a new message for Iranian leaders after scrapping a key meeting with mediators in Pakistan yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We have all the cards. If they want to talk, they can come to us or they can call us. You know, there is a telephone. So if they want, they can call us. But again, they know what has to be in the agreement. Very simple. They cannot have a nuclear weapon. Otherwise, there's no reason to meet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: And CNN's international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson has more on the stalled peace efforts now, Nic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. On the one hand, you really seem to have that sort of face-to-face track of the diplomacy. President Trump not sending Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner saying he's waiting for a phone call that kind of signals that things have slowed down on that sort of diplomatic U.S.-Iran front.
You have the security in this city that was keeping the talks venues sort of under a tight security lock. That has now been lifted. Yet, on the other hand, what we're seeing with the Iranian foreign minister is really some intense movement that we haven't seen since the war ended.
He flew in here, Islamabad, Friday night, into Saturday, four hours of meetings through the night, laid out Iran's points. One of those points we understand to be that Iran wants to have a new sort of legal status around the Strait of Hormuz, creates the impression that they feel as a result of the war. They should somehow get more control over the Strait of Hormuz.
They also want war reparations. They also want the U.S. to lift its blockade on the Strait of Hormuz. A number of issues there, but that was what President Trump said, no, that's not going far enough.
He left here, the Iranian foreign minister left here yesterday, flew to Muscat. Again, this momentum of talks. He met with the Sultan there in -- in -- in Muscat.
We understand as well there were likely some other key leaders from the region potentially meeting in the margins there. Then he flies back in here to Islamabad again from Muscat.
The Iranian foreign minister landing around about 6:00 P.M., gets into another four hours of meeting, creates the impression when he's meeting with the Pakistani mediators that is bringing in whatever discussions he's had there in Muscat. Is this an update? Is it tweaks? Is it new ideas? Not clear. He took off a few hours ago.
And right now, the Iranian foreign minister is headed for Russia, where he's expected to meet with President Putin.
So, a real sort of diplomatic whirlwind for the Iranian foreign minister. And it's not really clear what he's discussing, where and when and how that's going to shift things forward.
But, course, President Putin in Russia widely believe potentially Russia can play a role on the enriched uranium issue. If you go back to the last nuclear deal with Iran 2015, it was the Russians who were given the extra enriched uranium that the Iranians had for safekeeping. Is that possibly an off-ramp with the highly enriched uranium right now? We don't know.
But On the face of it, the U.S.-Iran side is slowing down. But on the ground, the Iranian foreign minister is making a lot of diplomatic movements.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DEAN: Nic Robertson, thank you for that.
We're joined now by David Sanger, "The New York Times" White House National Security correspondent. David, good to see you. Thanks for being up a little late with us on this --
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Good to see you.
DEAN: -- Sunday night.
"Axios" correspondent and CNN analyst Barak Ravid is just now reporting that Iran has given this new proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war. And he reports the deal would postpone nuclear negotiations.
How do you think that might land with the U.S.?
SANGER: Well, certainly an end has got to come at some point here to what are really two blockades underway, an Iranian blockade on one side of the Strait and an American blockade on the other.
But let's remember that the blockade was a result of the war. It wasn't a cause of the war. The cause, if you believe the administration sometimes shifting elements to this, was the fate of the nuclear program.
So, if you reopen the Strait, all you would be doing is restoring events to roughly the status quo on February 28th when the U.S. and Israel attacked.
And I'm not sure President Trump, politically, could take, you know, basically eight weeks of war here that would have resulted in no change in the Iranian nuclear program.
DEAN: Interesting. And I know you covered that back in 2015. Iran handed over its enriched uranium to Russia as part of a nuclear deal with the U.S.
Some people believe a redo of that could provide an off-ramp to this war, as you're kind of getting. What do you think?
[12:45:08]
SANGER: It certainly could. There are a couple of countries that could take it, including Pakistan itself, which is, of course, acting as the mediator. But, you know, we -- we're setting aside for the moment that it was Pakistan 10, 15 years ago that was the nuclear rogue building nuclear weapons and getting away with it as it turned out. They now have a pretty good-sized nuclear arsenal of their own.
So, I think Russia or Pakistan could receive the fuel. I think it requires two things. First, whether the Iranians are willing to go give it away again, because at the moment, they give it away -- they give away the leverage that comes from the possibility they could resume the program if they thought the United States, say, started up the war again.
The second big question is, not only would they have to give it away, but they would have to halt all future nuclear work so they don't replace it. And we don't appear to have made much progress on that. And, of course, those are the two big issues of negotiation.
DEAN: Right. And -- and those continue to be, no matter what, the stickiest sticking points that we can't quite seem to figure out.
SANGER: That's right. Although when you think about what an agreement would have to do in order to satisfy President Trump's other objectives, we'd have to deal with the missile program, right? We'd have to go deal with his promise that he was -- that help was on the way to the protesters who were seeking to overthrow the regime or at least change its nature.
We'd have to deal with the fact that Iran supports its proxies, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and so forth.
And somehow all of those objectives, each one of which the president has talked about in the -- at the beginning of the war, seem to have fallen off the table. But that's what a comprehensive deal would look like. And remember, his complaint about the Obama era deal was it didn't address those issues.
DEAN: All right. And now we wait and see if this new proposal from Iran that Barak Ravid is reporting on moves the needle in any way, shape, or form.
David Sanger, great to have you. Thank you so much.
SANGER: Great to be with you.
DEAN: Thanks.
SANGER: What a weekend, huh?
DEAN: Indeed.
SANGER: Thank you.
DEAN: All right. King Charles is set to follow in his mother's footsteps as he visits the U.S. tomorrow. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."
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[21:50:38]
DEAN: Members of the Secret Service stopped at gunman racing toward that room packed with the most powerful members of the federal government at last night's White House Correspondents' Dinner.
But from the agents that exchanged gunfire with the suspect, those who rushed the vice president and the president to safety, they are working under the umbrella of a department that's now been shut down for 71 days.
CNN's Annie Grayer has the latest now on the stalemate in Congress over that. Annie.
ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: There are lot of conversations happening behind the scenes because there are moderate members on both sides of the aisle who ideally want to see a bipartisan deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
But the problem is the sticking points that have plagued this entire process remain. And it's about the funding for ICE and Border Patrol.
Democrats don't want to fund DHS without a reform to how ICE and Border Patrol are managed and Republicans are in the House are insistent that ICE and Border Patrol be fully funded.
So right now, the House and Senate Republicans are working through a process to try and first fund ICE and Border Patrol in a process that would just rely on Republican votes.
The problem is that process takes a lot of time, and it's only after they finish that is when the House would consider the funding for the entire Department of Homeland Security.
The problem is with that taking so much time, the department could run out of funding before then. So, those who are looking to see immediate action in Congress this week may be disappointed, because on top of all of these political dynamics, the House has a very packed schedule this week with King Charles coming to visit, with voting on key national security legislation and potentially a war powers vote.
So, it is going to be a very busy week in the House and the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday only complicated those dynamics further. Jessica.
DEAN: Annie Grayer, thank you for that.
DEAN: Also tonight, Buckingham Palace confirming King Charles and Queen Camilla will still make their state visit to the U.S. tomorrow following last night's shooting.
CNN Royal correspondent Max Foster is joining us now. Max, tell us what we can expect from this visit.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: So, it's going to be a busy few days. It had effectively been put on hold this morning after the incident at the White House Correspondents' event, because on both sides there was concern that this might change the dynamic.
So, lots of discussions over much of Sunday between governments, between the palace and the White House, but crucially between the security teams. It's pretty clear that King Charles wanted this visit to go ahead, wanted to show that commitment to the United States, to stand by United States side in this moment.
But if the security teams had said no, he wouldn't have been able to go ahead with it. So, lots of discussions between the British police and with the Secret Service.
So, eventually, they got to the point where they were happy to go ahead with this visit. And fundamentally, it stays the same. There will be certain events which will be changed, but I don't think that will be apparent to most people.
So, arrivals in Washington on Monday. The key date is on Tuesday. Annie was talking about it, speaking to both parts of Congress, also the state dinner at the White House.
And then the couple go up to New York for an event in the -- in Harlem to remember 9/11 victims and possible meetings with the mayor of New York as well. So a busy day there, probably lots of crowds.
[21:55:13]
And then they finish off on Thursday in Virginia, where they're meeting some community groups there as well and reflecting some of the King's interests in the environment as well.
So, three different parts to the visit, but the main highlight I think is probably Tuesday.
DEAN: Yes, quite busy. Just going back to what happened last night, what was King Charles' reaction to the shooting?
FOSTER: So, immediately contacted the president and the first lady to express their concerns and to offer their support. And then I think, you know, without speaking to the king, it's pretty apparent that behind the scenes he -- he was more determined than ever to go ahead with this visit.
If you think these visits are really about cementing the long-term bond between countries, standing to -- shoulder to shoulder on the international scene, then, you know, that would be undermined if they suddenly pulled out of this event.
So, a lot of work for the security teams to make it happen. But I think Charles was very determined to -- to make it happen.
And I think the president's made it pretty clear that it was really important to him as well how much he was looking forward to the visit and how much he admires the king.
DEAN: Yes. And quickly, it is -- it does speak to that relationship between the president and the royal family, the -- the president's spoken very highly of them.
FOSTER: Well, it's extraordinary really. There's a historic link between the president and Scotland. His mother was a big fan of Queen Elizabeth II.
So when King Charles came onto the throne, it wasn't entirely clear how well the two men would get on because they've got very different views on environment, example. You know, religious tolerance is a very big part of the king's work. Lots of sensitive issues.
But actually, they've got on very well. And it's been very good for the British government, I have to say, to keep that bond going.
DEAN: All right. Max Foster, great to have you here in Washington, D.C. Good to see you. Thanks for being here.
FOSTER: Thanks for having me.
DEAN: And thank you for joining me this evening. I'm Jessica Dean. Our special coverage continues with Elex Michaelson coming up after a quick break. Have a great night, everyone.
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