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Correspondents' Dinner Shooting Suspect To Be Arraigned Monday; 31-Year-Old Cole Tomas Allen Charged In WHCD Shooting; Source: Secret Service Fired On Suspect But Did Not Hit Him. Aired 10-11p ET

Aired April 26, 2026 - 22:00   ET

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

[22:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN HOST: And we are following breaking news here on CNN. I'm Elex Michaelson, live in Washington, D.C., after attending the White House Correspondents' Dinner last night, and we are learning new details tonight about that investigation and about the armed man who is accused of charging through security at that dinner just over 24 hours ago. 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, seen here, after being taken down by the Secret Service, is from California, where he works as a part-time teacher. They stripped him of his clothes to search for wounds and weapons.

Authorities are now reviewing his writings, including a note, which he allegedly sent to his family members before the attack, expressing political anger and plans to target members of the Trump administration. The president, vice president, and other top officials were rushed to safety at Saturday night's event, but the incident is now raising questions about the security protocol in place.

President Trump was asked about that in an interview with CBS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NORAH O'DONNELL, HOST, CBS NEWS: The other thing in the manifesto that I think is worth looking at in terms of determining his motive, is he had been staying at the hotel since Friday. He checked in, he said he had cased the place, and he wrote, "What the hell is the Secret Service doing?" And he wrote this quote, "I expected security cameras at every bend, bugged hotel rooms, armed agents every ten feet, metal detectors out the wazoo. What I got is nothing." He wrote, "Like, this level of incompetence is insane." Sir, you have already had two attempted --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, he was pretty incompetent too, because he got caught. And he got caught pretty easily. So, I'd say he was pretty incompetent too. You know, I can take any event having to do with security or anything else. I can always find fault. Those guys did a good job last night. They did a really good job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: We've got team coverage here on CNN. Josh Campbell is tracking the national security story lines. Brian Stelter is following the media headlines.

But we begin with Kyung Lah live from Torrance, California, where the suspect lived. Kyung, what do we know at this hour, and what's happening behind you now?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: It's been actually quite quiet at the family home throughout the day, but what we have seen throughout the day as well here in Torrance, California, are FBI agents really just trying to gather more evidence when they were going door to door, talking to neighbors, and these are just two federal agents we saw. We understand that there have been others in other parts of Torrance trying to also talk to residents or neighbors and get a little more video. The ones we heard talking to neighbors said that they were trying to seek some sort of ring video. There is a lot of cameras in this neighborhood, a lot of homes that have ring camera door bell. So, that's a part of what they're doing.

The big question for authorities is the exact timing of when he left here, when he left Torrance, took those two weapons and then took them to Washington, D.C. The two weapons being the handgun purchased legally in 2023, and the shotgun, that photo that was obtained by our Josh Campbell, after he was tackled to the -- after Allen was tackled to the ground. That's a shotgun, both of those weapons stored here in their -- in the parents' Torrance, California home. The parents, though, did not have any idea that the weapons were here, according to authorities who have spoken to them, and again, that shotgun also purchased legally.

He also had hunting knives on his body when his clothes were removed and officers were able to see him. He is scheduled to be in court tomorrow, facing some serious charges. Those charges being use of a firearm during a crime of violence and assault and a federal officer using a dangerous weapon.

And Elex, you did talk about that manifesto. It is giving us a window into some of his thinking, how he went from a Caltech graduate, undergrad degree, having a Master's in Computer Science at another institution, teaching at a Test Prep Academy where he was "Teacher of the Month" in December 2024, someone who really is a son of a normal middle class family, and then took this extraordinary step. That manifesto, from what the sister has told authorities, certainly is indicating he did have more left wing and more radicalized thinking. In recent days, his sister said that he had become more engaged politically with left-wing activity in Los Angeles, and that he had practice with those weapons at a firing range.

[22:05:00]

So, much more of a picture we hope to understand, Elex, as he is arraigned sometime tomorrow.

MICHAELSON: Yeah. Kyung, it also gave you sort of a sense of what motivated him. Clearly, he seemed very anti-Trump.

LAH: Certainly. I mean, he has that line in his writing where he talks about he is seeking someone in the Trump administration, especially the higher echelon, and it was at the dinner, as you well know, that they were all gathered. So, certainly that is appearing to be politically motivated because he wrote it with his own words.

MICHAELSON: Yeah. Kyung Lah starting us off in Torrance. Kyung, thank you for your reporting.

Now we go live to Josh Campbell. Josh has already been mentioned, who covers national security and law enforcement for us. Josh, you're getting some new information on the apprehension of this suspect, which happened right outside those ballroom doors. What are you hearing?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've learned a lot in the last 24 hours since this incident first happened. We knew from authorities that the suspect himself had allegedly fired upon Secret Service officers. We know that one of those officers was struck, thankfully, just in the ballistic vest that prevented that round from actually being fatal. But there was a question whether there was a two-way exchange of gunfire. I'm told from a law enforcement source that yes, indeed, the Secret Service opened fire on this suspect. They did not hit him. They described this as chaos. There is that video, obviously at that checkpoint, where you see him sprinting very quickly past the security barrier and then further into the hotel. But again, we're told that, yes, he indeed was fired upon by members of the Secret Service.

The image that we saw a little while ago, where you actually see him on the ground. He has no shirt. I obtained that from a law enforcement source who said that that happened after he was taken into custody. And you see on him, it appears that he has some type of aluminum foil. That's actually what's called a Mylar blanket that's used to regulate heat. They were concerned that he might have other weapons on him, that he may have been injured in that exchange of gunfire. So, that's why you see that. But that's first obtained by CNN there. You can see him actually taken into custody, placed under arrest.

The manifesto that you mentioned, Elex, is going to be key here in this investigation. Both as a former law enforcement officer and now in journalism, when we see these cases, the big question is always motive. Sometimes motive takes time in order to try to ascertain. I can tell you, this has come very quickly. Everything we've learned about him, if indeed this purported manifesto is associated with him, this appears to be an act of political violence. He makes no -- there is -- it's clear in that manifesto that he has great animus towards Donald Trump, great invective towards Donald Trump. I'll also note that it is quite delusional, some of the writing, and I won't get into all the details. We don't want to amplify it.

But the bottom line here is, so often in these situations, people try to make sense of, why did someone do something? He may explain why, in his mind, he was trying to do this. He had animus toward the president. But you look at that, it's quite rambling and it doesn't make a lot of sense, but I can guarantee it's going to be a key piece of evidence.

MICHAELSON: And no doubt. Just to confirm something that you just talked about, in terms of the incident itself, do we know for sure that the gunfire that ended up hitting the officer in the bullet proof vest, that that came, in fact, from this suspect and not from friendly fire trying to take the suspect down?

CAMPBELL: No. It's a great question. I'm told that all what I said earlier was based on preliminary reports. Right now they don't yet know the full ballistic reports, but I'm told that the FBI, which has now assumed jurisdiction in this case and is now investigating, has that ballistic vest. They are conducting analysis on that to determine where that round actually came from. They're also looking at shell casings. Every time around is fired from a firearm, a shell casing is ejected, and they can see exactly where that round came from. Did it come from another agent? Did it come from the suspect? All of that analysis is certainly ongoing.

But we do know, he faces two charges right now, both involving the use of that firearm, also an assault on a federal officer, which was the officer that was hit, and thankfully, has survived. So, very serious charges he is facing, but a lot of investigative work is still going on behind the scenes.

MICHAELSON: And you talk about that manifesto. You're a former FBI agent yourself. What's the process now of going through that manifesto, of investigating it? I mean, it seems like a whole lot of leads that come from that.

CAMPBELL: No. That's absolutely right. I'm actually told the FBI has now brought in its famed profilers from its behavioral analysis unit at Quantico.

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They're scouring that as well, again, to try to determine what was, in fact, the actual motive here. It appears on its face to be clear, but for two reasons. They not only are building a prosecution against him now in order to try to gather as much evidence as they can. The big question here right now, Elex, is, will they charge him with attempting to harm the President of the United States, which would be among the most serious charges that they could bring? But they have a case to build. They have to show that there was intent, that there was motive, that that was what he was actually attempting to do. That's all happening right now.

But just as important, I'm told from law enforcement sources, that they learned from each of these incidents because they want to try to stop the next one. So, this is kind of a dual track here. They're looking into him, they're looking into his motive and building a case against him, but they're also trying to see, are there other people out there who may have the same kind of attributes and characteristics that they want to try to prevent in the future?

Bottom line, they learned from every one of these, Elex, thankfully, in this case, this did not result in any type of serious injury. MICHAELSON: Yeah, and sending a message to those potential people that

you will be stopped just like this suspect was as well.

CAMPBELL: Yeah.

MICHAELSON: Josh Campbell, thank you.

We now take you back right after this incident happened. CNN was on the air. Brian Stelter helping to lead our coverage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: I'm going to be honest, nobody knows what's going on, but you'll see there are people literally hiding under tables inside the ballroom of the Washington Hilton. We have seen many different security officers, some of them climbing over the chairs in order to get through this room. There are some people starting to stand up. I see some people walking out. You can see, this is the center of the ballroom, the center hall. People walking out. This commotion happened very suddenly. People dropping to the ground, some still hiding behind tables, some chairs, and people now getting up. One person injured, it appears, limping with something on his leg, maybe from the commotion. People were very shocked as they were falling to the ground, trying to seek shelter under the tables.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: That's not how we're usually seeing Brian Stelter, of course, our chief media analyst, looking more like a warzone reporter there. He joins us live now from New York. Brian, I was a couple of tables away from you. It was amazing to watch you go into work mode. Talk about your decision to do that, and what it felt like in that room when there was so much confusion?

STELTER: Well, Elex, it was just instinct. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, but I knew that everybody else needed to be able to see it as well in order to believe it, and I knew that the C-SPAN cameras that were all around the room were probably only going to be showing a wide angle. They are trained to focus on the president and the front of the room. They follow where the president goes.

So, once Trump was out of the room, I suspected we didn't have a very good perspective about what was going on. So, I grabbed my phone. I did the same thing, actually, that we use for remote guests that you see here on CNN every day. When you see a guest live from home, they're usually in a computer software called WebEx. I clicked that button. I was into the control room instantly. And I'm glad that I was able to help a little bit, because this was so surreal. We had Americans and folks all around the world hearing something was going wrong, not knowing what it was. And truth be told, as that video clip shows, folks inside the ballroom did not know either.

Elex, I kept hoping it was just a crazy overreaction.

MICHAELSON: Yeah. Me too.

STELTER: I don't know about you, but all I heard were dinner plates --

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

STELTER: -- clanging around, security officials running into the room. I was hoping that there was some panic that was completely inappropriate and unnecessary, and that 20 minutes later, we'd all forget about it and move on. And after about five minutes, when Kaitlan Collins reported that there was a suspect who was down in the lobby, then we knew this was real, and all the response was actually sufficient and necessary and important.

MICHAELSON: Right. I thought the same thing, like hopefully this was all much to do about nothing, and we had no way of knowing what really happened --

STELTER: Yeah.

MICHAELSON: -- really, and Wolf Blitzer, frankly, having his bathroom break was the main reason that we kind of knew what was happening --

STELTER: Yeah.

MICHAELSON: -- because he saw it. The rest of us were of us were in the room where we couldn't see it.

So, you were on last night with me, and we were talking about President Trump's tone and how he really showed a lot of grace and class towards the media, especially Weijia Jiang, who is the head of the White House Correspondents' Association, at the White House briefing last night.

A bit of a different tone in this interview with 60 Minutes' Norah O'Donnell, which was just released tonight, where she asks him about the manifesto and some of the not so nice things that this gunman likely said about President Trump. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'DONNELL: -- "I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes." What's your reaction to that?

TRUMP: TRUMP: Well, I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would because you're horrible people. Horrible people. Yeah, he did write that. I'm not a rapist. I didn't rape anybody. I'm not a pedophile.

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O'DONNELL: Oh you think -- do you think he was referring to you?

TRUMP: Excuse me. Excuse me. I'm not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person? You should be ashamed of yourself reading that because I'm not any of those things.

O'DONNELL: Mr. President these are the gunman's words -- TRUMP: And I was never -- excuse me. Excuse me. You shouldn't be reading that on 60 Minutes. You're a disgrace. But go ahead. Let's finish the interview.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Bit of a different tone. How do you read that, and how much of that do you think is real, President Trump, or how much of that is an act?

STELTER: Well, I think we're back to the normal President Trump. But here is the thing, every day, every mood is different. Sometimes it depends on what he has seen on Truth Social, what he is scrolling through on his phone before he gives an interview. In this case, it's a question he doesn't want to hear. He doesn't want to see it aired on 60 Minutes. And so, he is lashing out as a result.

And this shows that there is not going to be any concrete change between the President and the press, nor really should there be, because reporters like Norah O'Donnell are going to keep asking those important questions whenever they get the chance. And of course, the president is accessible, and we're grateful for that. I think the press corps, I was talking to those folks in Washington all weekend, they're grateful to have his cell phone number, but it's never an issue about accessibility. It's an issue of decency, and we saw real human decency from the president in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. Tonight, he is back to calling reporters' names, and that's to be expected given the pattern.

I think the more important context here is that the work is still being done. The journalism is still being done, regardless of the assaults against the press, regardless against what happened last night. All the work is still being done. What worries me, Elex, is the amount of conspiracy thinking we're --

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

STELTER: -- seeing about what happened last night. All across the web on the far right, but really on the far left, we're seeing conspiracy theories about whether this was staged, real nonsensical stuff out there. And Trump on CBS, he said it usually takes a little bit longer for these theories to surface. In this case, it's happened instantaneously, and it's a reflection of the poisonous political --

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

STELTER: -- climate that we're all living in, that people try to make sense of the world by reading and believing complete utter nonsense. But I worry, as we head into a new workweek, that's going to be a dominant theme, these conspiracy theories from people who don't want to believe that what actually happened, because they're imagining it was made-up.

MICHAELSON: I mean, it is so dangerous in our society now that we have so little trust that the two sides don't talk to each other. Part of the whole point of the White House Correspondents' Dinner is to have a time where multiple sides can actually talk to each other. I know some people slam that concept online. But what's the alternative, Civil War, where we don't talk to each other? And the way you build trust is by having relationships where you work together and build trust. And it is so terrible. Ask Wolf Blitzer, was that real, when he got pinned down and heard the gunshots and watched all that happen right in front of him, one of the most respected reporters in generations. I mean, this really happened, folks.

STELTER: That's right. That's right. And it's not just something that happened to reporters and politicians. It has happened to a lot of people who were in that room, college students, family members, all the rest, and this is not just something that happened on Saturday night. Every day in this country, there are these spasms of gun violence. And we're not special, that it happened to a bunch of journalists and politicians yesterday, or that there was this fear that it might about to happen in the ballroom. This is happening all across America. It's one of the things that makes America exceptional, and to the rest of the world, look crazy.

I hope that's a narrative in the coming days as well. There is going to be a lot of talk about this suspect, about the charges, about the motive, but also, it should be about the access to weapons --

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

STELTER: -- which is a conversation that's often skipped in America, but probably shouldn't be.

MICHAELSON: Well, there is one way where we are special last night. We had a lot more security than average people do, and the way that that ballroom was protected helped to save --

STELTER: Exactly.

MICHAELSON: -- our lives as well. So, I am grateful to -- and last night all the good guys who helped keep us safe, and that is not something that you see in many of these mass shootings. And so, we're appreciative of that.

Brian Stelter, it's been a long day.

STELTER: That's right.

MICHAELSON: I think we both started about 12 hours ago, but we appreciate you being on with us tonight. Great work throughout the weekend.

A royal visit to Washington will go on as scheduled, despite the shooting in Washington on Saturday. Still ahead, what is planned for the Britain's monarch's four-day trip to the U.S.?

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MICHAELSON: Now, before it devolved into chaos, the White House

Correspondents' Dinner was meant to celebrate the First Amendment and freedom of press. A gunman quickly stopped all of that. Many of the journalists in attendance wound up back in their seats in the White House briefing room later. A few journalists were already on the job traveling with President Trump as part of the official press pool.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

MICHAELSON: Shawn McCreesh, a White House Correspondent for The New York Times, captured this moment after the shooting of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. being whisked into an elevator by Secret Service. Shawn McCreesh joins me now, live here in Washington. Shawn, thanks for being with us. So, the pool, for people that don't follow this that closely, is a small group of reporters who are basically assigned to cover the president wherever he goes. Part of the reason for that is, in case there is an emergency, and last night, you're on pool duty and there is an emergency. Walk us through your night.

SHAWN MCCREESH, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK TIMES: That's right. So, the pool goes where the president goes. Basically, the system is set up so that the pool is the president's shadow. You don't leave the building until he leaves the building. So, we load into the motorcade outside the White House. We are behind the presidential limousine on the drive a mile and a half up the hill to the hotel. He gets out. We get out. He goes into the ballroom. We go into the ballroom. Hail to the Chief is played. He takes his seat. We listen to the opening remarks, and then when everybody sits down for dinner, we were taken right outside into the hallway. And so, we're sort of hanging out there while the dinner proceeds.

And it's at this point in the hallway that I think the shooter was trying to get to, because all the action tool place just at the top of the stairwell of where the pool was at the bottom of the stairs, and I had this sort of unique experience, because just before the shooting broke out, I actually asked to use the bathroom.

[22:25:00]

So, a Secret Service agent escorted me across the hallway to the bathroom. We were in there for a second. Suddenly, we just heard all this yelling, and panic breaking out, and we come running out of the bathroom, turn the corner, and there is just guns everywhere, pointed in our direction, and it was just total pandemonium.

MICHAELSON: And then at that point as well, you start to see, including Secretary Kennedy there, high-profile folks being escorted out through you. Talk about what you were seeing with them, their sort of facial expressions and the chaos of that moment.

MCCREESH: Yeah. So, the video that you just played is basically the moment when they're trying to secure all the hallways. And so, they push us, in the press pool, against the wall, and there is a ton of agents guarding us with their guns out, and then one by one, some Cabinet officials start streaming out of the ballroom first, and each one has a security detail. And so, the first one we saw was RFK Jr. He was with his wife, and they just had guards pressed against their bodies, and they were inching them toward this elevator that we were standing in front of. And then after that, we saw Jeanine Pirro come through, and then it was just sort of one after another, and they were basically like Cabinet-level evacuees. And it was really intense.

And part of what was making the moment so surreal was that a lot of the people who were running around with guns drawn were also wearing tuxedos and bow ties. They were dressed like dinner guests. So, it just was like a sniper's nest down there.

MICHAELSON: Yeah, and now we're looking at some video that you shot from later in the night when you're part of the presidential motorcade, because President Trump, for a while, he wanted to go back on stage. They make the decision to send him back to the White House. You're looking at that video. I've been in the motorcade before with you, actually. It always drives fast, but you say it was driving about as fast as ever.

MCCREESH: Yeah. This one was wild. Like I said, it's a really short drive from the Washington Hilton down a hill to the White House, but they just really peeled out of there like a bat out of hell. And we're driving through a city. So, it's narrow streets and stop lights and everything like that. I mean, normally that's cleared anyway for the motorcade, but it just was weird to be driving that fast through a city that we all live in, and by that point, there were sirens going off in every direction. It just felt like the chaos from the ballroom had spread out to the city at large.

MICHAELSON: Yeah, like some sort of movie you're now living through, and then this very bizarre scene in the White House briefing room. When you're all dressed up in tuxedos and dresses, there is a picture from behind President Trump, where we see the White House folks, including you and Kaitlan Collins and Weijia Jiang and others, all sort of participating in this press conference. He comes out with many of his Cabinet members, with Melania Trump, for the first time ever in the briefing room. What was that experience like?

MCCREESH: Yeah. It was this crazy kind of Tom Wolfe press conference where everybody is in black tie and cocktail dresses. And the cameras were trained on him, obviously. But in the room, you could really see the facial expressions of Melania and Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary. And everybody looked really stricken. I think the First Lady looked very stoic. She didn't want to speak. And oftentimes the press secretary would sort of look up at her kind of tenderly, and you could tell it was sort of emotional. I think people were shook up. The president, though, I would say was -- he was sort of Zen, actually. I think, he kept saying things like, look, it's a dangerous job, but I got to live my life. And so, it was very interesting.

MICHAELSON: And we know the president sometimes takes on the media, especially The New York Times, even though he reads The New York Times every day and has for so many years and clearly likes and respects The New York Times. But what did you make of watching him in that moment as the president, and also just on a human level, watching him experience and interact with the press in a way you don't often see on camera.

MCCREESH: Let's see. Well, it was an interesting moment. Clearly, he felt the need to come right out and talk about this. He seemed to sort of want to handle it responsibly and take questions. And I don't know how long this new era of comedy between the -- comity, C-O-M-I-T-Y, not comedy --

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

MCCREESH: -- but I don't know how long this will last with the press. But it lasted one night anyway.

[22:30:00]

MICHAELSON: Do you think the White House Correspondents' Dinner happens within 30 days, like he wants? It seems like he is really pushing on that front.

MCCREESH: Yeah. I mean, he said in the 60 Minutes interview tonight that basically you can't let a crazy person hijack tradition, and that his insistence on having it is almost -- it's really a matter of principle. But it seems hard to imagine it happening again, certainly at that scale. But I have no new information to report on that. This is something that we're all going to be trying to figure out this week, beginning tomorrow.

MICHAELSON: The logistics are very hard to figure out. But as we know, with President Trump, sometimes when he really wants something, he can push pretty hard to make it happen. We'll see.

Shawn McCreesh, great, great work for The New York Times on a daily basis, but especially last night. And people can check out your reporting at nytimes.com and also on your social media to see some of those videos as well. Shawn, thanks so much for coming in.

MCCREESH: Thank you.

MICHAELSON: Still to come, authorities are digging through the past of the man accused of opening fire at the White House Correspondents' Dinner or outside the room. More of their search for a motive. We'll talk to a national security expert who has experience with the FBI. Our breaking news coverage continues next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELSON: Welcome back. Investigators are searching for more information on the suspected gunman who opened fire at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday. Authorities are reviewing notes 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen allegedly sent to his family and messages posted online to try to figure out a motive.

[22:35:00]

Joining me now is Jason Pack, a retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent, former FEMA External Affairs Officer, Advanced EMT and Active First Responder. So, you are the guy to be with in a crisis, apparently, based off of that resume. Let's go through this manifesto, what we're learning from it, what it says to you, and sort of what's the process for agents to investigate something like that.

JASON PACK, FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT (RET.): That's right, Elex. The manifesto, from what we know, we haven't seen all of it publicly, but from what we know, you can kind of track that pathway to violence that law enforcement likes to talk about, and that pathway to violence is what leads people down this road to commit these types of acts. So, starting off with the grievance, so, we know from publicly available things that we see on social media of the suspect that he doesn't like the current administration. He doesn't like things about the government, the corruption, and those types of things. So, that ideation rolls around in your mind for a while, and you ponder on it and chew on that for a while, and then that goes to the ideation.

So, that grievance turns into an ideation like, hey, I need to fix this problem. And then we heard from his sister and some other relatives that he was always saying he needed to fix this problem. So, that stays with you for a while. You get into these echo chambers. We will probably find things on social media through the search warrants that they conducted that will kind of give additional evidence to that. But then you get into what's called this planning phase, where you think about how you might do that, and planning like things like buying those two guns over the past two or three years and then hiding them in the parents' house, allegedly, and then going and training with those guns, unbeknownst to the parents or the people at home, according to some of the reports we did.

And then you get into that execution phase, and that's what we've seen in the past 24 hours, or 48 hours, where you buy a train ticket instead of taking an airplane so you don't get detected with guns on traveling all the way out to D.C. You buy that hotel room, you check in there, and then you send that note, the very final act before going down and doing that -- excuse me, you send that note, and then that's where that execution leads to.

So, we see that in that pathway to violence, and that's what investigators are going to try to piece together to kind of prove motive and intent. And that'll go help the District of Columbia, who is bringing those charges, the U.S. Attorney's office there, with motive, if that helps prove any other type of federal crime.

MICHAELSON: And in terms of the family, we understand that the family did reach out to law enforcement after they got the letter, but that was too late. They only got the letter a few minutes before he allegedly carried out this scheme.

PACK: Right. He had his mind made up. He knew that they probably wouldn't read it until he had done something, and it's hard to get anything done. And some people don't look at their email as much as people in first responder communities and journalist communities do. They may not even gotten it until after the thing was already over.

So, you do see families stepping up and doing the right thing. We saw that in the Charlie Kirk case, where the family members turned in their son too. So, it's a very difficult thing as a parent to do, but we still find parents to do the right thing. A lot of parents just want to find help for those folks who do have these kind of ideations and they don't really know what they're looking at, particularly when we get into the ideation stage, like, hey, he has got a plan to fix it. That's a recurring theme. His family may have been hearing this, but not knowing what to call that, or not knowing what to do about it, because they're thinking free speech or First Amendment, those types of things.

So, it's a really hard thing to get your hand around and to investigate.

MICHAELSON: Yeah, and as we're looking at now, this picture from earlier today was in Torrance, California. That is the family home where we saw FBI agents there. We also, of course, know that there are FBI agents still at the Hilton in Washington. And how do they go about reconstructing the shooting scene? You've been a part of some of this process in the past.

PACK: Yeah. I was on our Evidence Response Team in a couple of field offices. And what's unique about the national capital area is they have access to the FBI laboratory too. Really quickly, those folks can come up, actually, from the lab. They'll go anywhere, but it's quicker when they're closer.

So, the people from the FBI lab, the trajectory unit, in particular, will go into the scene there. They probably already done this. They'll take rods and put lasers on the end of it and go find those holes in the wall, or wherever the round has landed. They'll put those things up, and they'll have that angle, and they should be able to overlay that with video to see exactly where all the shots came from, and they'll be able to put together a more comprehensive, clear picture with that video to match with the interviews that they do, to see exactly what happened and where those shots went, to prove who pulled the trigger and who shot what, where. So, that's the key piece of evidence that will likely come later. It takes a while to do that and reconstruct that.

Elex, we know tomorrow also that there is an initial appearance on the criminal complaint for the suspect charged with those two crimes, one, a firearms charge, furtherance of violence using a firearm, and an assault on a federal officer. So, there are two charges for which an arraignment or an initial appearance will be tomorrow.

[22:40:00]

So, investigators are trying to do this, both in California and in D.C., to bring these pieces of evidence to see what other charges may be appropriate here.

MICHAELSON: Yeah, and as we were talking about with Josh Campbell earlier in the hour, it will be interesting to see, did the bullet that hit the officer come from the suspect, or did it come from some of the officers that were firing at the suspect as well?

Jason Pack, thank you so much for all of your expertise. Really appreciate it. PACK: Thank you, Elex. Good talking with you.

MICHAELSON: We'll have more breaking coverage following that security incident at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

Coming up, a closer look at safety protocols surrounding the First Lady, specifically. That's an image the first time she has ever been in the White House briefing room during a briefing.

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MICHAELSON: Gunfire outside the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday is raising concerns over the event's security protocols, one of the chief among them being the safety of the First Lady, Melania Trump. You see her facial expression there. She, along with President Trump and several senior Cabinet officials, were whisked off stage during the incident. While the president's life has previously been threatened by rogue gunmen, Saturday marked the first time Melania was by his side amid one of those chaotic moments.

During a 60 Minutes interview with CBS on Sunday, President Trump talked to Norah O'Connell about the First Lady's reaction on camera.

[22:45:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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. And she was -- I looked at her face just a little while ago before I came. I saw the scene. They played it for me and pretty good closeup. And she looked very upset about what just took place, you know? Why not?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Late Saturday night, reporters asked President Trump why he believes that he has been the target of two assassination attempts in recent years. This clearly may have been a third attempt at that. Here is how he responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I have studied assassinations, and I must tell you, the most impactful people, the people that do the most, you take a look at the people, Abraham Lincoln, I mean, you go through the people that have gone through this, where they got them, but the people that do the most, the people that make the biggest impact, they're the ones that they go after. They don't go after the ones that don't do much, because they like it that way. And when you look at the people that have either -- whether it was an attempt or a successful attempt, they're very impactful people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Joining me now live from Montreal, Canada, is CNN Presidential Historian Tim Naftali. He is also the former director of The Nixon Presidential Library and a Senior Research Scholar at Columbia School of International and Public Affairs. Tim, good to see you. You say that many of these shooters, over history, or attempted shooters, really want to be celebrities.

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Yes. If we look at the sad history of attempted assassinations and assassinations of American presidents, the motives differ. But what we see in some of the most famous examples is it was a desire on the part of the assassin, or the putative assassin, to be a celebrity. Lee Harvey Oswald sought, as we -- as you can discover if you look at the Soviet record of what he was saying when he was in the Soviet Union, Lee Harvey Oswald just wanted to be famous. He wanted to be a world historical person. The first -- his first target was a right-wing general, and he missed that guy, and then he went after Kennedy, because he had the opportunity to go after Kennedy. John Hinckley, he was twisted, mentally ill, and desperately want to do something for an unrequited lover by making a splash internationally, and went after Reagan.

So, it depends on the on the assassin. There is no question that Abraham Lincoln was the victim of a conspiracy in retaliation for the end of the Civil War. That's clear. There is no doubt that --

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

NAFTALI: -- John Wilkes Booth was the head of a conspiracy that didn't want to just kill Lincoln, but wanted to decapitate the entire government.

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

NAFTALI: But not all presidential assassins, or would-be assassins, fit into the same category. What is clear, however, is that in our country, historically, people have sought to use a bullet to alter our politics --

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

NAFTALI: -- and it happens periodically. It shouldn't ever happen. But what we're seeing in now, Elex, is a cycle which accelerates --

MICHAELSON: Right.

NAFTALI: -- there is an accelerant now. More people are doing it more often than we've seen in a short, compact period of time in our history.

MICHAELSON: Well -- and so, what's different now? And we look at the media, and especially social media, setup. That rewards conflict. It rewards hate. It rewards fear. It does not reward nuance, and it does not reward bipartisan cooperation.

NAFTALI: We are seeing a monetization of hate. People are making money by larger number of views, more followers, by provoking, by using apocalyptic existential language.

[22:50:00]

And when you say to people that there is no alternative that our democracy is on a knife edge, what you're actually doing is you're changing the moral considerations and saying, you have a moral imperative to act, and for weak minds, ill Americans, if you will, mentally ill Americans, acting could mean using violence, and that's --

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

NAFTALI: -- why we should be more careful about the way in which we discuss our political differences. Keep in mind, we're not in an authoritarian country. The president, on occasion, has authoritarian tendencies, but we still have a Constitution. We still have institutions. We're going to have an election in November. In our country, it is never appropriate to seek political or social change using a bullet, never.

MICHAELSON: Well said, and a message that needs to be shared out more right now, because some of the language, especially online, about that very topic, is really troubling to see.

Tim Naftali joining us tonight from Canada, thank you so much.

More of our breaking news coverage right after this.

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[22:55:00]

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MICHAELSON: King Charles III and Queen Camilla will still visit the U.S. tomorrow despite last night's shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. The Buckingham Palace said the decision follows advice after security discussions between American and British officials. The Royal couple's visit will celebrate the 250th anniversary of America leaving the Royals. The King is expected to meet privately with President Trump. Later, King Charles is scheduled to address Congress and attend a state dinner.

We're hearing new information out of the Middle East. Iran has reportedly submitted a new proposal to the U.S. to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with nuclear negotiations postponed for later. All that, according to Axios, citing a U.S. official and two sources with knowledge of the situation.

Meanwhile, Iranian state media reports that Iran's top diplomat is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the coming hours. The Iranian foreign minister's departure marks the end of two visits to Pakistan in 48 hours. The plans for another round of potential face- to-face talks between Washington and Tehran are not clear. Here is what President Trump had to say about future negotiations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOICE OF TRUMP: I said, we're not doing this anymore. We have all the cards. If they want to talk, they can come to us, or they can call us. There is a telephone. We have nice secure lines, although I'm not sure any telephone line is secure, frankly, but we have secure lines, and if they want, we can talk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Thanks for watching this special hour of CNN Newsroom with breaking coverage. I'll be back at the top of the hour with more breaking coverage, an extra hour. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.

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