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Trump Safe After Shots Fired At Correspondents' Dinner; Man In Custody After Shots Fired At Gala Trump Attended. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired April 26, 2026 - 01:00   ET

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

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[01:00:58]

ANNOUNCER: This is "CNN Breaking News."

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us in the U.S. and all around the world. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. We are following breaking news this hour.

U.S. President Donald Trump is safe after a shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner here in Washington earlier this evening.

That was the moment. You can hear in the background when those gunshots first rang out. It happened during the White House Correspondents' Dinner here in Washington, an annual event with hundreds of people, including members of government, at the Washington Hilton Hotel.

Trump posted this security camera footage a short time after the event. It shows the gunman dashing through security cordon outside the ballroom.

There was then an exchange of gunfire. Secret service members then captured the shooter. Authorities have now arrested the suspect, identified, pictured there, as a 31-year-old man, Cole Thomas Allen from Torrance, California.

Police say he was carrying a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives. Trump says authorities believe the suspect acted alone. He's now been charged.

Our own Wolf Blitzer was just feet away from the gunman as he dashed through security. Trump was rushed out of the ballroom by Secret Service as the shooting unfolded. You see it there. He was up on stage. Vice President J.D. Vance was also rushed out, as were in the minutes that followed other members of Trump's cabinet. The Secret Service says that everyone under its protection is safe.

Thankfully, the other hundreds of people in the room, safe as well. Trump spoke about the shooting in a briefing in the White House a short time afterwards. He said the incident unified everyone in that room.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENT: That was very unexpected, but incredibly acted upon by Secret Service and law enforcement. This was an event dedicated to freedom of speech that was supposed to bring together members of both parties with members of the press. And in a certain way, it did, because the fact that they just unified us to a room that was just totally unified, it was in one way very beautiful, a very beautiful thing to see a man charge a security checkpoint armed with multiple weapons.

And he was taken down by some very brave members of Secret Service, and they acted very quickly. And I've just released, for purposes of transparency, clarity, I've ordered it to be put out. You probably have it by now, put out on truth and put out on many of the platforms, a tape showing the violence of this thug that attacked our Constitution and also showing how quickly Secret Service and law enforcement acted on our country's behalf, really did a great job.

One officer was shot, but saved by the fact that he was wearing, obviously, a very good bulletproof vest. He was shot from very close distance with a very powerful gun. And the vest did the job. I just spoke to the officer, and he's doing great. He's in great shape. He has very high spirits, and we told him we love him and respect him, and he's a very proud guy. He's very proud of what he does, Secret Service agent. And we looked at all of the conditions that took place tonight, and I will say, you know, it's not a particularly secure building.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:05:04]

SCIUTTO: Trump went on there to pitch his own ballroom that he's been building at the White House as a safer place for such events going forward. CNN's Brian Todd joins me now. Brian, it's remarkable how quickly we've gotten details about this shooter, name, age, residence, weapons, et cetera. Tell us what we're learning about where the investigation stands at this point.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, the shooter, as we've been reporting over the last few minutes, identified as Cole Thomas Allen, 31 years old, from Torrance, California, lived in that Los Angeles suburb, apparently worked, according to our sources, as a teacher and video game developer. The D.C. police did say that they believe that he may have been a guest at the Washington Hilton Hotel.

Now, that is a crucial detail, because that would, of course, explain, possibly, how he could have gotten as close as he did to the event, to the Correspondents Dinner and to that ballroom.

I was just at the Washington Hilton Hotel. My team and I have been roving all around that area all evening long, and actually to a local hospital, where we had information that he may have been taken. But we then came back to the Hilton Hotel. And what you see there, as far as the layout is concerned, is three different levels. And, Jim, you were there. You know that layout pretty well. You've got the main lobby, which comes off Connecticut Avenue. That's -- that's kind of at the top level of the lobby area. Then one floor down the escalator is kind of a mid-level lobby. That's where the shooting took place. One floor below that is where the ballroom was. And I was just at that level where the shooting took place.

Still some police activity around there. But it has mostly cleared out at this point in the evening, Jim. So, what the D.C. police and others have said is that he was armed with at least one long gun, some knives, and at least, I believe, one other -- one other firearm when he -- when he did this. And of course the video, the very dramatic video of everyone clearing the room there. You have some amateur video there of the lobby area where the shooting took place and the frenetic activity there. But what we can tell you again this morning is that the suspect is Cole Thomas Allen, 31 years old, lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance, California.

And let's see, we've got a LinkedIn profile matching his name and photo, described him as a part-time teacher at C2 Education, a test prep tutoring company. C2 named Allen the company's, quote, "Teacher of the Month" in December of 2024. That's according to social media posts from the company.

CNN did try to reach C2 late Saturday night. We were not able to reach anyone from that company to get comment on this. According to his LinkedIn profile, Jim, Allen graduated from the California Institute of Technology in 2017 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and received a master's degree in computer science from Cal State University Dominguez Hills just last year.

Now, as a student at Cal Tech, he was featured in a local news report in 2017 for developing a prototype emergency brake for wheelchairs. That's just some of the information we're getting on this suspect, 31 years old, from Torrance, California. I just described some of his professional background there.

We're, of course, you know, a key question, a lot of questions have to be answered about what happened tonight, obviously regarding security in the perimeter of the building, but also a key question, of course, Jim, would be motive and what -- just what his inspiration, what possessed him to try to -- to do this.

But clearly, I think the Secret Service, they are being commended tonight for acting very, very quickly and for their security perimeter being fairly tight there. But there are questions that are going to have to be asked and answered about the protocol, the security protocol, obviously, if he indeed was a hotel guest there, as to whether maybe that kind of thing can transpire the way it did tonight in future events like the White House Correspondents' Dinner, if it's going to be held at the Hilton Hotel again.

SCIUTTO: Well, they're certainly going to be reviewing security going forward. Brian Todd, thanks so much.

TODD: Sure. SCIUTTO: We are joined now to delve deeper into some of those security questions by CNN Senior National Security Analyst, Juliette Kayyem, who served a long time in the Department of Homeland Security.

Julia, good to have you.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: You know, often in the wake of events like this, you know, we'll ask that question, can you ever do an event like this in a place like this again? And -- and I find that sometimes in my experience, you know, those questions get asked a bit to her. I mean, I said this a short time ago, after the Butler Hill assassination attempt, there was a question, can Trump have big public rallies again, right?

And he has. I mean, a challenge certainly for Secret Service. Is it clear to you that there was something wrong with the way security was done here that has to be changed dramatically going forward for events like this? Or, you know, is this something that you can add some security or that security worked as best as it could under these circumstances, et cetera?

[01:10:13]

KAYYEM: So, I look at this in sort of three different ways. The first is that there is always risk in society, in particular, if you were a president and the president acknowledged that in his -- in his statement. So, you're -- you know, you're going to have higher risk incidents. The second piece is we who do this kind of work never really talk about safe. We just talk about risk reduction. Can you make things safer? And that's where my questions go to right now is just sort of what was the what was the safety and security apparatus the same as it had been in the past? Did it differ? Because you're starting to hear anecdotes of people thinking that it was a little bit more open than it had in years before.

The third piece is given the risk and given that you can't make things perfectly safe, does in the future, do you want to consider, do they want to consider larger perimeters for events like this that would include controlling who stays there or having an understanding of who stays there?

If that -- that seems to be the gap right now, if he had access to the hotel, was walking around essentially freely, at least around the security perimeter. That's something you'd want to tighten up. So, look, I never say something's good or bad or people -- people did good or bad just a few hours after the incident. But those are the questions that any legitimate and thorough review of what happened should consider.

SCIUTTO: Yeah. You know, John Miller made the point in the previous hour that, listen, no security measures are perfect, but no one was killed or injured, right? Well, there was a cop injured, I should say. Sorry. That's clear.

But that the president was safe and no one was killed and the police did their job. So, that we should -- we should absolutely give them credit.

KAYYEM: Yes.

SCIUTTO: And there's some credit to the security planning there. But I also wonder, given the number, sadly, of shootings that you and I have talked about as we've reported over previous years, whether they be mass shootings at schools or other public events, universities, et cetera.

And you'll often hear folks say, well, you know, we need, you know, at schools, what do we need? We need to arm the teachers. We need to, you know, have magnetometers on every hallway.

But, you know, that you can't -- you know, do you turn every event right into a fortress? Can you even do that? Now, obviously, the ones that the president attends are different animals, right? That's a different thing.

KAYYEM: Right.

SCIUTTO: But you can't prevent everything, I imagine, is just a fact of life.

KAYYEM: That's exactly right. I don't -- you know, I don't want to be defeatist about, you know, trying to minimize violence or radicalization or whatever his motive is. This was an attack against the -- we don't know, but one part of the investigation will be, was this another attempted shooting of the president?

But at least given who was in the audience, it was an attack against our political and media structure. That's absolutely clear to me the exact motive. We don't know yet.

And I do, you know, John and I live in a world in which you do look at something like this and you say, you know, honestly, you say it could have been worse. And you're sort of, you know, what the investment in the safety and security minimize the harm. It's nothing to be, you know, you don't have a parade about it, to be honest, but you do look at these numbers and you say, wow, he was heavily, he was heavily armed.

He had access to parts of the hotel. He had access to residents and people, as we know, Wolf Blitz or just, you know, standing outside. So, I do -- it is an important thing, aspect to look at in terms of, you know, sort of this, the safety features that are sort of around the sort of, you know, the way we live our lives, which is we're in hotels, we're on the streets, we get to protest. That's a First Amendment right, as we saw protesters outside. It's the challenge of our times. It's the work I'm in now.

I'm in complex mega event planning, whether it's, you know, sports or concerts or university events. These are challenging because the experience that the White House correspondents wanted to have, the association wanted to have, is one in which our politicians are accessible to the media. That's what a democracy is. You can debate the pros or cons of doing it in that fashion with that dinner. But nonetheless, it represents the very things that honestly, we, you know, we want to protect.

SCIUTTO: Juliette Kayyem, good to have you. Thanks so much.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Well, CNN's Elex Michaelson still with me here and was also like me at the event. He joins us now. I mean, this is, to Juliette's point, you know, we are -- we are a democracy where we have public -- access to public individuals, right, with security and increasing security over time. And that is, you know, you have that constant tension, right, between security and that sort of access.

[01:15:21]

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Right. And then what are you supposed to do?

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

MICHAELSON: Because the more -- I mean, there's complaints already that the president of the United States, regardless of party, has so much security that they are not in touch with people.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

MICHAELSON: And you see that regardless of party with the presidents, that it's harder for them to access where real people are at because they don't really have an opportunity to meet a lot of real people because of that. And so, you know, I think it's important for us to be able to do that. So that is a question to consider.

But it was, you know, for people that may be just tuning in, it was a scary thing to be in there tonight and not knowing what was going to happen, what was happening. At the time when we were in that room, it was unclear if there were gunshots or what exactly was happening.

But it was remarkable to see all of the security move in quickly, the amount of security move in quickly, in a line, down the aisle, going towards the president. I will never forget those images. And also removing all of the dignitaries there. I mean, it was almost like a State of the Union in that basically the presidential line of succession was all in that room.

SCIUTTO: That's true. President, Vice President, a whole host of cabinet secretaries, speaker, members of Congress.

There was -- it took some time, you know, part of the fear factor, right, in the midst of this, right, it took some time to get all those figures out, right?

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

SCIUTTO: Because you got the president out very quickly and the first lady.

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

SCIUTTO: But it was minutes later before you saw them. And with some kind of difficulty working their way through a room. I'm just telling you folks, it's like bigger than a football field. There are dozens of tables and hundreds of people. It's just kind of hard to navigate.

MICHAELSON: To identify because the whole point of this event for people that haven't been is that it is supposed to be a mix. So, you have one cabinet secretary at one news organization thing, and you got the speaker at a different news organization thing. And the whole idea is to split these people all through the room. And you have these packed tables, almost no place to walk. And so, to identify where everybody is and get to them quickly on all of that is a lot.

SCIUTTO: Yeah. And it kept an open question, at least in my mind, in the midst of that was, was the shooter in the room?

MICHAELSON: Right.

SCIUTTO: Did they know where the shooter was? Because when we --

MICHAELSON: Or was the shooter in the back?

SCIUTTO: We don't know.

MICHAELSON: That's what I was thinking.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

MICHAELSON: Is the guy in the back?

SCIUTTO: Because as they were -- they were -- as they fanning out through the room, those security details, it wasn't clear to me who they were looking for.

MICHAELSON: Right.

SCIUTTO: What are they looking for? And that's one reason I kept my head down in those moments because I wasn't sure the shooter was down.

MICHAELSON: And it's for people that maybe weren't in that room, it's hard to sort of emphasize how big this room is.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

MICHAELSON: I mean, this is one of the biggest ballrooms in the country, which is why they host this event filled with thousands of people in there. And so that makes all of this even more scary because there was such a lack of information.

SCIUTTO: Well, we're glad. We're glad folks are safe. Our thoughts with the officer who was injured.

Elex Michaelson, glad you're safe as well. MICHAELSON: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Thanks for joining.

We're going to have the latest on that breaking news when we return as we've reported a suspect in custody, the U.S. president, the first lady, cabinet members, lawmakers, journalists in the room safe after shots fired in the lobby just outside that ballroom you see on the screen there during the White House Correspondents' Dinner earlier last evening here in Washington.

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SCIUTTO: Back to our top story, 31-year-old suspected gunman is now in custody after shots were fired at the White House Correspondents' Dinner Saturday evening here in Washington, D.C. The President and First Lady were, as you see here, safely evacuated from the stage of the main ballroom. Just after those gunshots rang out from the lobby just outside the ballroom you see there, cabinet members, lawmakers, journalists who were in the room, all of us unharmed, thankfully.

The interim Washington, D.C., police chief says the suspect charged, and you saw it there in that video, security camera video posted by President Trump, charged through a security checkpoint. Then exchanged gunfire with law enforcement officers who then subdued him. The suspect was reportedly armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives.

The suspect and a Secret Service agent who was injured are now in treatment in a hospital. Public records indicate the suspect, identified as Cole Thomas Allen, worked as a teacher and video game developer, and is originally from or lives in Torrance, California.

Joining me now is Sophia Cai. She's a White House reporter for "Politico." She was in the room as well.

And Sophia, it is particularly good to have you here because not only were you in the room tonight as these shots rang out, but you were in Butler, Pennsylvania nearly two years ago when the assassination attempt took place against this president. How, as you heard those gunshots again, what was going through your mind?

SOPHIA CAI, POLITICO WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: It just felt surreal to be in this position, not even two years. I mean, this happened 22 months ago, right, before the RNC convention. The difference was the bullet did hit president Trump and we saw it happen six minutes into that speech.

And I asked the President today about that moment two years ago, I asked him what felt similar and what felt different. And he was pretty reflective. He said, "Look, both were very serious." There was a quick response. I think he acknowledged that today there was a very quick response to get him and Vice President and the First Lady who was also with him tonight. I think that was something that was different. He's with his family, his loved one.

SCIUTTO: Yeah. He said that to me. He said it was different to have his wife next to him there because I -- as anyone would imagine, right, your partner is at risk.

CAI: And he acknowledged at the top of that presser that this was a traumatic experience for Melania. At one point, a reporter in the room asked if Melania wanted to say anything to the press and she politely declined, but it's very rare to see her in that briefing room. I don't think it's happened this term.

[01:25:09]

SCIUTTO: Tell me you -- you -- you -- you cover the White House. You speak not only to the president, but you speak to other white house officials. Can you give me a sense of how they're handling responding to this tonight beyond the president's comments?

CAI: So, I was with several of the staff at the front of the ballroom after the shooting in the 30 or so minutes when we weren't sure if the dinner was going to go on, they were getting some updates in their signal chats. And, you know, for a time there was an expectation that Trump might come back.

SCIUTTO: Which is pretty remarkable, right? And -- and given it wasn't -- I mean, do we know that the threat was entirely removed? Did they know that the threat was entirely removed? I mean, that -- that consideration at the time struck me as -- as -- as really surprising.

CAI: But I think for the people who know the president, it's in his instincts to want to come back and to appear defiant. And that was considered, he told us in the press briefing that he fought like hell --

SCIUTTO: Right.

CAI: -- to have the dinner continue. And he said he would have had a very angry speech. It might not have been appropriate. We know now that the dinner will be rescheduled in the next 30 days, but all of it is stunning in the most remarkable ways.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

CAI: And it's mainly because look, people come out here in Washington, cabinet officials bring their partners and their families. And it's one of those times that makes covering Washington fun and being here. It's a celebration of the press. Everyone had their guard down tonight.

SCIUTTO: Yeah. I mean, listen, and there was going into it, as you know. There was concern that the president might use the platform there to attack the press, as he so often does. But I found in that room prior to these alarming events that it was a pretty relaxed environment.

So, to your point, there was some expectation that this could be a, you know, a rare moment of warmth in this town. But, of course, then events transpired. But the president's message was it seemed deliberately unifying.

CAI: Yeah, especially afterwards at the presser. He told the president of the White House Correspondents Association, Weijia. He said, thank you for your work. And he pledged to have the dinner go on. And he also acknowledged the press for our coverage. He said that for what he had seen so far, that it was fairly fair and accurate. And you rarely hear this president talk about the press without deriding us.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, no question. And quite frankly, more than deriding at times, right?

Sophia Cai, glad you're safe. And thanks so much for joining.

CAI: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Well, another eyewitness in the room CNN's Brian Stelter. He joins us again now. Brian, as you heard Sophia say, President Trump is saying, "we're going to do it again in 30 days." Is that a practical expectation at this point, given the remaining security questions, among others?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Jim, I would say it can be. Yes, it can be. But it's going to require a complete re-evaluation of access into the ballroom at the Hilton, if that is where a replacement event takes place. The idea that people could walk right up, yes, show a paper ticket, but no photo I.D., no other follow-ups. I think those are the sorts of protocols that will end up being re- evaluated.

And listen, up until about 8:30 p.m., I was taking that for granted. I was going in and out and getting re-security scanned every time as I was trying to report there at the ballroom.

You know, your previous guest said everyone let their guard down tonight. That's exactly right. People were so relaxed. And that is true about the Trump administration officials and about the press. And as a result, I think tonight, now early this morning, you know, I'm hearing a lot of my colleagues talk about the anxiety they feel as a result of this.

And I think now what you're going to see are hundreds of members of the establishment media in America who have been through the same thing that countless other Americans have gone through inside schools and malls and movie theaters and hospitals and everywhere else.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

STELTER: You know, Gabby Giffords spoke out tonight. She was nearly killed in an episode of political violence more than a decade ago. She said, violence is never the answer and it is far too present in our country. And that's the through line here to this event tonight and why it relates to what so many other people have experienced in the past. SCIUTTO: Yeah. Listen, having covered too many of these shootings, you know, and a wide array of circumstances, schools and others, one thing we know is that there'll be a lot of discussion afterwards about security measures, rhetoric perhaps as well. There won't be any substantive discussion of access to weapons, right? There just won't because it's -- I mean, we've been down this path so many times, right? That's just a part of the discussion you don't go to. It becomes almost normal to be in a room and shots ring out.

[01:30:06]

STELTER: Americans skip that part of the conversation. And then many people in the rest of the world look at us and think we're crazy for not having the Second Amendment conversation. But, you know, I understand that that is a very interesting debate and it does, you know, it never ends.

What, you know, I think is specific about tonight and about this episode is the idea that you had for the first time in years, the U.S. President, President Trump, actually wanting to get together with the media, a, you know, the fourth estate that he has revived, you know, tried to demonize for years and actually have a social get together, a social gathering.

So, when he says he wants to do it again, I believe it. I think he sees value in this. And you also heard tonight his aversion to violence. There are some on the far right, just as there are on the far left, who try to fan the flames.

And already we've seen really nasty rhetoric on social media from people thinking this is another Luigi Mangione case where they're going to try to support a would-be assassin. It's disgusting rhetoric. But you have that on the far left. But for President Trump, he has a real aversion to violence and you can see how it affects him on a night like this and also given his history.

SCIUTTO: Yeah. Well, if you get shot at, it's an understandable aversion. Brian Stelter, good to have you. Thank you.

Coming up, viewing this moment from a historical perspective, a presidential historian looks at how this event might be remembered and what we can draw from previous moments like this one.

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[01:35:21]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think it's very important that I say, though, and I told the representatives of the evening, they did such a beautiful job. It was such a beautiful evening. And again, they're talking about free speech in our Constitution. That's what it's all about. Not just White House correspondents. It was really based on free speech in our Constitution. But I said very importantly that we'll do it again within the next 30 days and we'll make it bigger and better and even nicer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: President Trump there this after a suspected gunman opened fire just outside the ballroom where the White House correspondents' dinner was being held. Rushed a checkpoint prior. That is him there now in custody of law enforcement.

President Trump posted that photo on Social -- "Truth Social" Saturday evening. Officials now looking for the alleged gunman's motive.

Joining me now for more, an historical perspective, Douglas Brinkley, presidential historian, professor of history at Rice University.

Douglas, good to have you.

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Thanks for having me on.

SCIUTTO: You know what I was thinking as I was under the table there, as so many hundreds of people were in that room, that here we were in the Washington Hilton where in 1981 President Reagan was shot. You know, this hotel that is so central to Washington history, presidential events, the White House correspondent dinner, but so many others. And we don't know the target, frankly, of the shooter. Could have been the president, could have been others in the room, could have been journalists, et cetera. But still, gun violence at this hotel in the heart of the nation's capital.

BRINKLEY: Well, of course, it's always going to be linked in history. Anytime anybody really goes on tours around Washington, D.C., they point out where Ronald Reagan was shot, rushed to George Washington Hospital, came near death. Hinckley, we know, who was the attempted assassin.

And, you know, people don't realize Reagan's the only president in American history to have been shot as president and stayed on in office. This evening you heard Donald Trump mention Abraham Lincoln and presidents that are shot. But Reagan's unique in that way, and I think we also have to pull back and realize Donald Trump now is one of these figures in history that's had two major assassination attempts against his life.

And that's a very small group, but it includes people like Harry Truman and Gerald Ford, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama. Many of them, you know, Bill Clinton had three attempts on his, but history kind of forgets some of those sometimes.

SCIUTTO: It's a good reminder, right, that sad fact of, you know, of this country's history, right, is the number of presidents who have been shot and killed, but also subject to a whole series of attempts on their lives, that despite this moment of political division and political violence, sadly, in this country, that it's not new, but would you argue that it's worse today?

BRINKLEY: It's due to the Internet and due to hate speech. You know, it's very, very dangerous out there. I thought President Trump did a really incredible job of talking afterwards in a way that could not have been done much better.

But after all, you know, they're old Americans saying the show must go on. And after this happened, he is a grandmaster at this. And he said within 30 days, we'll do it again.

It'll be a different tone and tenor when they do it again. As he said, I can't, I'll have to scrap some of my cooler jokes. And it creates an unusual kind of unity between people that cover the White House and President Trump, as you were suggesting, you're under the table, but it's a shared experience that's kind of unique when you're -- when an event like this is happening in front of so many top-tier journalists in America.

So, it's a powerful and horrific moment, but America will get ahead of this. And President Trump, I think, got ahead of it pretty well tonight.

SCIUTTO: I will tell you, being in that room as it happened, that there was genuine nervousness. We didn't know what was happening, right? We didn't know if the threat had been removed. Folks spent a lot of time on their knees, right, trying to figure out, you know, what was the shooter in the room, right? Was it passed? But I will say that once that subsided, it was actually, I wouldn't say a giddy atmosphere walking out of there, but it was -- it was much more calm.

Folks were having conversations as they walked out. Many people went on to the after parties. I mean, if that's a measure of, you know, people kind of standing up and moving on.

[01:40:10]

I do want to ask you, though, because you referenced this. The president, in his comments, said that, you know, I'm paraphrasing, that all the great presidents get shot at, and he put himself in the category. What was your reaction to hear the president say something along those lines?

BRINKLEY: It was an inartful comment, I think, because, you know, basically he's saying that Lincoln and Kennedy are the great ones because they died. It's kind of, it's a non-sequitur. It doesn't make a lot of sense.

Bottom line is, you know, Harry Truman really almost got nailed twice, particularly when the Puerto Rican nationalists shot at Blair House. You have death as, you know -- this is just systemic with being president. And he said that. I thought it was an interesting remark President Trump said, and it was a little odd he had the math down, but about race car drivers and how dangerous it is, or bull riders. And then he hit that third rail of talking about just how percentage- wise dangerous it is to be not just an American president, but in politics in America.

And when we're in this deeply polarized moment, you can feel the tensions ratcheting up. And thank goodness the Secret Service did a miraculous job, the police did, and our system of justice will kick in come Monday, and we'll try to find out why this deranged person decided to enter that event and what was his purpose.

SCIUTTO: No question. Douglas Brinkley, always good to have you. Thanks so much for joining us.

BRINKLEY: Thanks. Appreciate it.

SCIUTTO: Well, as we've been reporting, President Donald Trump whisked off stage by the Secret Service after shots were fired during the White House Correspondents' Dinner here in Washington last evening.

When we return, we're going to have the latest on the breaking news out of Washington. Please do stay with us.

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[01:45:39]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. We continue to cover our breaking news tonight, which is continuing investigation of shots fired at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, President, First Lady evacuated safely, as were other members of the Cabinet, and the many hundreds of journalists present.

Joining us again, Richard Kolko, retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent.

Richard, what would you say are the principal questions for the Secret Service now as it investigates this shooting?

RICHARD KOLKO, FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT (Retired): Well, if that's investigating the process and the procedure and the security for the President, the investigation of the shooting will fall onto the FBI. So, the security of the President is well-rehearsed, well- practiced, well-trained. They'll refine anything that needs to change in this here.

The people -- some people view this as a failure, but in reality, it's not a failure. He didn't get close to the principal. He didn't make it past the magnetometers. It would have been nice if they got him outside the building, absolutely. But in many ways, this is a success for Secret Service. It won't be viewed necessarily that way, obviously.

But most of what they need to do works. But when it comes to the FBI, what they're going to investigate was, you know, was he working alone? Had he telegraphed that he was going to do this? Is there a manifesto left somewhere? Was somebody aware that he was going to do this that -- I'm almost tired of saying this, you know, see something, say something. Is there somebody who knew or thought that this man was capable or planning doing this?

This was not a spur of the moment. He made reservations. He traveled. He purchased weapons or had weapons. A lot of things went on. So, was there somewhere that somebody had some idea he was doing this?

SCIUTTO: Yeah, the planning aspect is relevant here, right? Because at least enough planning to book a room in the hotel during this event to give yourself, it seems, access to this event here, along with bringing the weapons, et cetera. In your experience on shootings like this -- and again, we should, with the proviso, we don't know his target. It could have been the president. Might have been someone else in the room. Might have been anybody in that room, right?

You have a gathering of prominent people in Washington. Could be just a standard mass shooting kind of event. But in your experience with, if we can call this politically motivated violence, is there always a manifesto or can these things be relatively spur of the moment?

KOLKO: Well, I don't think this one's going to be spur of the moment. And whether it's a real full-blown manifesto where he sat down at the computer and typed out 20 pages of grievances, maybe not. But there's going to be something, some social media post, some conversation he had with somebody.

You know, if he was a teacher, something in a teacher's lounge where he made complaints about something. Like you said, we don't know what it was he may be complaining about. But for him to have worked completely in a vacuum on his own, pick up a phone or get online and make airplane reservations or purchase weapons or drive a car across country, there has to be, or it's not has to be, there's likely something out there that telegraphed that he's going to do this to somebody.

And you know, you've done this more than I have. Every time they go backwards and look at this, there's always somebody that goes, you know what, I thought there was something unusual about what he was thinking or doing. There's always somebody that says that.

SCIUTTO: Or posting or write on social media, et cetera. Richard Kolko, good to have you. Thanks so much.

KOLKO: You bet. Thanks.

SCIUTTO: President Trump, safe tonight, the First Lady as well, whisked off stage after shots fired in the lobby of the ballroom hosting the White House Correspondents' Dinner. When we return, we're going to have the latest on that breaking news. Please do stay with us.

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[01:53:29]

SCIUTTO: Returning now to our breaking news coverage of a shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington. Joining me now, Ted Johnson, Political Reporter for "Deadline," and like so many of us, sadly, an eyewitness to the events this evening.

Ted, tell us what was going through your mind in the midst of this if you were trying to duck your head under the table like I was.

TED JOHNSON, POLITICAL REPORTER, "DEADLINE": Yes, I certainly was. I was actually sitting at a table close to the rear main door of the ballroom. And we were about to have our main course. And I hear this four loud pops in quick succession. My first thought was that since they were about to serve a meal, that the catering had dropped some huge tray. But very quickly, it kind of went through my mind that those sounded an awful lot like gunshots.

And then heard these kind of shouts of get down, get down. And everyone, almost everyone at my table got down. From the ground, I looked around and there were a few people still sitting recording this.

You know, a reminder that these were all most people, journalists in that room. And that's kind of their first instinct.

You know, mine was to immediately get untouched with the editors. But I have to say it was -- it was surreal, it was disorienting. For a few moments, I thought, are they searching for an active mass shooter in the ballroom itself or on the, you know, on the edges of the ballroom itself? And I couldn't, in my sight line, see what was happening to the president.

[01:55:17]

And I think what was, especially -- was when the ballroom kind of had this tense silence. The conversation stopped and all you heard were kind of the shouts of the Secret Service agents going through the ballroom. As it turned out, they were -- they were ushering out a lot of the cabinet members.

SCIUTTO: I had that same fear or concern because as the other agents were kind of running through the ballroom minutes later as to whether they were still looking for a shooter there, right? It just wasn't clear.

JOHNSON: Yeah, it was not clear. In fact, you know, when I got up after I think it was about two minutes, most people were getting up by then, I had no idea what to expect. I was like, what has happened to the president? What has happened to other people on the dais? You know, what is this scene going to look like? But thank God, you know, you got, the dais was empty and that was a sign that the president was safely ushered away as were other people who were up there on that stage.

SCIUTTO: Well, Ted, it's good to have you. I'm glad you're safe as well. Appreciate you sharing your experience of this.

JOHNSON: Oh, same here. Glad you're safe as well.

SCIUTTO: Well, that's the evening we have. America, 2026, shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

Thanks so much for joining. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. Our breaking news coverage continues right after a short break.

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