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Man In Custody After Shots Fired At Gala Trump Attended. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired April 26, 2026 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:23]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: Everybody, thank you so much for joining us. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Polo Sandoval live in New York here on the East Coast. It is 2:00 a.m. where a man is in custody after allegedly opening fire at an event attended by U.S. President Donald Trump Saturday.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

SANDOVAL: In that camera feed, you can actually hear some of those gunshots ringing out. It happened during a media gala for White House reporters at the Washington Hilton Hotel Saturday night. The president, the first lady, the president's cabinet and journalists are all in attendance there are safe.

President Trump posting some security footage taken just outside the ballroom. In it, you can see an armed man sprinting through that security checkpoint in the lobby, running full speed shots were exchanged before Secret Service agents were able to capture him. Authorities have detained the suspect, identified as a 31-year-old man from California.

Two sources familiar with the matter telling CNN that his name is Cole Thomas Allen. Police say that he was carrying a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives. At the time, Trump says authorities believe that the suspect acted alone. The man has been charged with two criminal charges.

Trump was rushed out of the ballroom by Secret Service agents. As all of this unfolded, with hundreds of journalists there witnessing all of this happen, you see security surrounding the president on stage before eventually evacuating him. Vice President J.D. Vance also rushed out, also was on stage, as were other members of Trump's cabinet that were in the audience. They are safe at this hour.

And later, the White House -- at the White House, President Trump reflected on the shooting and spoke about the security threats that he's faced in the past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't care how many people you have, how good they are, they can be the greatest people you have the greatest security in history.

If you have a whack job who's got a brain, but it's a little bit distorted or a lot distorted, they can make trouble, I would say, Pete, right? You know, they can make trouble. Some of these people are of genius level IQ and they're nuts.

It comes with the territory. And if you want to do a great job, I really believe that. And you take a look at what's happened to some of our greatest presidents and it doesn't happen to people that don't do anything. And it's not going to deter me from winning the war in Iran. I don't know if that had anything to do with it. I really don't think so, based on what we know.

But we're going to continue to do a great job. That's all I can do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: CNN's Brian Todd joins us live from Washington.

Brian, what else do we know about the suspect?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Polo. According to two sources, as you alluded to a short time ago, he's identified as Cole Thomas Allen, 31 years old from Torrance, California.

According to public records that we've been able to dig into here. He worked as a teacher and a video game developer, a LinkedIn profile matching his name and photo describes him as a part time teacher at C2 Education, which is a test prep and tutoring company. C two named Allen as the company's, quote, "Teacher of the Month", in December of 2024. That's according to social media posts from the company.

No one answered a phone number that C2 that we called, trying to get some further information and comment from them on all of this. According to his LinkedIn profile, he graduated from the California Institute of Technology in 2017 with a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering, received a masters degree in computer science from Cal State University, Dominguez Hills, last year.

As a student at Caltech, he was featured in a local news report in 2017 for developing a prototype emergency brake for wheelchairs. According to Federal Election Commission records, he donated $25 to Kamala Harris presidential campaign in October 2024.

But a key, key question that still has to be asked and answered and will, of course, get some information on this in the coming hours and days, is what was his motive in this shooting.

Some other details that we can give you from law enforcement sources. According to, pardon me, the Washington D.C. interim police chief, Jeffery Carroll, he said that the suspect, Allen, was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives. Carroll said the suspect and law enforcement officers did exchange gunfire.

[02:05:00] Now, according to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, the suspect, Cole Thomas Allen, could face at least two charges. She identified two possible charges as one using a firearm during a crime of violence and another one assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon. Those are some of the details we've been able to piece together, as you know. Of course, you see that video there?

I was at that hotel just a short time ago this evening. Of course, after the shooting, and we, my team and I were able to get into the lobby and kind of just look at the area where the shooting occurred. This is in the mid-level of the lobby of the entire lobby area. You've got the main lobby on the street level at Connecticut Avenue. This where you see this video where the shooting occurred is one level down on the escalator, one level below that is the ballroom where the White House correspondents dinner was taking place. You've got three main levels of ballrooms and venues there and lobby areas.

This was in the main, excuse me, this was on the middle level, just down the escalator from the main entry level, from the street lobby. So that's kind of gives you a perspective as to how this unfolded, where it unfolded at the Washington Hilton and some of that very dramatic video there. You see of the officers running him down.

And again, according to the interim police chief of Washington, D.C.'s Metropolitan police, Jeffery Carroll, the suspect and police did exchange gunfire. And Carroll saying that he was carrying a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives -- Polo.

SANDOVAL: CNN's Brian Todd giving us a lay of the land of where all that happened -- Brian, thank you so much for that live update.

I want to go now live to CNN anchor Elex Michaelson, who is standing by for us also in Washington. He, too, was in attendance at the correspondents' dinner.

Elex, its great to see you now. I wonder if you can bring our viewers up to speed on what you experienced. We know it's been a very long night for you and the rest of our colleagues.

And as you just sort of give us a sense of what happened, when was that moment that you and other people there knew that something was wrong? Was it before you saw those tactical officers swarmed the stage?

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: No, that was the moment. I mean, from where I was sitting, I did not hear gunshots or anything like that. I mean, it was it's a very large room, the largest ballroom in all of Washington. That's why they host the event there. There were thousands of people inside. They had just said that dinner was about to be served. There was a lot of conversation and all around.

And then all of a sudden, you see these officers coming in, running in, and then people, you know, calling for people to duck under the table. And it was unclear what was happening. And I'm thinking, are we having a shooting? Is this a drill? Did somebody like drop a plate, and all of a sudden, we're seeing this overreaction? And then you look towards the stage and you see the vice president of the United States being pulled off and President Trump being pulled away and sort of stumbling a bit as officers are on top of him, trying to get him out of there and, and other folks with weapons coming in all directions.

And then you look around and then you see more officers coming in to start removing cabinet secretaries from one table and the speaker of the House from another table, and the House majority leader from another table, all being taken out, and sort of a wave of people coming in.

And we went from this moment of celebration where people were drinking and in tuxedos and dresses and having a great time to this moment of panic and really not knowing, Polo, what had happened. There was very little information and sort of sitting around, they said that the room was closed so nobody could leave.

The internet was not good. The cell service was not good. And we were all wondering, you know, is there an active threat? Was anybody killed? Is the president okay?

And all these journalists kind of had no idea what was happening. It was -- it was a remarkable moment, sort of unlike anything we've seen in our history.

SANDOVAL: I wonder if you can bring our viewers up to speed on just what kind of security you and everybody else who was in attendance had to go through. How many layers before you made it into the ballroom that you and others would share with the commander in chief?

MICHAELSON: Yeah, I got to be honest. This is the first time I've gone to the White House Correspondents' Dinner, and I was surprised that there, frankly, wasn't more security. Now, the ballroom, big hotel, big ballroom, several streets around there were blocked. There were a lot of protesters outside and it was pouring down rain. And all these people are trying to get there.

And so, basically, you had to show them a ticket, which was basically, you know, in like a piece of paper, uh, that, that you showed to, to get past the security. There was no ID, you didn't have to show an ID, your name didn't get checked off a list, frankly, to get into the pre- parties before felt like there was more security, at least the first layer.

[02:10:04]

The second layer was where the magnetometers were and where there was a lot more security. That is where this incident happened. That's when we look at the video. We see the suspect running past the magnetometers, and that's where, you know, the officers start shooting back at him. But if you know, the initial reporting is that he was a hotel guest, he did not have to go through all of that security outside. He was already inside. So that main security checkpoint is where they were able to stop him, which in some ways is proof of things working. But what was kind of scary was he did this once the party had started,

and those thousands of people were already in the room, you know, 45 minutes earlier, all those people were walking through that magnetometer. If this all would have happened during that time. You can imagine how many people may have been killed even in that lobby area.

And so that's a scary thought. And thankfully -- like our colleague Wolf Blitzer was, was there on a bathroom break nearby, just a few feet away from this gunman. Thankfully, he was not shot. But Wolf says, you know, he was sort of shooting wildly, five or six times into the air. And thankfully, the officers -- Secret Service there were able to contain that threat and protect Wolf and protect everybody else from this being a lot worse.

SANDOVAL: Yeah. A little later on, well be hearing from Wolf Blitzer in that account that you've given us a preview of.

But for now, though, Alex, we're so glad you're okay. We're glad Wolf's okay. And all the other journalists. And of course, the agents that were on the scene, as you pointed out, essentially were that first layer that prevented this gunman from making any further progress into that space that you and so many others were in celebrating the first amendment.

CNN's Elex Michaelson --

MICHAELSON: Yeah. That's right. Thanks, Elex.

SANDOVAL: Elex, thank you so much. Appreciate your time.

Well, joining us now is retired Secret Service agent Jeffrey James now for additional insight on perhaps what are some of those questions that are being asked right now by investigators?

Jeffrey, so good to see you. Thank you so much for taking the time to join us.

JEFFREY JAMES, ASSISTANT SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, U.S. SECRET SERVICE (RET.): Oh, thank you for having me.

SANDOVAL: So you just heard Elex's account of how it all went down from his vantage point, not even able to hear the gunfire that was playing out directly upstairs. What are some of the questions that that you want answers to as we try to learn a little bit more about the suspect?

JAMES: Well, I will tell you, I don't have a lot of questions right now just because it seems like from my experience, everything worked. The gunman was never able to breach the perimeter. The communication down to the level where the president was, was incredibly fast because they, you saw how quickly they reacted to remove him and the vice president, and as you mentioned earlier, all the cabinet members.

Had there been a delay, had the gunman gotten past the metal detectors and breached, uh, breached the perimeter where the president was, I would have a lot more questions, but it seemed like to me, everything worked pretty well for this.

This isn't something new that we've seen. And I believe in July of 1998, you saw the same thing happen at the Capitol when a Capitol police officer was killed, that when people approached the metal detectors and they realize, all right, this is where I'm going to get caught with this weapon. That's when they launched their attack. So this isn't something new that we have seen.

SANDOVAL: And, Jeffrey, one of the things that really stuck out to me is once we heard from D.C. officials laying out what they knew at that point, which is that they suspect that this individual was actually a guest at that hotel. Was this the fact that, again, based on the preliminary information and the fact that not only was a guest at a hotel in a building that was hosting the president, the first lady and the rest of the cabinet, but he not only had access to various weapons, multiple weapons in the same building that was hosting the president.

So I'm curious that now, to your earlier point, certainly that that layer of security did the job and was able to stop him from making any further progress. But what do you think might be in the future reassessment of the Secret Service when they look at this incident, some of the questions that they will perhaps want answered in terms of how they can expand that security bubble to prevent somebody from accessing weapons in that same building.

JAMES: Well, so many of the places that the president and vice president go are, are public areas to include Mar-a-Lago, Bedminster, New Jersey. They're working, golf courses where there's weddings and other events like that. And the president always goes to hotels. He goes to the Super Bowl, right? It's -- it's impossible for us to screen every person that's going to come in there.

And we also have to allow commerce to happen. Like we don't want to shut down that entire hotel. I do believe you'll probably see perimeters pushed out a little farther. I think its super smart the way we've always done it at the Washington Hilton to have the check point on a different level than the president's going to be.

[02:15:05]

But to the idea that I've heard tossed about on -- by some folks of, hey, they got to screen everybody that comes and goes into the hotel, something like that, its almost impossible. And especially if it's a large event, that's going to be something like a professional sporting event or something like that. You simply can't screen everyone that comes and goes.

You isolate the president in a certain area. You cordon that off, and that's where everybody gets screened.

SANDOVAL: Jeffrey, I'm sure you heard the president say from the briefing room that he wants this event to take place, perhaps in the next 30 days. Do you see that as a -- as a realistic possibility?

JAMES: Absolutely. We saw him come back to Butler, Pennsylvania, after the -- after the assassination attempt there. And I will tell you, you know, the president for my entire career, the president and vice president, they go where they want to go. There were times in my career where we said, hey, this probably isn't a good idea. And the president listened to us, but for the most part, they're going to go where they go. And we need to make it as safe as the White House is everywhere he goes.

You're going to see enhanced security when he goes back, I guarantee that, probably it's going to be probably wider perimeters, things like that. But if the president says he wants to go, he's going to go.

SANDOVAL: One of the video that we've been seeing to, Jeffrey, I'm sure you've seen it as well, is in the moments after the president and vice president were evacuated from the stage. You also see security personnel and various agents make their way through the crowd and then go straight for their protectees or various principals, and then remove them from that.

I mean, what's your assessment of how that played out? Was that basically a sort of a textbook version of what Secret Service agents are trained to do in those moments?

JAMES: Yeah, pretty, pretty much. Look, you don't want to absolutely 100 percent jump up and run because you might be running into if it's an organized attack, you might be running into a worse environment than the one that you're actually in at that moment.

So you, what you do is just like happened here, there's a tactical pause that happens. Assets are deployed. You saw the counter assault team, guys, the guys all in black come out to secure that close perimeter around the president. So if we needed a tactical egress, if they had to help us fight our way out, or if there were multiple attackers in the room, they can address that, while the -- while the men and women in suits were going to get the president out of there.

But it worked exactly how it should, that quick tactical pause to make sure we're not running to a worse environment. You get on the radio, let everybody know, hey, we're coming out. We're coming out right now. All the doors get open and out we go. It pretty much worked exactly how it should.

SANDOVAL: It was almost identical, at least what played out on stage. It was so similar to what we saw play out in Butler, Pennsylvania, where you see some of those agents go onto the stage and then the tactical counterparts also surrounding the stage.

Retired Secret Service Agent Jeffrey James, grateful for your perspective and your expertise. Thank you for your time.

JAMES: Thank you. Thank you for the time.

SANDOVAL: Of course. The latest on our breaking news when we return. We'll be hearing from CNN's Wolf Blitzer, who was near the gunman when he opened fire at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, D.C.

Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:21:52]

SANDOVAL: Welcome back.

Want to get you back to our top story at this hour. A 31-one-year old suspected gunman is facing at least two criminal charges after shots were fired at the White House correspondents dinner in Washington, D.C., Saturday night. The U.S. president, the first lady. They were safely rushed from the stage of that main ballroom after gunshots rang out from outside the room.

Cabinet members and journalists who were all in the audience. Everybody unharmed. The interim Washington police chief says that the suspect charged a Secret Service checkpoint. You may be able to make him out there running at high speed past those agents and officers, and then eventually exchanging gunfire with authorities before he was subdued. The suspect was reportedly armed with a shotgun. He had a handgun and multiple knives, according to investigators. The suspect and a Secret Service agent who was -- who was injured, they are currently being treated in the hospital. Public records indicating that he worked as a teacher and also video game developer in southern California.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer, a longtime attendee of this event, says that he was just a few feet from the gunman in the lobby. Listen to how he recounted what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE SITUATION ROOM" (via telephone): After he started shooting. Police officers were -- threw him to the ground, but he was still shooting. And I could hear the shots going off. It was very frightening. I was on the ground, too, because a police officer was on top of me trying to protect me in case, you know, one of the bullets could get near me, which it didn't, but I cant describe the gunman. I have no idea what, if any, motive this individual may have had, but the sense I got is that the police who were there and there were a lot of police there, took care of him relatively quickly.

And the incident looks like it's over. But it was a very frightening incident. And out of an abundance of caution, I'm sure they're taking other precautions right now. You see, not only a lot of police officers near me right now, but a lot of military personnel as well, just standing, and they're all armed and ready to go if anything else happens right now. But it looks like that one incident is over, at least for now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And CNN's Brian Stelter spoke with anchor Jim Sciutto about president Trump's message right after the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: We should note, because prior to this whole event, there was concern about the president coming to this event for the first time.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yeah.

SCIUTTO: And attacking the media, right? Now, events take a different turn, a violent turn. And the president had a different kind of message.

STELTER: A very different message, a message of unity and a message that I think brought the temperature down. It was -- it was a message that tried to cool things as opposed to intensify or heat things up.

And I think that's important to note, because this president, given 10 years of rhetoric against the media in the past year, his administration taking many actions to investigate and sue and take action against the media, he very well could have immediately turned around and tried to blame the press.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

STELTER: He could have immediately tried to claim that the press was out to get him. Now, in this case, with the suspect, we don't know what he was thinking.

[02:25:02]

SCIUTTO: Right.

STELTER: We don't know if this event was just a crazy magnet. And that's what happened with this magnet.

We don't know if he was there trying to shoot at journalists or trying to shoot at the president but --

SCIUTTO: That's key. We do not know his target. As the police said, that that'll be part of the investigation.

STELTER: Plural, because he brought multiple knives and multiple guns. So we don't know.

But you imagine a world where the American president could have very easily tried to make a bad situation even worse, and he did not choose to do that at all. In fact, he invited the press corps to run back to the White House for a press conference. And so I think that was a very American gesture, a very American statement.

And it reminds me, Jim, we're talking to viewers all around the world right now for all of the attacks against the press in America, for all of Trump's nastiness toward the media, the U.S. is still the envy of many other countries. The press here is still remarkably free. We are so protected by the First Amendment.

And, you know, it makes me think about American exceptionalism. But then it also makes me think about American exceptionalism in one other way. And that is the degree of gun violence in this country that is so unlike others, right?

You and I went through tonight, which was very mild compared to what so many other Americans have experienced -- hundreds of thousands, millions at this point being put under lockdowns, being told there's an active shooter, being told there's a threat in their school or in their mall or in their town.

This is unfortunately very normal in America. For us, it's unusual tonight, but what's one of the strange things about America is how normal this is now.

SCIUTTO: I was talking to some European diplomats who were in the room as well, and they were conveying that to me.

STELTER: Were they? Yeah, see?

SCIUTTO: About how -- and one of them was saying, you know, how at the RNC convention, there was a shooting outside that this diplomat had witnessed as well. So listen, as an American, you and I witnessed this, and I'm sure people watching here, sadly, have witnessed or experienced shootings like this before.

STELTER: Right, right.

SCIUTTO: Like a lot of them, you begin with a moment of disbelief, right? Because invariably, how many shootings have you and I covered where when you speak to eyewitnesses, they will say, when they heard the first shots, I thought it was firecrackers or a backfiring car, because your mind doesn't want to believe that its gunshot.

I had the same reaction. I was like, pop, pop, pop. You know. Was that wine glasses falling off a tray? Right?

STELTER: That's what I thought.

SCIUTTO: What was it? You know? But of course, it was gunfire.

STELTER: When I was under the tables, I was over some NBC folks trying to talk to sources, and I was talking to people there where all of a sudden were under the table. And what was worrisome to me was there were multiple waves of security officers coming into the room.

SCIUTTO: After the initial, yes.

STELTER: After the initial moment, after the president was brought out, you had more officers coming in, climbing over chairs, climbing over tables. In some cases, they were there to help the folks that had hurt their foot, hurt their leg falling over.

But also they were there. We didn't know what they were doing. We didn't know what they were there for in those moments. So it became more stressful for people as the -- as the -- it must have been about two minutes. I'm not sure --

SCIUTTO: It was several minutes. STELTER: But people were hiding under tables. But I'll never forget

what that was like to see people, including, by the way, there were some kids. You know, some journalists, some political have brought their children. There were scholarship winners for this event.

You know what we should have been talking about tonight were the award winners from CNN and "The Wall Street Journal" and other outlets for their work covering the White House, and then hopefully, a great performance by a mentalist.

And instead it to me, it's a reminder that we have this incredibly valuable First Amendment and it's been upheld tonight. But then we have the Second Amendment that creates a space for so many threats like tonight.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And still on the way, I'll be speaking to another reporter at the White House correspondents dinner who was there when those shots were fired.

Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:32:19]

SANDOVAL: Welcome back. You're watching CNN.

More on our breaking news. A 31-year-old man is in custody after a shooting at a gala that was attended by President Donald Trump. The president and members of his cabinet, they were rushed out of that ballroom as shots rang out outside of that space.

And this happened during a dinner for White House reporters at a hotel in Washington, D.C. Some of this footage that you're looking at showing the moment that the suspect tried running past a security checkpoint in the lobby. Shots were exchanged before Secret Service agents could actually capture him. The one officer was shot, but that actually hit his protective vest, and he is expected to be okay.

Joining us now is John Seward. He's a defense and national security correspondent at "The Washington Times". Also attended Saturday night's event.

John, thank you so much for taking the time. I know it's been a very long night for you.

JOHN SEWARD, DEFENSE AND NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, THE WASHINGTON TIMES: Yeah, a little bit of a long evening for sure.

SANDOVAL: Yeah, yeah. For you and so many others there. We're glad you're okay. So wondering if you could just give us a sense of what you heard from your position. Could you clearly hear the gunshots that were happening upstairs?

SEWARD: Yes. "The Washington Times" had a number of tables a little bit further back in the room. And just to sort of take you into the headspace of folks that were there, as it's been said, you know, there's still a lot of things that we don't know.

But at this point in the evening, you know, folks had already filed into the room. They'd been sort of talking to each other for an hour or so before dinner started. The national anthem, the, you know, the color guard had come in, the national anthem had played, et cetera. And so folks had kind of settled into the dinner. There have been a few initial announcements and initial introductions before any of the shots actually started.

At the table that we were seated at, you could actually hear several shots behind the doors up towards the security checkpoint. That was essentially back behind just the one wall and layer of doors that we had come through to come into that room. You heard several of those shots, and then, you know, for a number of us, it has been mentioned, its not the first shooting that we've experienced, at least for some of us, especially in the sort of defense environment, you're a little bit more familiar with those sounds. You immediately start to react and think through, well, what's going to happen next?

And yeah, a huge amount of just, you know, praise for a lot of my colleagues who a number of us immediately pulled out our phones, started to try to film, try to understand what was going on, and essentially just do our jobs in this just absolutely challenging moment, right?

[02:35:04]

A thing that you don't expect to happen when you come together with all of your colleagues to essentially celebrate. And as it's been mentioned, the first time the president, Donald Trump himself had decided to attend the White House Correspondents Dinner.

SANDOVAL: I'm so glad you mentioned that, too, John. I mean, watching remotely, that certainly stood out to me is one moment you have, you know, everybody basically ducking for cover. And then just a few seconds later, people emerging with their phones in hand, shooting selfie videos, or just really a panoramic shot of what was happening around them as Secret Service agents were plucking out of the crowd. Some of those principles and the -- and some of the individuals that were tasked with protecting.

John, what kind of security did you and the rest of your colleagues and everybody else in that room go through before you ended up in the ballroom that you would share with the president of the United States?

SEWARD: Well, you know, it was mentioned a little bit earlier. There's -- there's no way to make this perfect, right? From a security perspective, the Capitol Police to create a perimeter around the building. There was U.S. marshals. There was members of the FBI, there was parts of the Secret Service. All of these different agencies there to create some, some sort of security. But effectively the main mechanism to create security for the event

was whether or not you had a paper invitation from the White House Correspondents Association. And as long as you had that, you had an assignment for your table, you passed through, you know, one or two checkpoints, sort of showing off that that paper ticket. And then you went through one metal detector before you went into the room, you know, at one of the things that a colleague of mine noted was even going through that metal detector.

It wasn't like when you go through security at an airport, for example, some of the folks would be familiar with where you would take everything out of your pockets and put it into an x-ray or something like that. Instead, it was just a table next to these metal detectors that you would empty your pockets onto the table and that would get sort of passed along the table, and you'd pick it back up on the other side. So, very much a situation where it's a community of people that you expect to have sort of a level of familiarity with the White House and a different expectation security wise.

But as you said, as soon as those shots rang out, all of those different agencies, a number of security personnel flooded into the room, started to try to find the different principles that were scattered around throughout the room. You had members of Congress, you had senators and foreign diplomats, as well as members of President Trump's cabinet that were then taken out of the room.

We actually had General Chance Saltzman, the chief of Space Force operations, as one of our guests. He and his wife also left the room as soon as those shots rang out, and security personnel came in and started to ferry folks out of the room. So, overall security picture just very difficult to describe in terms of how staunch it was. Obviously a lot of personnel, but not necessarily what you would expect in terms of screening

SANDOVAL: Yeah. John Seward, thank you and your colleagues for all your reporting and for sharing a bit of your experience. Again, we know it's been a long night and really appreciate you giving us a better sense of what took place in that ballroom on Saturday night. Thank you.

SEWARD: Thank you

SANDOVAL: I want to go now to Richard Kolko. He's a retired FBI supervisory special agent.

Richard, you've been keeping us up to speed and sharing your insights tonight. I'm wondering if we could pick up where you left off, maybe that conversation in the last hour and some of the questions that you have also moving forward in the investigation. My colleague Kyung Lah reporting that at this hour that FBI agents in California, that they are at a home that's linked to the suspect in a suburb in Los Angeles linked to the suspect Cole Thomas Allen, that next door neighbors there saying that they had seen him there just a couple of days ago.

So what are some of those questions that Washington, D.C., authorities, together with their FBI counterparts in California, are urgently trying to answer right now as they build a timeline?

RICHARD KOLKO, FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT (RET.): That's exactly right, timeline. They're going to start with that, where you see him in handcuffs on the floor of the hotel, and they're going to work backwards. They want to know every single place he's went, every person he's spoken with, every person he's communicated with electronically.

And that's going to go back to how did he get to Washington, D.C.? When did he make the reservations at the hotel? When did he fly there? When did he purchase or obtain the weapons? What was he posting prior?

[02:40:01]

Then they're going to have to eliminate some of the things that might even almost seem, you know, unlikely. Like, was he recruited to do this? Highly unlikely. But they've got to rule that kind of thing out. So, they're going to be looking at, you know, everything he's done.

They'll go talk to all of his coworkers, those neighbors that you just mentioned, and they're going to build this intricate, in-depth, complete biography on this person and know everything that they can about him going as far back in time. That's all critical to this investigation.

SANDOVAL: So, ultimately, based on what we've learned from authorities thus far, is that this individual pretty much rushed this security screening point, checkpoint and then was stopped just a just a few feet beyond that. So that tells us that at least that layer worked.

In terms of perhaps what, how authorities may revisit their security plan moving forward, especially if this event, as the president hopes, will take place in the next -- in the next 30 days. What are some of those security measures that you feel should be put into place to visit the more soft target aspects of this, you know, leading up to that hard target installation that's meant to stop any threats, as we saw play out today, Saturday, I should say?

KOLKO: You can't -- when you use the word soft target, that makes it very, very hard to stop every single potential threat. And that's where the training and expertise of the Secret Service agents on site came through and were able to put a stop to this before he was able to get past the metal detectors and even closer to the ballroom. They do things like they run all the names that are checked into the hotel or have reservations on the hotel, but once they do that, there's got to be some information that makes that person pop up. And law enforcements, radar.

He may not have a background that would say that, it depends what kind of threats were posted or online. Don't forget that there are law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies that will not going over First Amendment rights, but do scour the internet for any potential threats against the president.

So, what kind of postings were made? You know, who was he communicating with? Did he have anybody else that he had shared his thoughts with? Those are all going to be the important things. And going forward, if they want to try and do this again, you can expect them to do that even more in depth.

They're going to be checking this will this, this event will cause, uh, things to happen online in the internet underground. And those things will pop up now into the intelligence community, into law enforcements eyes. And that'll help them keep an eye on anybody else that could be coming, if this event really does happen 30 days from now.

SANDOVAL: Yeah. And even if they did perform those searches for everybody in the building, as we heard from the Washington, D.C. authorities that the suspect was not known to D.C. metro police before today. And then finally, just would you think that it is a fair expectation for authorities to perhaps do to conduct a deep screening in terms of everybody that would be sharing one of these large venues with an event that's being attended by the president?

KOLKO: Oh, everybody is screened, as far as everybody on everybody who has a hotel reservation, those names are checked by Secret Service, to see if there's anybody that's on their radar or should be on their radar. That's standard procedure.

You know, car rentals, airlines coming in, any other hotels next door? When will the reservations made? Just like when you go to flying an airline, they're always suspicious if you make a reservation that day or if you pay for pay with cash, something like that.

So, they'll look for any unusual or suspicious reservations that are made at the hotel.

SANDOVAL: Yeah.

KOLKO: And of course, the weapons. How did he get those weapons in Washington, D.C.? Were they purchased here? Did he bring them here?

So, there's a whole -- what you can do is you can take out your notebook and you can probably write down 200 questions that you're curious about, about how this happened and what the FBI wants to know. And that's exactly what they're doing over at FBI headquarters in the Washington field office right now.

SANDOVAL: Retired FBI agent Richard Kolko. As always, appreciate your expertise and your time.

KOLKO: Thanks, Polo.

SANDOVAL: And more of your breaking news coverage after this break. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:47:58]

SANDOVAL: Back to our breaking news at this hour, the suspected gunman who sprinted through a checkpoint at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in is currently in custody. This photo here that you're looking at, it was posted on President Donald Trump's Truth Social account on Saturday.

Washington, D.C. police are saying that the suspect exchanged gunfire with law enforcement just outside the main ballroom. The U.S. president and vice president, as well as some cabinet members, they were in the ballroom at the time, and they were rushed to safety. A Secret Service agent was injured and is currently being treated at a local hospital, is expected to be okay.

Trump did speak about the shooting a little later at the White House. He said that the incident that took place inside the ballroom created pretty much a unifying moment for everybody there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And that was very unexpected. But incredibly acted upon by Secret Service and law enforcement and 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. I saw a room that was just totally unified. It was in one way, very beautiful, a very beautiful thing to see.

A man charged 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 have 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 other 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.

[02:50:00]

One officer was shot, but saved by the fact that he was wearing a -- 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 great shape. He is a -- has a 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)

SANDOVAL: And our live breaking news coverage continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: Welcome back. A 31-year-old man from California is currently in custody for

allegedly opening fire at a gala attended by U.S. president Donald Trump. Want to show you some footage that shows the very moment where the suspect tried running through a security checkpoint, at that lobby of the event, before the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

[02:55:00]

Shots were exchanged before Secret Service agents were able to capture him. The sound of gunshots sending officials and journalists inside the ballroom ducking for cover. President Trump and other officials were evacuated from the space. All those in attendance are safe, and a wounded Secret Service agent is expected to survive.

For some context on the incident, CNN spoke to presidential historian Douglas Brinkley just a short while ago, though its still unclear exactly who or what was the possible target in Saturday's shooting.

My colleague Jim Sciutto asked Brinkley about the attempt on President Ronald Reagan's life at the very same hotel over 40 years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, of course, it's always going to be linked in history. Anytime anybody really goes and 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 life, but history kind of forgets some of those sometimes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And thank you so much for joining me the last hour. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York.

CNN NEWSROOM continues after a quick break.