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Trump Recounts Moments Ahead of Shooting at WHCA Dinner; Investigation into White House Correspondents' Dinner Shooting Underway; King Charles' U.S. Visit Happening Despite Shooting; Iran Submits New Proposal to End War, Reopen Hormuz. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired April 27, 2026 - 00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[00:00:21]

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: We continue to follow breaking news here on CNN. I'm Elex Michaelson, live in Washington, where it is now midnight.

I attended the White House Correspondents' Dinner last night. Authorities are now reviewing the writings of the man who tried to storm the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

In a note, that suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, said, quote, "I don't expect forgiveness."

The 31-year-old, 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.

The suspect allegedly sent a note to 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 Norah O'Donnell for CBS's "60 Minutes" tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NORAH O'DONNELL, CBS' "60 MINUTES": 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 he'll 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, U.S. PRESIDENT: 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: So, in that interview with CBS, President Trump also recounting the moments leading up to the attack, describing when he and the first lady realized the seriousness of the situation.

CNN's Kristen Holmes, who I was sitting next to at the event, has more from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump giving an, at times --

HOLMES (voice-over): -- contentious interview with "60 Minutes" on Sunday night, going through the events of what happened when he was in that ballroom leading up to those shots being fired, what we heard; him being evacuated from the room.

And during this interview, he praised the first lady, noting that she had not been exposed to this before and even saying, at one point, it seemed that she realized what was happening before everybody else did.

HOLMES: These are the moments he described kind of leading up to them realizing what was going on.

TRUMP: They were asking the name of Caroline's child that he didn't know.

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 in, you know, pretty good close up. And she looked very upset about what just took place.

HOLMES: Now, during this interview, he also routinely praised Secret Service. There has been a lot of criticism for how this individual --

HOLMES (voice-over): -- was able to even get that close; break through that perimeter.

But President Trump maintained that he saw the utmost professionalism, that he felt safe, that his guys were on him.

And even when asked about this kind of moment that seemed as though President Trump was getting out of there, being evacuated slower than some of the other officials, he took full responsibility for that, saying he might have slowed them down, because he said, Wait, wait, I want to see what's going on. That he was looking around the room to see what exactly was happening.

HOLMES: Now, on the other side of this, we did obtain this so-called manifesto. That is what agents and administration officials --

HOLMES (voice-over): -- are referring to. These writings from the suspect.

We are told that he sent this manifesto to his family members roughly ten minutes before the incident occurred. But these officials also told me that the family members did not see this until after the incident, and that's when they reported it to local authorities.

One thing is clear, though: in these writings, this suspect did set out to harm cabinet officials in Trump's cabinet. In fact, this line in particular, it says, "Administration officials, they are targets prioritized from highest ranking to lowest." And then he goes into saying that he's not going to be targeting law enforcement.

Of course, we know he did end up exchanging fire with one of those agents who, of course--

HOLMES: -- thankfully, was wearing protective gear and is expected to be all right.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[00:05:00]

MICHAELSON: Yes, that is some of the good news. Kristen Holmes at the White House, thank you.

For more, I'd like to bring in Richard Kolko, retired FBI supervisory special agent, joining us live from Florida. Thanks so much for being with us.

RICHARD KOLKO, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: Thanks, Elex. Good to be here.

MICHAELSON: First off, the news of the night is this note, this -- this this manifesto, as it's being described. As you read that, what are the things that pop out to you?

KOLKO: That this is a troubled man who obviously had built up over time. While he wrote this manifesto -- and it looked like he wrote it very, very recently, based on some of the statements that he made in there; and sent it to his family just ten minutes prior to entering the hotel or entering the area. I believe that when the FBI does the investigation on his electronic

devices and his social media accounts, you're going to find a longer history of him airing his grievances, seeking other people that felt the same way he did, possibly making some threats.

There's going to be additional information critical to investigators in his background, and that that would have been, obviously, important information to have now.

MICHAELSON: Well, and it's clear there was a lot of premeditation here, as well. This idea of getting the guns, going on the train across the country, so that you don't have to go through a metal detector at an airport. Going to Washington, booking a room in the hotel to try to avoid security.

I mean, this was a well-thought-out plan for him. Obviously, not well- thought-out enough, but this was something he had been in his mind clearly for some time.

KOLKO: Extensive planning. And again, it'll be interesting to see what they find on his computer.

Certainly, there are plenty of videos about the hotel you could -- on the hotel site, there's videos about the hotel.

But all the people that have attended this event in the past posted things, and he would have likely looked at those, learned about entrances, where people were moving, where doors were. He did his intelligence gathering.

And you're right: he had days to think about this. And I bet when they go back in time, they're going to find he made these ticket reservations a long period in advance; thought about this, you know; and there may have been people he spoke to about this.

So, the investigation will be interesting. It's going to take a little while for some of these subpoena returns or preservation letters to bring that information to law enforcement.

But there's still a lot of details about his background that are critical to find for two reasons. No. 1, he's alive, so he may end up in court. So, the U.S. attorney needs to make sure everything is perfect, if it does eventually go to trial.

And No. 2, they want this information so the FBI profilers, the behavioral analysis unit, they can help provide this information to law enforcement to, hopefully, disrupt one of these from happening in the future.

MICHAELSON: Yes. And we still don't know: Is he connected to anybody else, any sort of nexus? And are they potentially planning something else? All that's really important information to know about him, as well.

I mean, he was an educated guy, went to Caltech, a very respected, hard to get into school. And maybe, it appears that he used some of that knowledge for bad in this instance here.

Now, I know you -- you have talked about the fact that a lot of the reporting about this has been a security failure. That's the way it's been described by some, including a congressman from New York who I talked to not too long ago. But you say it's actually a security success.

KALKO: It is. I compare it to a car crash where you're wearing a seat belt; in a car crash, but the seatbelt saved your life.

OK, so the Secret Service, who are experts at protecting these sites. You've got to remember, the -- this dinner has been held at this hotel for many, many, many years. They've got this place wired: working with MPD, FBI, Secret Service. They know the communications. They know how to work together. The entrances, the exits, all those kind of things. It's very important.

So, the fact that it didn't -- that he entered the place, certainly critical. We see him running. We're watching that video here that -- where he ran high speed across that part of the hotel. Certainly, very dangerous. Secret Service will make changes to the plans going forward in the future.

But really, talk about the FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation. They tried to get away from being the investigation, because investigation means you're showing up after the fact, after the crime occurred. They want to be the Federal Bureau of Disruption. They want to use intelligence-based threat analysis to find out if somebody is planning to do this, so that they can disrupt it before it occurs.

And that's where the scouring the Internet, looking at the chat rooms, getting information from sources, from people who see this kind of troubling behavior, and people can provide that information to law enforcement.

Remember, the Secret Service goes through every name registered in that hotel. They go through everybody who made a reservation. And they look for what's called derogatory information. Anything -- anything unusual, anything bad. And if they find it, they would go knock on the door.

So, if this guy here, you know, Allen had had some bad information in the past and had made it into a file, an FBI file, or a Secret Service file, he's registered in hotel. They would have gone up there -- I believe he's on the 10th floor -- knocked on his door and said, what are you doing here? And that might have caused or resulted in a different ending from what occurred here.

[00:10:12]

MICHAELSON: Well, I just want to say, you know, in the media, we try not to be the story, but in some of this, it's sort of unavoidable. It was the White House Correspondents' Dinner. We were the folks that were in that room.

And I just want to express my gratitude for the security that did work, because there is no doubt that, if that suspect got a little bit further and got through those doors, the likelihood of somebody in that room dying, or multiple people in that room dying, was very high.

And those guys saved our lives. And we are deeply indebted to them and appreciative of what they did. And -- and so, I just want to say that publicly. And Richard, I want to thank you for making that point on our show, as well. Thank you so much.

KALKO: You bet.

MICHAELSON: Speaking of Mike Lawler, we just talked about him. Earlier, I spoke with him, the Republican congressman who was our guest at CNN at the dinner. I sat literally one person away from him.

And he noted, while the Secret Service and federal officers were quick to act, security was not what he expected at an event like this. We're talking about the security in the hotel itself, not just the ballroom, but the overall hotel. Here's what he noticed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): You also had, you know, nearly the entire line of succession was in the room; and the fact is, you did not need an I.D. to get in the building. There was no list to verify that somebody, in fact, was supposed to be in the room.

Nobody was really evaluating the tickets when they would ask for them. You just kind of showed them, and they go, OK, keep going. And there were no magnetometers until you got to the ballroom.

And so, there were numerous pre-dinner receptions. You know, each media outlet had their own reception going on, which, you know -- yes, there was some security, but nothing that, frankly, would have prevented a shooter from taking action.

And I just think the fact that you had the president there, especially after two assassination attempts, now, a third, the fact is that security needs to be way more heightened, like White House protocol. You need to have I.D. You need to be pre-approved to get in. And I think that should have been the case here.

I think the Secret Service was able to stop him, was able to detain the shooter rather quickly, and obviously, did their job to get the president, the vice president, and the cabinet secretaries out of harm's way.

But it shouldn't have come to that. This should have been prevented from the start. The fact that he was able to get from the 10th floor down a stairwell into the area that was, you know, supposed to be secure really raises a lot of questions about the entirety of the security apparatus at this event.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Mike Lawler, joining us a little earlier. Coming up, Donald Trump said it was, quote, "very nice" to see

Democrats and Republicans coming together after the shooting incident. We'll discuss more on the politics of this with our next guest, who was at that event, next.

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[00:16:06]

MICHAELSON: Before it devolved into chaos, the White House Correspondents' Dinner was meant to celebrate the First Amendment and freedom of the press. A gunman quickly tried to stop that.

Many of the journalists in attendance wound up back in their seats in the White House briefing room later. And President Trump addressed that droop [SIC]. Look at that picture, which is remarkable, of all of them dressed up, because they did not expect to be in that briefing room.

"Politico's" White House reporter, Sophia Cai, is one of those journalists. She spoke to President Trump in that briefing room. She joins me, live now from Washington.

Sophia, thanks for being with us.

Your question to him was about Butler, Pennsylvania, where we saw the assassination attempt. We saw, of course, the bullet grazing his ear and killing one of his supporters. And I know you instantly thought of that moment, because you were there, reporting on the ground?

SOPHIA CAI, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, "POLITICO": Yes, Elex. And that was less than two years ago.

It was the first thing that came to my mind as we hit the ground in the ballroom was, gosh, this happened less than two years ago.

So, I wanted to put that to the president and ask him to reflect on it. I asked him what was similar, what felt different.

Of course, this time he was with his wife, first lady Melania, who was in the ballroom, and he acknowledged that that was a traumatic experience for -- for her.

I think for him, he said, look, both are very serious, and that this time he was a little bit further away. And the reaction was very fast and that they were able to whisk him off.

I think both are moments that stand by, and it forces him to be a little retrospective, reflective of the fear and the very real risks of his job, which he acknowledged to me yesterday.

MICHAELSON: Well, and speaking of Melania Trump, it was interesting. We saw her on stage. It was clear from her facial expression that she sort of recognized that something was wrong before everybody else on stage.

And we saw her with you in the briefing room last night, which is something that's never happened before.

CAI: No, it's not happened, to my knowledge. And there was a reporter in the room yesterday who asked the president, does the first lady want to say anything to us? And he turned to her and she said -- she -- she respectfully declined.

I think this was something that is very serious to her. We know that she takes the safety of her and her family very seriously, including Barron Trump.

And so, just a horrific day for her. And you can see it on her face right there.

MICHAELSON: It was interesting. I was -- I was seated last night at the dinner next to Alayna Treene, who is, you know, CNN's White House correspondent. And she was on the ground for CNN.

CAI: That's my old colleague --

MICHAELSON: Yes.

CAI: -- at Axios.

MICHAELSON: Yes. And she was there for Butler. You were next to her during what happened with Butler. So, we have that, I guess, connection, the Alayna Treene connection.

[00:20:02]

But I'm curious for you, as a human being, going through that experience, which I'm sure was a traumatic experience, and then going through last night, sort of how are you personally processing it, handling it, and -- and sort of experiencing all of this?

CAI: It's a good question. Look, I think as journalists, we jump into -- to -- to action, and the reporting gives me something to do. It is another way of processing. And I'm very lucky to have people in my life that I will be leaning on.

But I think, as a reporter, you never expect, when you sign up to cover Washington and to cover the White House, to really cover violence, I mean, this is what it is. These have been deadly events, in the case of Butler.

There have been other events, such as January 6, that we've covered. But it teaches us to be prepared, even if it's not the type of reporting that we necessarily want to be -- be doing, but we have to. And that's become a part of our -- our job now.

But no, I don't think that it should be the norm. You know, I asked the president yesterday, too; I said, Mr. President, are you concerned about something like this happening again? You've still got more than two years left on your term.

And he said, Look, well, I can't be concerned. I have to continue to do what I do.

And I think the rest of us in the press take the same approach.

MICHAELSON: Yes, indeed. And it would be so terrible if one crazy person, as President Trump said, was able to stop our way of life.

Sophia Cai, thank you so much for your reporting for "Politico," and thanks for staying up late with us tonight. We appreciate it.

We'll have more on the incident at the White House Correspondents' Dinner after the break, including how U.S. lawmakers are responding to some of that increasing political violence around the country.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:25:30]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And in a manifesto, just -- he's radicalized. He was a Christian, a believer, and then he became an anti-Christian. And he had a lot of change. He's been going through a lot, based on what he wrote.

His brother complained about him and, I think, reported him to the police. And his sister likewise complained about him. His family was very concerned. He was a probably a pretty sick guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: The suspected gunman who opened fire at the White House Correspondents' Dinner wrote, quote, "I don't expect forgiveness" in a note allegedly sent to his family right before the attack.

Authorities are looking into that note and other messages written by 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen as they work to try to put together a motive.

This photo here, obtained by CNN's Josh Campbell, shows Allen covered in a Mylar blanket after officers removed his clothing to search for weapons and wounds.

The acting attorney general of the United States, Todd Blanche, tells CNN it appears that he was targeting members of the White House administration. The Trump White House.

He's been charged with two counts of using a firearm, one count of assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon. Now, the incident at the White House Correspondents' Dinner is drawing criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Here in America, we can have strong disagreements, but it's important for us to agree to strongly disagree without being disagreeable with each other. And it is certainly the case that violence is never the answer,

whether it's targeted at the right, the left, or the center. We have issues that we have to work out amongst each other. That's embedded in the First Amendment that was being celebrated last night.

But what is also embedded in the First Amendment is the right to peacefully protest and to petition the government peacefully.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Hakeem Jeffries on "FOX News Sunday" today.

Now, while some politicians condemn the escalating violence in America, others are voicing concerns over the security breach near a room filled with top-ranking government officials.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE MCCAUL (R-TX): The thing that really takeaway I got was that the line of succession. You had the president and the vice president at the head table, both of them together, and the speaker of the House.

Had an explosive device gone off, you would have knocked out the president, vice president, speaker, the three in line of succession.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: So, are you saying they shouldn't be in public together?

MCCAUL: Well, I think the Secret Service needs to reconsider having both the president and vice president together, like at something like that, you know?

Chuck Grassley would be the president, had they all been taken out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: And Chuck Grassley is in his 90s.

Joining us live for more on all of this is Barbara F. Walter, who is a professor and the Rohr Chair in Pacific international relations at the University of California, San Diego, who wins the award tonight for best zoom background. Very great art taste. In addition to being smart when it comes to politics. Good to see you. Thanks for being on with us.

So, it feels like there's more political violence, because we also have phones. And so, we see things a lot more. But you're actually looking at the statistics. Is there actually more political violence going on? What does [SIC] the stats show?

BARBARA F. WALTER, PROFESSOR/ROHR CHAIR, PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: Yes, yes. There is significantly more political violence happening in the United States today than at any other time in our history. The previous peak was actually around 1995, and some of you viewers will remember Timothy McVeigh's attack in Oklahoma City.

After that political violence dropped significantly, and it didn't start to rise again until 2008. What was interesting about that was the rise was almost entirely perpetrated by people on the far-right. That stopped, that ended.

In 2024, that reversed a bit, and we saw a dip in far-right violence. And we're starting to see an increase from violence on the far left. And I think what we saw last night is an example of -- of this.

So, we are pretty much at a peak for political violence. I don't see it declining anytime soon. In fact, I think all the conditions are there for it to continue to -- to increase over time.

And those conditions are toxic polarization. We now are in a situation where most people view citizens from the other party as the enemy. They don't want their kids to marry into that party.

[00:30:09]

And increasingly, especially among the younger generation, violence is -- is being viewed as -- as justified for political reasons.

Add to that that we have a president who seems to stoke violence. He sort of revels in -- in the fight, setting the tone that violence is -- is perhaps also justified.

And then there are two other things that are -- that are really important. Most domestic violence, most domestic terrorism here in this country is -- is done by young men working alone.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

WALTER: So, they're lone wolves who've been radicalized online. And -- and again, if guns are easy to access and there's absolutely no regulation of -- of social media, then the combination of -- of this real hatred, political hatred, plus guns, plus easy access to really, pretty hateful material online is going to lead to more political violence and not less.

MICHAELSON: Yes. And I mean, it's interesting to -- to talk about the history you said there. I know some on the right would say that political violence spiked, like, around 2020 after George Floyd, with some on the far left doing -- enacting that.

But -- but the -- sort of the broader question is, so what do we do about that? Because we're in a situation where, as we've been talking about throughout the night, the algorithm on social media rewards extremism. It rewards hatred. It rewards conflict. It does not reward compromise or nuance or even love.

And how do we, as a society, address this moment where we are addicted to this, and what we're addicted to is really bad for us?

WALTER: Yes. So, the single easiest -- and this really would be easy -- the single easiest thing we could do in this country to tamp down the hate and to reduce violence and to sort of, like, help society come together is to regulate social media, regulate those algorithms.

We regulate every other industry that has shown to have negative societal effects, whether that's food or every other type of media or transportation. You name it, we regulate it.

And yet, social media and these big tech companies, the five biggest of which are all American companies, we give them an entirely free pass. And we give them a free pass, because after Citizens United, which allowed big money --

MICHAELSON: Yes.

WALTER: -- to flow into politics, it gave corporations, and it gave billionaires unbelievable power. And they now have the money to, essentially, block any regulation. And we're -- and -- and we, citizens and society, pay the cost of that.

MICHAELSON: And it wasn't a coincidence that, at the Trump inauguration, the folks who had better seats than most of the members of Congress were the big tech CEOs, all of whom are based in our home state of California.

Barbara Walter, thank you so much --

WALTER: Yes, sir.

MICHAELSON: -- for your perspective. Really important conversation that needs to be continued to try to stop some of this stuff going ahead.

Still to come, Iran is ramping up diplomacy efforts in the region as talks with the U.S. stall. We'll bring you the latest from that region, next.

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[00:37:13]

MICHAELSON: King Charles III and Queen Camilla will still visit the U.S. on Monday, despite Saturday night's shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

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 that country. The king expected to meet privately with President Trump.

Later, he's scheduled to address a joint session of Congress, which is a very rare thing, and then attend a state dinner. CNN's Max Foster here in Washington to cover the trip.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: U.K. has been very, very uncooperative. MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.K.-U.S. Special

relationship isn't feeling that special right now.

TRUMP: The U.K., which was sort of considered the Rolls-Royce of allies, right? Wouldn't you say?

FOSTER (voice-over): Terse words from the U.S. president, aimed at the British government, its military.

TRUMP: I said to -- you have two old, broken-down aircraft carriers. You think you could send them over? Oh, I'll have to ask my team.

FOSTER (voice-over): And especially the prime minister.

TRUMP: You know, unfortunately, Keir is not Winston Churchill.

FOSTER (voice-over): In contrast to the warm words for the king.

TRUMP: In fact, the king is coming over here in two weeks. He's a nice guy. King Charles.

FOSTER (voice-over): What's mainly in the king's favor is that Trump has an affinity with the U.K. and the royals, something the U.K. government seems ready to leverage to emphasize historic links between traditional allies.

Having met Trump several times on the president's trips to the U.K., the king knows how careful words and thoughtful actions can defuse wider tensions.

In 2025, Charles presented the president with a bespoke copy of the Declaration of Independence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The princess on American soil for the first time.

FOSTER (voice-over): While Elizabeth II enjoyed largely smooth relations during her seven visits as queen to the United States, welcomed by presidents from Eisenhower to Bush, Charles is stepping into a far more complicated landscape.

Charles has been playing the diplomatic game for decades now, and what he really takes to Washington is the monarchy's greatest diplomatic asset: soft power.

CNN understands he'll reach out directly to the American people, showing the special relationship transcends any single occupant of the White House.

PETER WESTMACOTT, FORMER BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: The king will not be having the kind of conversation with the president or with senior senators and so on, that the prime minister would. But he's extremely well-informed.

And it provides an opportunity for private conversations on some really important issues. And on top of that, there is the celebration of the relationship between the two countries. A great deal of trade, investment, and defense relationship, which is

extraordinarily important. Intelligence, which is this cooperation, second to none.

[00:40:03]

FOSTER (voice-over): The king knows that the greatest rupture between the U.S. and U.K. happened 250 years ago, when America walked away from British rule.

Now he'll be determined to show the world, by making sure he meets a cross-section of American society, that the relationship goes far deeper than the current dip in government relations.

FOSTER: The key message for this visit from the U.K. side, at least, is to show that the U.K. is still America's key ally on the global stage, standing shoulder to shoulder, and the determination to make sure this visit carried on after Saturday night's events is really testament to that.

Max Foster, CNN, Washington, D.C.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: Thank you, Max.

For more, let's bring in, live, CNN's royal historian, Kate Williams, joining us from London. Good morning to you.

KATE WILLIAMS, CNN ROYAL HISTORIAN: Good morning.

MICHAELSON: Thanks for being up early with us. And let's talk about why this trip matters. You're especially interested in the joint session of Congress and the king addressing that, which is very rare here in America.

WILLIAMS: Yes. Incredibly rare. The last time this was done by U.K. monarch was in 1991 with Her Majesty Elizabeth II. So, something that many citizens of the U.S. and the U.K. simply won't remember.

It's incredibly significant that Charles makes this -- this address tomorrow, really underlining the fact that he is not the head of state of the U.S. anymore, that that independence, that break was made 250 years ago. So, he doesn't have any right to do this.

He is doing this by invitation, reflecting that once upon a time, it was a -- it was a bitter relationship of American independence from British tyranny, from British rule.

And now it is a happier, much happier relationship of friendship and unity, which is absolutely what Charles wants to emphasize.

The whole purpose of this visit is really to kick off the independence celebrations, which will culminate in July. William and Kate are coming over in July. So, this is why Charles initially is coming. But of course, the state visit has become caught up in so many wider

questions of the U.S.-U.K. relationship, which, as Max was saying in political terms, is certainly somewhat strained.

But between Charles and the president, were expecting to see a lot of warm words and a lot of smiles, because the president has made it very clear he's very keen to see Charles. He said yesterday. He said he's a great guy. He's coming.

And Charles, we understand, is very much looking forward to the visit, as is Camilla.

MICHAELSON: You know, it's interesting. CNN hosted a event today at the British embassy, which is where the king is going to be staying. And so, I got a chance to walk around and see the setup.

And they've got all sorts of pictures, almost like a museum setup, showcasing Queen Elizabeths trips here over the years, starting in the '30s, before she was even the queen.

And it reminded me, looking at Max's piece, that -- that the prince has been coming here for so many decades, as well, meeting with President Nixon back in the '70s.

Sort of how do you sort of compare and contrast the two of them in their styles? Because this will be his first time here as the king.

WILLIAMS: This is his first time here. And of course, we have to remember that President Trump is very unique in having two state visits. Most second-term U.S. presidents have a much smaller state visit the second time around: tea with the queen. But -- but Charles. But first Elizabeth II and then Charles gave President Trump two large state visits.

But yes, this is a long tradition of relationships. The Queen Elizabeth II, she went around the world around 42 times. The vision was by the Elizabeth II. Now, Charles going, doing these soft power, doing these visits, making these engagements, making these front-page engagements, it created political relationships which were lasting between the two countries.

So, Elizabeth visited, as you say, first in the '30s. She met every U.S. president apart from Lyndon Johnson. She had incredibly close relationships and came over and over again. And other royals came, too.

So, for her, the U.S.-U.K. Relationship was something largely sort of foment fomented and cemented by royal soft power.

So, this is exactly what Charles is hoping for. He had successful visits when he was a prince. He came. He's come many times, and now he's king. He's really hoping that this visit will go without a hitch, will be very successful. Have good --

MICHAELSON: Yes. WILLIAMS: -- you know, happy -- happy times, good relationship. And this will bolster what is rather a tricky time in U.S.-U.K. relationships, now we are in the midst of the war.

MICHAELSON: Yes. We're looking at some video now of a previous visit there with the king and with Prince William as well.

It is clear watching President Trump. being with the king is one of his favorite things to do as president. I mean, he seems to genuinely, really like him and genuinely enjoy hanging out with him.

And so, I'm sure this is something that the president is looking forward to as well.

Kate Williams, thank you so much. It's going to be an interesting few days, and we'll be covering all of it here --

WILLIAMS: Absolutely.

MICHAELSON: -- on CNN all week.

We are also hearing new information out of the Middle East. Iran has reportedly submitted a new proposal to the U.S. to end the war, reopen the strait of Hormuz. The idea is that nuclear negotiations would be postponed until later.

Now, all this is according to Axios's Barak Ravid, who's also a CNN contributor who's citing a U.S. official and two sources with knowledge of that situation.

Meanwhile, Iranian state media reports that Tehran's top diplomat has arrived in Russia and is set to meet with President Vladimir Putin and the foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov.

Tehran says the upcoming meeting will focus on, quote, "advancing joint programs at the regional and international levels."

Meantime, the plans for another round of potential face-to-face talks between Washington and Tehran still not clear. Don't know if that's going to happen. President Trump was asked about that this morning on FOX News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP (via phone): 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. You know, 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: CNN's Ivan Watson live in Hong Kong with the latest on all this. So, it sounds like we've kind of hit an impasse, huh?

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Definitely. The diplomacy appears to have stalled, Elex.

So, what you have and saw this weekend was Iran's top diplomat, the foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, traveled to Pakistan, and President Trump pulled the plug on sending American envoys there.

So, Araghchi was stuck talking to the Pakistani mediators. He has since moved on to Oman and has now landed in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he's expected to meet with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who is, of course, a supporter of Iran throughout this war. Reportedly handing over some intelligence as the war was raging.

President Trump did point out that the fact that both sides weren't going to meet doesn't mean that the ceasefire that he has extended indefinitely is over.

The Iranian president has said that there's no way that the U.S. and Iran are going to be able to work out any of their problems as long as the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports continues.

And the U.S. Navy says it has forced at least 38 ships to turn back from Iranian ports. So, it is imposing and enforcing that blockade.

In the meantime, Iran shows no signs of letting up on its chokehold on the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway. Look at the statements that came out from the deputy speaker of Parliament, Ali Nikzad, where he says, quote, "We will under no circumstances return the state of Hormuz to its previous state, because this is an order from the leader of the revolution," who none of us have seen since he assumed the position.

That's Mujtaba Khamenei, the son of the former supreme leader of Iran.

That politician went on to say, "One of the divine blessings of the war that we realized if we place our foot on the throat of the strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb, 25 percent of the world's economy would be affected."

So, not hiding at all the fact that Iran is making the global economy pay as part of its ongoing test of wills with Washington.

And if you want to see some more examples of hardline rhetoric coming out of Iran, look at this parade in the Northern city of Tabriz, where you see on display some of those Shahed drones, thousands of which were fired, launched at targets all across the Gulf and as far as Israel during the more kinetic part of the war.

A sign that Iran is trying to demonstrate it could still go back to fighting, if need be.

This, as the U.S. has now moved three aircraft carriers into the Middle East. That's the most that have been in the region in more than 20 years.

Still, Washington and Tehran so far seem to be demonstrating they don't want to go back to fighting. They're engaging in economic warfare right now, which everybody's feeling at gas stations and when it comes to energy prices.

An area, Elex, that is seeing kinetic fighting is the Hezbollah-Israel conflict. President Trump negotiated an extension of a ceasefire. He said two weeks ago that Israel would be prohibited from bombing Lebanon.

[00:50:07]

However, there was a lot of activity and bombing this weekend. Israel claiming responsibility for killing at least 15 of what it described as terrorists, and also saying that one of its soldiers was killed on Sunday in Southern Lebanon.

And meanwhile, we've seen some footage that demonstrates the lengths Israel is going to destroy entire communities in Southern Lebanon, as it's trying to set up what it calls a security cordon, echoing what it did in Gaza in the conflict that killed at least 70,000 Palestinians there: destroying entire villages and towns. And in one case, solar panels outside the Christian village of Debel in the South of Lebanon, the Israeli military.

After these videos emerged -- I don't know. We were supposed to be showing it right now, of Israeli earthmovers destroying these solar panels.

This is outside the same village where an Israeli soldier was photographed smashing, sledgehammering a statue of Jesus Christ.

The Israeli military says it will investigate, review this incident, because it's hard to argue that these solar panels would belong to Hezbollah.

It's also investigating reports in "Haaretz" newspaper of widespread looting being conducted by Israeli soldiers in their ongoing occupation of Southern Lebanon.

At the end, the ceasefire in that part of the country is shakier than ever right now, Elex.

MICHAELSON: Lots of dramatic video in that report, both the incident with the solar panels and the military parade. Really interesting.

Ivan Watson, thank you for your reporting. We'll be right back to wrap things up right after this.

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[00:55:37]

MICHAELSON: Two people in the U.S. are dead after severe storms tore through North Texas this weekend. Local officials say the storms caused widespread structural damage Northwest of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, killing two people, injuring others.

And the severe weather threat will continue into Monday and beyond, with some regions expecting multiple rounds of storms, bringing risks of heavy rainfall, hail, damaging winds, and possible tornadoes to a large swath of the Midwest from Chicago South to Memphis.

On Tuesday, that storm system will continue its Eastward trajectory, unfortunately bringing those same severe storm conditions to Dallas once again.

Thank you for joining us for the last three hours of special breaking news coverage. Our coverage started this morning at 8 a.m. It's been a long day, but I'm grateful to be here.

I'm Elex Michaelson. I will be back tomorrow for our usual broadcast, THE STORY IS, which you can see weeknights at 9 p.m. Pacific Time, midnight Eastern, right here on CNN.

But we have more breaking news coverage after a break tonight. My colleague Polo Sandoval takes over coverage in New York right after this.

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