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Correspondents' Dinner Shooting Suspect Faces Federal Firearm and Assault Charges; World Leaders React to White House Correspondents' Dinner Shooting; King Charles' U.S. Visit Happening Despite WHCD Shooting; White House Correspondents' Dinner Prompts Security Concerns; State Media: Iranian FM In Russia To Meet Putin, Lavrov. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired April 27, 2026 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

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UNKNOWN (voice-over): This is "CNN Breaking News."

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Polo Sandoval live in New York where it's currently 2 a.m.

The man accused of charging through security and opening fire at the White House Correspondents' Dinner is set to appear in court for his arraignment in the coming hours. Thirty-year-old Cole Thomas Allen, part-time teacher from California, he's facing federal firearm and assault charges. You see him here in this photo. That shot taken after he was arrested by Secret Service on Saturday night. He was -- the reason why he's not wearing any clothes is because they were removed as authorities search for any wounds or any potential weapons on him.

We have learned that the suspect purchased two firearms legally in recent years. You're looking at one of them, a shotgun. And just before the attack, he allegedly sent a note to family members expressing political anger and plans to target members of the administration. Well, he wrote in that note -- quote -- "I don't expect forgiveness." The president, vice president, and other top officials, they were rushed to safety during Saturday night's events. You're looking at video of that very moment.

But the incident is now raising some questions about the security protocol that was in place and if anything can be done to perhaps improve the security situation at these events. President Trump was asked about that in an interview with CBS News. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NORAH O'DONNELL, CBS NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Another thing in the manifesto that I think is worth looking at in terms of determining his motive is he had been staying at the hotel since Friday. He checked in. He said he had cased the place. And he wrote, what the hell is the Secret Service doing? And he wrote this: Quote -- I expected security cameras at every bend, bugged hotel rooms, armed agents every 10 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 --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, he was pretty incompetent, too, because he got caught, and he got caught pretty easily. So, I'd say he was pretty incompetent, too. You know, I could 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)

SANDOVAL: And in that same interview with CBS, President Trump also recounted the moments leading up to the attack, describing when he and the first lady, who was sitting right next to him, realized the seriousness of the situation. CNN's Kristen Holmes with more from the White House.

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

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They're asking a name of Karoline'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. You know, pretty, good close up. And she looked very upset about what just took place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

[02:05:05]

Now, on the other side of this, we did obtain this so-called manifesto. That's what agents and administration officials are referring to, these writings from the suspect. We are told that he sent this manifesto to his family members roughly 10 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, at 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, thankfully, was wearing protective gear and is expected to be all right.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Joining me now is Richard Kolko, who's a retired supervisor special agent at the FBI. Richard has been helping us really for the last 24 hours now, trying to get a better understanding of the events of Saturday. Richard, welcome back.

RICHARD KOLKO, RETIRED SUPERVISOR SPECIAL AGENT, FBI: Thank you, Polo.

SANDOVAL: Richard, before we get to the investigation, I'm just curious if I can get your thoughts on some of what we've learned thus far in this manifesto. Certainly, I don't want to amplify given the attention to any ramblings. But I just wonder what you make of the manifesto calling these Secret Service agents, you know, basically incompetent. Of course, these are the same Secret Service agents that stopped him immediately following that checkpoint.

KOLKO: I think it just means Mr. Allen is not a security expert, as you kind of pointed out there. As far as I know, it's what the Secret Service should do to protect the hotel there. They've got decades of experience specifically at that site. And while you watch the videos, it's ugly, it's scary. I understand the people being fearful.

I think the best analogy I've come up with is it's like a car crash but you're wearing your seatbelt, the seatbelt worked, and that's what happened here. They had the intrusion, but they did not make it into the tight perimeters. The president was not at risk, and that's what Secret Services' job is, and it worked out.

SANDOVAL: Do you think that in future events, be it at that venue or others, that they may perhaps take a closer look at their ability to set up some of these magnetometers at the entrance of the building versus the entrance of the, you know, the actual room hosting any event with the president?

KOLKO: Absolutely. But that -- but that's to be expected. I'm sure they'll do it after action -- after every event. And now, this one actually had this occur. They're going to certainly do the things. They're going to possibly expand the perimeter.

You know, the hotel guest vetting, we know that they check all the names for any derogatory information, but they may do some additional speaking to the guests that are there, especially the ones that are not attending the event. They'll harden the checkpoints as necessary and, of course, always

review, you know, what the entry and exit security is, how to get in and out of the building, they'll make all the changes that need to be made, and you can expect that to go on. I think -- I think -- I really believe that protecting the Hilton is something they're very comfortable doing.

The tough one we all saw was the hook -- in Pennsylvania when the president or the candidate at the time was out there. Those are the tough sites for Secret Service to secure, two or three of those campaigns stops a day. They're dealing with law enforcement they're not used to dealing with, facilities they're not as comfortable with. Those are what are tough to do. But when it comes to doing the Hilton, doing this dinner, they know that they've got it in hand.

SANDOVAL: Richard, I got a couple minutes left with you. I'm wondering if we can pivot to the investigation and just get your assessment of what federal investigators are doing right now to rule out the possibility that the suspect had any sort of outside help in planning and carrying out this attempted attack.

KOLKO: Well, a lot of that will come down to what they can learn from who he communicated with electronically as well as doing witness interviews. They'll find out who his friends, who his circle were. They'll speak with them. They will see if anybody has any information that's helpful. That's something that the FBI will do. They do that standard for any investigation.

But the moment this happened and they were able to start grabbing phones, computers, tablets, any electronic devices he has, they issued subpoenas, they'll do preservation letters for social media accounts. Did he have them?

And I think you're going to find that while he wrote this manifesto and released it to his family just minutes before he entered the hotel, he likely had some grievances that he spent time addressing in other venues. What did he do online? What groups was he hanging out with? Who was he communicating with either under his real name or maybe under an alias? And this could go back days, weeks, or months.

[02:09:59]

And the FBI would be very interested in tracking that down, seeing if there was information that should have been obtained prior. And what it will do is help put this case together because, don't forget, this guy is alive, this may end up in a courtroom, so they expect to get all the information they need.

But the other thing is they're going to take that information and be able to, hopefully, put it together so that if there's a way, there's another one of these people out there, somebody else trying to do something, they can disrupt it, they can stop it, they can -- they can build a profile with him and use that to stop another attack.

SANDOVAL: Richard, when you and I last spoke about 24 hours ago, we didn't even know who was the potential -- who -- what was the potential target. Now, we know the real potential here for, political violence being one of the inspirations here, if not the inspiration. As, you know, with your vast law enforcement experience, just wondering what -- what goes through your head as you find out that this is yet another example of, you know, an individual potentially just radicalizing, and then -- and then letting out their anger in such a way. Of course, referring to this increase of political violence that we've seen in the U.S.

KOLKO: Well, it goes back in time -- I mean, political violence goes back to the beginning of the country. Certainly, President Obama was -- countless threats against him all the time and kept the Secret Service just so, so busy. But now, the proliferation of social media, which -- I think the big thing is there are people that have always disagreed with the president, disagreed with the administration. Maybe had some tendency towards political violence. But they have nowhere to go. They sat in their homes, and they skewed (ph) about it.

Now, we've got social media, and what they do is they can search, they can find like-minded people, it validates in their minds their thoughts, their opinions, what they want to do, they get them together also in their group, they bounce ideas off each other, talk to each other, write about it, and it gives it an additional strength that these people didn't have when they were operating individually and didn't have access to get to these other people or meet with these other people. So, social media certainly has a role in what's occurring with the thoughts and the political violence, I believe.

SANDOVAL: Richard Kolko, as always, thank you so much for your time and your expertise.

KOLKO: Glad to assist. Have a good evening.

SANDOVAL: You, too. Let's continue that conversation and head over to Alex Hinton. He's a distinguished professor of anthropology and director of the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights at Rutgers University. It's great to have you with us. Thank you so much for joining us.

ALEX HINTON, DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND DIRECTOR OF CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF GENOCIDE AND HUMAN RIGHTS, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY: Yes. Thanks so much for having me on.

SANDOVAL: Let's pick up on what we were just hearing from Richard and, you know, the thought that many of these would-be attackers now have the internet, social media to lean on, as Richard was laying out, basically searching for validation when before they didn't have that option. So, just tell us a little bit about the state of the situation right now, really in the United States, with the increase of this level of political violence.

HINTON: Yes. You know, there are a couple things. One, we're focused right now on Allen, and rightfully so, but some of the dynamics that give rise to individual polarization and ultimately political violence are very much present in the U.S. today. So, you talk about social media. Your previous guest was talking about Obama. Certainly, the proliferation of not just social media but now A.I. has and different algorithms that feed off people's outrage has put us in a really bad situation. Far more people are exposed to language of outrage and demonization is everywhere.

I've done research, for example, on a platform called 4chan, which used to be the fringe of the fringe. Many of the things that are said there are now said, you know, on a platform like Twitter or X. Yes. And then it's also something where it's monetized. So, you also have different influencers or different political leaders who can gain followers or, in the case of influencers, not just followers but money. So, our system right now is gamed up in a really bad way.

So, you have individuals coming in like Allen, and some of them may have, you know, mental illness, struggles. We don't know about Allen yet. There's a lot to find out. What is said to be his manifesto clearly lays out, a series of grievances. It's -- you know, I've read a lot of manifestos, especially ones that center on the idea of replacement. He's very much is a -- you know, this notion that the current Trump administration is unjust, crimes are taking place, and he thought that he had to take an action, you know, if this manifesto is circulating and has been widely published is correct.

[02:15:04]

SANDOVAL: I've -- I've covered mass shootings in the past and been in these situations where we hear from investigators, and they will share with the public that they believe that the shooter acted alone, and that goes back to this idea of lone wolf attackers. I know you've previously written that the violent extremists, they tend to not be these so-called lone wolves but, as you write, that they're, in fact, part of a pack. So, explain why characterizing some of these attackers as lone suspects, which may be the case here, according to investigators, why that may be fueling, as you lay out, as you explain, a myth?

HINTON: Yes. Absolutely, it's a myth and it's a language that people immediately refer to. They're sort of two number of pieces, but there are two sorts of initial ones to think about. When someone does a mass shooting attack, and we've had so many over the past, you know, 10 years or so, but when it takes place, often, the person is immediately dismissed as evil, crazy, you know, racist, what have you, radical left commie. And that language immediately suggests that the actions are motivated by some sort of internal quality.

Now, of course, the terms speak to something, but what they do is they deflect us away from looking at the moral claims and the reasons why these people are acting the way they do. So, I mentioned before, many attacks that took place, going back through the first Trump administration into the Biden administration, were done in the name of replacement or the notion and that there's an intentional plot to replace the white population with non-whites. And that, you know, the shooting in Buffalo, the shooting in Pittsburgh, Tree of Life, all sorts of attacks, El Paso, were all done in the name of replacement. So, these moral claims are kind of swept aside with this language that the people are crazy, racist, what have you.

The second thing, going to the lone wolf, which plays into that. If you have the crazy lone wolf, well, that sort of explains it away and it diverts us away from those systemic factors. I was talking about briefly earlier about social media, division entrepreneurs. But even saying what the notion of a lone wolf, well, that means they act alone. They don't act alone because they're part of networks. Your previous guest was discussing that a bit. But all of them are interacting with other people.

And we're now in a situation where there were people who felt isolated, alone. They may have personal struggles. They want to make something of their life or to be filled with some sort of meaning. And they can connect in with radical groups online. They can become radicalized. It happened a number of times.

And so, again, they're part of these networks. Sometimes, the networks are elaborate, extensive. So, for example, with replacement, as I mentioned before, that's basically a transnational global network of people who are dialoguing, discoursing, and acting on this idea. So, yeah, so it diverts us away from that and it's not a very helpful myth at all.

And the other thing is people also tend to think that these -- you know, if we serve people with the language of these racist lone wolves, crazy people, if they act alone, that means they're fringe but, in fact, a lot of the ideas, they're motivating their actions, and a lot of the dynamics that give rise to their actions are ones that are all around us. They're part of our society. They're mainstream. So, it's really easy and it's probably comfortable to sort of push it away and say it's a lone wolf, a crazy person. You know, it's far away from me but, in fact, that's not the case. All we have to do is open up Facebook or onto Twitter.

SANDOVAL: It is everywhere. Alex, just a few seconds to perhaps get a closing thought. I mean, what can people do to not turn away, to essentially address this head-on and keep some of this from getting lost in some of these communities?

HINTON: Yes. Absolutely. My current book is called "Why We Are Divided." So, it's sort of taking this up in terms of polarization. You know, so, you can -- there are a lot of people who are sort of working in this area. One of the groups, there are people who do bridging, which is basically just trying to not demonize people and listen to them.

So, in my research, I moved through sort of far-left circles, far- right circles. And so, if I go to a context like CPAC, everyone is talking about the radical left commies, so on and so forth. If go in the more left-leaning circles, everyone on the right are authoritarian, fascist, you know. So, you go in here, and people just -- it's like you're in a bubble or a silo when it's generating.

[02:19:56]

So, the first thing is to step back, set aside, try and set aside your emotions, try and diversify your media sources, and listen to what people are saying and understand it. I'm an anthropologist. That's what I do professionally. But if you're interested in groups like Braver Angels, for example, people can join. Urban Rural Action. There are many of them.

But I'd say, you know, listening, stopping demonizing, trying to realize that everyone is being monitored, not just monitored, but behaviorally modified by algorithms in the sense that they're trying to change our behavior. So, again, maybe trying to get off the web a little bit and understand that what you're seeing is like a reflection of what you want to see, and that's not what the reality is.

SANDOVAL: Talking, listening, and understanding. Those are three great points to close our conversation on. Alex Hinton, thank you so much for coming on and letting us tap into your expertise.

HINTON: Thanks so much for inviting me on. I appreciate it.

SANDOVAL: Of course. Well, still on the way, unacceptable, deeply unsettling, shocked. How world leaders are currently reacting to the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Stay with us.

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[02:25:00]

SANDOVAL: Reaction to the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner has been coming in from all across the world. Western leaders expressing shock, relief, and unease at the violence. As CNN's Clare Sebastian reports, some also expressing solidarity with the U.S. president.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Western leaders were united in their condemnations of the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Despite recent tensions over the Iran war, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was quick to show his support, especially, of course, ahead of King Charles's planned state visit to the U.S. on Monday, expressing his best wishes to President Donald Trump in a phone call Sunday, Downing Street said. Starmer also used the opportunity to discuss the -- quote -- "urgent need to open the Strait of Hormuz."

French President Emmanuel Macron also offered his -- quote -- "full support to Donald Trump" in a post on X. Many, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, nearly two months, of course, into a joint war with the U.S. against Iran, expressed relief that the president and first lady escaped unharmed. Netanyahu addressed the incident at a cabinet meeting Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL (through translator): My wife and I were shocked as you were to hear about this repeated attempt to assassinate President Trump and his wife. We are glad that both of them, along with senior members of the U.S. administration, came out unharmed. There is no place for violence, not against political leaders and not against anyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: Although Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche says the suspect appeared to be targeting members of the administration, there's no word yet on whom. Mark Carney of Canada offered support for those -- quote -- "shaken by this disturbing event." Many international journalists also, of course, attend the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Ukraine's foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, also weighed in. Such violence has no justification, he wrote on X, and must have no place in a democratic society.

Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And Britain's king and queen will soon be visiting Washington, D.C. despite this weekend's shooting in Washington, D.C. Well, coming up, a look at what the royal couple has planned. Plus, we'll also be looking at the safety protocols surrounding the first lady following that security incident at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

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[02:30:00]

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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN HOST: King Charles II and Queen Camilla will soon be visiting Washington, D.C., despite Saturday night's shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner. That visit, scheduled for Monday. Buckingham palace saying that the decision follows advice after security discussions were held between American and British officials. The royal couples four day visit to the U.S. is expected to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence. The King expected to meet privately with President Trump later. King Charles is scheduled to address congress and attend a state dinner.

A former police protection officer to the British royal family, Simon Morgan, joining me now to discuss more and help us preview this upcoming state visit.

Simon, welcome to the program.

SIMON MORGAN, FORMER POLICE PROTECTION OFFICER TO THE BRITISH ROYAL FAMILY: Good morning. SANDOVAL: Good morning to you. So, Simon, do you see Saturday's

shooting changing the security approach to the king's state visit?

MORGAN: Whether it changes is the big question, but certainly it has to be reviewed. It has to be evaluated to make sure that it is commensurate with the current risks. And certainly, the two entities that the U.S. Secret Service and royalty and specialist protection, who are responsible for the security of the royal family, will have reviewed everything in light of Saturday's events to make sure that it is the correct security package that is in place for the state visit to take place.

SANDOVAL: And just to remind viewers around the world, Simon typically who does lead the security team or security responsibilities when we have visiting dignitaries in the United States. Is it the Secret Service?

MORGAN: It is the Secret Service. They have primacy in the U.S. as RaSP would have primacy in the U.K. When Mr. Trump recently came to visit, that was role reversal.

But yes, the U.S. Secret Service have primarily -- primacy in regard to this particular event. It is their -- it is their backyard and it is their show.

SANDOVAL: And these are two agencies that have historically worked together and visits such as this. So just tell us a little bit about how this is far from the first time that these two agencies will ever work together

MORGAN: Yeah, certainly this is not the first event that they've worked together. They work together a lot. Certainly the U.S. Secret Service have a permanent detachment based here in London for any of the dignitaries that come into the U.K. So they understand how both entities work. And like I said, over the years, there's been various state visits to the U.S. and to the U.K., and both -- both departments have to work together.

Both have to understand where their parameters are. And if were looking at this particular case, then the Secret Service have primacy and royalty and specialist protections role is to support that because obviously they are working with the principal and the king, so they understand how the king operates as well. And you've got to bring both entities together.

SANDOVAL: And, Simon, as you know very well, and everybody else knows that this visit will happen, as we have seen an increase in political violence here in the United States. So for security services in the U.K., I mean, how -- how accustomed are they to being on the lookout for any potential threats of that nature compared to what they typically have to prepare for in the U.K.?

MORGAN: It is -- it is slightly different, but it's still nonetheless extremely kind of high risk, you know, whether you look at Mr. Trump or indeed the king here in the U.K., we have our have our own issues with regards to international terrorism. And we have single cause issues. We have the fixated threat as well as well as ordinary criminality that kind of move in and around and various events that the royal family will attend.

So we're very much used to kind of working at that level. However, you are putting two extremely visible and highly prized resources or assets together, and therefore that does take a different degree of complexity. But, you know, we are used to working at that level and certainly working with the Secret Service is not uncommon. And therefore, they'll bring both of those, both of those departments together to achieve the operational success that they want.

SANDOVAL: And just based on your experience, Simon, how have you seen threats against the monarchy evolve? And with that, certainly the demand for security services and personnel such as yourself to, to basically evolve with those threats?

[02:35:01]

MORGAN: Absolutely. It is constantly evolving. And, you know, we do have to learn from history or your failing -- failing to learn. And yes, those threats have changed. We always start with international terrorism.

We have a history of international terrorism here in the U.K. due to Irish Republican terrorism, and then on to Islamic fundamentalism and the single cause issue, I think, has become one of the -- one of the biggest issues because using the worlds media to bring attention to your cause, you know, we have seen just for oil that we have here in the U.K., they stepped out in front of one of the processions last year and, and their actions are very, are very similar to, to a terrorist, you know, they are fiddling with something in a bag.

They're unfolding something, they're stepping out in front of a protected convoy. And, you know, and that is very difficult for protection officers to make that split second decision as to whether this is just a demonstration or indeed, it is somebody there to kind of do harm. So the threat is constantly evolving and you're constantly evaluating everything that you do. It's not a case of, well, this worked well yesterday.

We'll do the same again today because some of those parameters may have changed. So it's a constantly evolving picture because you have to you have to get it right every day. The bad guy only has to get it right once.

SANDOVAL: Exactly. We often hear that from security experts such as yourself. Its such an important point. Simon Morgan, thank you so much for letting us tap into you, into your expertise. Have a good rest of your day.

MORGAN: My pleasure. Thank you very much.

SANDOVAL: Well, gunfire outside the Washington Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday. It's currently raising some concerns over the events security protocols. One of the chiefs, one of them is one of the biggest concerns right now is the safety of the first lady, Melania Trump. She, along with President Trump and several other senior cabinet officials who are in that room. They were whisked off stage during that incident.

The first lady, later making an appearance at the White House press briefing room as the president briefed reporters. But she declined to comment on the situation. While the presidents life has previously been threatened by a rogue gunman, Saturday marked the first time that Melania, the first lady, was by his side, amid that chaos.

During a "60 Minutes" interview with CBS on Sunday, president Trump stopped short of saying that the first lady was scared, but conceded that she, quote, "looked very upset".

Joining us now for more on what, what happened is let's go to Los Angeles now and speak to author and historian Carl Sferrazza Anthony.

Carl, thank you so much for taking the time to join us. Talk a little bit more about this.

CARL SFERRAZZA ANTHONY, AUTHOR & HISTORIAN: Of course. Thank you very much for calling on me.

SANDOVAL: Carl, as I was watching the live feed on Saturday night and the first telling sign that something was wrong was the look on the first lady's face. She seemed more than shocked and surprised. I mean, there was at least from my point of view, sort of this look of fear as she was trying to find out what just happened. What went through your mind as you were observing the first lady in the situation, and how the situation quickly unraveled into chaos?

ANTHONY: Well in some of the replays of the video, I noticed that she spoke. You could see she mouthed the words, what was that? She heard a noise and she perked up and she turned. So I know from what she's written and what she's spoken about, as early as the autumn of 2024 after the attempt on her husband's life that summer, she's been very concerned about security and his well-being. She was really horrified, and apparently, very shocked to have seen that on television back in 2024.

SANDOVAL: She almost seemed more attuned to the potential threats than her husband and the president of the United States who was sitting just, just right next to her.

ANTHONY: I think that's absolutely true. And when you look honestly, when you look throughout history at other first ladies who have either witnessed acts of violence against their husband or feared them, they have always been far more conscientious about these threats than the presidents themselves. I think -- I think the president at the conference he held after the incident last night, spoke about the fact that, you know, if you're in this job, you realize and you accept the risks that go with it.

[02:40:01]

Well, that's not always been the view, of course, of the presidential wives. SANDOVAL: Yeah. And previous presidential wives, particularly those

who have actually lost their husbands, right? I mean, Mary Todd Lincoln, Jackie Kennedy, they didn't have to worry about the threats of social media and sort of extremist views further being amplified on social media.

So for First Lady Melania Trump, I mean, what are the unique sets of challenges? She's married to somebody who's clearly very outspoken. And at the same time has to worry about not one, not two, but now three attempts on his life.

ANTHONY: Yeah. I mean, I think, I think there's something else we have to take into consideration, which is that there these are only the incidents we know about. Michelle Obama wrote about the fact that she was terrified about how many threats would come to the White House against not only her husband, but herself and her children.

And even in an era before there was social media in 1900, when the second president of the United States, who ended up being assassinated, William McKinley that was in the era of the, anarchists and so many leaders around the world. The empress of Korea, the president of France, the empress of Austria, they were all assassinated by these anarchists.

And she was terrified. And she predicted and she spoke out against the fear of and the threat of assassins. And unfortunately, her premonitions came through.

Jackie Kennedy often mentioned the fears to her husband, and he would dismiss them. And of course, I don't think any of the first ladies have endured such a horror at quite as much as Jackie Kennedy did. Mrs. Lincoln, of the four presidents who were killed, Mrs. Garfield was back in Washington -- was in New Jersey at the Jersey Shore. So she only saw him when he was after he was shot and trying to recover.

Ms. McKinley was not with her husband when he was shot. But she was at his bedside as, as he tried to recover. And, Mrs. Lincoln of course, saw it and was horrified and you know, she was a very emotionally, delicate person to begin with, but even a very strong person emotionally.

Somebody like Jackie Kennedy, seeing that even if it was a stranger, it would be traumatic, let alone, you know, your husband.

But it is something that, that goes with the office. Betty Ford tried to tease her husband. He was the target of two assassination attempts, both, ironically, by women. And she, of course, was a great feminist and she sort of tried to joke that -- well, maybe this is a little bit of equal opportunity, you know, trying to use some gallows humor. And luckily, no harm came to him.

But again, Nancy Reagan, another one whose husband was shot at the Washington Hilton, the same place where the attempt on the life was made yesterday. She used astrology as a way to try and figure out good days and good places where he should make appearances SANDOVAL: Yeah, absolutely. Just fascinating conversation to have. We

certainly would have loved to have heard from the first lady when she had the opportunity, when she was offered the opportunity, but completely understand after experiencing that trauma, why she did not. But nonetheless, Carl Sferrazza, thank you so much for having this conversation. Really appreciate your time.

ANTHONY: Thank you very much.

SANDOVAL: Great historic context, really good historic context.

All right. So to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, Iran ramping up diplomacy efforts in the region as talks with the U.S. stall. We'll bring you the very latest developments on the way.

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[02:47:31]

SANDOVAL: All right, let's get you some new information that's coming out of the Middle East at this hour.

Iran state media reporting that Tehran has given Pakistan a list of red lines to be conveyed to the U.S., not related to peace negotiations. Among those non-negotiables, nuclear issues and the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile, state media also reporting that Tehran's top diplomat is now in Russia, expected to meet with President Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister -- all of this to discuss war developments, among other things.

In the meantime, plans for other rounds of potential face to face talks between Washington and Tehran still up in the air.

Here's what President Trump had to say.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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)

SANDOVAL: Let's get more now from CNN's Eleni Giokos, who joins us live from Dubai.

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Good morning, Polo.

And, you know, there has been a flurry of diplomatic activity over the weekend, but it does not include the United States. And you just heard there, President Trump saying were not going anywhere. Didn't send any of his envoys to Islamabad when Iran's foreign minister had arrived in, you know, the whole auspices of, you know, discussing an off ramp to this war. You were talking about the red lines that Iran has revealed, and it's the nuclear issue, and its the Strait of Hormuz, frankly, those are the two main issues that president Trump is also focusing on. The question is, can they see eye to eye?

So apart from Abbas Araghchi being in Islamabad, he then goes to Oman to engage in talks with mediators there and currently now is in Saint Petersburg, in Russia, meeting with Vladimir Putin, and has also said that he's going to be meeting with Sergey Lavrov as well.

And what's really interesting, when he arrived in Russia, he says, as you know, we have always held meetings with Russia to discuss broad issues, especially regional and international matters. And of course, any issues have always been raised in our bilateral relations as well.

And of course, also the discussions specifically in Oman was what happens with the Strait of Hormuz. This is a key maritime passageway that affects both countries and frankly, now affecting the whole world. We also heard from the deputy parliament speaker, and he said this over the weekend. We will know under no circumstances return the Strait of Hormuz to its previous state, because this is an order from the leader of the revolution.

[02:50:02]

He also says one of the divine blessings of the war was that we realized if we place our foot on the throat of the Strait of Hormuz, as well as Bab el-Mandeb, 25 percent of the worlds economy would be affected.

And that's a very clear signal that this has now become an economic war. Not so much a hot war anymore. Iran, you know, trying to assert control over the Strait of Hormuz, the United States with the naval blockade, where Iran says because of the U.S. naval blockade, they cannot engage in any real negotiation.

We also know that the United States has been able to they say 38 ships turn away from crossing the naval blockade in the Gulf of Oman. And then, importantly, we've also seen the indictment and seizure of some of Iranian linked vessels in other seas as well.

What's also really vital here, Polo, at this point, is that President Trump says that everything that has happened over the past few days is not going to affect the ceasefire, which is clearly still holding as we wait to see if and when the two sides will eventually meet face to face.

SANDOVAL: And so we wait to see. Eleni Giokos, thank you so much for that live update.

Still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, the London marathon winner putting on a nearly superhuman display of speed and endurance. Just wait until you hear about his record shattering victory.

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SANDOVAL: Severe storm systems may have been tearing through parts of the central U.S. this weekend, generating some of these rare twin tornadoes that were spotted by storm chasers in Oklahoma on Sunday. Just some incredible video. And also in Texas, two people were killed and others were injured after storms caused widespread structural damage, just northwest of the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The severe weather threat is continuing, and its likely to continue into Tuesday as the system continues to move eastward and bringing risks of heavy rainfall, hail, damaging winds to a large swath of the Midwest from Chicago all the way down to Memphis.

With two world records that have been shattered at the London marathon this year, Kenyan runner Sebastian Sawe becoming the first athlete in history to officially run a marathon in under two hours. The winner of the men's race crossing the finish line in just one hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds.

Sawe telling the BBC that he was feeling strong as he was approaching the finish line and is so happy with his victory, he should, as should women's winner Tigist Assefa of Ethiopia, also setting a new world record as she finished the race with a time of two hours, 15 minutes and 41 seconds, beating her own previous record.

So, congratulations to both of them. And the record 59,000 runners who participated in this year's marathon.

Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. I'll be right back with you with more of your headlines in just a moment. Don't go anywhere.

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