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Secret Service: Suspect In Shooting Outside White House Has Died; Official: Bystanders Shot Outside White House In Critical Condition; Trump: Iran "Agreement Has Been Largely Negotiated". Aired 9-10p ET

Aired May 23, 2026 - 21:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:00:30]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Brian Abel in Washington. We are following breaking news here in D.C. Tonight, the Secret Service says they shot and killed a man who opened fire with a pistol at officers at a checkpoint outside the White House. A bystander was hit in the gunfire and is now in critical condition.

The Secret Service says it is investigating. We also have audio from the police scanner when those shots were first reported. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Battalion Chief EMS and Battalion Chief 6 respond along with EMS 6, Engine 23, EMS 7 for a shooting at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest. Battalion Chief EMS 6, Battalion Chief 6 respond for a shooting at 17th and Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest. Medic 2 respond along with Battalion Chief 6 for a shooting at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest. Medic 2 respond along with Battalion Chief 6 for a shooting at 17th Street in Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: CNN correspondents Julia Benbrook and Brian Todd are joining us now with the latest. And Brian, you're outside near that scene. What can you tell us about what you've seen unfold there over the last few hours as this investigation progresses?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brian, there's a heavy police presence down here. Still a pretty tense scene down here. We're at 18th in Pennsylvania, just about a block away from where the shooting took place on 17th and Pennsylvania Avenue. I'm going to step aside, and our photojournalist Nick Leimbach is going to train his camera down to the spot where we believe the shooting occurred.

There is material on the ground there that Nick is going to train his camera in on there. You've got cones on the ground. You have what we believe are like medical related equipment on the ground. Could be a defibrillator there. There is either a set of bandages or clothing that appears to have blood on it there and there -- what we observe, what we believe were possibly some surgical gloves on the ground.

Now, law enforcement is still obviously down there and combing that area with those cones there. That could very well be the spot where the shooting occurred if they placed cones right there. Or it could be a place where they're collecting shell casings or other evidence.

But you can probably ascertain that, given, you know, that gathering of materials there and the cones placed there, that is either the spot where the shooting occurred or very near it where they're gathering some evidence, possibly some shell casings and other things. We've got a combination of Secret Service uniform police down here and also metropolitan Washington, D.C. police here. Streets are cordoned off in pretty much every direction for at least a block outside of the White House. We are about a block west of the White House, and again, you can see the heavy law enforcement presence there.

One other thing I can tell you because there has been construction in Lafayette Park. And if you're looking down with me, I'm looking in the same direction you guys are looking down at that shooting scene there. Just to the left of that, and about a half a block beyond it is Lafayette Park.

Lafayette Square Park has been closed for several months now pretty much because of construction. So that is all cordoned off. And you also cannot get right in front of the White House on a normal occasion. So that is to say that this gunman probably could not have gotten much closer than he did right at that spot. That is about the closest he could have approached the White House complex right there, given that there is construction in Lafayette Square Park that has, you know, resulted in that entire park being fenced off. And you cannot go in there.

You have not been able to go in there for several months, and you cannot go right in front of the White House. So that is something, just kind of another part of this whole thing.

Usually, on a normal basis, you would be able to go through Lafayette Square Park, and you would be able to walk right in front of the White House. But because of that construction, you have not been able to do that for several months. So you're looking, guys, probably at that spot where the gunman got, I believe, as close as he possibly could have there, Brian, to the scene. And they are still gathering evidence there at this time.

We do know that the gunman is dead, and a bystander was hit and wounded. That bystander was in critical condition. We don't know. And we're still trying to find out whether the bystander was hit by the suspect's initial gunshots or whether the bystander was hit by the resulting exchange of gunfire right after that.

We hope to get those details soon. Brian.

[21:05:02]

ABEL: Yes, more questions left to be answered. And we do know that right there near the White House Museum, the People's House, that is, even when Lafayette Park is open, that is a pinch point. So there's always a heavy Secret Service presence there.

I do want to go to the North Lawn of the White House now with Julia Benbrook. And, Julia, you were at the White House when these shots rang out. And for so many in the White House press corps, this is at least the second time of being near gunfire. Now, what did you see and experience there?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, way too familiar of a scene. It's just been a month since I saw a lot of these friends and colleagues at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. And that's where there was a shooting incident as well. Everyone on the ground tonight, everyone was running into the briefing room.

So from our perspective here on the North Lawn of the White House, I'll pause so maybe you can hear part of this.

The gunshots there, we heard what appeared to be dozens of gunshots. Now, we don't know how much of that may have come from the suspect and how much of that was return fire from Secret Service. But in this moment, we heard gunshot, shot after a gunshot, what almost sounded like fireworks at first until it was clear that was not the case.

Now, Secret Service rushed reporters off of the North Lawn from here, where I'm speaking to you now, to the briefing room. And then we were on lockdown there for roughly 40 minutes as Secret Service walked across the North Lawn patrolling that, of course, trying to keep everyone safe. President Donald Trump was here at the White House but Secret Service has confirmed that he was not impacted by this incident. He was safe during all of that.

But we did see a lot of officials in and out today as well, Brian. We know that there were some meetings with top aides as they were discussing what to do next with the Iran negotiations. So we saw motorcades coming in and out.

But just a scary moment here tonight as everyone heard that didn't know exactly what was going on. We now know that two people were shot, that the suspect pulled out a weapon and was shot by the officials there, that a bystander was also shot. And as Brian Todd pointed out, it's still unclear if that bystander was shot by the suspect or in that return fire. So still some questions there as well. But a scary night here for the White House press Corps as well as a much scarier night for those just a block away here.

ABEL: Yes, definitely. Good to know that you as well as Joe Wagner, photojournalist, and Alejandro, your producer, are safe. Julie Benbrook and Brian Todd. Thank you.

Let's bring in former FBI Supervisory Special Agent Daniel Brunner. And Daniel, I first want to get your take on what stands out so far as we've watched the early stages of this investigation unfold before us. DANIEL BRUNNER, FORMER FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: Well, what stands out is unfortunately, this is again, it appears to be targeted violence against the White House. You know, and the individual is going to be clearly investigated. They're going to look for additional threats and make sure clearly they've already mitigated the threat to the White House, one of the most secure facilities in the world. So I believe the White House is safe.

But now they're going to move on in the next stage of the investigation. The FBI is going to lead this investigation. The Washington field office, supported by the 55 other divisions across this country, they're going to be looking at this individual's background, his cell phone, his computers. They're going to analyze everything about it and find out if he was motivated by somebody, if somebody pushed him to do this, if there was a conspiracy or if this was a lone wolf attack, if he just decided. They're going to work with the ATF to find out the tracking of the firearms.

How did he obtain the firearms? How do you obtain the ammunition? Was he trained? Did he self-train? Where did he train? All of these are going to be questions answered within the next few days.

It's going to take some time to put all the pieces together, but it's going to start with carefully, you know, looking at his -- at his home and conducting a search warrant, getting a legally obtained search warrant, and find out if there's an additional threat there or if there are other individuals in this -- in this group.

ABEL: Okay, Dan, take it a step back because you did mention. Here we are again. This is basically the third time that there's been a shooting either near this President or near the White House with the correspondents dinner. And then just south of the White House by the Washington monuments.

And now tonight, have we seen anything in this month span, anything like this before?

BRUNNER: Well, I don't believe we've seen anything like this. But if you look at all four incidents, you can look at the butler, the correspondence dinner, and in this incident, all of these were lone wolf attacks. This was an individual that is determined to conduct the attack on their own. These are -- Former FBI Director Christopher Wray said this is one of the most difficult things to investigate to protect themselves from because it's just one individual determined to conduct the attack, determined to, you know, conduct the -- the evidence.

[21:10:10]

It isn't a group. There isn't somebody who could be providing information to the FBI. There isn't a group conspiracy.

It's one individual that's grabbing a gun or grabbing a vehicle, grabbing some sort of mechanism to conduct this attack. It's a lone wolf attack. It's extremely difficult to detect in advance. But fortunately, the training, the Secret Service, and both at the -- at the correspondence center and here, the Uniform Division are excellent trained or outstanding to respond to the threat and mitigate the threat before it even gets anywhere near anybody of value, the President or -- or his staff or anything like that.

So this was excellent training by the Secret Service, excellent response by the Uniform Division. The individual posed a threat, pulled a weapon, was without even -- the individual didn't even have to fire a gun. And the Uniform Division could open fire to stop the threat, mitigate the threat, not kill. They're not shooting to kill, they're shooting to stop the threat. And the Uniform Division acted perfectly well in protecting the President and the White House and all the officials that are inside.

ABEL: I want to focus a little bit more on what you just said there because they did focus on the threat and they neutralized the threat. But in the process, it sounds like a bystander was, was also hit, is in critical condition. What could be done in these situations to protect everyday citizens? Because this is a very busy area there. There's a lot of businesses in that area as well as obviously some tourist attractions.

BRUNNER: Absolutely. And let's be very clear. We don't know whose bullet, you know, wounded the individual, the civilian. We don't know.

It could have been the shooter. It could have been the Secret Service. And that's one of the things is Secret Service as an FBI agent for 20 years, I trained to shoot my target and to train it. And we have to mitigate the threat. We have to look at he threat.

Does the individual pose an imminent threat of deadly force or bodily harm to others individuals? Unfortunately, you know, not every -- not every bullet that I, you know, we fire to protect the community is going to end up. Some of them may not end up, unfortunately, but the ultimate thing is to mitigate the threat.

That individual, if that Secret Service uniformed division did not open fire, that individual could shoot and kill the uniformed division and shoot and kill those civilians. So we don't know whose round ended up, you know, in this unfortunate bystander. We'll find out. I'm sure we'll find out.

And if it was the Uniform Division, then it's unfortunate, but it is a necessary, you know, evil, if you want to say that, to make sure that threat is mitigated, that, that the individual is stopped from conducting their attack. If it was the attacker, then unfortunately, he was also shooting at the bystanders. We have to live -- this is the world we live in.

Unfortunately, this is how we live. The Uniform Division acted perfectly well and followed their training, you know, using the deadly force policy to protect not only that bystander, but all the other uniformed division officers and other civilians that were probably in the area.

ABEL: All right. Danielle Brunner, appreciate your expertise on this, sir. Thank you. BRUNNER: My pleasure.

ABEL: And stay with CNN. We are also following the breaking news out of the Iran war. President Trump says a deal with Iran has been largely negotiated. Details on that ahead.

Plus, Russia launches a barrage of missiles into Ukraine. Tonight, you're in the CNN Newsroom.

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[21:17:09]

ABEL: We have breaking news in the war with Iran tonight. President Trump says a deal with Iran has been largely negotiated, saying, quote, "Final aspects and details of the deal are currently being discussed and will be announced shortly." Trump also saying, "The Strait of Hormuz will be opened."

But Iran state media is disputing that claim, saying the critical waterway will remain under Iranian control. Former State Department Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller spoke to my colleague Jessica Dean in the last hour about what comes next.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AARON DAVID MILLER, FORMER STATE DEPT. MIDDLE EAST NEGOTIATOR: So what essentially has happened is that Iran and the administration have bought themselves a ticket to a set of negotiations that are going to resemble, I would phrase it this way, a root canal and a migraine headache and a series of them. Because every single issue is a universe of detail and complexity. What to do about the HEU, the 900 pounds, and now it's 60 percent. A matter of weeks could get to 90 percent.

But we're nowhere near jess anything that normal humans would regard as a serious effort to actually reach an agreement that would constrain Iran's enrichment activities.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Trump says he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier today. An Israeli source telling CNN Israel's main concern is, there will be a narrow agreement that does not address Iran's nuclear program or stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

Meanwhile, over in Ukraine, explosions heard tonight in Kyiv. The city's mayor saying at least nine people were injured and hits on at least two high rise residential buildings. The Ukrainian Air Force saying a medium range ballistic missile was launched by Russia. The Oreshnik missile is capable of carrying nuclear or conventional warheads.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered retaliation for what he said was a Ukrainian drone strike on a college dormitory in Russian occupied territory. We are joined now by retired U.S. army Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt.

And General Kimmitt, talk to us about this type of missile. What signal does that send to you, do you think?

BRIGADIER GENERAL MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, it certainly shows the determination of Vladimir Putin to punish the Ukrainians for whatever happened in that particular incident, which is still being investigated. The two most important things about this medium range ballistic missile is, number one, that it's hypersonic, so it's almost impossible to detect or intercept. And number two, it carries multiple independent rocket vehicles on it. So essentially, the head blows off at one point and sends out a multiple of other rockets. So it can hit three or four to five different targets at the same time.

So it's a pretty lethal piece of equipment. And it says it's a signal being sent by Vladimir Putin that he wasn't going to take what the Ukrainians are alleged to have done.

[21:20:07]

ABEL: How often has that missile been used? To the best of our knowledge.

KIMMITT: Not a lot. It's hypersonic missiles, fairly new into the battlefield, first appearing in Ukraine a few years ago.

ABEL: Okay. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier said intelligence from Ukraine, Europe, and the U.S. showing Russia was preparing to strike with this missile. How does that help prepare, having that intelligence?

KIMMITT: Well, the most important thing is that even if you can't necessarily intercept the missile, you can prepare your people that are near the anticipated target area to at least take cover. Now, if they did want to use their Patriot missiles, which it sound like they didn't, it would still be fairly hard to catch it, but they probably could use Patriot missile to knock it down if they had a pretty good idea of where it was coming from.

ABEL: All right, and Volodymyr Zelensky, excuse me. Tonight's attacks come after successful drone strikes earlier this week in Russian- occupied territory, one targeting a drone pilot training facility. What do strikes like these tell you about Ukraine's drone strategy at this moment?

KIMMITT: Well, we've advocated for a long, long time that we, as we advise Ukrainians that the focus shouldn't be on the front lines. You can use your small, fairly unsophisticated drones to keep the Russians generally pinned down, but you want to go after those deeper targets. You want to go against their drone factories, which is what was said to be the target by President Zelensky. You want to be going after their supply depots.

You want to be going after the logistics depots, anything that they can use to bring up to the front line and continue the attack. And so, we call that the deep battle rather than the close battle. And I think the drones are a new addition to the battlefield that allows to do with very precise drones, which used to be done by very imprecise artillery.

ABEL: And General, speaking of imprecise artillery, with this being kind of a newer tool in the toolbox to hit deeper into Russian territory. How accurate are they?

I know, and I asked that, knowing that, you know, some of the things that Russia puts out isn't always accurate, but they did say that one of those drones hit a dorm, which I imagine would not have been the target. So how accurate or inaccurate can those drones be?

KIMMITT: Well, most of them are what we call FPVs, first-person drones, which are actually used and guided by a human being wearing a head mask, for lack of a better term. Could it hit a dormitory? Absolutely. It could well have been that the dorm -- that the drone had been shot at by a Russian facility knocked out the wing, and instead of it going onto its target, may have just tumbled to the ground and hit that dormitory.

So I don't think this was necessarily intentional. It could well have been that the electronics petered out on it. But more than likely, it was probably intercepted, knocked down without the explosive on it igniting. And so, the explosive went off when it hit the ground.

ABEL: And General, given your experience, where do you think this war goes next?

KIMMITT: Three months after the war started, I wrote it for the Wall Street Journal, saying this thing is going to turn into a bloody slog, a First World War type of environment. And that's exactly what's happened. I didn't want to be prescient, but unfortunately, I was. The only way this war is going to change is by diplomacy, not by warfare.

ABEL: All right. General Mark Kimmitt, thank you very much, sir, for your expertise.

KIMMITT: Thank you.

ABEL: President Trump has been briefed on the deadly shooting outside the White House. The very latest, next right here in the CNN Newsroom.

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[21:27:50]

ABEL: Back to our breaking news now. An investigation is underway after the Secret Service says officers shot and killed a opened fire at a checkpoint near the White House. You can hear the moment it happened from our camera on the North Lawn.

Certainly, an unsettling moment. Let's bring back in now Steve Moore, a retired FBI supervisory special agent.

And Steve, we just heard or seen, I guess rather those gunshots that sounded like so many. We know that a revolver was involved based on our information that the shooter, the alleged shooter has. That sounds like a lot more than just revolver shots. What did you make of that?

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, that would be him lifting the weapon and being disarmed by who knows how many uniformed Secret Service agents. Maybe even if they had any kind of advance warning, they have other shooters from different directions with fixed shooting points. So it could have been several officers shooting. And at the, you know, when something like this happens, somebody comes up, and maybe you have three armed officers looking at it.

And you're not going to sit here and say, do you want to shoot or do you want to shoot? You all shoot. And that's why you hear a lot. If there were 20 shots, it's not somebody, you know, mag dumping twice on somebody. It's three people shooting six or seven times.

ABEL: Yes. And we do know that that is a usual Secret Service checkpoint already. So there's a lot of agents that are there, uniformed agents usually. We also now know the man that was shot and killed, Nasir Best, had previous encounters with agents and had mental health issues.

When do these kind of encounters reach a point where that person should be taken into custody or at least held for some time in an effort to avoid what we've seen tonight? And what do you make of the fact that a person that was on police radar was able to get that close to the White House?

[21:30:17]

MOORE: The problem is, and yes, I understand that entire thing. But I'll tell you, there are so many people who have mental health issues that are on people's radars. When I was a young FBI agent, somebody who had mental health issues came to the FBI office and tried to hurt a bunch of agents. And so, we're familiar with these people, but we don't, as a nation, have really ways to deal with them.

Right now, the way we're dealing with them is letting them live in boxes on the side of the road. But what they need is some inpatient care, which we, as a society, I'm not sure we have. But it's every department, every federal agency has people of whom they are aware, but there's little to do until they pull a gun on someone.

ABEL: Yes. Steve, I am curious that when somebody is on law enforcement radar, we had another expert on in the previous hour that said there's thousands or at least, you know, 8,000 names known to law enforcement like this. Are there different threat assessment levels that are that are assigned to individuals that are on that list? How does that, how does that work? How does that play out?

MOORE: Well, yes, that's exactly where -- that's a great question, because that's exactly where they're headed with this. When you get somebody who is, say, schizophrenic or they are considered delusional or irrational, there's really not much you can do. You can't get an accurate view of how dangerous they could be.

Yes. When we -- the big threats we're looking at, or law enforcement, Secret Service, FBI, what you're looking for is people who are sane enough to put together a competent, effective, unfortunately, attack against somebody, but still has mental issues. When you get to the schizophrenic or somebody who is homeless, something like that, and they don't even have the capability necessarily to consistently feed themselves or take their medicine, they're less of a threat because their chances of success in an attack are extremely low.

What we're worried about is the person who's a sociopath, who is very good with guns and can plan things very well.

ABEL: So it sounds like what you're telling me, Steve, is that as investigators look into potential suspects and people that may do harm, that there's some sort of threshold that they're measuring against about that individual's ability to actually act upon those threats.

MOORE: Yes. Yes, there really is. That's part of the -- the threat matrix. If you have somebody who is say, institutionalized and says every day, I'm going to go get a gun and kill the president, that person, as long as they're institutionalized, they're way off the charts in dangerousness.

But ability to conduct the attack is at zero. Somebody who talks a big game about hurting somebody, and they're schizophrenic on the side of the road. They are -- the threat level isn't zero, but their chances of getting past armed guards are not good.

And so there is not enough resources to go past, go get everybody, and monitor them. So you have to decide which one is the greatest ultimate threat.

ABEL: All right. Steve Moore, thank you very much for your insights tonight, sir.

MOORE: Thank you.

ABEL: We have breaking news out of California tonight where Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency in Orange County as emergency crews respond to an overheating chemical tank that officials say is at risk of leaking a dangerous toxin into the air or even triggering a catastrophic explosion. About 50,000 people are being told to evacuate. This is only a few miles from Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm in Orange County, though both parks are outside of the evacuation zone as it currently stands.

Let's go straight to CNN's Veronica Miracle for us in Los Angeles, and Veronica, crew say the tank's temperature increased in the last few hours. We know they've been trying to work against that. What's the latest that you're hearing?

[21:35:07]

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brian, it's kind of a worst- case scenario here. When officials took to the press conference podium earlier today, they said they had bad news to report. They have -- what they've been doing is essentially spraying that overheating tank, trying to cool the temperature of the chemical down. But they reported that it's actually been increasing about a degree every hour.

Yesterday morning, it was at 77 degrees, and today they reported, at last check, about 90 degrees. Now, there's two potentially very bad scenarios here. You mentioned them.

One of them is thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals leaking from the tank. The other is a huge explosion, and there is a blast radius that could potentially be impacted with catastrophic damage.

But what officials are saying is that anybody who is outside of the red zone, outside of the evacuation zone, if you are not one of the 50,000 people that have been ordered to leave your homes, you're going to be okay. And there's no health risk. In fact, you don't even need to wear a mask.

However, for those who are inside the evacuation zone, there is potential massive risk for damage and health issues. And 15 percent of people who've been ordered to leave are actually refusing to leave. So that's not good.

But what officials are saying is that just by smelling the odor, that doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to have health issues, but it can cause respiratory issues. And there are some residents who have been reporting instances of dizziness. So there are definitely concerns.

The chemical in question, it's called MMA, and it's a substance that is used to manufacture plastics.

Now, what officials are hoping they can do is to continue to cool down the tank and get the temperature lower. And by doing that, they're hoping that the chemical will harden from the outside in. It'll neutralize the threat, and it's going to be okay. But there's no guarantees that that's going to happen.

They actually don't know what's going to happen. They're playing it hour by hour. The company, GK and Aerospace, they released a statement. They have apologized for this. They say they're working with emergency officials.

But this is really an hour-by-hour situation, Brian and tens of thousands of people impacted on this memorial holiday. Back to you.

ABEL: And we know you and your team will continue monitoring that hour by hour as well. Veronica Miracle for us in Los Angeles. Veronica, thank you.

Coming up, why the midterms could bring the Country. The largest loss of black political representation ever. You're on the CNN Newsroom.

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[21:41:18]

ABEL: After a Supreme Court ruling last month significantly weakened parts of the Voting Rights Act, some black legislators are warning redistricting efforts could erode black representation in Congress. That dynamic has prompted at least one intraparty fight this midterm election cycle.

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose current seat was impacted by the state's new map, is now facing backlash from some black Democrats for deciding to run in a different majority minority district. Black legislators say that seat should be represented by a black Democrat.

CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein is joining us now. And Ron, big picture, what kind of impact could these new maps actually have on minority representation in Congress?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, the big picture is that we are likely to see in this election because of the redistricting, the gerrymandering that has gone on in red states, the single largest reduction of black political representation in American history. People compare it, what we're watching to the period in the 1870s and 1880s when the post-Civil War Reconstruction was violently dismantled. But the most seats that were ever lost in one election in that era was four.

This year, the redistricting is likely to erase seats now held by black legislators in North Carolina, South Carolina, Missouri, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama.

And in a slightly different category, what we're watching in Florida, where the majority minority district is still in place, but a Democrat whose own district has been unraveled is moving to run in it. So overall, we could see a larger step back in black political representation, likely to see a larger step back in black political representation this year than in any single election in American history.

ABEL: I mean, you laid out a pretty expansive impact there, Ron. We've, we've covered a lot of developments across the country about redistricting. But taking a step back again, how does this push play into Republicans' larger goals?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, you know, I think in the long run, what we're going to see out of this redistricting war is minimal partisan gain and maximum civic damage. Republicans have clearly gained an advantage in the 2026 cycle. They've been able to shift more seats in their direction than Democrats were able to do, in part because of the ruling by the Virginia Supreme Court. But by 2028, this is pretty likely to be awash in the partisan terms.

You know, people I think, don't often recognize that if you look at the core red states, the 25 states that voted three times for Donald Trump, they control 185 congressional seats. And Republicans have been very aggressive about redistrict. You know, the 19 states that voted three times against Donald Trump, the core blue states, they also control 185 congressional seats.

And though Democrats have been on the back foot in this election, party strategists are increasingly confident that by 2028, every state with unified Democrat Democratic control, including New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Maryland, Colorado, maybe Minnesota and Pennsylvania by then are going to act because there is so much outrage in the party about what has happened, particularly in the Southern states.

So you may end up with very little partisan advantage. Either way, when all of this is done, what you are going to end up with is a lot fewer competitive seats, a lot less chance for voters to make their opinion truly felt, and also an historic, as I said, rollback in black political representation.

ABEL: Well, before all of that dust settles, in your view, how should Democrats be approaching this? Do they need a more unified message to handle races like Florida's 20, where Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz is running?

[21:45:06]

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, well, like I said, that is kind of the variation on the theme. The core theme is what's happening in most of the red states is that districts that are majority minority now that have black Democratic representatives are being dissolved and dispersed those populations into districts that are going to in all likelihood elect white Republicans. And there's not much Democrats can do about it in those states. The real battlefield, I think, you know, it kind of changes the nature of the '26 election for Democrats because the ceiling on the number of seats they can win in the House has clearly gone down.

Their job now really I think is to win the House by one seat because their redistricting cavalry is just over the horizon in '27, '28. I think it's entirely possible that after this election, Democrats will have more moves left to make in terms of gerrymandering.

This really is no way to run a country. I mean, as I say, the ultimate partisan impact may be very little in the end, but you're going to see a tremendous loss, loss of moderate members of competitive seats, and a black representation.

It really calls out for some kind of national truce. But it may be the only way you can get to that is if Democrats kind of show that in this post '26 period, they can respond as ruthlessly as Republicans have moved in this year.

ABEL: And I know it's not an apples-to-apples comparison, but given the different factions between the two parties. But we have seen what a 1-C rule looks like, and it hasn't been very effective. Ron Brownstein, appreciate you. Thank you.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, thanks for having me.

ABEL: All right, take care. The family of NASCAR superstar Kyle Busch says the two-time Cup Series champion died from complications of severe pneumonia that turned into sepsis. Busch passed away on Thursday, one day after the Associated Press reports you. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance after becoming unresponsive. He coughed up blood and was short of breath while testing at a racing simulator for this weekend's 600-mile race. Sepsis is the body fighting itself while dealing with an infection. Busch leaves behind his wife and two children. Kyle Busch was 41 years old.

Busch had been preparing for a busy weekend. He was entered in two races before he was hospitalized. Many of his fellow competitors on the track will now display a special decal to remember Busch. CNN's Dianne Gallagher has more on the man known by many as Rowdy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think about his kids and his wife. That's hard to think about.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My prayers go out to the family.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): The sudden death of Kyle Busch at just 41 years old, shattering the racing world. The two- time NASCAR Cup Series champion's family announced just hours before his death Thursday that he'd been hospitalized with a severe illness and would not be racing this weekend.

The AP, citing several sources, reports that on Wednesday Busch became unresponsive while testing a racing simulator. CNN has obtained a 911 call made from a motorsports training center in Concord, North Carolina, Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got an individual that's shortness of breath, very hot, thinks he's going to pass out and is, he's producing a little bit of blood, coughing up some blood.

GALLAGHER (voiceover): NASCAR announced Busch's passing just 24 hours later. Less than two weeks ago, during a race, Busch radioed for medical assistance.

VOICE OF KYLE BUSCH: Can somebody try to find Bill Heisel? He's the Hendrick doctor guy. Tell him I need him after the race, please.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, do you want Mr. Bill at your car or at your bus after the race?

BUSCH: Bus, I'm going to need a shot copy. He's going to --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He'll be at your bus.

GALLAGHER (voiceover): The broadcast noted he'd been battling a severe sinus infection.

STEVE O'DONNELL, CEO NASCAR: To me, Kyle Busch just defines what it means to be a racer in NASCAR. Everything about it. The fire, the greatness, the heart that sometimes you rarely saw. The sport was truly lucky to have them.

GALLAGHER (voiceover): The winningest driver in NASCAR history with 234 victories across the top three series, Busch was a polarizing figure. Nicknamed Rowdy or KFB, he often relished in being the villain. Fans either fiercely loved or hated Busch, but everyone had an opinion.

The Las Vegas native won the cup series title in 2019 and in 2015, famously after breaking bones in both legs in a crash the first week of that season. Tributes pouring in from all over the sports world and beyond. Athletes, former teammates, rivals, and others remembering Rowdy.

This emotional post from teammate Austin Dillon, who wrote on Facebook, "I can't thank you enough, KB. You are the ultimate racer and my favorite teammate and driver of all time. I always felt like I had your back and you had mine. I love you, brother."

But Busch's enduring off track legacy family, his wife Samantha and two children, Brexen and Lennox, were his world. The couple struggled with infertility for years. In 2015, they started the Bundle of Joy Fund to increase awareness and help others offset the financial burden of fertility treatments, they told the Tamron Hall show.

BUSCH: When we were starting to go through it, we were trying to research and look about it and find out some information, and, well, what does this mean? Where do we go? And there wasn't a whole lot out there.

[21:50:17]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And a bow in front of the fans.

GALLAGHER (voiceover): Just one week ago, Busch took his signature victory bow after winning the truck race and reflected on his career.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why do these moments never get old, Kyle?

BUSCH: Because you never know when the last one is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: And all too prophetic answer. Diane Gallagher, thank you. We'll be right back.

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ABEL: Back to our breaking news now. The Secret Service says agents shot and killed a gunman who opened fire on officers near a checkpoint at the White House. And you could hear the shots from our camera at the White House North Lawn.

[21:55:06]

CNN correspondent Brian Todd is near the scene of that shooting. And given what we just heard, Brian, I'm sure that there is a lot of evidence markers near where you are. You are learning now more about the suspect, though. What are you hearing?

TODD: Right, Brian. First I'm going to show you though, there is some additional activity with law enforcement right at the spot where the shooting occurred. At least we believe that's right where the shooting occurred. I'm going to step aside, and our photojournalist is going to zoom right past me down to the spot where the shooting occurred.

You now can see law enforcement personnel actually combing through that spot where the shooting occurred. We believe that's where it is. We saw some medical equipment there. We saw some what we believe were either bandages or clothing that were bloodied.

We saw -- we saw some surgical gloves on the ground. Now you can see some law enforcement personnel actually kind of combing through that area. Also, we have a piece of video we want to show you. ABC News correspondent Selina Wang says she was getting ready to post a video.

She was taping a video to post on social media on her phone when the shooting occurred. She was outside the White House but in the complex. Here's a clip of her response to the shooting when it happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SELINA WANG, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: That President Trump has said a deal is close only for the two sides to remain far apart.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: And that was ABC News correspondent Selina Wang at the moment the shooting occurred right there at the White House complex.

Some information that we are picking up now in our reporting from our colleagues Josh Campbell, Holmes Lybrand and Evan Perez about the suspect. According to three law enforcement sources, the suspect is identified as 21-year-old Nasir Best. According to one source, he had previous encounters with the Secret Service including two in June and July of 2025, one when he blocked an entry lane to the White House. Another when he was arrested for attempting to enter a White House complex driveway. Brian.

ABEL: All right, Brian Todd for us tonight. Brian, thank you.

And thank you all for joining me tonight. I'm Brian Abel. Stay with CNN for the latest on this breaking news.

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