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Shots Fired At White House Correspondents' Dinner, Suspect Arrested. Trump Safe After Shots Fired At Correspondents' Dinner; Suspect In Custody After Shots Fired At White House Correspondents'' Dinner; Man In Custody After Shots Fired At Gala Trump Attended; Trump Cancels U.S. Delegation's Pakistan Visit For Iran Talks; Central U.S. Under Threat Of Tornadoes, Hail Through Monday. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired April 26, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:01:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. Thank you for joining us. I am Victor Blackwell, and this is CNN's breaking news coverage of that shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner last night that President Trump attended.

It happened just after 8:30, as some guests were still trickling into the event, and our cameras captured the moment attendees first heard those shots on the red carpet. And they scattered to safety. Let me play for you right now that moment and a warning it may be disturbing.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

BLACKWELL: Maybe 15 seconds later, security and law enforcement, they rushed in to figure out where those shots were coming from.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where is it coming from? Where is it coming from?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no idea. Left, left. Down the hallway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait, wait, wait. Where is it coming from?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where is it coming from?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So, the shooting happened in a different part of the building than the dinner. So, a level up above the dinner.

This was moments after when you see Secret Service then rush in and get President Trump, Vice President JD Vance off the stage. The president later posted this surveillance video on social media of security reacting. He praised how quickly they acted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This was an event dedicated to freedom of speech that was supposed to bring together members of both parties with members of the press, and in a certain way, it did, because the fact that they just unified us in a room that was just totally unified. It was, in one way, very beautiful, a very beautiful thing to see.

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

One officer was shot, but saved by the fact that he was wearing, obviously, a very good bulletproof vest. He was shot from very close distance with a very powerful gun, and the vest did the job.

I just spoke to the officer and he's doing great. He's in great shape. He is a -- has very high spirits. And we told him we love him and respect him. And he's a very proud guy. He's very proud of what he does, Secret Service agent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And that Secret Service agent was the only person hurt. And as -- he's already out of the hospital. The suspect, Cole Thomas Allen, is 31 years old. He's from a suburb of Los Angeles. He is in custody.

The U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, says that he'll be charged with firearm use and assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon. He's expected to be arraigned on Monday.

Now, FBI agents were at a home in Torrance linked to Allen really into the early morning hours just a few hours ago investigating. CNN's Julia Benbrook now joins me from the White House. You were in the room when this happened. What can you tell us?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Victor. And honestly, still processing some of this this morning. As those shots were heard, there was panic.

[06:05:00]

There was confusion in the room. Everybody hit the ground and many people were hiding under tables, under chairs for safety. And of course, you've got the president of the United States, the first lady of the United States, the vice president, all there on that stage. There's also cabinet members throughout the room. You also had the student scholars there in the room who were being honored that night.

And there were a lot of eyes on this dinner. This is an event to celebrate freedom of the press. And this was going to be the first time that Trump attended as a sitting president. He had attended before he was elected as a guest, but he was actually going to make remarks there last night.

Instead, he ended up making those remarks here at the White House briefing room. And those were two reporters following this shooting. I do believe we have part of those to play for you now.

We don't have those at this time. But as he started, he said this was an event dedicated to freedom of speech. It was supposed to bring members of both parties and members of the press together, and in a certain way it did. He said that he thought that the room was unified in that moment, but no doubt a terrifying moment all at the same time.

Now, again, he has said -- Trump said while he was there that he wanted to come back out, he wanted to see this event go on. He said, essentially, the show must go on, but he was going to follow security protocols.

And then shortly after, within 30 minutes from that post, he said that he had been advised following protocols that he needed to leave the premises. So, that is what happened. He said, though, that he fought like hell to stay. He thought it was important to show that this event could still go on.

Now, he has also made it very clear that he wants to see it rescheduled. He said he is working with representatives of the White House Correspondents' Association to get this rescheduled within 30 days. And there are as more information coming in about this suspect, but one thing we are, of course, keeping an eye out for as this investigation plays out is motive here. We know he was armed with multiple weapons, as he did try and get through, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Julia Benbrook, joining us from the White House. Julia, thank you for that.

Joining me now is CNN law enforcement analyst and former Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow. Jonathan, thanks for joining me. Let's start here, Wolf, in his description of the security posture outside the Washington Hilton, said that he's been to this, obviously, many times. This was something -- a level he'd never seen before. The check three or four blocks away, intensified security.

What typically informs something like that? Is it simply coincidental that increased security happens the year that there is this shooting, or is it often the environment or specific threat that would lead to the type of security that has not been seen at this dinner before?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Victor, good morning. And to answer your question, it's the latter. It's the threat environment.

So, the Secret Service operates off of a threat based methodology when they're building out any type of security plan for the president of the United States or any of their protectees at any site, you know, that they may be going to. So in this case, because the president, this was going to be the first time at this event as the sitting president, there was a lot of, you know, publicity, you know, coming about this event, you know, leading up to last night. That really creates a lot of threat vectors that can manifest themselves for this type of event.

The Secret Service knows that. So, they actually start building out this security plan. And really what Wolf was saying is concentric rings of protection that radiate out from the center of the stage where the president was sitting.

So, you have multiple layers of defense at that site that radiate out, not just, you know, at the surface level, but it's 360 degrees. There's airspace security that goes on. There are a lot of components of the security program that the public just does not see.

Wolf did, you know, describe some of those elements that were, you know, out -- the outer perimeter, the inner perimeter, the magnetometers, all the way into the ballroom. So again, what we do know, though, is that security plan did work. It did prevent this threat from manifesting itself inside the ballroom and, you know, having tragic consequences.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And as we know, having covered these shootings at schools and grocery stores and movie theaters, there are degrees of soft targets, hard targets, any space around the president, obviously, is hardened.

[06:10:07]

But when you have the Washington Hilton, 1,100 rooms, thousands literally of people in that ballroom, how far can the perimeter be extended, right? So, this checkpoint that he crashed through was a level above the ballroom. Short of checking every person's baggage, TSA style, coming into the hotel as a guest, how do you keep those weapons out of the building when the president potentially comes in?

WACKROW: Well, again, what we don't know is, you know, some of those, you know, pre-attack elements. You know, what was the staging that the attacker went through to prepare for this evening? And I think that's going to be a critical part of this investigation is when did he set up, you know, the weapons and have that cache of weapons available to him to then go ahead and launch the attack at that main magnetometer site.

You know, timing here is also critical. If that attack was 60 minutes earlier, this would have been a tragic event with numerous casualties. And, you know, individuals hurt because that is the only place where the public was aggregating before they fully got screened going into the event.

So, understanding these attack dynamics, which I actually will underscore that it actually speaks to the premeditation. If this attacker did have a room or access into the hotel prior to the security program being fully stood up outside, again, that speaks to this, you know, calculated planning that he had. But again, what we saw was again, not relying on one element of the security plan, but that multiple overlapping layers of security actually did work last night.

BLACKWELL: The president says that he wants to have this event again within 30 days. And I imagine there are some logistical acrobatics that have to happen to do that, just to get all those people back in the room. But from a security perspective, what will that have to look like to be able to do it considering what happened last night?

WACKROW: Well, right now, what the Secret Service and their law enforcement partners are doing is with this subject, they're actually looking back, is this individual, while he was a lone attacker last night, was he influenced by any other type of group? Now, to me, what this incident really illustrates is the consequence of what I've referred to in the past as assassination culture.

It's this dangerous mix of grievance ideology and a sense of moral absolutism, you know, by an individual to take action. And what's really dangerous and what the secret service and the FBI and other law enforcement entities know is that this type of structure is really digitally native. So you may have this lone attacker, but they're influenced online, typically in social media chat rooms. And what's happening is violence is being normalized.

Really in this small echo chamber and really killing of notable people is encouraged. And really, we refer to this as the Mangione effect, right? It's where, you know, people are taking a sliver of grievance. They're finding a group of people that, you know, also align to that. They're socializing it online and then normalizing this violence.

That is the scariest part of this. And the Secret Service knows that. So prior to any other type of event for the president, they're going to go back and reassess the threat environment that's around all Secret Service protectees to ensure that they're picking up any type of digital signals of conversations in the wake of last night to see what this new threat environment looks like, if this was targeted against the president.

BLACKWELL: Jonathan Wackrow, I appreciate you informing the conversation. Thank you so much. Still ahead, the investigation into the shooting has stretched all the way to California. We have a team outside of a home linked to this suspect. That reporting is coming up after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:18:53]

BLACKWELL: That suspect in the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner is expected to be arraigned tomorrow. Three sources tell CNN that he's 31 years old. His name is Cole Thomas Allen from California, and that he was armed with a shotgun, a handgun, several knives when he rushed to a Secret Service checkpoint and exchanged gunfire with law enforcement. Here is interim D.C. police chief Jeffery Carroll on where the investigation stands now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) INTERIM CHIEF JEFFERY CARROLL, WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN POLICE: This afternoon, this evening, members of the United States Secret Service and the Metropolitan Police Department were here at the Washington hotel for a site detail for the Correspondents' Dinner. As the mayor mentioned, at approximately 8:36 tonight, an individual charged a U.S. Secret Service checkpoint here in the lobby area of the hotel. He was armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives. As he ran through that checkpoint, members of law enforcement from the United States Secret Service intercepted that individual.

This is a very preliminary investigation at this point. We do know that law enforcement exchanged gunfire with the individual. We do know that a U.S. Secret Service uniform division officer was struck in his vest.

[06:20:02]

He was transported to a local hospital for treatment. He seems to be in good spirits at this time. The suspect in this case, he was not struck by gunfire. However, he

was transported to a local hospital to be evaluated.

Again, we're very early in the investigation. We have members of the United States Secret Service, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the FBI here to continue to investigate this matter. But at this point, it does appear he is a lone actor, a lone gunman that does not appear to be any sort of danger to the public at this time. However, we are continuing to investigate this matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: OK, so that's the view from Washington. Investigators are also in California looking for motive in the shooting. CNN's Kyung Lah is reporting from outside a home that is linked to Cole.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're outside the home of 31-year-old Cole Allen. This is the FBI that is staging behind me. They came in. The local police are now pushing the media about half a block away. But what we are anticipating is that the FBI is going to be trying to gather more evidence at the family home.

This is in Torrance, California. It's a beachside community, a suburban area of small homes. And from what neighbors tell us, he has his family home here. We know that his father was seen in the community and very friendly. People say that he's a teacher.

His son is someone who a lot of people didn't see all that often, but a neighbor told me that he was in this community just as recently as a couple of days ago, and they were having a hard time wrapping their mind around what happened to this 31-year-old man. He is someone who graduated from college. He went to Caltech with the degree in engineering, and now has suddenly put this community on the map in this terrible way.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Torrance, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: CNN's Brian Stelter was at that dinner last night as well. And earlier, he spoke with Jim Sciutto about the suspect and the issue of gun violence in America.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: In this case, with the suspect, we don't know what he was thinking.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Right.

STELTER: We don't know if this event was just a crazy magnet. And that's what happened with this magnet. We don't know if he was there trying to shoot at journalists --

SCIUTTO: Right.

STELTER: -- or trying to shoot at the president but --

SCIUTTO: That's key. We do not know his target.

STELTER: We don't know.

SCIUTTO: As the police said, that will be part of the investigation.

STELTER: But I suspect the answer -- target is plural, because he brought multiple knives and have multiple guns. So, we don't know.

What you and I went through tonight, which was very mild compared to what so many other Americans have experienced, hundreds of thousands, millions at this point being put under lockdowns, being told there's an active shooter, being told there's a threat in their school or in their mall or in their town. This is unfortunately very normal in America. For us, it's unusual tonight, but what's one of the strange things about America is how normal this is now.

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

SCIUTTO: Yes.

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

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: So, where does the investigation go from here? We'll dig into that with our analyst. What the investigators are looking at as they begin, what is likely to be a wide ranging investigation. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:27:55]

BLACKWELL: We're closing in on the bottom of the hour. Let me bring you up to speed on the breaking news we're following this morning. This 31-year-old man in custody after shots were fired at the White House Correspondents' Dinner last night. It happened just after 8:30.

Video shows the moment that the president, and the first lady, were rushed off the stage by Secret Service. Law enforcement rushed into the room. Journalists, lawmakers, celebrities in the crowd ducked under tables for cover as law enforcement worked to secure that area.

Authorities have identified the suspect as Cole Thomas Allen. Public records show that he worked as a teacher in California. Authorities say that he was armed with a shotgun, a handgun, several knives when he raced past security towards the ballroom.

Back with us now is CNN's Julia Benbrook, who was in the room when this happened. Julia, when did you realize that there was something wrong? Did you recognize gunshots? Explain what happened right at the beginning for you.

BENBROOK: So I was with members of our team kind of on a far side of the room, but there was commotion. I wouldn't say that I heard gunshots specifically, but we knew there was noise over there. And then it was just this quick effect of everyone getting each other to the ground and very urgently.

And then with our team, also some of the waiters that were working in that event as well, we were all huddled under the table. And as people kind of tried to look up or use their phones to get video, there were others saying, get down, get down, because I think there was just not an understanding of exactly what was taking place.

That went on for a little while where we just didn't know where the threat was, exactly what the threat was. But we did know that those principles, the president of the United States, the first lady of the United States, the vice president, had been rushed off that stage.

And then kind of how the seating works, you know, these different news organizations have tables. They often invite guests that are members of the administration, high ranking cabinet officials scattered throughout that venue.

[06:30:01]

So, you don't know exactly where they are placed as well. And then this event is about press freedom. It is about celebrating the work of journalists here and also the future of journalism. There is -- it was expected to be a whole segment honoring student scholars who are already excelling in the field and want to work in this field. And I can't help but wonder what was going through their heads last night as they were at this once-in-a-lifetime event about celebrating this craft. And there were a lot of eyes on this because this was going to be the first time that Trump spoke at this as a sitting president. He had attended as a citizen before, but he was actually going to speak that night. Of course, this turn of events meant that that did not happen. He said he wanted the show to go on, but of course protocols meant he needed to leave. He did give remarks though in a very different setting in the White House press briefing room. And I want to play the beginning of those for you now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: But again, the response time was really incredible and we're going to reschedule, we're going to do it again. We're not going to let anybody take over our society. We're not going to cancel things out because we can't do that. We wanted to say tonight, I will tell you. I -- I fought like hell to stay. But they -- it was protocol that said, please sir, because they didn't know a lot of -- there was a lot of action going on and they didn't know could there be. Probably a lone shooter, but we'll find out. We'll find out very quickly. They have it very well under control.

So, I want to thank everybody very much and --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK (on-camera): And again, Trump said that he wanted to go back out there, because he thought it was important to show that this could go on. He is now emphasizing that he wants to see it rescheduled. He said he's working with representatives of the Correspondents Association to get something on the calendar within 30 days.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Julia Benbrook, you make such a good point about those students that, you know, as I was checking off the different profiles of people in the room, I'd forgotten they were there and to be there and witness this is striking.

Thank you so much for that report, and I'm glad you and everyone -- everyone's safe.

Be sure to watch "STATE OF THE UNION" later this morning. Dana Bash will be joined by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and mentalist and performer Oz Pearlman, both were at the dinner last night. That is at 9:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

With me now CNN senior law enforcement analyst Charles Ramsey. Chief good to see you.

I have been in that ballroom several times. I know as former D.C. police chief you probably have as well. And D.C. police they say that the suspect is believed to have been a guest at the hotel.

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST (on-camera): Yes.

BLACKWELL: The idea that and if he came from his room directly to where we saw him on camera, that he was able to come down from his room with a long gun, come to this terrace level of the ballroom is remarkable.

What -- what questions do you have this morning?

RAMSEY (on-camera): Yes, well first of all that that is problematic and I have been in that ballroom before. I've also been in hotels where POTUS was scheduled to come and speak, and when you come off the elevators, they actually had security set up so you could not go into the area where the event was taking place. At least that's in the hotels I was staying in, that's not -- I've not been in the Capitol Hilton like that, although I've been in the ballroom. So that is certainly something that needs to be answered.

He had two different weapons plus knives on him, which again means that, you know, so security had been there they would have seen it. So, they're going to dissect all this and find out again, but again that's one of the downsides of having these things in hotels. Because you can't totally secure it, because you have people that are staying there. And the Convention Center for an example might be a better venue, the Capitol Hilton has the largest ballroom. It is huge, but it's also jam-packed.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

RAMSEY (on-camera): And so I heard earlier, we were mentioning that other cabinet members and others spread out throughout the crowd. But as you know people are mingling, you know, you may be at table 60, but you're talking to somebody over at 34, you know. So nobody would really know where everybody's at because of the chaos and the confusion.

So it's really difficult, but I think the Secret Service as far as their main two people, that's the President and Vice President, they did an excellent job getting them to safety.

BLACKWELL: You make a good point is that and again the -- the terms we've all learned over the years of covering mass shootings is soft target versus half -- hard target. And the Capitol Hilton has 1,100 rooms. Literally thousands of people in that room and short of a TSA style checkpoint when you bring your luggage into the hotel which is common in some other countries and hotels have stayed in.

How do you keep the weapons off property much less out of the vicinity?

RAMSEY (on-camera): Yes, it's very difficult, that's one of the downsides. And obviously you're going to have to rethink that and I'm sure they will rethink that now the next one in 30 days may again be there, but you'll see a different security posture. No question about that.

[06:35:10]

They were really, I think, prepared more for people that may come from the outside in, as opposed to someone being already on the inside. When it happened, one of the first thoughts I had was, what, could this be a guest? Could this be someone who works there among, you know, you know, who could it be to get that close inside a perimeter? But this guy just simply ran past the security, but he was already in the building. And so that is -- that's an issue that they're going to have to, and I'm sure they are addressing.

BLACKWELL: Well, we showed some of the video of the searches happening outside this, or at this house in Torrance, California, at a home linked to this suspect. Talk to me about the value of the evidence on scene at the hotel, not just in the room, but maybe in the vicinity of that rush by the checkpoint.

RAMSEY (on-camera): Well, I mean, first of all, you've got a living suspect, so eventually there'll be a trial.

And so it's very important that they collect as much evidence as possible, certainly his home, certainly any relatives that he's close to, friends, perhaps. If he had a storage locker, a car, obviously the room that he was staying at, at the Hilton, they'll go through his social media profile. His computer has already been seized, no doubt, and they're going through everything there. They're trying to find a motive.

You know, we think because the President was there and the Vice President was there, he wasn't necessarily the target. I mean, it could have been journalists. It could have been anyone who was the target. It's hard to tell. We just don't know.

And unless he's actually speaking to the police and unless they find that kind of information during their searches, that's something we'll be continuing to kind of speculate on.

BLACKWELL: And it's quite possible that his target was no one in particular. We've seen that there have been people who execute these --

RAMSEY (on-camera): Very well (ph).

BLACKWELL: -- these mass shootings just for their own name recognition. So hopefully we'll get that information as the investigation continues.

Chief Charles Ramsey, always appreciate it. Thank you.

All right, the latest on our breaking news as we continue to cover what is happening in the investigation in both California and Washington. Kaitlan Collins was there as the shots were fired, and she'll describe what she saw and heard.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:42:05]

BLACKWELL: FBI Director Kash Patel was one of the many officials, cabinet officials, in the room last night when the shooting started. At a press conference afterward, he detailed what's happening right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: Thanks to our interagency partnership with the Department of Homeland Security and the Metropolitan Police Department, the FBI was rapidly deployed onto the scene, took over the evidence response unit, is examining all the ballistics that were found on scene to include the long gun and the shell casings. We are conducting witness interviews as we speak.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN anchor and chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins, was also there in the room. Here's her eyewitness account of how it all went down.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: I had eyes on the President as we were watching. I mean, it was a remarkable moment. There was no programming going on, as you know. We were seated at our tables, and then obviously Secret Service and law enforcement rushed into the room in a way that I have never seen in my life, coming down the main aisle.

And in that time, though, the President was still on stage for another 20 seconds, probably, because I looked over, he and the First Lady were speaking to Oz, the mentalist, who was supposed to be the entertainment during tonight's show. And then, obviously, they were rushed offstage. We saw the Vice President rushed off.

It took a little bit, though, before other cabinet secretaries were removed from the room. I could see the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent. I could see the health secretary, RFK., Jr., before he was taken out by security. The education secretary was literally seated right next to me during the dinner and was crouched on the floor with us as we were essentially waiting to see, was the threat clear.

And so when we were here in the briefing room tonight, obviously, as you noted, Jim, the President is no stranger to this, given he himself has been the target of two assassination attempts. And I asked the President whether or not his team that was here tonight had heard of any potential warnings or concerns of threats before the dinner took place.

Were you aware of any threats? Was your team aware of any threats beforehand? And do you believe you were the target of this tonight?

TRUMP: I guess. I mean, these people, they're crazy. They're crazy. And, you know, you never know. It was very far away from me. We had to go through a lot.

You know, we had resources all over. We had resources sitting at tables, literally in disguise, sitting maybe at your table. Who knows? But we had people all over the room.

So, he had a long way to go. That was really a first line of defense. And they got him. And they really, you know, they acted incredibly. No, we've had no notification. We had no idea. COLLINS: The President saying there was no notification ahead of time in terms of threats to him. Obviously, he is someone who has an intense amount of security around him wherever he goes. And so do all of the officials that I just mentioned that were seated around the room, including, as you know, Jim, top lawmakers like the House Speaker Mike Johnson.

And so, obviously, the President said he would keep us updated in terms of that. He also used the moment to tout his White House ballroom that he's building that has been the subject of lawsuits and criticism here at the White House because there are security components to it as well. They are basically reconstructing the bunker underneath. He's talked about the security with the walls, the windows, all of that, and he was basically arguing that tonight is evidence of why something like that is needed as we were hearing from the top officials here in terms of the job that law enforcement did.

[06:45:24]

I will say the President was asked about Secret Service and whether or not he thought that they were doing a good job tonight. Both he said yes, so did the new DHS secretary, Markwayne Mullin, as well as obviously there are still so many questions that remain about how this person, who D.C. police confirmed, was a guest at that hotel where you see, Jim, when you're going down to the terrace level where you go and check in with your security and with the magnetometers, there are regular guests just seated there watching everyone. It's an event here in Washington. There's a lot of people who go and watch to see who comes in, and obviously this person was a hotel guest.

And so, a lot of questions still going forward about the motivation and the planning that went into this attempted attack as the gunman came in tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Kaitlan, thank you for that.

Now for some historical context, we reached out to presidential historian Douglas Brinkley, and consider this, that more than 45 years ago, President Ronald Reagan was shot at that same hotel.

Jim Sciutto, ask him about the incident.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, of course, it's always going to be linked in history. Anytime anybody really goes and tours around Washington, D.C., they point out where Ronald Reagan was shot, rushed to George Washington Hospital, came near death. Hinckley, we know, who was the attempted assassin, and, you know, people don't realize Reagan's the only president in American history to have been shot as president and stayed on in office.

This evening, you heard Donald Trump mention Abraham Lincoln and presidents that are shot, but Reagan's unique in that way, and I think we also have to pull back and realize Donald Trump now is one of these figures in history that's had two major assassination attempts against his life, and that's a very small group, but it includes people like Harry Truman and Gerald Ford, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama. Many of them, you know, Bill Clinton had three attempts on his, but history kind of forgets some of those sometimes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: And of course, we have more on the shooting coming up, but we're also following developments overseas and the fate of a peace deal with Iran up in the air after President Trump canceled the U.S. delegation's trip to Pakistan.

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:51:52]

BLACKWELL: Of course, we'll get you the latest on the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in a moment. But right now, let's turn to the war with Iran. President Trump claims Iran sent a new offer shortly after he cancelled his envoy's trip to the Middle East.

CNN correspondent Paula Hancocks joins us now. Do we know anything about this offer?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): Well, Victor, to be honest, at this point, the only thing we've heard is from the U.S. president. There's been no clarification from the Iranian side as to whether or not they sweetened an offer that they had made.

We do know the foreign minister was in Pakistan. He called those talks fruitful. He said that he laid out a workable schedule, a workable plan, and then he went on to Oman, the previous mediators between the U.S. and Iran.

Now, as we understand it from state media, the foreign minister will be heading back to Islamabad after this trip. Now, whether that indicates that there has been some kind of change from this diplomatic stalemate, it's unclear at this point. But for the U.S. president, Donald Trump, he said that there is confusion within the leadership.

They don't have a unified plan at this point, and that is why he was cancelling the plan to send the delegation to Islamabad. Let's listen to his reasoning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have all the cards. We're not going to spend 15 hours in airplanes all the time going back and forth to be giving a document that was not good enough. And so we'll deal by telephone, and they can call us any time they want.

Interestingly, immediately when I cancelled it, within 10 minutes we got a new paper that was much better. (END VIDEO CLIPS)

HANCOCKS (on-camera): So the Iranian president has said that Tehran will not be forced into negotiations under pressure, saying specifically that the restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz, this U.S. naval blockade on Iranian vessels, Iranian ports, needs to be lifted before they decide to continue to negotiate. And we're seeing movement in those waterways.

In the Arabian Sea, we understand the U.S. Navy intercepted another vessel. This is one they say they had sanctioned the day before, believing it had been transporting Iranian energy goods elsewhere. In fact, they have said 37 ships have been redirected by the U.S. Navy at this point as part of their blockade. Victor?

BLACKWELL: Paula Hancocks with the reporting there. Thank you so much.

Let's talk about this dangerous weather system that's threatening to bring tornadoes and hail and damaging wind to parts of the central U.S.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is with me now. It has been a destructive weekend. I guess it's going into a new week.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (on-camera): Really, even just the last few days. I mean, we had terrible tornadoes on Friday. We had more destructive winds yesterday. And, yes, the threat continues not only for today, but even as we head into Monday as well.

So, let's kind of break down where we've seen the threat over the last few days. Again, you can see all of these dots here on this map. This represents where we've had some type of storm report in just the last 24 hours. There are even more if you go back 48 and even 72 hours.

Now, in terms of the threat for today, this is where we still have some ongoing storms. You can see that first round kind of sliding out over into the Atlantic, but you've got the stronger storms down here across portions of Louisiana and Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas. Even a couple severe thunderstorm warnings right now. Those are the orange boxes you see there on the map.

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And so, we've had several ongoing this morning. They're likely going to continue as we go through the rest of the day, but the greater threat is actually going to ramp up a little bit farther north. This area right here where you see the orange and yellow colors, that's where we could be looking at the very large hail, you're talking tennis balls or even larger. The potential for damaging winds 70, 80 miles per hour. And yes, even a few strong tornadoes say EF2 or perhaps even stronger.

Then we get into Monday, same threats, but we see it begin to shift a little bit farther off to the east. More of the focus here now becomes areas of the Midwest and the mid-Mississippi Valley.

BLACKWELL: Allison, thank you.

We've got more on the breaking news out of Washington. This man in custody after a shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner last night, the President, Vice President, the cabinet, they were all in attendance. They're all OK.

We've got the very latest after a break.

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