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State of the Union

Chaos At Washington's Biggest Annual Dinner; Rep. McCaul On Shooting At Washington's Biggest Annual Dinner; Will Shooting Push Congress To Fund DHS?; Aired Chaos at Washington's Biggest Annual Dinner. Official: Shooter's Writing Indicate Anti-Trump Ideology. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired April 26, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:40]

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to this breaking news edition of "State of the Union." I'm Dana Bash in Washington.

The president and his cabinet are safe this morning, after they were apparent targets of a gunman outside the White House Correspondents' Dinner last night.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told me this morning that the suspect, who is in custody, is not cooperating, but authorities are digging into his history and examining his home in California and the hotel room where he stayed. The same hotel where the president was set to speak last night.

This is security video that President Trump released of that moment. The suspect had been identified. He has been identified, rather, as 31-year-old teacher from California. He's expected to be arraigned tomorrow. Investigators do believe, so far, he was acting alone.

Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Jared Moskowitz who has a dramatic story what happened to him last night. Thank you so much for being here.

You thanked the House Majority Leader, Steve Scalise, on the other side of the aisle from you, for helping to bring you into a secure room. And I believe we have a photo of the moment when you are making your way into that room. Describe that.

REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): So, you know, I heard -- I heard a shot and then I heard plates, you know, sounded like something crashing and then, you know, just a -- a bunch of people entered the room with guns drawn. Everyone got down.

I got down for a couple of seconds. You couldn't figure out, you know, if they were in the room looking for somebody, like, if the shooter was in the room.

And then you realize they were securing the room and they were going to get their protectees. You know, there's -- there's a, you know, cabinet members, you know the speaker, the majority, other people, you know, in the room and, you know, they're jumping on tables, moving chairs.

I mean it was -- I mean it was amazing what law enforcement was doing to do this quickly. They did a fantastic job. And I'm happy to hear the Secret Service agent who -- who was shot is -- is -- is doing well.

And so, you know, my table was by the exit as it turns out. That was fortunate. And so I saw them getting Steve. And so I popped up and said, Steve, can I come with you? And he said to his detail, he's a member. Grab him. And, you know, Steve grabbed me and put me into -- into the secure room with him.

You know, regular members don't have anything, right? We don't -- we don't -- we don't have any detail. We don't have any protection.

There's a -- there's a fund we've been given when we're out and about. But in an event like that, we're just like everybody else, right? Only leadership has that.

And so, yes, I'm very thankful for Steve for -- for letting me come with him and putting me into the secure room. And when I was in there then, a couple of members of the -- of Trump cabinet were then put in there. I'm not going to say who they were, because they were working the event. They were very nice. Give me a thumbs up. Shook my hand. But they were -- they were already responding to what was happening.

BASH: And Steve Scalise, of course, was a victim of political violence. He was severely hurt back in 2017. He was shot.

MOSKOWITZ: Yes. I mean, yes. I mean, me and Steve both have had assassination attempts against us. I had one last year by a constituent who's now serving 25 years. Steve was obviously more serious because it was carried out. Mine was stopped before it happened.

But also, I'm from Parkland, right? I graduated Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, you know. And I -- I obviously things that I've learned, you know, from that event. I mean, I always look for exits any time I'm in a room. That's why, you know, once I realized what was going on, I -- I wanted to get out. I didn't want to stay.

And so, yes, it's a -- it's a terrible reality. It's something that I've dealt with and, you know, watched all those families go through, you know, eight years ago in Parkland. And, you know, you learned what worked in the school, what failed, you know, security, perimeters, what works.

And -- and you realize, look, we -- we can do a lot of stuff we can mitigate it. But if someone really wants to try to cause harm, it's almost impossible to prevent it.

And so it's the world we live in. And it's a sad reality. And it's not something that we should have to deal with. It's not something my kids should have to deal with.

BASH: Yes. Well, absolutely. Talk a little bit more about the assassination attempt on you and the trauma from that, particularly given the fact that as you said you represent Parkland and you went to that school.

MOSKOWITZ: Yes. I mean -- I mean now, I have police officers outside my house all the time. I have -- I have a detail when I'm out in my community, because we're very exposed.

[11:05:03]

But it was a constituent of mine. It wasn't like someone far away, eight miles from my house, former felon, was target practicing in his backyard.

The only reason we know about this is because an anonymous person heard that and called the police. He didn't threaten me. We -- he was totally off the radar.

And when police arrived at the house, they found two guns, 3,000 rounds of ammunition, a vest, a scope, a silencer. He was googling where my wife worked. He was researching, shooting someone from far distances. He had an anti-Semitic racist manifesto, and he had a target list. And I was the only name on -- on the target list.

And so he was prosecuted by the Department of Justice. And he's now serving 25 years.

But, you know, I tried to shield my kids from all that. And they heard from their friends that, you know, someone tried to kill -- kill your dad. And then, you know, the kids asked, you know, did he come to the house?

And yes, no. I mean, me and Steve going out, again, two people who both had to deal with this. I mean, you know, and -- I mean, you know, Steve -- Steve doesn't walk well. You know, he can't -- he can't even -- he couldn't run.

You know, as people were running, he couldn't run. And so it's just, you know, yes, it's a terrible reality. Trust me.

You know, my -- my wife, obviously, you know, allows me to do this job because she's, you know, home taking care of the kids, which is a lot of work. And she supported me for 20 years.

But I'm telling you, I hear it from her. And I know a lot about the other spouses of my -- of members. We -- they talk about it all the time, like, it's enough, you know. It's time to maybe go do something else.

I mean, a lot of the spouses -- a lot of the spouses really want their members to come home. Yes.

BASH: So, I know it's a complicated question. But what is one of the first things that you think can be done to mitigate, aside from the obvious, which is to bring the temperature down, which doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon. And we have, you know, maybe a period of 24 or 48 hours after things like this. And then everything goes back to the way it was.

MOSKOWITZ: Yes. I mean, look, there's mitigation we can do, right? Obviously, you can bring the temperature down. I mean, there's a whole hate industry online, obviously. That has total immunity, you know, under laws that were written in the '90s.

You know, that could -- that could be dealt with. You know, we could pass, obviously, different, you know, gun violence prevention. We did that in Florida after the shooting.

I wrote that law, along with Republican colleagues. We raised age to 21, red flag laws, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars in the mental health school safety. We -- you could do lots of those things, but you're not going to prevent all crime.

And so there's just -- there's more guns out there, Dana, than people.

BASH: Yes.

MOSKOWITZ: And here's a guy who had no history. Those are the people who are the most scary. They get radicalized online, you know. Here's a guy who had no history apparently, went and bought a gun and did this. That's why he was able to get through having a room there. Because when they did the criminal background check, and everyone staying in the room, he didn't pop up.

BASH: He didn't pop up. So particularly given the experience that you have representing, Parkland, and your own horrible experience, are you concerned about how the suspect would never might get the room there?

As you said, there were no flags that we know of, that he was able to charge the checkpoint and fire up to eight shots?

MOSKOWITZ: Well, obviously, you know, this is my second time going to the event. I went to it two years ago. And it was a very same situation.

The hotel is open, right? The hotel is open. They have guests staying there. And so the perimeter they set up is around the ballroom. OK.

And so, you know, obviously, I'm sure they'll look at it. They're experts. Obviously, the Secret Service did a -- a great job. Law enforcement did a great job in the response. But they'll have to look at maybe expanding, you know, checkpoints in the future.

Because the reason why I heard the shot is not because it was in the lobby upstairs, he was downstairs near the checkpoint to the ballroom.

BASH: Oh, it's still -- just for people who don't know.

MOSKOWITZ: Yes. One level up.

BASH: So level up.

MOSKOWITZ: Yes. One level up.

BASH: But it's not in the regular lobby.

MOSKOWITZ: It's not in the regular lobby, right. Because there were -- there are multiple layers.

But, you know, at the end of the day, they'll have to look at things like that. Should they have to expand -- expand things out?

BASH: The Department of Homeland Security, which includes Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies, they are still not funded. And there has been a shutdown of that agency for many, many weeks.

Do you think that this is going to be a wake-up call for finally some bipartisan agreement to get that agency funded?

MOSKOWITZ: Yes. We -- we need to get the agency open. You know, obviously, we got to figure out how to -- how to do that. You know, the money's going to run out in May anyway, so this is around the corner.

So, I'm sure, look, this is a good moment to try to figure that out. Obviously, they'll come up with a compromise to do that.

I actually have a bill to take Secret Service out of the Department of Homeland Security. I was on the assassination task force that was set up after the assassination attempt on the president at Butler.

And, you know, one of the things I realized is that homeland is too big. It's become too big. It was a great idea after 9/11, but it's just too many agencies. Secret Service is one of the smallest agencies there. They can't get the attention that they need. They need to either go back to the Treasury or go -- or go directly to the White House.

[11:10:05]

BASH: Before I let you go, your fellow Democrat, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Senator, posted the following.

"That venue wasn't built to accommodate an event with the line of succession for the U.S. government after witnessing last night, dropped the TDS and build the White House ballroom for events exactly like these.

What do you think of that?

MOSKOWITZ: Well, I mean, look, you know, the ballroom thing, you know -- you know, is become a thing because the president took down the East Wing of the White House without being transparent, right?

Like, had the president said, look, a lot -- other presidents have wanted a ballroom, right? We're going to do a ballroom. Other countries have ballrooms. And -- and had a more transparent process, I think it would have been different.

Sometimes -- sometimes the president might have an idea that could be bipartisan, but his execution makes it partisan. And so, look, you know, they'll -- they'll use this as a -- as a reason to build the ballroom. The ballroom is going to be built. It's happening.

And so, you know, look, I think obviously having more secure spaces is a good idea. There's -- you know, it's tough to keep everybody safe when we've made it easy for people to go buy guns and get radicalized online.

You know -- you know, other countries have mental health crises. We're not the only one who has that. We're not the only one who has hate online, but we do have easy access to guns.

And so, look, I -- as someone who's in Congress and someone who watches people in the cabin, and I understand why they want a more -- more secure space.

BASH: Thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it. I'm glad you're okay.

MOSKOWITZ: Thanks.

BASH: What needs to be done to prevent this from happening again? My next guest was also there last night. He also chaired the Homeland Security Committee in the House. Michael McCaul will be here.

Plus, 14 hours into an investigation. What are authorities looking for as they try to nail down the motive?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:15:19]

BASH: Welcome back to "State of the Union."

This is president Trump's third run-in with an armed gunman within just two years. And lawmakers who were at the dinner last night are at odds over whether security at an event last night needs to change

Joining me now is Republican congressman Michael McCaul of Texas who was at last night's dinner. Also, you chaired the Homeland Security Committee.

Before I get to that, walk me through your perspective on how things went down.

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX): Well, you know, I was sitting at a table very close to the stage, head table. Three gunshots went off. We weren't sure like what's going to happen next.

Now, Secret Service immediately jumped into action, and -- and pulled the president off the stage. And then they got -- a Secret Service got up on the stage with their rifles pointed at us actually.

And then they were pulling cabinet members out and then the Capitol police came to the members of Congress and escorted us out in an emergency vehicle.

BASH: So you were escorted out?

MCCAUL: Right. Yeah.

BASH: Because some members were not.

MCCAUL: Well, they did. They did a good job with me. And they tried to locate as many members as they could at the event. And then they put us in the emergency vehicle to get out of there.

But, you know, you don't know what's going to happen next, right? You don't know if it's going to escalate to an AR-15 situation or an explosive device. And -- and fortunately, it didn't.

BASH: You said that you heard three shots. So, it was clear to you right from the beginning that it was gunfire?

MCCAUL: Hundred percent.

BASH: Because some other people weren't sure what --

MCCAUL: No, I knew -- but I've been, you know, in, you know, more time situations. I mean I knew that there were three shots fired and Then and it was -- it was surreal, you know.

BASH: Have you spoken to the Trump administration, anybody there, since the shooting happened?

MCCAUL: No, I'm not. I'm not.

BASH: And the whole idea of you all being whisked away, and obviously, the president, the vice president and members of his cabinet as well.

MCCAUL: Mm-hmm.

BASH: It's interesting that you just said you weren't sure. Or maybe there was an IED. I spoke this morning with Oz Pearlman who was slated to be the entertainment last night. And he said -- one of his first thoughts was a bomb is going to go off. We have no idea.

MCCAUL: Correct.

BASH: No idea

MCCAUL: Given that, what do you think of keeping everybody contained in the ballroom? I know it's fine to ask questions later, but in terms of the protocol for that kind of moment.

MCCAUL: Yes. A lot of times and -- and if you're like dealing with a terrorist situation, you will have another event simultaneously.

I think an evacuation would have been appropriate, you know. I -- we just enough this situation was going to escalate.

The thing that really take away I got was that the line of succession. You had the president and the vice president at the head table, both of them together, and the Speaker of the House. Had an explosive device gone off, you would have knocked out the president, vice president, speaker. The three in line of succession.

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

MCCAUL: Well, I -- I think the Secret Service needs to reconsider having both the president and vice president together, like, it's something like that, you know.

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

BASH: And talk more about that, about what you think the Secret Service should look at.

Because, you know, talking to Todd Blanche this morning, listening to the president himself last night, the argument was understandably. Were the United States of America were not going to be cowed in the top leaders the U.S. cowed into changing our -- our protocols of appearing together just because there are -- are real threats out there that's why we have law enforcement to protect us?

[11:20:18]

MCCAUL: Well, the Secret Service did an extraordinary job as did the capital police.

The -- the only someone who's, you know, was a counterterrorism federal prosecutor and chairman of Homeland, the only thing I would critique would be the outer perimeter.

You could walk into the hotel because it's an open hotel, but you could walk in without going through a magnetometer. That's something, like, when we go to the Munich Security Conference, for instance, there's always a magnetometer outside the hotel before you go in.

Now, would that have stopped in this case? I -- I don't know. I think, as I understand it, the suspect had checked into a hotel room where he could bring his weapons freely with him.

And it's hard to -- it's hard to prevent something like this.

BASH: Yes. But if you're saying that if there were a magnetometer to screen people before they go into the hotel, he wouldn't have been able to get the guns in.

MCCAUL: You can't carry a weapon. No. Yes. And they would have caught that.

Now, I don't know if he checked in prior to that in his hotel room, but I think that's something that when you're doing it in an open environment like this hotel, first, you couldn't park. You had to park six blocks away. So, I don't know why they could have had screening as you enter into the hotel as well.

BASH: The Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told -- also told me this morning that last night's shooting should be a wake-up call to Congress to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which has been shut down for about two months now.

MCCAUL: Yes.

BASH: As you well remember, the Senate, in a bipartisan way, passed a bill to do just that. And your speaker, Mike Johnson, didn't take it up.

MCCAUL: I think it's time. I mean, I think shutdowns, I've never been a big fan of those. And typically, my party gets blamed for them. I -- I don't think they're productive.

And in this case, I predicted that something bad's going to happen and somebody's going to have blood on their hands. And it's -- it's very irresponsible. I think we need to pass that as soon as possible.

I know the speaker is working with, you know, Senator Thune on a reconciliation package. I would hope this is a wake-up call to get it done as soon as possible.

BASH: Real quick, before we go, your colleague on the other side of the aisle, Jared Moskowitz, was just here. And he said that he thinks that Secret Service should be taken out of the Department of Homeland Security, do you agree?

MCCAUL: You know, I mean, they're -- look, you know, we talked about privatizing TSA. I mean, I think --

BASH: Just put in another -- because -- because DHS is too big.

MCCAUL: I think they function just fine within the Department of Homeland Security. And -- and that is a -- a function of the Department of Homeland, is to protect the president. And I think it's fine.

BASH: Thank you so much for being here.

MCCAUL: Yes. Thanks for having me.

BASH: I really appreciate it.

MCCAUL: Thank you.

BASH: And three people who have helped protect presidents at the highest level of the U.S. government. I'm going to ask them what they are hearing after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:25:43]

BASH: Welcome back to "State of the Union."

As an investigator search for a motive in last night's shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, FBI agents assembled overnight outside a home linked to the suspect that home is in Torrance, California, a suburb of Los Angeles.

My law enforcement panel of experts joins me now.

John Miller, you have been working your sources. What are you hearing this morning?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, just a lot has been going on overnight. Number one, a search warrant executed on that home after getting a federal court order. Number two, a search warrant executed on the hotel room that he had secured for himself in the hotel. Number three, a search warrant executed against electronic devices found on him or in that room, meaning, phones or other electronics.

Preservation orders went out to his social media platforms so that none of that could be deleted and had to be secured. Search warrants will be issued to get into those to start reading content.

Interviews with family members, a brother, a sister, a sister who lives in the Washington, D.C. area. FBI agents asking them what was their communications with them, when did they last hear from him, what was his state of mind. These are all the steps that have been unfolding.

ATF tracing those firearms to two purchases, one in 2023, another in 2025. So, nothing that occurred in immediate proximity to this event as if he bought those guns for this. These are guns he's had for some time.

His travel documented now, a train from Los Angeles to Chicago, Chicago to Washington, D.C. Why does that make sense? Because if you're traveling with a shotgun and a pistol, you're going to have trouble navigating that through air travel.

So the train was apparently part of this plan that involved obtaining those weapons, doing the travel, renting the room.

We still have questions about what was he wearing. The pictures we see is after they stripped the clothes off. Was he wearing a tuxedo to blend in? Had he disguised himself as a security guard? That's a gap. I know they have that information. We just don't have it yet.

[11:30:08]

BASH: And Andrew McCabe, if you were still active at the FBI as former FBI Deputy Director, what would you be looking at first and foremost?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Sure. So, there's an interesting division of responsibility between the Secret Service and the FBI on issues like this. Secret Service always has the lead with respect to protecting the president. You saw that on display last night. The FBI has the lead for completing the counterterrorism investigation.

So, deep diving on this individual, on the entirety of his background, the search warrants are the first step of that. You're seeing the home, the hotel, collecting evidence that's there. The electronics devices will tell us a lot about not just what he thinks and what he's been writing and maybe what he's been looking at on the internet, but who else he's connected with on social media, colleagues, friends, that sort of thing.

And really, what you want to know is, is there anyone else connected to this person who might be like-minded and also thinking about striking out in the same way? Is there someone who might have supported him, helped him organize it, helped him fund it, all those sorts of things. So, it's a very busy day at the FBI right now.

BASH: Indeed. Jonathan Wackrow, the former House Committee Chair who was in charge of the Homeland Security Department, was just on before you. And he said his reaction is that Secret Service should think long and hard about allowing the president and the vice president to be in ballrooms or events like that together because of the succession concerns.

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Listen, that's a debate that has been going on for a long time between various administrations and the Secret Service. In the aftermath of this event, it actually warrants some greater thought.

But again, this comes down to, you know, how these sites, whether it's the president and other political leaders co-joined with the president, how they are, you know, established, how are they protected.

Last night, what we saw was a serious premeditated attack against a very heavily fortified location, but it was by a very motivated attacker. But at the end of the day, the security plan did work. The attacker never reached the president, never reached inside the ballroom.

But for the Secret Service, the larger content, the larger warning here just cannot be ignored, which is this pattern. And I know that, you know, Andy and Commissioner and myself have all spoken about this. This pattern is what we are seeing is or emerging is when you have a grievance, in this case, there's a lot of indications that it's a political grievance or fixation converging together.

This is moving these types of individuals from intent to action. And that new threat vector is very concerning to the FBI, the Secret Service, and anybody who engages in, you know, protective responsibility.

So, because of that, Dana, going back to your point, should we look at the line of succession and how we are co-joining political leadership together at various events? I think it's a -- it's a valid discussion to have.

BASH: And John Miller, we have some new reporting that just came in as we were talking from my colleague Kaitlan Collins, who said that investigators obtained writings from the shooter at last night's White House Correspondents' Dinner. That's according to an official familiar with the matter. And the writings indicate an anti-Trump administration ideology and rhetoric about administration officials.

MILLER: Well, I think that's going to be as a result of getting into that hotel room, getting into his phone, getting into his electronics.

I did a lot of scanning of social media, his social media last night, and didn't see anything terribly obvious along those lines popping up. Now, at the same time that was going on, as they were issuing those subpoenas, those social media posts and platforms were being taken down as part of this investigation.

But I did see a couple of instances where people were critical of the administration, about layoffs of federal employees, reductions of agencies, not that he posted that he liked, but as Andy McCabe said, they're going to get deep into his writings, his computers, his thinkings, whatever counts as a diary, any communique he would have left behind.

BASH: Yeah.

MILLER: And based on Kaitlan's reporting, not surprising given what happened last night.

BASH: Yeah. And that is likely what led the acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche, to tell me this morning that they believe that the president and other administration officials were targeted because he also said that the alleged shooter is not cooperating.

MCCABE: That's right. That's right. And he also said in that -- in that interview earlier this morning that he expected, essentially expected the charges that will be brought tomorrow to be superseded later with additional charges.

[11:35:02]

And that's where you're going to see charges potentially more around attempted assassination and things like that may come later. Those will be based on the evidence that they are collecting today as a result of these search warrants.

BASH: And Andy, the whole question of what both Jonathan and John Miller were talking about of, for lack of a better way to say it, people being, feeling emboldened and cited to not just have thoughts of anger towards political leaders, but actually act on it. It's not new, but it's also on steroids right now.

MCCABE: Yeah, it is not new in this country, but it does seem to be back with -- with an intensity that we have not seen in decades. The simple fact is that every time we see someone strike out in a violent matter based on political ideology, that serves in this totally interconnected world of social media and nonstop videos of everything, that serves as an inspiration to other people who harbor similar grievances or opposite grievances, as the case may be, to do the same thing, to even the score, to take the same step, to kind of step up and fight for their beliefs in the same way that others do. It is an incredibly dangerous period that we're in for this reason alone. BASH: Yeah. And real quick, Jonathan, that is part of the concern that this alleged shooter didn't have a footprint or didn't sort of ping any of the -- of the way that the FBI and other law enforcement look into people, for example, at the hotel, because there's no evidence that this guy was a threat prior. And that speaks to what Andy was talking about, that somebody can be instigated very quickly.

WACKROW: Yeah. You know, Andy's point and what, you know, Commissioner Miller was talking about are spot on. Acting alone doesn't mean that this individual was uninfluenced.

And really, to put a finer point on this, what we're talking about is, you know, this concept of assassination culture, where you have grievance coupled with ideological influence that normalizes violence. And when you have this digital ecosystem that is encouraging others to normalize violence and killing against notable individuals and political leaders, and you couple that with this sense of absolutism, it's a dangerous cocktail in the threat environment. And it's something that we're seeing time and time again.

We just go back to, you know, what we refer to as the Mangione effect, right? These individuals are, you know, being glorified for this violence. And in today's threat environment, that is very dangerous and concerning for both the Secret Service and the FBI.

MCCABE: And can I just add to what Jonathan said? The final ingredient in that cocktail is the ease with which anyone can become heavily armed in this country any day of the year.

BASH: Yeah. All right. Thank you, Andy.

MCCABE: Great point.

BASH: Thank you, Jonathan and John Miller. Really appreciate you being here to give us your expertise.

And President Trump says he wants to do the Correspondents' Dinner again next month. I'm going to ask what a friend and more time advisor of the president thinks about that and how aides are going to even plan for that. Never mind the White House Correspondents' Association.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:43:06]

BASH: Welcome back to the special "State of the Union" and my political panel is here now.

Scott Jennings, the President is, as he said last night, is repeating this morning that he wants to have this dinner within the next month. Good idea?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely. I was glad he came out and spoke last night. I thought he struck an excellent tone, handled it just perfectly. It's vital that we continue to have the gears of our democracy turn. I mean this is a dinner that's about the First Amendment. It's a dinner where our political officials and our media and other important people in our political affairs come together.

We can't send a signal that you can show up and the gears of how we do business in this country with some violent act. And so, I hope they do it and I hope the president goes to that.

I will just say, you know, I do think we need to think a little harder about the line of succession. All being in the same room at the same time.

BASH: So, you agree because Congressman McCaul was on here and he said that.

JENNINGS: Yeah, I mean look, they've tried to assassinate Donald Trump three times now. I think we need to think hard about where he and the Vice President are. You know, are they going to be in the same room? Are you going to have Speaker of the House in there? I do -- you know, obviously we do it at the "State of the Union." This isn't a public hotel.

And so, I do want to think about that a little bit. But in terms of the show going on and that show being American democracy, the show goes on and I think the president is right on about it.

XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, I agree. I think that one thing to consider is whether or not this is a national security event moving forward and to ensure that the federal government is running every single piece of this apparatus, given that cabinet officials, members of Congress.

BASH: So, it should be run like the Super Bowl.

HINOJOSA: It should be run like the Super Bowl, like the Democratic, the DNC and the RNC conventions. Any sort of inauguration event, things like that. That just puts the full weight of the federal resources behind this. So, every aspect has that security.

And what I'll say about this is it was an attack on the president. It was also an attack on the people that run our institutions. The government, you know, whether it is the -- you know, the White House, you know, the cabinet, Congress, the media, everything that holds our democracy together.

[11:45:11]

And so, I agree with you, it should go on for the reason that, you know, celebrating our democracy in the First Amendment is critical.

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And I think it's -- I think it's important to -- to your point, Xochitl, I think it's important to acknowledge that the media and the journalists in that room last night performed their jobs under immense pressure and stress. And I think in a moment when we're in conversation in this country about the direction of the media versus social media, versus influencers, where do you get your information, who can you trust.

You know I think we saw last night a lot of the journalists who were at moments probably fearing for their own lives under pressure getting information out, doing it with calm and doing it with authority and I think it's important to acknowledge that too.

BASH: And I want to bring back a reporting that we brought to you in the last segment which is investigators have obtained writings from the shooter at last night's dinner that indicate an anti-Trump administration ideology and rhetoric about administration officials.

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, it's obviously terrible, we've got to turn down the volume and I think events like the White House Correspondents' Dinner weekend writ large do a good job in that because back in the day, right, members of Congress went to church together, the kids went to school together, broke bread together, there was a lot more comedy.

BASH: They had booze together.

URBAN: They had a lot more comedy, I-T-Y not E-D-Y, people were together in this town. And this weekend, that's what it's about and the President hit the tone last night exactly, he talked about it, he said in that room last night what happened tragically it brought everyone together. It really united the press, the administration, people, it was a shared experience, a shared common experience that used to happen in this town a lot that doesn't happen anymore.

And I think the President nailed it and I think it really did bring people together, people in the administration now, everybody in the media, they had a common moment. And I'd like to see more of that happening in Washington, not less. I'd like to see, listen, this President and the media, you know, everyone there was adversarial, but --

BASH: Adversarial, I mean he's called us the enemy.

URBAN: But I know, but he is the most transparent president, the most accessible president in the media. He talks to the media more than anything.

BASH: I absolutely agree. He's very accessible.

JENNINGS: On the reporting though, I mean, this guy's obviously another of these left-wing lunatics who's come to kill the president. Three assassination attempts on the president now. Charlie is dead. You have people on the left lionizing Luigi Mangione.

URBAN: Well, there's a bar in Wisconsin.

JENNINGS: Let me finish.

URBAN: Yeah.

JENNINGS: You have polling showing a tolerance for political violence on the left. And I heard Hakeem Jeffries say this week, it's maximum warfare all the time. We have a violent streak on the left and a rhetoric problem on the left and it must be acknowledged today.

HINOJOSA: So, when I was at the Department of Justice, what we found is after the 2020 election, there was a significant rise of threats to all elected leaders. State legislators, some who were killed, to our president, Joe Biden at the time, Barack Obama, someone tried to go into his residence. This is a problem --

JENNINGS: Who's the president?

HINOJOSA: Hold on.

JENNINGS: How many assassination attempts? Three.

HINOJOSA: There are several assassination attempts to other presidents that were not successful. I agree. It should be investigated about why they continue. What are the failures of the secret service?

BEDINGFIELD: And the Democratic, and just quickly, the Speaker of the House in Minnesota, a Democrat, lost her life to political violence this past summer. This is not solely a problem on the left. It is a problem across the board. It is a rising crisis.

JENNINGS: Don't downplay it this way.

HINOJOSA: It is a rising crisis in this country.

(CROSSTALK)

HINOJOSA: Stop generalizing the left -- and stop generalizing the left as the entire left. Hold on --

JENNINGS: Candidates campaigning with Hassan.

HINOJOSA: Listen to me. Stop generalizing the left as the left is the entire problem. I am not mad at you, Scott. I want you to be truthful. And the truth is that both the left and the right, there are loons on the right, too. And if you're going to sit here and tell me there are not, then that is just a disgrace.

URBAN: So, should I just say this again? I think everybody needs to turn it down, right?

HINOJOSA: I agree.

URBAN: Online, when I was leaving last night, signs, people with placards, like --

JENNINGS: Yeah.

URBAN: Kill Trump, right? They were like, I almost got in a fistfight with people holding signs chanting, like, kill Trump, like, death to the president thing. And then online, a bar in Wisconsin celebrating the fact, saying --

BASH: Unacceptable.

BEDINGFIELD: It's gross. It's gross.

URBAN: It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous.

(CROSSTALK)

BEDINGFIELD: It's appalling.

URBAN: It's ridiculous.

BEDINGFIELD: But the more --

URBAN: But it seems like, why is it Trump?

BEDINGFIELD: -- as solely a partisan problem, the more you fuel the flames. The idea is not that if --

(CROSSTALK)

JENNINGS: I thought -- I wondered if you'd be the first person to blame the right for Trump surviving another assassination. I wonder who it would be.

BEDINGFIELD: That is -- that is absurd. Unbelievable. That is absurd.

(CROSSTALK)

JENNINGS: This guy is clearly -- I mean, the reporting is emerging, a creature of this left-wing lunacy, and it's not the first, he won't be the last. We have a problem. Trump has survived three assassination attempts.

[11:50:05]

BEDINGFIELD: And --

JENNINGS: Can we just admit it?

BEDINGFIELD: And committing political --

JENNINGS: Can we just admit it?

BEDINGFIELD: Committing political violence is appalling --

JENNINGS: Hakeem Jeffries, maximum warfare all the time. Do you agree with that?

BEDINGFIELD: And Karoline Leavitt said last night that shots were going to be fired at the dinner.

URBAN: Maximum warfare.

BEDINGFIELD: That's language that gives you --

(CROSSTALK)

JENNINGS: I would -- listen, I would say this -- BEDINGFIELD: Come on, you weren't born yesterday.

URBAN: I would say this. My good friend Josh Shapiro almost died.

HINOJOSA: Yeah.

URBAN: Because of a crazy person trying to -- came within moments of having his family burned to the -- burned to death, right? We've got to turn it --

JENNINGS: Where did that person come from, by the way?

URBAN: Things -- you know, things got to be done to get people back together. This president, you know, is incredibly accessible to the media. Does more for the -- talks to the media last night. You saw in the briefing room. I mean, there's a back and forth. He gives it back and forth. But he is --

BASH: All right.

URBAN: Incredibly accessible to the media. And the most transparent ever. So, there is no war between Trump and the media.

BASH: All right.

URBAN: It's --

BASH: A couple things. One is, this morning, Hakeem Jeffries was on TV and he condemned the violence. Second thing, you all obviously are partisans. You have political perspectives. I am not. I don't have one. So, I just want to say that it doesn't matter. It's not a tit- for-tat. This is something that needs to be addressed because I see it coming from the very hard right and coming from the, as you say, the wacky left. And it's just a question of who, unfortunately, gets inspired to actually take action. And it's just horrible. And we all have a responsibility.

URBAN: And I think again -- and I think again like White House --

BASH: And I think you're right. It's terrible when people are assassinated or even there's an assassination attempt which is why we who have platforms big and small need to continue to contribute to lowering the temperature.

All right, everybody. Thank you.

Tomorrow, the President is supposed to host King Charles at the White House. Is that still going to happen? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:56:18]

BASH: King Charles and Queen Camilla are traveling to the United States for an official state visit. Their itinerary includes a stop here in D.C. with King Charles set to address Congress. In light of last night's incident, a spokesperson for Buckingham Palace says conversations are happening about security planning and whether the events of last night may impact any of that planning.

President Trump says he's looking forward to the visit. Stick around for another special hour of "State of the Union," next.

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