4/26/26: WHAT WE KNOW: WHCD Shooter NAMED, Security FAILURE

video that we can all see. That was taken by a Getty photographer. So I'm gonna go ahead and play a little bit of this, and I know that some of the imaging here is a little bit chaotic.

of the president. The vice president was ushered off of a different side of the stage in the background and appears to have been taken off first. So that was the video, I'm sure. Again, there's so many different video angles. Cabinet officials, RFK Junior, almost the entire cabinet was there, a full spectrum of the line of succession from the

Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. Almost the entire cabinet was President in an attendant, senior administration officials, the vice president, and the president all sharing the stage, And I think that's what sets the stage for what a shocking incident that this all is. Speaking personally, I've probably spent days of my life in secret service lines, like trying to get into conventions, the DNC, many others, and so to see a shooting that's able to take place at an

event with the President of the United States. In addition to a significant amount of the cabinet, I think some Supreme Court justices were there, Members of the House of our presentatives in addition to the Speaker of the House, who is third in line for succession. I mean, it's genuinely shocking. And so again, just to stick to all of the things that we do know, we do have this video which was shared late last night by the President.

This is the video surveillance photo of the President shared which appears to show the gunman and I will give you some details on him here in a little bit actually charging the Secret Service cord. Obviously the video is very grainy, but we can take a look here. It looks like this is a Secret Service perimeter and you're were about to see him come running through, so you could see him. He's sprinting through with a gun and

immediately these Secret Service agents spring into action. Now, a little bit of what we do know here is that the gunman appears to have popped some shots off with a makeshift shotgun. The shotgun did appear to hit a Secret Service agent in a bulletproof vest who's been transported to the hospital and is fine. That's all what we know so far in terms of the weapon that was used.

Actually in the course of the shooting. Now, witnesses described from five to six different shots it appears that some of those shots were initially fired by the gunman, then Secret Service firing at him. However, it is important to say, and I think this will get a little bit later on here in a little bit about what exactly happened, is that the suspect appears to have been taken in custody. This is a photo which was shared again by the President late last night. Is down on the ground in

the lobby of the Washington Hilton. He does appear to be unharmed, so even though multiple shots were fired at him, it doesn't look like he was hit. And Wolf Blitzer, the CNN anchor, was actually in the lobby while all of this was going down. He said he didn't see any blood. Now we haven't seen a full release or anything of his condition, but just wanted to share all of that with you. So that's what we know here

about the initial details with the president runoff. We know that there were a couple of shots fired in the Washington Hilton. And of course Washington Hilton is not only where the White House Corresponds dinner is held every single year, it is also the site of President's Reagan. President Reagan's attempted assassination attempt. Again, part of which make this so surreal and shocking is to the area. And you know, let me just take a little bit of time here.

If you ever attended to DNC, the RNC Trump rally, or you know, anything, especially where there's going to be multiple VIPs, there are levels of security. So what we know about this event is that there were these metal detectors that are in that you need to pass through

to get into the ballroom. But the security perimeter actually did not shut down the entire Washington Hilton, which explains things because one of the things that we're learning about this gunman is that he apparently had made a reservation at this hotel in April. Right, So he made this hotel reservation in April. I can go ahead and share

that right here. This is from Catherine Falder's law enforcement officials said he is believed to have booked a room in the Hilton in early April, declining to answer questions right now, but allegedly made some reference to targeting administration

officials was not specific. Okay, so he made this reservation in April, and it appears the DC police telling us late last night that actually he was a guest at the hotel, and it checked in earlier and appears to have brought some of the weapons in in his luggage. Now again this is very very shocking. I mean again, to be DNC or an RNC or any event, even private events actually that the president or the vice president will enter, you have to go through multiple levels of

security just to get near the building. I'm talking about. If you're on your purse, you'll you know, you have to pass through the metal detectors. You may or may not, you know, X ray machines for example, luggage, anything that you're trying to bring in and out of this type of building. None of that appear to have been the

case this time around. Now, the President did give a some remarks last night, so and again just to give everybody what part of what made this all sort of surreal was this shooting happens the president, the vice president, the entire cabinet is rushed off. So then an announcement comes on and they say that the programming is going to resume.

I'm gonna play a little bit of them just so you can get a sense of what the initial statement for the president was.

Secret Service, and they acted very quickly. And I've just released for purposes of transparency clarity, I've ordered it to be put out, probably have it by now put out on Truth and put out on many of the platforms, a tape showing the violence of thisug that attacked our constitution and also showing how quickly Secret Service and law enforcement acted on our country's behalf.

from the Wall Street Journal. The suspect's name is Cole Allen, who is now in custody after an attack outside of the White House correspondents dinner. He is a graduate of Caltech University. He was a teacher of the month, and he has been named as the Washington shooting suspect. Thirty

one years old. He was Fromlawrence, California. So what we know, as you can all see here, is that he was armed with a shotgun, handgun and knives and was a guest at the Washington Hilton where the dinner was taking place. They have not yet shared a motive, as they said that Trump has called the shooter quote a lone wolf and a whack job. Allen graduated from Caltech, one of the most academically rigorous schools in America, in twenty seventeen

with a degree in mechanical engineering. Appears to have been an intern or a fellow I think at JPL with NASA. So very very bright individual. He was registered with no party preference. It donated twenty five dollars to Act Blue in twenty twenty four with a memo quote earmarked for Harris for President. He worked as a teacher at C two Education, a private tutoring and test prep company, where he was named the teacher of the month in December of twenty twenty four, and he also pursued a master's

degree in computer science from cal State University. Posted a photo of himself in a cap and gown last year on LinkedIn, writing pretty sure my master's in CS is done. Lives in Torrents, fifteen miles from Los Angeles, in a middle class neighborhood primarily composed of single level ranch homes. A blue scooter was parked on his lawn and the neighbor said he had seen Allan riding it around the neighborhood. So obviously big questions here. How did it even get

from Torrance, California to the White House correspondence dinner. We do know a little bit about that from the initial statement here, which was released by the Deputy Attorney or

I guess the acting Attorney General now Todd Blanche. He said in an interview this morning that the suspect call Allan traveled from LA to DC via train and passed through Chicago on the way, and so obviously a very very long way of getting across, likely perhaps transporting weapons the handgun, the shotgun and the knives that he had in his luggage which he used and checked in the hotel, but obviously premeditated attack. If you're booking a hotel long

in before. We don't really know a lot about him, and he is not really cooperating with authorities. They're telling people that he was target quote administration officials, So obviously huge question marks surrounding still this entire incident. I think the big story outside of you know, not just the

official details. And let me just of course say, I'm just choosing to do an entire news roundup for many of you who still have bigger questions about the assassination don't or sorry, the assassination attempt, we will or perhaps even just a shooting. I shouldn't even necessarily say that we don't know any of that yet. We will do more of a deep dive tomorrow. You know, the team and I were all researching all of this, but I'm just sticking with what we know and what the official

story is now so far from the government. So I just want to make that very very clear. Here is a weird and frankly bizarre comment from the from the Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche who said that the gunman was able to fire five to eight shots when he charged through a security checkpoint outside the dinner, and she asked, was the same massive security failure and he says, to the contrary, it was a massive security success story.

people who don't belong from getting in. This man, from what we know from video surveillance and from witnesses who were there, barely got past the perimeter. He was immediately subdued. And yes, he got off a couple shots. Our brave Secret Service agent who took one to the chest although he was wearing a bulletproof vest. The President talked to him last night from the Oval Office. He was in great spirits. He was very appreciative. The President expressed is appreciation.

I used to live right next to it, and that Washington Hilton apparently, so there's the ballroom which is inside of the hotel, but the rest of the hotel was not locked down, not just for guests, and obviously he was a guest at the hotel, and the security No, there was no X ray luggage. I have attended events in the past as a reporter where I had a suitcase or something like that, let's say, had to bring it to an event that had to be passed through

an X ray machine. And I'm talking about hours before any sort of VIP we're even going to get there. So that's what kind of makes this a little weird, right, So there was no standard security protocol. So there's that Number two is again for anybody whos attended some of these events, it's the entire building is usually locked down. You can't even go in and out We also have a lot of testimony from guests who were shocked at

the lack of security at the event. I'm not going to play all of this, but this was Simone Sanders, who was recounting how poor the security was at the White House. Corresponded to her. She says, I actually showed up to the Hilton shortly after eight pm. I took a scooter right up to the front of the driveway.

were not agents. They were identified as Secret Service, they were not identified as Secret Search agents. They did not ask me to show ID. They did not ask me to show a ticket. They said, oh, you're good, I'm sure you're going to your room. She said she wasn't even saying there as I entered into the driveway. I saw the vehicle, the Beast was driving around in a circle of the Hilton driveway, people walking around near it taking photos. Again, you're not like, I'm not just a layman.

I cover the White House, I've been in the motor cad, I've attended dozens of these events as a professional, and I'm telling you, like, this is not normal. When I entered into the Hilton, I asked Secret Service agents, which I saw they were identified as Secret Service agents, which way the ballroom was. They said they didn't know. When I finally got to the elevator, no one asked me to show my ID, No one asked me to show

a ticket. I got all the way down to the red carpet area without ever showing a ticket to anyone in the Hilton. I'm saying it like this because this is unusual. So I went to the DNC right with

the whole team, B and Ryan. We passed through probably four barricades before you're even allowed to get into the convention as a journalist, even with the press credentials hard press credentials which have your photo, your name, that means you've been pre cleared and all of that by Secret Service the amount of rigormarole that you often have to go through if you're not traveling in the President's mote, just to be able to get to this event. I mean again, literally days of my life the Beast.

highlighting this. Here's Mike Lawler, the congressman. He's saying, while the security perimeter outside of the ballroom worked, the Secret Service in the federal law enforcement acted swiftly to secure the ballroom and move the president and high level officials out of harm's way. The fact is numerous glaring security issues. There was no photo ID, no verified list of attendees, which is very common for a White House event, not

just commonism, that's the standard. There were no magnetometers before the ballroom. Prior to the event. There were numerous receptions that someone could have easily gotten into with limited security. The building was still open to the general public. Without getting into details, I will just say there was not a good handle on how how many members of this Congress were at the event and where they were in

the room. There needs to be a complete, thorough after action report as to how the gunman got from his hotel room into a secure area with numerous guns. I will also note we'll go much more into detail this tomorrow. There is a reported you know, shooting that happened a couple of weeks ago, apparently near the White House, which no details that the Secret Service has been able to run down. The trail has gone completely cold. There have

been numerous of these types of incidents. There's a report out of there that Trump has apparently been subject to more assassination or like public assassination plots, I think than

any modern president. And to see the breakdown in the security perimeter, I think it is very valid for all of us to ask a lot of questions about how all of this happened, and the fact that the administration frankly, I mean, look, I can only speculate, but you know them praising the Secret Service, and of course we can praise the individual agents, but at an overall planning level,

this is not normal. As I said here, just about the Hilton Hotel, the Hilton ballroom, about how the fact that public people were allowed, in the fact that there was apparently no scrutiny of guts, the fact, I mean, I could go on forever, like the beast detail there

that was shared. There have been multiple guests, now, not just that one person I'm not cherry picking, who talked about the lack of security and how the fact there was really no security going into the ballroom itself and not securing the entire hotel, the fact, you know, look, who is this guy Caltech University not currently cooperating. We know, took out for a train from California to Washington, d C.

Booked a room sometime in April. Let's you know it more sophisticated level of planning necessarily than some sort of opportune style moment. Maybe a kind I would say to the Vegas the Vegas shooting that happened, I think that was in twenty seventeen, which remains, you know, totally basically unsolved in terms of like why that any of that even happened today, still tons of questions around all of that.

So everybody, you know, be be very screwtinous. I think of a lot of the statements, and it's not like, you know, you have good reason not to have total faith in Cash Betel, who is said to be leading the investigation. So yeah, we're going to spend on a decent amount of time going through even more of what we know, don't know some of the statements made by the President, by the press secretary before any of this

and all happened. But I did just want to give a full rundown of everything that we know right now, with also the appropriate level of skepticism as we have seen, look at a breaking situation, things are always wrong. Don't forget that. Initially CNN said that the shooter was dead. Now they said he's not even hurt. You know, Initially there was oh, somebody might have been shot, and yes it was a Secret Service agent, but you know, he wasn't shot and hurt, so I guess it is technically true.

But there's a lot of details like that that were very chaotic also the Secret Service, you know, in security details of all these cabinet officials running in and escorting these people out, and then what happened you know, in the hours after that, and what exactly the detail and decision to cancel the event. What that all kind of broke down into. So there will be quite a bit I think of talking about this now in the coming days.

And last thing just to give you a little bit of a preview of what the main takeaway from the President and some of the supporters are here is Trump this morning. What happened last night is exactly the reason that our great military, secret Service, law enforcement, and for different reasons, every president for the last one hundred and fifty years have been demanding a large, safe and secure ballroom be built on the grounds of the White House.

This event would never have happened with a militarily top secret ballroom currently under construction of the White House. It cannot be built fast enough. While beautiful, it has every highest level security feature, there is a plus. There are no rooms sitting on top for unsecured people to pour in as inside the gates of the most secure building

in the world, White House. The ridiculous ballroom lawsuit brought by a woman walking her dog, I don't know what this is about, who has absolutely no standing, must be dropped. Nothing should be allowed to interfere with its construction, which is on budget and substantially ahead of schedule. Thank you for your attention to this matter, President Trump. So that's been echoed by the President at the podium yesterday in

his most recent true social post. So I believe even John Fetterman another's saying, now it's enough to drop the TDS to support the construction of the ballroom, which appears to be I guess, you know, outside of not just secret service takeaway, which is kind of what I think it should be, and or questions you know about the official story is also about the ballroom, right, so apparently you know this is now the reason why it absolutely must and has to be built. We can talk about

that at a later time. You know, I don't usually want to immediately pile on with obviously, which is not the most important story of this. So I hope this is helpful for kind of understanding everything that we from shooting what we know suspect Caltech grad Cole Allen currently custody, the fact that the president, the initial statements and all that about how and wet this all went down from law enforcement.

it's crazy. That was my first takeaway. I could not believe the security failure, just in terms of the perimeter and how it all went down. I've never seen anything like it, and I have been to multiple of these types of events over the years. So that's what we got, and we will see you all tomorrow, as we said, with some bigger questions if we need to about some of the information that's coming out the fallout and any potential investigation and new details. Thank you all very much.

We'll see you later.