Assassination Attempt Fallout

by the incendiary, radicalized rhetoric of the left. I mean, you can really kind of almost sum it up into Nazi, fascist, racist Gestapo, because that's what we've heard. That's all we ever hear. That was Kamala Harris's closing arguments, and we've heard it every day ever since. And they are never held accountable for all of this. Now, I did say this last week, were repeated. I've never been to a White House Correspondence dinner, was not at this one, and

my record remains intact. And it's very simple. I'm not particularly fond of other people in the media, and I know they're not fond of me, and I don't hold back in my criticisms of them and the few interactions that I've had I have had over the years at like MEDII parties. I mean, they mostly hate me. I mean, let's be blunt, and I don't particularly I'm not that fond of them. I don't really want to hang out with them. I don't consider that a fun night. Well,

this is historic. Donald Trump was gonna go. I can tell you because I spoke to the President. This would have been a speech for the ages. It would have been a roast for the ages, and I think it would have been phenomenal. It's said all the things that

obviously happened. My first comments out of the box is while I wasn't there, immediately, I texted the President and within two three minutes when he got into the holding room, which was at the hotel, he called me after I had texted him, and I got to be part of and got to listen to a lot of the deliberations surrounding what the President was going to do next. The President could not be more This guy is ice in his veins when it comes to moments like this. A

lot of people I don't know. I would imagine if most of you had a moment like this in your life, You're adrenaline would be pumping, and you would be you might be a little bit upset by it. But he wasn't, not even a little in a way that was not at all inappropriate. If I can explain that the right way. He was even a times joking, Well, I saved a lot of people's lives. You know, he was trying to make light of it. I think, just kind of relieving

some of the of the moment was my interpretation. And we got to hear the deliberations, and then pretty early on in that discussion, he asked me what I thought, and and he was the one, a lone voice that was being adamant, No, we're going back out. We're gonna go back out, and I'm gonna give this speech and that's it. And then when i've when you speak to this president in particular, and I've known him for thirty years, you have to get the guy's attention, you just can't say, uh, sir,

I think that, No, it doesn't fly. And so in a very very direct, firm tone, I said, sir, we've been friends for thirty years. You absolutely positively you can't leave him wiggle room, cannot go back in that room. As of this moment. We don't know if this is a loan shooter. We don't know if there's a grand or conspira. We don't know if this gun's planted in

that room. And by the time they would sweep the room, we don't know how long that would take, probably five ten hours on the on the short side of it. And at that point that was kind of like the moment where he said, well, I can go back to the White House and speak and then I'm going to reschedule right well, at the top of his head, I think it should be less. I think within the month. And that's what he ended up coming up with the idea. He ended up suggesting it. He ended up saying it.

I heard the deliberations.

end it maybe I don't know. I'm assuming it was this lunatic that was responsible for it. However, we don't know for sure. Maybe when this DOJ presser begins any minute, they have the guns that were used, and there were numerous weapons that this guy had with him at the time.

Here's my problem with all of this, and it's first, I have to commend all of the brave men and women in the Secret Service that acted so quickly in the moment, and they were there in mass They were there to protect cabinet officials, they were there to protect the president, the vice president. I'm not sure how the vice president got off the day as five seconds ahead

of the president. I would think the first the first thought is to get him and the first lady off of that day as quickly and anyway, so I know everyone's doing their level best. Those people will all and I've met them. They are the Krem de la Crem. They are the best of the best. These are people that will take a bullet for the president. I have nothing but deep admiration for them. This is the third time, however, that this has happened, and we have got to have

a deep, deep dive into what is going wrong. And I can tell you what's going wrong now. In the incident in Butler where the President came within a millimeter of losing his life, what did we learn that somehow one hundred and thirty yards away from where Donald Trump was to be speaking. Well, this is Todd Blanche, Janine Piro, Cash Bettel, take it to the podium. Let's listen in. Lots of additions, some of them great, some of them not so great over the years.

the hospital. I want to make this clear. This man was a floor above the ballroom, with hundreds of federal agents between him and the President.

an accident. It was the result, as we know now, of preparation. But the men and women who protected us that night were trained, professional, and had an enduring commitment to the rule of law. Today, the Department of Justice filed three federal charges in the United States different court against Cole Thomas Allen. The first count is a tempted assassination of the President of the United States. This count

is punishable by up to life in prison. The second count is interstate transportation of a firearm to commit a felony. This is punishable by up to ten years in prison. And the third count is discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, which is punishable by a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of ten years a maximum of life, and the ten years is consecutive to any other sentence imposed.

Just to go through very quickly the timeline which many of you in this room already know, the defendant Allen made a hotel reservation at the Washington Hilton for April

twenty fourth through April twenty sixth. On April twenty first of this year, he traveled by train from Los Angeles to Chicago and then from Chicago to Washington, d C. On April twenty fourth, he arrived in Washington, d C. At approximately one o'clock in the afternoon and checked into the Washington Hilton approximately at eight point forty On the night of April twenty fifth, Alan approached a security checkpoint on the terrace level of the hotel, which is again

a floor above where the dinner was taking place. He ran through the magnam matter, holding a long gun. As he did so, US Secret Service personnel assigned to the checkpoint heard a loud gun shot. One Secret Service officer was shot in the chest, but was wearing a ballistic vest that worked. This heroic officer who was hit fired five times at Alan, who was not shot, but fell

to the ground and was promptly arrested. I want to thank everybody who worked tirelessly on Saturday, Sunday and continuing today. This includes members of the FBI and Director Portel is going to address that in a minute. It includes members of the Metropolitan Police Department who were immediately on the scene, the chief, the mayor to make sure that law enforcement was available to do their jobs and had all the

tools they needed to do so. And lastly, the United States Attorney's Office here in d c our US Attorney Janine Piro and her team a prosecutor stayed up all night long, didn't sleep all day yesterday, making sure that we got what we needed from all over the country. It included search warrants in California, search warrants here in DC, multiple interviews that have been conducted already of witnesses and of family members of the charge individual, and continue to

work hard today. This investigation is ongoing, it's not complete. A lot of the information that the media is hearing through leaks horses. Some of it is true, some of it is not true, and at the right time, you will hear information from us as appropriate. I'd like to ask our US Attorney Jeanine Piro to say a few words, and then followed by Director Patel, thank you, Thank.

be additional charges as this investigation continues to unfold. But make no mistake, this was and attempted assassination of the President of the United States, with the defendant making clear what his intent was, and that intent was to bring down as many of the high ranking cabinet officials as

he could. This is the kind of situation that we cannot tolerate, and as the Attorney General is just indicated, it could have been so much worse but for the reality that we had the Secret Service as well as the Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI. Now the facts

make it very clear what this intent was. You may recall that it was on March second that the President indicated that he would be attending this public event at the Hilton, and on April sixth, that's when Cole Allen first made a hotel reservation at the Washington Hilton for three nights, the twenty fourth, two, twenty fifth, and the

twenty sixth. It was on April twenty first that he traveled all the way from the West Coast from home from his home near la He gets to Chicago on April twenty third, and has been indicated he arrives in DC on the twenty fourth, and he checks into the

hotel at about three pm. He stays overnight. He is very much aware that the President and the First Lady entered the ballroom at eight pm and it was at eight forty that he made a decision to rush the ballroom, and thank goodness, law enforcement the Secret Service was able to prevent him from getting into that ballroom. He was not injured other than some kind of scrape on his knee. Now, as indicated, these are the weapons that the defendant had on his person. You can see that's a twelve game

pump action Mosburg shotgun to thirty eight semi automatic. He had at least three knives and all kinds of paraphernalia. So any suggestion that he wasn't there to do harm is absurd. We will prove when he purchased these guns. They were purchased in California. Why is that relevant? It is relevant because he crossed interstate lines with those firearms. And those are the firearms that he used on the night of the twenty fifth, or attempted to use at

the very least. Now, the manifesto also makes clear about his expected rules of engagement. You know, you can look at it and read it and it may seem kind of la la la. But at the end, make no mistake, he says, I am targeting the administration officials. They are my targets and I'm prioritizing from the top down, the highest rank from the lowest, and I will not hesitate to get involved in any kind of encounter with anyone who blocks me from the President. Now, finally, let me

say one thing. Within days of the President nominating me to be the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, I was at the scene of a double homicide where one Elias Rodriguez cross state lines from Chicago with a firearm to commit a felony in the district. He's now indicted for the murder of two individuals, Lauren Leshinsky and Sarah Milgram here in Washington. Not long after that, another individual, Ramanella Lock andmall cross state lines again with a firearm

with intent to commit a felony here in Washington. He traveled from the state of Washington. He is now indicted with the murder of Sarah Bextram, National guardsman and the attempted murder of National Guard Andrew Wolf. Today we have Cole Allen, another individual charge with crossing state lines coming from California with a firearm with the intent to commit

a felony here in the district. Let this be a message to anyone who thinks that Washington, DC is the place to act out political violence, And if you are willing to do so with a firearm and cross state lines, we will find you. We will track your steps from the inception of your plan, and we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. Washington, DC is not the place to travel to commit acts of violence.

The Constitution and the laws of the United States permit us to register our views through our voices and our votes. What they don't permit is making your views known through violence, especially violence directed at the President of the United States. This is anti democratic at its core.

General and the US Attorney is absolutely true. The President spoke on late Saturday evening with the message of unity and the backing of law enforcement, and we have followed through on that message of unity and the effectuation of law enforcement across this country. This FBI is grateful to the United States Secret Service the Department of Homeland Security, and our interagency partners, including the Metropolitan Police Department, for

swiftly jumping into action. All of us on there put us in a unique position, but all of us also acted uniquely. The Washington Field Office jumped into action immediately, sending a mobile command center to the scene, along with our Evidence Response technicians who showed up in speedy fashion to make sure we could collect the evidence that the prosecutors in the Department needed to make this announcement today.

Also on scene, you were told about the brave heroics of the United States Secret Service and other members of law enforcement, and that should be celebrated by every single American. They did exactly what they were trained to do. They stopped a massive attack from becoming even worse. They stood in the way, they safeguarded America, and they should be nothing but applauded for their bravery and their dedication to

their mission and their selfish sacrifice to this country. The FBI, along with standing up mobile command units, Evidence Tech Response Team, and Washington SWAT on scene, also established our NC three, our National Crisis Coordination Center. Almost immediately, and almost immediately in parallel, we stood up our command Center at the

Washington Field Office under Adak Darren Cox's leadership. Throughout the evening, we immediately began working with our Department of Justice partners to find the evidence necessary to fectuate the legal process necessary and enter into the suspects room at the Washington Hilton successfully and lawfully and obtain the relevant evidence for exploitation that was on scene.

We also dispatched investigators and agents to New London, Connecticut, where we conducted further interviews that provided necessary information that you will find in this criminal complaint, as the United States Attorney has just laid out. While officers were working diligently through the night to conduct those interviews, we were also conducting interviews of witnesses on scene. Those interviews are ongoing. As you know, there was almost two thousand people there.

We were sifting through and prioritizing who to talk to, and we will get to each and every one of you with any bit of relevant information. Again, we ask everybody who has any relevant information, like I did on Saturday night with the President one eight hundred call FBI. Any piece of information is information we want to have

and must receive. On top of the on scene response by this FBI, the headquarters response, and the Washington Field office response, the FBI flipped on its enterprise wide response to this critical incident.

to answer. The President rightly said that we will act in a unified fashion. And it's because of President Trump's leadership and backing of the blue every single person in law enforcement that I stood with.

rescue teams. Agents sprung into action, got out of bed and haven't slept since. These prosecutors haven't slept since, and I promise you they're not going to be sleeping. They are going to give you every piece of evidence. As the journal said, we will make public when appropriate to protect the integrity of the investigation, to make sure that process is served, and we will meet the highest standards of the Constitution as we always do, and that is

when we will continue to disclose information. I know the public has a yearning for information, but just remind yourself of how much information you have already received, how transparent this administration has been. In less than forty eight hours. You know almost every single thing we know, and what we have not told you yet, we will tell you in short order. So once again, from me as Director

of the FBI, I want to thank the interagency. I want to thank the United States Secret Service and their director, Mark Waynemullin, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Attorney General, the United States Attorney Piro, and Ada Cox for springing into action on a night that should have been celebrating free speech. But we will be doing it in shortly, as the President said, and we look forward to seeing you all there.

threat environment is already. I mean, I'm not going to go through what the what director Portelog has talked about with the way we responded, but this this was something that we will always be prepared for and and it's sad that it has to happen, but it's it's not a new thing.

Ballroom construction is continuing untobated until June fifth at the earliest, because the injunction is on hold. Where does the Justice Department go from here? And I have a follow up on.

correspondence dinner event. What are they all have in common? Well, they all have in common that we have amazing secret service agents that are willing to risk it all. In the case of Trump International, how this guy ever saw a guy hiding out in the bushes is unbelievable. But that's not where the problem lies. The problem is not with the agents. The problem is in the moment, in the hours and days leading up to a location where

the president is going to be. In the case of Butler, how is it possible that somebody with a long rifle was able to get a ladder and climb on a roof a mere one hundred and thirty yards from the president. That should never happen to me, There's no excuse for that. That is where you know, you where sweeping comes in. Once you sweep an entire perimeter and you have to secure that area. And that's where you know a perimeter

has to be the appropriate length. How long can somebody fire a long rifle if it's an outdoor event and hit their target. In many places, you know, sharpshooters can fire from over two thousand yards away depending on what equipment they're using. But in Butler is one hundred and thirty yards. That's like a layup, if you want to use a basketball analogy. It's not a shot that even a reasonably trained person would ever miss. And the President came within a millimeter of his life. They moved to

Trump International. There are certain holes on this golf course that are known locations where paparazzi would often hide. And the paparazzi, you know, often did hide and they take videos at Donald Trump and they take pictures of Donald Trump. Was never swept, even though Donald Trump was playing golf that day. And I went to breakfast that morning with Steve Whitkoff, was now the Mid East envoy. We had

breakfast together. He's begging me to go play with them, and you know, an hour and a half, two hours later, I get a phone call they tried to do it again. And then we find out later that that treed area was not swept again. If we're looking for how to prevent this from happening's three common things that have happened in each instance. And in this particular case, the perimeter was very close to where the actual location of the ballroom was. I mean, this guy comes running by now.

The entire hotel was not swept. So if you don't sweep, you can't secure. If the perimeter is not long enough, then you've got to make it bigger obvious. There's a failure in our security in the lead up to these events. It's not the agents that are there that will take a bullet. They're not the problem. They acted, They did their job, it said the lead up. Why is that? Why does this keep happening? I'm not casting aspersions. I'm saying we see one common familiar thing happening in three

attempted assassination attempts against Donald Trump. That would be called a failure. What they're currently doing is not working. And yes, this president's controversial is also consequential, and the media hates them. You know Dan Bongino, who's going to join us tonight on TV, you know, as well as the FBI director Cash Bettel. But anyway, he said the shooting you know at this dinner, you know will will there will be

a review of security. Is a former secret service aation in his own right, arguing investigators will need to examine whether the event perimeter was what it was not wide enough. And the odd thing is is they do know how to do it and do it perfectly. And I know because going to many you know, Republican national conventions and Democratic national conventions. I mean they have multiple perimeters. You have to get through one layer, then another layer, than

another layer. Usually you go you get Wanda twice, magged twice, credentialed three four times before you can ever even think about getting to the location wherever it is that I'm going to be filming. And more often than not, the agents, you know, high mister Hannity, Yeah, no, I'll need to see your credentials and by the way, empty your pockets and no, no, no, your jewel is not allowed in and so on and so forth, whatever it happens to be. Now we've got another problem, and I'm calling it out.

It has to stop. And that is for the third time we've had an assassin that has come far too close to killing the president, President Trump. It is now a pattern. The suspect was a radicalized lefty. You can read his manifesto, you can see his postings online. Yes, of course, thank god nobody was seriously injured. But this is you know, you talk about a cat nine lives? How many? How many more times? Is this gonna happen?

And I am sorry, but this cannot go unchallenged. And I'm glad the White House took this on today because the entire narrative of the Democratic Party, the mainstream Democrat Party, the mainstream of the legacy media mob is gestapo, Nazi, fascist, racist, sexist, misogynist, homophobe, xenophobe, islamophobe. They want the dirty air water to kill Grandma and Grandpa. Barely a day goes by, you know, no kings Hitler, Gestapo,

you hear it all the time. Now, it's not that I worry that the people saying it are necessarily going to be the people that do it. However, there are many people in this country that are not mentally well, They're not healthy, and they begin to get desensitized to this rhetoric. They begin at some point here they begin to believe that they are that this is all real. It's not real, it's not true. It is demagoguery at

its worst level. You know, they've tried to you know, they've called Ice agents, Nazis, brown shirts, They've all done it. These are mainstream Democrats that are doing this daily. You know, you wonder why United Healthcare CEO is killed and then people support with this garbage. It's pretty unbelievable. Now. Earlier today, Caroline Levitt it mentioned the names of Democrats. Let's play this.

I have a whole host of examples that we can share with you after it is pages and pages of major Democrat Party elected officials saying such as Repakeem Jeffrey is just this April this month said we are in an era of maximum warfare everywhere, all the time. Governor Josh Shapiro said heads need to roll within the administration, as Senator Alex Paedi said, people are quote dying because

of fear and terror caused by the Trump administration. Senator Elizabeth Warren president Trump is making the country look like a quote fascist state. Senator Adam Shiff saying President Trump using a dictator playbook. Senator Ed Markey calling President Trump a dictator, saying that this administration's actions are authoritarianism on steroids. Governor J. B. Pritzker. Never before in my life have

I called for mass protest disruptions. These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace you have, Presley saying We'll see you in the streets. Ret Monica McIvor, a Democrat representative on Capitol Hill. We will not take this from Donald Trump. He thinks he's a dictator. We are at war. These are Democrat elected officials calling for war against the President

of the United States and his supporters. I could go on and on, but again, when you have people in positions of power that are saying things like this every single day for years, you are inspiring violence by people who are already mentally ill. And that's what we've seen against this president for far too.

you Kavanaugh, you have released the world. When you will pay the price, you won't know what hit you. Disgraceful performance. Remember Shakespeare's in the Park back in the day. This has been going on since the moment this man came down this escalator. Now the only Democrat that is saying stop drop the Trump de rangement syndrome is John Fetterman. That venue wasn't built to accommodate an event with the

line of succession for our government. After witnessing this attempted assassination, it is time for Democrats to drop the TDS and build the White House Ballroom for events like this, which would be the safest thing. No, by the way, probably he'll love it because he wants to be a martyr. I'm not sure if he survives us. To be honest, the first lady has called on ABC and somebod you are going to say, why is she doing this to

punish Jimmy Kimmel. He does a sketch just the other night, apparently, you know, and the sketch air Thursday evening, two days before now the third attempt on the president's life, and Melania Trump called him a coward. Said enough is enough, said he hides by an ABC because he knows the network. We'll keep running cover to protect him. I'm for ABC to take a stand because he said that. You know, she had the glow of an expectant widow. Is it

any wonder? Reports that Erica Kirk obviously very upset over what happened the other night. Can you blame her? After all she's lived through. One CNN commentator claiming on air that Trump wants us dead moment s he Cupp said, the moments, but before what is she talking about? You know, all these people, will Republicans do it too? Give me the example, you know, Oh, I don't like the Donald Trump tweet. Doesn't cut it. So we'll see what happens

then the President himself. You know, we'll see what Disney does here. You know, but this is the third time a group of two hundred and fifty so called journalists called for a forceful demonstration of opposition to Trump at the White House Correspondence dinner. This is the legacy media mob. New York Post reported, forget covering protests. Reporters think they should be the ones making the ruckus. A group of over two hundred and fifty quote journalists then on journalists,

you know, uh, members of the Beltway press corps. They are being encouraged to forcefully demonstrate opposition to President Trump. Who knows what they had planned. I know what the President had planned. And by the way, this would have been a kick ass speech by the President. But anyway, these reporters demanding the White House Correspondence Association ensure he doesn't feel welcome. Something was planned. I can almost guarantee it. The White House was ready for it, just so in

case you're interested. But this is the culture that they have created, This is who they are, and this is you know, a costa reportership prepared to walk the f out. Well, why are you going to go? If you're going to walk out the room and put up a stink, you know, it really is disgusting, despicable. Now here's the thing you're gonna say, Well, words, they're not responsible, they didn't do it. You're right, you have to hold people accountable for their actions.

I agree with that to a good extent. But I will tell you something, And having been the focus of numerous attempts to get fired in my career, numerous attempts at boycotting the show at my TV show, numerous attempts to silence me, I've been lucky my partner, I have great radio partners, I have great TV partners. They've never given in to the pressure. I've never even been approached about it to be very blunt or told what to

do or say. You know, you have a one time Democratic Assembly candidate in Wisconsin owns a brewery promising to give away free beer the day Trump dies get any sicker than that. DJ calling on the National Trust to drop its lawsuit against Trump's new ballroom. You think maybe maybe a good idea, maybe a better place, safer place, bulletproof everything, bomb proof everything, because that's what the president

is building and is not costing taxpayers a dime. By the way, I got confronted by Harvey Levin's TMZ today. Did I tell you I go Harvey, tell Harvey, I say I love Harvey, I love Harvey, start messing around with him, and I actually had them laughing. It was pretty funny. It's just sad and something's got to be done.

We have a lot more to say about this. But for those people that are susceptible this dehumanization that is taking place, this incitement that takes place, you cannot tell me there's not a direct connection, because there is