Speaker 1: All right, we have some breaking news.
Speaker 2: Any moment.
Speaker 1: We expect a DOJ update on the White House Correspondence
Speaker 1: dinner shooting. We have a lot of different angles we
Speaker 1: have to get to today, not the least of which
Speaker 1: I don't really care about the manifesto of a lunatic,
Speaker 1: except that it reveals two specific things that I think
Speaker 1: we've got to pay attention to. One, you can tell
Speaker 1: by the ramblings, the rantings, and the ravings of this
Speaker 1: individual that he is somebody that has been greatly influenced
Speaker 1: by the incendiary, radicalized rhetoric of the left. I mean,
Speaker 1: you can really kind of almost sum it up into Nazi, fascist,
Speaker 1: racist Gestapo, because that's what we've heard. That's all we
Speaker 1: ever hear. That was Kamala Harris's closing arguments, and we've
Speaker 1: heard it every day ever since. And they are never
Speaker 1: held accountable for all of this. Now, I did say
Speaker 1: this last week, were repeated. I've never been to a
Speaker 1: White House Correspondence dinner, was not at this one, and
Speaker 1: my record remains intact. And it's very simple. I'm not
Speaker 1: particularly fond of other people in the media, and I
Speaker 1: know they're not fond of me, and I don't hold
Speaker 1: back in my criticisms of them and the few interactions
Speaker 1: that I've had I have had over the years at
Speaker 1: like MEDII parties. I mean, they mostly hate me. I mean,
Speaker 1: let's be blunt, and I don't particularly I'm not that
Speaker 1: fond of them. I don't really want to hang out
Speaker 1: with them. I don't consider that a fun night. Well,
Speaker 1: this is historic. Donald Trump was gonna go. I can
Speaker 1: tell you because I spoke to the President. This would
Speaker 1: have been a speech for the ages. It would have
Speaker 1: been a roast for the ages, and I think it
Speaker 1: would have been phenomenal. It's said all the things that
Speaker 1: obviously happened. My first comments out of the box is
Speaker 1: while I wasn't there, immediately, I texted the President and
Speaker 1: within two three minutes when he got into the holding room,
Speaker 1: which was at the hotel, he called me after I
Speaker 1: had texted him, and I got to be part of
Speaker 1: and got to listen to a lot of the deliberations
Speaker 1: surrounding what the President was going to do next. The
Speaker 1: President could not be more This guy is ice in
Speaker 1: his veins when it comes to moments like this. A
Speaker 1: lot of people I don't know. I would imagine if
Speaker 1: most of you had a moment like this in your life,
Speaker 1: You're adrenaline would be pumping, and you would be you
Speaker 1: might be a little bit upset by it. But he wasn't,
Speaker 1: not even a little in a way that was not
Speaker 1: at all inappropriate. If I can explain that the right way.
Speaker 1: He was even a times joking, Well, I saved a
Speaker 1: lot of people's lives. You know, he was trying to
Speaker 1: make light of it. I think, just kind of relieving
Speaker 1: some of the of the moment was my interpretation. And
Speaker 1: we got to hear the deliberations, and then pretty early
Speaker 1: on in that discussion, he asked me what I thought,
Speaker 1: and and he was the one, a lone voice that
Speaker 1: was being adamant, No, we're going back out. We're gonna
Speaker 1: go back out, and I'm gonna give this speech and
Speaker 1: that's it. And then when i've when you speak to
Speaker 1: this president in particular, and I've known him for thirty years,
Speaker 1: you have to get the guy's attention, you just can't say, uh, sir,
Speaker 1: I think that, No, it doesn't fly. And so in
Speaker 1: a very very direct, firm tone, I said, sir, we've
Speaker 1: been friends for thirty years. You absolutely positively you can't
Speaker 1: leave him wiggle room, cannot go back in that room.
Speaker 1: As of this moment. We don't know if this is
Speaker 1: a loan shooter. We don't know if there's a grand
Speaker 1: or conspira. We don't know if this gun's planted in
Speaker 1: that room. And by the time they would sweep the room,
Speaker 1: we don't know how long that would take, probably five
Speaker 1: ten hours on the on the short side of it.
Speaker 1: And at that point that was kind of like the
Speaker 1: moment where he said, well, I can go back to
Speaker 1: the White House and speak and then I'm going to
Speaker 1: reschedule right well, at the top of his head, I
Speaker 1: think it should be less. I think within the month.
Speaker 1: And that's what he ended up coming up with the idea.
Speaker 1: He ended up suggesting it. He ended up saying it.
Speaker 1: I heard the deliberations.
Speaker 2: There were some.
Speaker 1: People around him that like, yes, sir, whatever he want, sir.
Speaker 1: I'm like, no, no, bad advice, not good advice. But
Speaker 1: I know everyone's trying to do their best in a
Speaker 1: hard situation. And that's it. Here's where. And I did
Speaker 1: relay the story and then I was able to talk
Speaker 1: with people high ranking officials in the FBI. I was
Speaker 1: I knew very early that the secret Service agent had
Speaker 1: been shot. We still don't know who shot that agent.
Speaker 1: Some have suggested it might be friendly fire in the
Speaker 1: end it maybe I don't know. I'm assuming it was
Speaker 1: this lunatic that was responsible for it. However, we don't
Speaker 1: know for sure. Maybe when this DOJ presser begins any minute,
Speaker 1: they have the guns that were used, and there were
Speaker 1: numerous weapons that this guy had with him at the time.
Speaker 1: Here's my problem with all of this, and it's first,
Speaker 1: I have to commend all of the brave men and
Speaker 1: women in the Secret Service that acted so quickly in
Speaker 1: the moment, and they were there in mass They were
Speaker 1: there to protect cabinet officials, they were there to protect
Speaker 1: the president, the vice president. I'm not sure how the
Speaker 1: vice president got off the day as five seconds ahead
Speaker 1: of the president. I would think the first the first
Speaker 1: thought is to get him and the first lady off
Speaker 1: of that day as quickly and anyway, so I know
Speaker 1: everyone's doing their level best. Those people will all and
Speaker 1: I've met them. They are the Krem de la Crem.
Speaker 1: They are the best of the best. These are people
Speaker 1: that will take a bullet for the president. I have
Speaker 1: nothing but deep admiration for them. This is the third time, however,
Speaker 1: that this has happened, and we have got to have
Speaker 1: a deep, deep dive into what is going wrong. And
Speaker 1: I can tell you what's going wrong now. In the
Speaker 1: incident in Butler where the President came within a millimeter
Speaker 1: of losing his life, what did we learn that somehow
Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty yards away from where Donald Trump
Speaker 1: was to be speaking. Well, this is Todd Blanche, Janine Piro,
Speaker 1: Cash Bettel, take it to the podium. Let's listen in.
Speaker 1: Lots of additions, some of them great, some of them
Speaker 1: not so great over the years.
Speaker 3: But here's Todd Blanche, the acting Attorney Generalists, listen in
Speaker 3: and we'll get your thoughts on the other.
Speaker 4: Side of government, the ability of a free press and
Speaker 4: public officials to come together in celebration and not fear.
Speaker 4: The Act was stopped because of the courage.
Speaker 2: And it was excuse me.
Speaker 4: That act, that horrible act was stopped because of the
Speaker 4: courage and professionalism of law enforcement, the officers who responded
Speaker 4: without hesitation and did their jobs as they were trained
Speaker 4: to do. Secret Service agents promptly tackled and detained the suspect.
Speaker 4: Cole Thomas Allen, the President and all the protectees and
Speaker 4: participants at the dinner were safe. One brave officer was
Speaker 4: injured and is receiving care and has been released from
Speaker 4: the hospital. I want to make this clear. This man
Speaker 4: was a floor above the ballroom, with hundreds of federal
Speaker 4: agents between him and the President.
Speaker 2: Of the United States.
Speaker 4: The Department of Justice approaches incidents like this with urgent
Speaker 4: see and clarity of purpose.
Speaker 2: Violence has no place in civic life.
Speaker 4: It cannot and will not be used to disrupt democratic
Speaker 4: institutions or intimidate those who serve them, and it certainly
Speaker 4: cannot continue to be used against the President of the
Speaker 4: United States. We are investigating this matter fully. We will
Speaker 4: apply the law fairly, and we will ensure that accountability
Speaker 4: is swift and certain. But we also should recognize what
Speaker 4: did not happen. Law enforcement did not fail. They did
Speaker 4: exactly what they are trained to do. This was not
Speaker 4: an accident. It was the result, as we know now,
Speaker 4: of preparation. But the men and women who protected us
Speaker 4: that night were trained, professional, and had an enduring commitment
Speaker 4: to the rule of law. Today, the Department of Justice
Speaker 4: filed three federal charges in the United States different court
Speaker 4: against Cole Thomas Allen. The first count is a tempted
Speaker 4: assassination of the President of the United States. This count
Speaker 4: is punishable by up to life in prison. The second
Speaker 4: count is interstate transportation of a firearm to commit a felony.
Speaker 4: This is punishable by up to ten years in prison.
Speaker 4: And the third count is discharge of a firearm during
Speaker 4: a crime of violence, which is punishable by a mandatory
Speaker 4: minimum term of imprisonment of ten years a maximum of life,
Speaker 4: and the ten years is consecutive to any other sentence imposed.
Speaker 4: Just to go through very quickly the timeline which many
Speaker 4: of you in this room already know, the defendant Allen
Speaker 4: made a hotel reservation at the Washington Hilton for April
Speaker 4: twenty fourth through April twenty sixth. On April twenty first
Speaker 4: of this year, he traveled by train from Los Angeles
Speaker 4: to Chicago and then from Chicago to Washington, d C.
Speaker 4: On April twenty fourth, he arrived in Washington, d C.
Speaker 4: At approximately one o'clock in the afternoon and checked into
Speaker 4: the Washington Hilton approximately at eight point forty On the
Speaker 4: night of April twenty fifth, Alan approached a security checkpoint
Speaker 4: on the terrace level of the hotel, which is again
Speaker 4: a floor above where the dinner was taking place. He
Speaker 4: ran through the magnam matter, holding a long gun. As
Speaker 4: he did so, US Secret Service personnel assigned to the
Speaker 4: checkpoint heard a loud gun shot. One Secret Service officer
Speaker 4: was shot in the chest, but was wearing a ballistic
Speaker 4: vest that worked. This heroic officer who was hit fired
Speaker 4: five times at Alan, who was not shot, but fell
Speaker 4: to the ground and was promptly arrested. I want to
Speaker 4: thank everybody who worked tirelessly on Saturday, Sunday and continuing today.
Speaker 4: This includes members of the FBI and Director Portel is
Speaker 4: going to address that in a minute. It includes members
Speaker 4: of the Metropolitan Police Department who were immediately on the scene,
Speaker 4: the chief, the mayor to make sure that law enforcement
Speaker 4: was available to do their jobs and had all the
Speaker 4: tools they needed to do so. And lastly, the United
Speaker 4: States Attorney's Office here in d c our US Attorney
Speaker 4: Janine Piro and her team a prosecutor stayed up all
Speaker 4: night long, didn't sleep all day yesterday, making sure that
Speaker 4: we got what we needed from all over the country.
Speaker 4: It included search warrants in California, search warrants here in DC,
Speaker 4: multiple interviews that have been conducted already of witnesses and
Speaker 4: of family members of the charge individual, and continue to
Speaker 4: work hard today. This investigation is ongoing, it's not complete.
Speaker 4: A lot of the information that the media is hearing
Speaker 4: through leaks horses. Some of it is true, some of
Speaker 4: it is not true, and at the right time, you
Speaker 4: will hear information from us as appropriate. I'd like to
Speaker 4: ask our US Attorney Jeanine Piro to say a few words,
Speaker 4: and then followed by Director Patel, thank you, Thank.
Speaker 5: You, mister Attorney General Cole Allens.
Speaker 1: All right, this is the DOJ update on the White
Speaker 1: House Corents correspondence dinner shooting. We will stay with our
Speaker 1: coverage for stations along the Sean Hennity Show radio network.
Speaker 5: In the criminal justice system starts today. Todd Blanche just
Speaker 5: indicated to you the charges. Those charges are only three
Speaker 5: charges that are in the complaint that has been presented
Speaker 5: in Federal District Court about an hour ago. There will
Speaker 5: be additional charges as this investigation continues to unfold. But
Speaker 5: make no mistake, this was and attempted assassination of the
Speaker 5: President of the United States, with the defendant making clear
Speaker 5: what his intent was, and that intent was to bring
Speaker 5: down as many of the high ranking cabinet officials as
Speaker 5: he could. This is the kind of situation that we
Speaker 5: cannot tolerate, and as the Attorney General is just indicated,
Speaker 5: it could have been so much worse but for the
Speaker 5: reality that we had the Secret Service as well as
Speaker 5: the Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI. Now the facts
Speaker 5: make it very clear what this intent was. You may
Speaker 5: recall that it was on March second that the President
Speaker 5: indicated that he would be attending this public event at
Speaker 5: the Hilton, and on April sixth, that's when Cole Allen
Speaker 5: first made a hotel reservation at the Washington Hilton for
Speaker 5: three nights, the twenty fourth, two, twenty fifth, and the
Speaker 5: twenty sixth. It was on April twenty first that he
Speaker 5: traveled all the way from the West Coast from home
Speaker 5: from his home near la He gets to Chicago on
Speaker 5: April twenty third, and has been indicated he arrives in
Speaker 5: DC on the twenty fourth, and he checks into the
Speaker 5: hotel at about three pm. He stays overnight. He is
Speaker 5: very much aware that the President and the First Lady
Speaker 5: entered the ballroom at eight pm and it was at
Speaker 5: eight forty that he made a decision to rush the ballroom,
Speaker 5: and thank goodness, law enforcement the Secret Service was able
Speaker 5: to prevent him from getting into that ballroom. He was
Speaker 5: not injured other than some kind of scrape on his knee. Now,
Speaker 5: as indicated, these are the weapons that the defendant had
Speaker 5: on his person. You can see that's a twelve game
Speaker 5: pump action Mosburg shotgun to thirty eight semi automatic. He
Speaker 5: had at least three knives and all kinds of paraphernalia.
Speaker 5: So any suggestion that he wasn't there to do harm
Speaker 5: is absurd. We will prove when he purchased these guns.
Speaker 5: They were purchased in California. Why is that relevant? It
Speaker 5: is relevant because he crossed interstate lines with those firearms.
Speaker 5: And those are the firearms that he used on the
Speaker 5: night of the twenty fifth, or attempted to use at
Speaker 5: the very least. Now, the manifesto also makes clear about
Speaker 5: his expected rules of engagement. You know, you can look
Speaker 5: at it and read it and it may seem kind
Speaker 5: of la la la. But at the end, make no mistake,
Speaker 5: he says, I am targeting the administration officials. They are
Speaker 5: my targets and I'm prioritizing from the top down, the
Speaker 5: highest rank from the lowest, and I will not hesitate
Speaker 5: to get involved in any kind of encounter with anyone
Speaker 5: who blocks me from the President. Now, finally, let me
Speaker 5: say one thing. Within days of the President nominating me
Speaker 5: to be the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia,
Speaker 5: I was at the scene of a double homicide where
Speaker 5: one Elias Rodriguez cross state lines from Chicago with a
Speaker 5: firearm to commit a felony in the district. He's now
Speaker 5: indicted for the murder of two individuals, Lauren Leshinsky and
Speaker 5: Sarah Milgram here in Washington. Not long after that, another individual,
Speaker 5: Ramanella Lock andmall cross state lines again with a firearm
Speaker 5: with intent to commit a felony here in Washington. He
Speaker 5: traveled from the state of Washington. He is now indicted
Speaker 5: with the murder of Sarah Bextram, National guardsman and the
Speaker 5: attempted murder of National Guard Andrew Wolf. Today we have
Speaker 5: Cole Allen, another individual charge with crossing state lines coming
Speaker 5: from California with a firearm with the intent to commit
Speaker 5: a felony here in the district. Let this be a
Speaker 5: message to anyone who thinks that Washington, DC is the
Speaker 5: place to act out political violence, And if you are
Speaker 5: willing to do so with a firearm and cross state lines,
Speaker 5: we will find you. We will track your steps from
Speaker 5: the inception of your plan, and we will prosecute you
Speaker 5: to the fullest extent of the law. Washington, DC is
Speaker 5: not the place to travel to commit acts of violence.
Speaker 5: The Constitution and the laws of the United States permit
Speaker 5: us to register our views through our voices and our votes.
Speaker 5: What they don't permit is making your views known through violence,
Speaker 5: especially violence directed at the President of the United States.
Speaker 5: This is anti democratic at its core.
Speaker 6: Thank you, judge, excuse me, thank you, General. This one
Speaker 6: hits a little differently. We were all there. Many of
Speaker 6: you were there. Many of you watching were there as well.
Speaker 6: The President was there, the Vice President was there, the
Speaker 6: Cabinet was there, and what you saw described by the
Speaker 6: General and the US Attorney is absolutely true. The President
Speaker 6: spoke on late Saturday evening with the message of unity
Speaker 6: and the backing of law enforcement, and we have followed
Speaker 6: through on that message of unity and the effectuation of
Speaker 6: law enforcement across this country. This FBI is grateful to
Speaker 6: the United States Secret Service the Department of Homeland Security,
Speaker 6: and our interagency partners, including the Metropolitan Police Department, for
Speaker 6: swiftly jumping into action. All of us on there put
Speaker 6: us in a unique position, but all of us also
Speaker 6: acted uniquely. The Washington Field Office jumped into action immediately,
Speaker 6: sending a mobile command center to the scene, along with
Speaker 6: our Evidence Response technicians who showed up in speedy fashion
Speaker 6: to make sure we could collect the evidence that the
Speaker 6: prosecutors in the Department needed to make this announcement today.
Speaker 6: Also on scene, you were told about the brave heroics
Speaker 6: of the United States Secret Service and other members of
Speaker 6: law enforcement, and that should be celebrated by every single American.
Speaker 6: They did exactly what they were trained to do. They
Speaker 6: stopped a massive attack from becoming even worse. They stood
Speaker 6: in the way, they safeguarded America, and they should be
Speaker 6: nothing but applauded for their bravery and their dedication to
Speaker 6: their mission and their selfish sacrifice to this country. The FBI,
Speaker 6: along with standing up mobile command units, Evidence Tech Response Team,
Speaker 6: and Washington SWAT on scene, also established our NC three,
Speaker 6: our National Crisis Coordination Center. Almost immediately, and almost immediately
Speaker 6: in parallel, we stood up our command Center at the
Speaker 6: Washington Field Office under Adak Darren Cox's leadership. Throughout the evening,
Speaker 6: we immediately began working with our Department of Justice partners
Speaker 6: to find the evidence necessary to fectuate the legal process
Speaker 6: necessary and enter into the suspects room at the Washington
Speaker 6: Hilton successfully and lawfully and obtain the relevant evidence for
Speaker 6: exploitation that was on scene.
Speaker 2: Back at the Headquarters.
Speaker 6: Division in the Washington Field Office, we were coordinating a
Speaker 6: national scale investigation that literally expanded from coast to coast.
Speaker 6: As you heard, FBI agents along with the interagency were
Speaker 6: immediately dispatched to the suspect's home in California, where we
Speaker 6: conducted interviews that provided critical information about this horrific attack.
Speaker 6: We also dispatched investigators and agents to New London, Connecticut,
Speaker 6: where we conducted further interviews that provided necessary information that
Speaker 6: you will find in this criminal complaint, as the United
Speaker 6: States Attorney has just laid out. While officers were working
Speaker 6: diligently through the night to conduct those interviews, we were
Speaker 6: also conducting interviews of witnesses on scene. Those interviews are ongoing.
Speaker 6: As you know, there was almost two thousand people there.
Speaker 6: We were sifting through and prioritizing who to talk to,
Speaker 6: and we will get to each and every one of
Speaker 6: you with any bit of relevant information. Again, we ask
Speaker 6: everybody who has any relevant information, like I did on
Speaker 6: Saturday night with the President one eight hundred call FBI.
Speaker 6: Any piece of information is information we want to have
Speaker 6: and must receive. On top of the on scene response
Speaker 6: by this FBI, the headquarters response, and the Washington Field
Speaker 6: office response, the FBI flipped on its enterprise wide response
Speaker 6: to this critical incident.
Speaker 2: What does that mean?
Speaker 6: We dispatched fixed wing assets across the country so that
Speaker 6: we could immediately transport evidence that was acquired in California
Speaker 6: and Connecticut and sent it to our laboratories in Quantico
Speaker 6: for analysis. We collected the shellcasings on scene, including the
Speaker 6: firearms and the weapons that the judge talked about. Those
Speaker 6: were also sent to our Quantico laboratories for media analysis.
Speaker 6: America should be proud that this FBI acted with the
Speaker 6: urgency that was needed for the moment that we had
Speaker 6: to answer. The President rightly said that we will act
Speaker 6: in a unified fashion. And it's because of President Trump's
Speaker 6: leadership and backing of the blue every single person in
Speaker 6: law enforcement that I stood with.
Speaker 1: We're going to continue our coverage of the DOJ. This
Speaker 1: is Cash Bettel, the FBI Director, the latest details on
Speaker 1: the attempted well the attempted assassination on Saturday night. More
Speaker 1: of our coverage, and then you're we'll get to the
Speaker 1: news of the day and your calls coming.
Speaker 6: Up and say thank you for doing their job, thank
Speaker 6: you for training endlessly to make sure they meet the
Speaker 6: mission requirements. And for me, as a director of the FBI,
Speaker 6: I want to thank our headquarters components. We're working diligently
Speaker 6: with our prosecutors and make sure that the American public
Speaker 6: knows it's not just federal agents that do this works.
Speaker 6: It's our intelligence analysts, our support staff, our laboratories, our
Speaker 6: fixed wing assets, our critical incident response groups, our hostage
Speaker 6: rescue teams. Agents sprung into action, got out of bed
Speaker 6: and haven't slept since. These prosecutors haven't slept since, and
Speaker 6: I promise you they're not going to be sleeping. They
Speaker 6: are going to give you every piece of evidence. As
Speaker 6: the journal said, we will make public when appropriate to
Speaker 6: protect the integrity of the investigation, to make sure that
Speaker 6: process is served, and we will meet the highest standards
Speaker 6: of the Constitution as we always do, and that is
Speaker 6: when we will continue to disclose information. I know the
Speaker 6: public has a yearning for information, but just remind yourself
Speaker 6: of how much information you have already received, how transparent
Speaker 6: this administration has been. In less than forty eight hours.
Speaker 6: You know almost every single thing we know, and what
Speaker 6: we have not told you yet, we will tell you
Speaker 6: in short order. So once again, from me as Director
Speaker 6: of the FBI, I want to thank the interagency. I
Speaker 6: want to thank the United States Secret Service and their director,
Speaker 6: Mark Waynemullin, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Attorney General,
Speaker 6: the United States Attorney Piro, and Ada Cox for springing
Speaker 6: into action on a night that should have been celebrating
Speaker 6: free speech. But we will be doing it in shortly,
Speaker 6: as the President said, and we look forward to seeing
Speaker 6: you all there.
Speaker 2: Thanks question pure two questions.
Speaker 7: Please beyond the evidence and what the judge described it
Speaker 7: as the manifesto, what other evidence can you point to
Speaker 7: that tells us that the President was the primary.
Speaker 2: Target of this aspect. So we're a day and a
Speaker 2: half end of the investigation.
Speaker 4: As you, as we talked about earlier, we were able
Speaker 4: to get multiple devices from various locations, the hotel room
Speaker 4: and also his where he lived in California. We have
Speaker 4: started that process. There's nothing more that would be appropriate
Speaker 4: to share at this time until we have thoroughly gone
Speaker 4: through what we're doing, and we'll share that information as
Speaker 4: appropriate in the future.
Speaker 2: Second question, go ahead, and on the.
Speaker 7: Assassination attempts against President Trump.
Speaker 3: You've had someone try to burn down the mansion where
Speaker 3: the governor lives in Pennsylvania. You had those state lawmakers
Speaker 3: attacked in Minnesota. You've had two Israeli embassy staff members
Speaker 3: murdered in the city here. You had the Charlie Kirk assassination.
Speaker 3: You had the National guardsmith killed in the city. Can
Speaker 3: you each of you describe the current threat environment and
Speaker 3: what doj stands is about it?
Speaker 4: Well, you just described the current threat environment pretty accurately,
Speaker 4: which is that the political violence and rhetoric has got
Speaker 4: to stop. And that's something President Trump said right after
Speaker 4: the incident on Saturday night. Is something that Carolyn Levitt
Speaker 4: talked about a couple hours ago. It is something that
Speaker 4: is when you have a president who and many people
Speaker 4: in this room, if we're going to be honest about it,
Speaker 4: have done it has done.
Speaker 2: As well, they're just as guilty as a lot of
Speaker 2: people on X.
Speaker 4: When you when you have reporters, when you have media
Speaker 4: just being overly critical and calling the president horrible names
Speaker 4: for no reason and without evans, without proof, it shouldn't
Speaker 4: surprise us.
Speaker 2: That this type of rhetoric takes place.
Speaker 4: If you look at what at what it appears that
Speaker 4: this defendant had in his past. We're talking about somebody
Speaker 4: who is college educated, who has a job, who is
Speaker 4: otherwise living his life. And we'll find out more about him,
Speaker 4: as I expect in the coming days and weeks. But
Speaker 4: he chose to do what he did, and so our
Speaker 4: threat environment is already. I mean, I'm not going to
Speaker 4: go through what the what director Portelog has talked about
Speaker 4: with the way we responded, but this this was something
Speaker 4: that we will always be prepared for and and it's
Speaker 4: sad that it has to happen, but it's it's not
Speaker 4: a new thing.
Speaker 8: Unfortunately, have you been able to determine whether the gunman
Speaker 8: fired shots? If so, how many shots you fired, and
Speaker 8: who exactly who's bullet hit the agent?
Speaker 2: We're still we want to get that right. So we're
Speaker 2: still looking.
Speaker 4: At that it appears and I don't want to overstate,
Speaker 4: because we are still looking at this that there were
Speaker 4: five five shots that law enforcement fired. We are we
Speaker 4: have all the evidence is being examined very carefully and expeditiously, and.
Speaker 2: We'll know more soon.
Speaker 4: We do believe that, as the complaint lays out, that
Speaker 4: the suspect that the defendant fired it out of his shotgun,
Speaker 4: and we know that that happened. But as far as
Speaker 4: getting into exacting ballistics, I'm not going to do that
Speaker 4: today because it's still being being looked at and find.
Speaker 9: Thank you for taking my question. You personally have called
Speaker 9: for a construction of this ballroom at the White House.
Speaker 9: The President has called for this as well. Today the
Speaker 9: National Trust President put out a statement says that they're
Speaker 9: grateful that everybody's okay, but and I quote, we are
Speaker 9: not planning to voluntary dismiss our lawsuit which endangers no
Speaker 9: one in which respectfully ask the administration to follow the law.
Speaker 9: Ballroom construction is continuing untobated until June fifth at the earliest,
Speaker 9: because the injunction is on hold. Where does the Justice
Speaker 9: Department go from here? And I have a follow up on.
Speaker 4: That, well, we filed a motion today asking the court
Speaker 4: to do what the plantiffs refused to do. We absolutely
Speaker 4: believe that there is no better example of why this
Speaker 4: ballroom is necessary aside from all that.
Speaker 1: All right, that is the DOJ now just taking questions
Speaker 1: from the media as it relates to the latest developments.
Speaker 1: What they've been able to share, Questions about the shooting
Speaker 1: and the shooter at the White House correspondence dinner that
Speaker 1: took place on Saturday night. All right, So let me
Speaker 1: get back to the security aspect of this. What are
Speaker 1: the three incidents Butler, Trump International, and the White House
Speaker 1: correspondence dinner event. What are they all have in common? Well,
Speaker 1: they all have in common that we have amazing secret
Speaker 1: service agents that are willing to risk it all. In
Speaker 1: the case of Trump International, how this guy ever saw
Speaker 1: a guy hiding out in the bushes is unbelievable. But
Speaker 1: that's not where the problem lies. The problem is not
Speaker 1: with the agents. The problem is in the moment, in
Speaker 1: the hours and days leading up to a location where
Speaker 1: the president is going to be. In the case of Butler,
Speaker 1: how is it possible that somebody with a long rifle
Speaker 1: was able to get a ladder and climb on a
Speaker 1: roof a mere one hundred and thirty yards from the president.
Speaker 1: That should never happen to me, There's no excuse for that.
Speaker 1: That is where you know, you where sweeping comes in.
Speaker 1: Once you sweep an entire perimeter and you have to
Speaker 1: secure that area. And that's where you know a perimeter
Speaker 1: has to be the appropriate length. How long can somebody
Speaker 1: fire a long rifle if it's an outdoor event and
Speaker 1: hit their target. In many places, you know, sharpshooters can
Speaker 1: fire from over two thousand yards away depending on what
Speaker 1: equipment they're using. But in Butler is one hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty yards. That's like a layup, if you want to
Speaker 1: use a basketball analogy. It's not a shot that even
Speaker 1: a reasonably trained person would ever miss. And the President
Speaker 1: came within a millimeter of his life. They moved to
Speaker 1: Trump International. There are certain holes on this golf course
Speaker 1: that are known locations where paparazzi would often hide. And
Speaker 1: the paparazzi, you know, often did hide and they take
Speaker 1: videos at Donald Trump and they take pictures of Donald Trump.
Speaker 1: Was never swept, even though Donald Trump was playing golf
Speaker 1: that day. And I went to breakfast that morning with
Speaker 1: Steve Whitkoff, was now the Mid East envoy. We had
Speaker 1: breakfast together. He's begging me to go play with them,
Speaker 1: and you know, an hour and a half, two hours later,
Speaker 1: I get a phone call they tried to do it again.
Speaker 1: And then we find out later that that treed area
Speaker 1: was not swept again. If we're looking for how to
Speaker 1: prevent this from happening's three common things that have happened
Speaker 1: in each instance. And in this particular case, the perimeter
Speaker 1: was very close to where the actual location of the
Speaker 1: ballroom was. I mean, this guy comes running by now.
Speaker 1: The entire hotel was not swept. So if you don't sweep,
Speaker 1: you can't secure. If the perimeter is not long enough,
Speaker 1: then you've got to make it bigger obvious. There's a
Speaker 1: failure in our security in the lead up to these events.
Speaker 1: It's not the agents that are there that will take
Speaker 1: a bullet. They're not the problem. They acted, They did
Speaker 1: their job, it said the lead up. Why is that?
Speaker 1: Why does this keep happening? I'm not casting aspersions. I'm
Speaker 1: saying we see one common familiar thing happening in three
Speaker 1: attempted assassination attempts against Donald Trump. That would be called
Speaker 1: a failure. What they're currently doing is not working. And yes,
Speaker 1: this president's controversial is also consequential, and the media hates them.
Speaker 1: You know Dan Bongino, who's going to join us tonight
Speaker 1: on TV, you know, as well as the FBI director
Speaker 1: Cash Bettel. But anyway, he said the shooting you know
Speaker 1: at this dinner, you know will will there will be
Speaker 1: a review of security. Is a former secret service aation
Speaker 1: in his own right, arguing investigators will need to examine
Speaker 1: whether the event perimeter was what it was not wide enough.
Speaker 1: And the odd thing is is they do know how
Speaker 1: to do it and do it perfectly. And I know
Speaker 1: because going to many you know, Republican national conventions and
Speaker 1: Democratic national conventions. I mean they have multiple perimeters. You
Speaker 1: have to get through one layer, then another layer, than
Speaker 1: another layer. Usually you go you get Wanda twice, magged twice,
Speaker 1: credentialed three four times before you can ever even think
Speaker 1: about getting to the location wherever it is that I'm
Speaker 1: going to be filming. And more often than not, the agents,
Speaker 1: you know, high mister Hannity, Yeah, no, I'll need to
Speaker 1: see your credentials and by the way, empty your pockets
Speaker 1: and no, no, no, your jewel is not allowed in
Speaker 1: and so on and so forth, whatever it happens to be.
Speaker 1: Now we've got another problem, and I'm calling it out.
Speaker 1: It has to stop. And that is for the third
Speaker 1: time we've had an assassin that has come far too
Speaker 1: close to killing the president, President Trump. It is now
Speaker 1: a pattern. The suspect was a radicalized lefty. You can
Speaker 1: read his manifesto, you can see his postings online. Yes,
Speaker 1: of course, thank god nobody was seriously injured. But this
Speaker 1: is you know, you talk about a cat nine lives?
Speaker 1: How many? How many more times? Is this gonna happen?
Speaker 1: And I am sorry, but this cannot go unchallenged. And
Speaker 1: I'm glad the White House took this on today because
Speaker 1: the entire narrative of the Democratic Party, the mainstream Democrat Party,
Speaker 1: the mainstream of the legacy media mob is gestapo, Nazi, fascist, racist, sexist, misogynist, homophobe, xenophobe, islamophobe.
Speaker 1: They want the dirty air water to kill Grandma and Grandpa.
Speaker 1: Barely a day goes by, you know, no kings Hitler, Gestapo,
Speaker 1: you hear it all the time. Now, it's not that
Speaker 1: I worry that the people saying it are necessarily going
Speaker 1: to be the people that do it. However, there are
Speaker 1: many people in this country that are not mentally well,
Speaker 1: They're not healthy, and they begin to get desensitized to
Speaker 1: this rhetoric. They begin at some point here they begin
Speaker 1: to believe that they are that this is all real.
Speaker 1: It's not real, it's not true. It is demagoguery at
Speaker 1: its worst level. You know, they've tried to you know,
Speaker 1: they've called Ice agents, Nazis, brown shirts, They've all done it.
Speaker 1: These are mainstream Democrats that are doing this daily. You know,
Speaker 1: you wonder why United Healthcare CEO is killed and then
Speaker 1: people support with this garbage. It's pretty unbelievable. Now. Earlier today,
Speaker 1: Caroline Levitt it mentioned the names of Democrats. Let's play this.
Speaker 10: The entire Democrat Party has made their pitch to voters
Speaker 10: across the country that Donald Trump poses an existential threat
Speaker 10: to democracy, that he is a fascist, and that they
Speaker 10: compare him to Hitler. I mean, these aren't despicable statements
Speaker 10: that the American people have been consuming for years, and
Speaker 10: so many mentally perturbed individuals are led to believe these
Speaker 10: words are truth and then are inspired to act on it.
Speaker 10: I have a whole host of examples that we can
Speaker 10: share with you after it is pages and pages of
Speaker 10: major Democrat Party elected officials saying such as Repakeem Jeffrey
Speaker 10: is just this April this month said we are in
Speaker 10: an era of maximum warfare everywhere, all the time. Governor
Speaker 10: Josh Shapiro said heads need to roll within the administration,
Speaker 10: as Senator Alex Paedi said, people are quote dying because
Speaker 10: of fear and terror caused by the Trump administration. Senator
Speaker 10: Elizabeth Warren president Trump is making the country look like
Speaker 10: a quote fascist state. Senator Adam Shiff saying President Trump
Speaker 10: using a dictator playbook. Senator Ed Markey calling President Trump
Speaker 10: a dictator, saying that this administration's actions are authoritarianism on steroids.
Speaker 10: Governor J. B. Pritzker. Never before in my life have
Speaker 10: I called for mass protest disruptions. These Republicans cannot know
Speaker 10: a moment of peace you have, Presley saying We'll see
Speaker 10: you in the streets. Ret Monica McIvor, a Democrat representative
Speaker 10: on Capitol Hill. We will not take this from Donald Trump.
Speaker 10: He thinks he's a dictator. We are at war. These
Speaker 10: are Democrat elected officials calling for war against the President
Speaker 10: of the United States and his supporters. I could go
Speaker 10: on and on, but again, when you have people in
Speaker 10: positions of power that are saying things like this every
Speaker 10: single day for years, you are inspiring violence by people
Speaker 10: who are already mentally ill. And that's what we've seen
Speaker 10: against this president for far too.
Speaker 1: Long, dehumanizing and literally creating an object of rage. You know,
Speaker 1: it all started, I think an awful lot about blowing
Speaker 1: up the White House In twenty seventeen, Madonna Kathy Griffin
Speaker 1: with her you know, photographed herself holding a bloody severed
Speaker 1: head of Donald Trump, fantasizing about beheading Maxie Waters. I
Speaker 1: will I will go and take Trump out tonight. I
Speaker 1: have played all of this, you know, or or just
Speaker 1: or Senator Schumer. I want to tell you Gorsiz, tell
Speaker 1: you Kavanaugh, you have released the world. When you will
Speaker 1: pay the price, you won't know what hit you. Disgraceful performance.
Speaker 1: Remember Shakespeare's in the Park back in the day. This
Speaker 1: has been going on since the moment this man came
Speaker 1: down this escalator. Now the only Democrat that is saying
Speaker 1: stop drop the Trump de rangement syndrome is John Fetterman.
Speaker 1: That venue wasn't built to accommodate an event with the
Speaker 1: line of succession for our government. After witnessing this attempted assassination,
Speaker 1: it is time for Democrats to drop the TDS and
Speaker 1: build the White House Ballroom for events like this, which
Speaker 1: would be the safest thing. No, by the way, probably
Speaker 1: he'll love it because he wants to be a martyr.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if he survives us. To be honest,
Speaker 1: the first lady has called on ABC and somebod you
Speaker 1: are going to say, why is she doing this to
Speaker 1: punish Jimmy Kimmel. He does a sketch just the other night, apparently,
Speaker 1: you know, and the sketch air Thursday evening, two days
Speaker 1: before now the third attempt on the president's life, and
Speaker 1: Melania Trump called him a coward. Said enough is enough,
Speaker 1: said he hides by an ABC because he knows the network.
Speaker 1: We'll keep running cover to protect him. I'm for ABC
Speaker 1: to take a stand because he said that. You know,
Speaker 1: she had the glow of an expectant widow. Is it
Speaker 1: any wonder? Reports that Erica Kirk obviously very upset over
Speaker 1: what happened the other night. Can you blame her? After
Speaker 1: all she's lived through. One CNN commentator claiming on air
Speaker 1: that Trump wants us dead moment s he Cupp said,
Speaker 1: the moments, but before what is she talking about? You know,
Speaker 1: all these people, will Republicans do it too? Give me
Speaker 1: the example, you know, Oh, I don't like the Donald
Speaker 1: Trump tweet. Doesn't cut it. So we'll see what happens
Speaker 1: then the President himself. You know, we'll see what Disney
Speaker 1: does here. You know, but this is the third time
Speaker 1: a group of two hundred and fifty so called journalists
Speaker 1: called for a forceful demonstration of opposition to Trump at
Speaker 1: the White House Correspondence dinner. This is the legacy media mob.
Speaker 1: New York Post reported, forget covering protests. Reporters think they
Speaker 1: should be the ones making the ruckus. A group of
Speaker 1: over two hundred and fifty quote journalists then on journalists,
Speaker 1: you know, uh, members of the Beltway press corps. They
Speaker 1: are being encouraged to forcefully demonstrate opposition to President Trump.
Speaker 1: Who knows what they had planned. I know what the
Speaker 1: President had planned. And by the way, this would have
Speaker 1: been a kick ass speech by the President. But anyway,
Speaker 1: these reporters demanding the White House Correspondence Association ensure he
Speaker 1: doesn't feel welcome. Something was planned. I can almost guarantee it.
Speaker 1: The White House was ready for it, just so in
Speaker 1: case you're interested. But this is the culture that they
Speaker 1: have created, This is who they are, and this is
Speaker 1: you know, a costa reportership prepared to walk the f out. Well,
Speaker 1: why are you going to go? If you're going to
Speaker 1: walk out the room and put up a stink, you know,
Speaker 1: it really is disgusting, despicable. Now here's the thing you're
Speaker 1: gonna say, Well, words, they're not responsible, they didn't do it.
Speaker 1: You're right, you have to hold people accountable for their actions.
Speaker 1: I agree with that to a good extent. But I
Speaker 1: will tell you something, And having been the focus of
Speaker 1: numerous attempts to get fired in my career, numerous attempts
Speaker 1: at boycotting the show at my TV show, numerous attempts
Speaker 1: to silence me, I've been lucky my partner, I have
Speaker 1: great radio partners, I have great TV partners. They've never
Speaker 1: given in to the pressure. I've never even been approached
Speaker 1: about it to be very blunt or told what to
Speaker 1: do or say. You know, you have a one time
Speaker 1: Democratic Assembly candidate in Wisconsin owns a brewery promising to
Speaker 1: give away free beer the day Trump dies get any
Speaker 1: sicker than that. DJ calling on the National Trust to
Speaker 1: drop its lawsuit against Trump's new ballroom. You think maybe
Speaker 1: maybe a good idea, maybe a better place, safer place,
Speaker 1: bulletproof everything, bomb proof everything, because that's what the president
Speaker 1: is building and is not costing taxpayers a dime. By
Speaker 1: the way, I got confronted by Harvey Levin's TMZ today.
Speaker 1: Did I tell you I go Harvey, tell Harvey, I
Speaker 1: say I love Harvey, I love Harvey, start messing around
Speaker 1: with him, and I actually had them laughing. It was
Speaker 1: pretty funny. It's just sad and something's got to be done.
Speaker 1: We have a lot more to say about this. But
Speaker 1: for those people that are susceptible this dehumanization that is
Speaker 1: taking place, this incitement that takes place, you cannot tell
Speaker 1: me there's not a direct connection, because there is