Karoline Leavitt Holds Press Briefing on Trump Assassination Attempt at Correspondents Dinner

[0:00] going on inside the white house press briefing room bum bum bum bum what's up everybody what's [0:08] up what's up good afternoon we're back there's going to be a press conference press conference [0:14] i was scrambling i think that will be one of the first questions is to ask the president [0:23] on saturday you want to have this um events within the next 30 days and the big question is [0:29] where are we possibly do that do we go back to the whole thing and if so what would the [0:34] securities look like this president would feel comfortable um good afternoon everyone [0:47] later today president trump and the first lady will welcome king charles and queen camilla for [0:52] a state visit here at the white house first lady melania trump has led all of the preparation [0:58] for the state visit which will honor the long-standing and special relationship [1:03] between the united states and the united kingdom as i told many of you on friday afternoon i thought [1:09] that would be my last time taking your questions until after my maternity leave but given the [1:14] attempted assassination of the president and quote top trump administration officials as the depraved [1:21] shooter noted in his manifesto at the white house correspondents association dinner on saturday evening [1:27] i felt it was prudent to be here today to answer your questions and inform the american people [1:32] about how the administration is responding to yet another attempt on president trump's life [1:38] saturday was supposed to be a joyful evening celebrating free speech in the first amendment [1:43] with all of you members of the press instead the night was hijacked by a crazed anti-trump individual [1:50] who traveled across the country to assassinate the president and as many administration officials [1:57] as possible across the country this is the third major assassination attempt against president trump [2:02] in two years no other president in history has faced such repeated serious attempts on his life [2:09] first and foremost the president the first lady and everyone in this white house are extraordinarily [2:16] grateful to the brave law enforcement professionals who sprang into action to apprehend the would-be assassin [2:22] and keep all of us safe the president would especially like to express his gratitude to the men and women [2:28] of the united states secret service who acted with the utmost professionalism courage and sense of duty [2:35] this includes the heroic agent who took a bullet to the chest thankfully he was saved by his bulletproof [2:41] vest minutes after returning here to the white house to the oval office despite fighting secret service [2:47] to try to stay and keep the dinner going on saturday ahead of addressing you here in the briefing room [2:53] president trump was intent on speaking to this brave agent to ensure he was okay and the agent assured [2:59] the president that he was as you know i was seated next to president trump and the first lady when the [3:05] shots were fired before secret service swiftly moved us to safety backstage the president's calm in the face of [3:12] chaos while yet another individual was trying to take his life was really remarkable to witness and it's [3:18] something i will never forget president trump is fearless because he loves this country and he is [3:24] willing to put his own life on the line to deliver on the promises that he made to the american public who [3:30] elected him here into the highest office in the land and while we are blessed to have a fearless president [3:37] we should not live in a country where such constant fear of political violence permeates our society [3:43] every single day we can and we should have fierce disagreement in this country as you all know we [3:50] disagree often myself in this role and all of you in the news media but those disagreements must remain [3:56] peaceful debating peaceful protesting and voting are how we need to settle disagreements not bullets nobody in [4:05] recent years has faced more bullets and more violence than president trump this political violence stems [4:11] from a systemic demonization of him and his supporters by commentators yes by elected members of the [4:18] democrat party and even some in the media this hateful and constant and violent rhetoric directed at [4:25] president trump day after day after day for 11 years has helped legitimize this violence and bring us to this [4:33] dark moment those who constantly falsely label and slander the president as a fascist as a threat to [4:40] democracy and compare him to hitler to score political points are fueling this kind of violence the left-wing [4:47] cult of hatred against the president and all of those who support him and work for him has gotten multiple [4:54] people hurt and killed and it almost did so again this weekend when you read the manifesto of this shooter [5:01] ask yourselves how different is the rhetoric from this almost assassin than what you read on social [5:08] media and hear in various forums every single day the answer if you're being honest with yourself is [5:14] that there is no difference at all much of the manifesto of the would-be assassin is indistinguishable [5:21] from the words that we hear daily from so many for example as the first lady of the united states pointed [5:28] out this morning just two days prior to the shooting abc's late night host jimmy kemel disgustingly [5:33] called first lady melania trump an expectant widow who in their right minds says a wife would be glowing [5:40] over the potential murder of her beloved husband and having experienced what i did with the first lady [5:45] on saturday night i can tell you that she was anything but that this kind of rhetoric about the president [5:51] the first lady and his supporters is completely deranged and it's unbelievable that the american [5:56] people are consuming it night after night after night as president trump said on saturday night [6:02] at this podium we as americans must recommit ourselves to resolving our differences peacefully [6:08] and uniting around the shared values that make our country great the deranged lies and smears against [6:14] the president his family his supporters have led crazy people to believe crazy things and they are inspired [6:21] to commit violence because of those words it has to stop and one more point saturday night served as [6:28] yet another reminder of how important it is to fund the department of homeland security it is shameful [6:35] that the united states congress has kept this vital agency defunded for 73 days the longest shutdown of [6:42] a federal agency in u.s history the secret service is a vital component of dhs it has been directly [6:49] impacted by this reckless political game and gamesmanship everyone in this room who was there [6:55] on saturday night witnessed the heroes of secret service and federal law enforcement jump into action [7:00] in the face of grave danger and uncertainty agents put their own lives in harm's way to protect the [7:06] president the the first lady the vice president and members of the cabinet one agent can be seen in [7:13] video footage literally jumping onto the stage not knowing where the attacker was or where the bullets were [7:19] coming from at that point to place his body in front of the president of the united states these men and [7:25] women are heroes they perform their duties daily and they have children and families too and they do it [7:31] despite the political turmoil surrounding their agency make no mistake this defunding of dhs should be [7:38] a national scandal if republicans defunded dhs and we saw in another attempted assassination on a democrat [7:45] president i would hope that the media coverage would be relentless and unforgiving and i hope that it [7:50] continues to be now with the world cup america 250 the 2028 olympics and a presidential election all [7:58] ahead the democrats obstruction is placing an enormous and totally pointless burden on the secret service [8:04] that can get more people killed enough is enough there should be no further debate about this [8:10] democrats need to do what president trump has been calling on them to do for 73 days in a row [8:16] and fund the department of homeland security period this is a national emergency and every member of [8:22] congress needs to put their country over party and get the department of homeland security funded [8:28] with that i will take a few of your questions today daniel thank you for being here why don't you [8:32] kick us off thank you darryline the president saturday after the assassination attempt came here he [8:38] emphasized that law enforcement did their job keeping everyone safe for dinner house speaker mike johnson [8:43] came out and said he believes the president needs greater protection what is the white house's message [8:48] to the millions who wake up here today nervous uneasy about the safety of the president at events like [8:55] this and safety of their cabinet members well we certainly understand their fears and their worries [9:00] as you heard from the president himself he continues to have trust in the united states secret [9:06] service as i just said these are great men and women who are doing their jobs and performing their honor [9:11] their their duties honorably as we all witnessed on saturday evening within minutes the president [9:18] the first lady the vice president members of the president's cabinet were ushered out of the room [9:23] the perpetrator who sought to inflict massive harm as we all now know with the release of the manifesto [9:29] on administration officials and the president himself was stopped at the security parameter that was set [9:35] up he tried to charge through it as you saw on video and he was quickly neutralized by secret [9:40] service and thank god that he was with that said obviously the white house is always asking the tough [9:45] questions and ensuring the safety of the president i understand there will be a meeting early this week [9:51] convened by the white house chief of staff susie wiles with top dhs leadership members of the united [9:56] state secret service and our own operations team here to ensure the safety and the security of the [10:01] president as we do have many of these major events moving forward so we're always monitoring operations [10:07] and procedures always asking the tough questions to ensure the president is safe and the american [10:11] people should be assured there's no higher priority for the president and his staff than the president's [10:17] safety general right you said you thought that that gaggle out of the sticks would be your last one [10:21] for your baby back in 2024 when the president had the attempt on his life butler you cut your [10:27] maternity leave short back then you're obviously back here today after saturday can you just elaborate a [10:32] little bit why you felt it was important to be here to bring to the media and talk to the american [10:37] people for the stand sure it's sort of crazy timing when you put it that way for both children [10:43] with two assassination attempts against the president i'm honored to work in this job i view this job as the [10:50] president's spokesperson and the white house spokeswoman as public service it's not just any job i'm honored to do it [10:56] and i'm honored to work and speak on behalf of president trump who has faced unprecedented [11:02] adversity and challenges and i'm honored to work for him and again as i witnessed on saturday night [11:07] just his dogged resolve and determination to get back onto the stage and and he was pushing secret [11:14] service and law enforcement to allow him to address and that that really i think hopefully gives the [11:19] country the type of strength that we need and i certainly know as his spokeswoman and i can speak on behalf [11:25] of all of the staff here at the white house the president inspires all of us to just keep going [11:30] and keep fighting every day thanks daniel and congrats to you on your new baby he's beautiful aisha [11:36] just from the rhetoric you mentioned the first lady and jimmy kimmel jimmy kimmel's comments were [11:41] mrs trump you have a glow like an expectant widow and he said this days before the shooting but there does [11:48] seem to be a normalization of rhetoric about assassinating this particular president how can this [11:57] administration try to put an end to this well i think you heard it directly from the president on [12:04] saturday night aisha that in his words we need to recommit ourselves as a country to toning down the [12:10] rhetoric and to unifying around what makes our country great that's true of everyone who works in this [12:17] white house but as i said it's also true of everyone who has a voice and a platform across [12:22] this country whether you're on television a podcast host uh you know people listen and when you have [12:30] mentally disturbed individuals across the country who are listening to this crazed rhetoric about the [12:35] president day after day after day it inspires them to do crazy things and unfortunately it's not just [12:42] the media it is the entire democrat party has made their pitch to voters across the country that [12:49] donald trump poses an existential threat to democracy that he is a fascist and that they compare him to [12:54] hitler i mean these are despicable statements that the american people have been consuming for years [12:59] and so many mentally perturbed individuals are led to believe these words are truth and then are inspired to act on it [13:06] i have a whole host of examples that we can share with you after it is pages and pages of major democrat [13:13] party elected officials uh saying such as rep hakeem jeffries just this april this month said we are in [13:20] an era of maximum warfare everywhere all the time governor josh shapiro said heads need to roll within the [13:28] administration senator alex padilla said people are quote dying because of fear and terror caused by the trump [13:34] administration senator elizabeth warren president trump is making the country look like a quote [13:39] fascist state senator adam schiff saying president trump using a dictator playbook senator ed markey [13:46] calling president trump a dictator saying that this administration's actions are authoritarianism [13:51] on steroids governor jb pritzker never before in my life have i called for mass protest disruptions [13:57] these republicans cannot know a moment of peace you have rep presley saying we'll see you in the [14:03] streets uh monica mc iver a democrat representative on capitol hill we will not take this [14:09] shit from donald trump he thinks he's a dictator we are at war these are democrat elected officials [14:16] calling for war against the president of the united states and his supporters i could go on and on but [14:21] again when you have people in positions of power that are saying things like this every single day for [14:27] years you are inspiring violence by people who are already mentally ill and that's what we've seen [14:32] against this president for far too long this is disinformation and misinformation online there will [14:38] be bite-sized clips that will go viral to the point where there are americans in this country that [14:44] believe that what happened saturday night was staged how does this white house tackle that with social [14:50] media companies out there whether it's x facebook instagram how do they work with these companies [14:57] to make sure that doesn't get out of control it's certainly a good question aisha i don't have [15:02] tangible answers for you on what we're doing with social media companies if anything at all what i [15:06] will say is it's very important to us that we get the truth and the facts about this case in any case [15:12] out there as quickly as possible to dispel some of that crazy nonsense that you do see running rampant [15:19] online and i think the department of justice and the fbi thus far have done a good job of disseminating [15:25] the truth and the facts about this alleged attempted assassin the perpetrator in this case and i [15:31] understand he'll be arraigned in court very soon you all see that in the department of justice [15:35] we'll be giving a briefing and an update later today so as far as we're concerned just providing [15:40] maximum transparency and hopefully people will will believe the truth rather than the lies and the [15:46] conspiracies that so often do go crazy on social media rachel thanks caroline does the administration [15:53] view this as a security failure or did the protocols work as they were designed the president has said [15:59] he believes that the protocols worked again you had a perpetrator who tried to breach the security [16:04] parameter that was set up by secret service and he was running as fast as he could and was immediately [16:10] neutralized moments later and again having been right up there on the stage with the president and the [16:15] first lady i can tell you it was seconds uh before we were told to get down and it was seconds before [16:21] we found ourselves in the hold room backstage it all happened literally within a matter of seconds [16:26] the president the vice president and the first lady being pulled to safety that is not done [16:32] if there's a lapse so secret service did their jobs well they communicated with one another to remove [16:37] the president and the vice president to safety as quickly as they could and obviously to neutralize the [16:42] shooter as well and thank god they did because if that man was allowed into that ballroom it would [16:46] have been a much different scene and just one more follow-up on just how the white house could be [16:50] rethinking security protocols going forward i mean we all remember after the attempted assassination [16:56] in butler there were indoor rallies that were held after that um is is that out of the question [17:02] changing any additional security protocols when it comes to how the president does these events that [17:07] are outside of the white house i definitely wouldn't say changes are out of the question i think [17:12] again that it's up to the white house here and we view it as a great responsibility to ensure the [17:17] maximum safety of the president and the vice president and the entire cabinet and so we're always looking [17:22] for ways to improve security i think if you just sit here and say everything is perfect all the time [17:27] that's not a good way to operate and so the white house will continue to engage with dhs and with secret [17:32] service to find ways to improve and strengthen security but as far as saturday night is concerned [17:36] the president was satisfied with the response and he's very grateful to the men and women who [17:40] provided the response for him and his wife and members of his team [17:47] thanks caroline the president has talked about rescheduling the dinner within 30 days does he have [17:52] a specific venue in mind and would he consider hosting it at the white house well unfortunately we [17:58] don't have a room big enough here at the white house which is another point to be made and the [18:02] president is absolutely right it's why the white house ballroom project is not just a fun project [18:09] for president trump like you will read in the media it is actually critical for our national security [18:14] that a larger secure building on this complex which is the most secure complex in the world [18:20] is built to accommodate not only large amounts of guests but also the president the vice president members [18:26] of the cabinet the line of secession in this country should be able to gather freely and safety [18:32] without the fear of threats or political violence and the white house ballroom will provide that [18:37] and so it's critical that we get this project done as quickly as possible [18:44] thank you caroline uh two questions if that's all right first on the um security situation on saturday [18:49] kind of a follow-up here previous administrations have sent both the president and the vice president [18:55] to the dinner but after the foil attack on saturday if the dinner is rescheduled would president trump [19:02] and vice president jd vance both plan on attending and is it wise to have both of them um in the same [19:11] spot given the presidential line of succession you mentioned a second ago it's definitely a good [19:16] question and i know that it's one that will be raised i can assure you the president intends to [19:21] attend the event as he has told all of you publicly i don't want to rule in or out the vice president's [19:25] attendance but certainly that's a conversation that will take place iran has proposed a mutual [19:33] reopening of the strait leaving the nuclear discussion for later in the process given that the nuclear [19:40] program has been a red line for this administration would the president agree to that kind of phase [19:45] negotiation well only because it's been reported i will confirm the president has met with his national [19:50] security team this morning the meeting may be ongoing maybe not i don't want to speak affirmatively [19:56] because i was prepping to come out here but the proposal was being discussed i don't want to get [20:01] ahead of the president or his national security team what i will reiterate is that the president's red [20:06] lines with respect to iran have been made very very clear not just to the american public but also to [20:11] them as well i wouldn't say they're considering it i would just say that there was a discussion this [20:17] morning that i don't want to get ahead of and you'll hear directly from the president i'm sure on [20:21] this topic very soon i'm going to ask you about the fed chairman but first uh three assassination [20:26] attempts in three years is this going to change the type of events that the president goes to [20:32] well again that's going to be part of the conversations moving forward but as you heard [20:36] from president trump he does not want these deranged lunatics and these grave acts of political [20:43] violence to change our american way of life and i think it's a very brave thing to say it'd be very [20:48] easy for him to just hunker down here at the white house where he knows he's safe but the president [20:53] wants to be out across the country he wants to go across the country to meet with americans he wants [20:59] to celebrate the 250th birthday of our nation's anniversary this summer as you know we're gearing up [21:04] for a big ufc fight here on the south lawn so there's many exciting events i know the president [21:10] wants to be part of and will be part of moving forward he's undeterred in that way and it's [21:15] something that inspires all of us here to keep going senator tillis is now dropping his objection [21:20] to allowing kevin warsh to be confirmed because the doj has closed their investigation is the [21:26] president satisfied that a inspector general report into the federal reserve is enough to look into these [21:32] renovations the president understands that the inspector general has greater tools at their disposal [21:38] perhaps even more powerful than a grand jury to continue investigating the financial mismanagement [21:43] of the fed building which is a priority for the president look he's a builder himself when he sees [21:48] something has a lot of cost overruns is taking too long and is this case ripping off the american [21:53] taxpayer he wants to get to the bottom of it i understand senator tillis put out a statement [21:57] saying he'll support kevin warsh's confirmation that has been our position all along from day one he [22:02] is more than qualified for the job and we look forward to working with the senate on his swift [22:06] confirmation process as a follow-up on the on worse will the president be satisfied once the feds [22:12] inspector general finishes that investigation even if it finds no evidence of wrongdoing well that's [22:17] a hypothetical question i'll let the president speak on it when we see the results it's obviously [22:21] far too early to say and relatedly as a follow-up now that it looks like worse will be confirmed by [22:26] the end of jay powell's term does the president is he still considering firing jay powell if he stays [22:30] on as governor after that i haven't talked to him about it specifically but i think the president [22:34] will be satisfied once kevin warsh is confirmed as the fed chair which he should be [22:41] on iran um the president had said last week that the u.s has started the process of clearing [22:46] the strait of hormuz of mines um do you have an update on how many have been removed and an estimate [22:51] of how long that process could take i don't but i would defer you to the pentagon on that we'll [22:55] make sure they get you an answer karen ongoing process though it's still actually happening right [22:59] now again i would defer you to the pentagon on anything with respect to clearing mines in the [23:03] street of her moose i know that you said that the white house is reviewing the security protocols [23:12] for things that could be done differently in the future have you identified anything so far that [23:17] you would like to see done differently or ask the secret service to make any changes in the security [23:22] protocols for the president particularly at these large events that are taking place off the white [23:26] house campus not yet no but as i said there will be a meeting here at the white house uh in the earlier [23:31] half of this week so those conversations will take place and on the light of success and i would also [23:36] just add you know look the the secret service does not detail their procedures or operations to the [23:42] public for obvious reasons because you have crazy people who try to hijack them and get around them [23:47] so these conversations will take place in private but if adjustments need to be made to protect the [23:51] president they will be made carolina [23:54] dives under tables discussed doing like it does for instance with a joint address to congress for [23:59] these large events and designating someone as the designated survivor for future large events that [24:04] the cabinet attends well those conversations ahead of the walk of dinner did take place but there were [24:08] several members of the cabinet in the line of succession who did not attend for various personal [24:14] reasons so designating one survivor was not necessary as we had several members who were not there already [24:20] carolina are forced to dive under tables and fearing for their lives on saturday night including many of [24:25] the people in this room myself included what is the president's message to those people who experienced [24:30] that terrible trauma and maybe are still still fearful today i think he would say as he sort of did on [24:37] saturday night coming in here in his tuxedo you know we can't allow these crazy people to let us be [24:43] afraid we have to keep moving forward showing up doing our job celebrating our country and doing what we know [24:49] is right but certainly we'd like to see the rhetoric against this president and his supporters tone down [24:55] because it is inspiring these crazy people across the country to target not just the president [25:00] but those who work for him and those who support him and it must end is he following the arraignment of [25:05] the suspect today yes he is and i know you all want to follow that too it's so it's happening in a few [25:09] minutes so i'll let you all go the department of justice is also going to be speaking [25:14] momentarily following the arraignment and i hope that pray that this is the last time i speak to [25:20] you uh for some time uh until after my maternity leave so thank you guys [25:33] there you have it all right all right all right so the doj press conference is supposed to be at 3 p.m [25:39] eastern i hope the audio is okay i gotta fix it after the stream but 3 p.m eastern and so i'm gonna [25:46] schedule a live right now for that uh just a placeholder cash patel and todd i guess they're [25:58] supposed to be revealing information major information about the case so i don't really [26:05] have a title and thumbnail yeah i'm gonna make that after this stream but i'm gonna just put a placeholder [26:09] for now and i'll fix it later i'm flying today holy crap time is flying the ballroom should we have a [26:31] ballroom we schedule this we're gonna do a little redirect in a bit the controversy with the ballroom [26:52] it's expensive it's 300 or 400 million i guess for the presidential ballroom and a secure bunker [27:00] it involves historic preservation lawsuits national trusts for historic preservation foreign steel [27:07] donations donor influence claims the white house is both the president's home and iconic and an iconic [27:18] national historic landmark the uk has i guess something 10 downing street check wears renovations [27:28] happening much smaller scale and rarely this controversial france has grand salons ballrooms [27:35] already upgrades done quietly russia or china state events are held in existing grand halls with heavy [27:44] security no big new controversies like this many countries host big state dinners in dedicated [27:50] places or convention centers without altering the main historic residence so yeah i'm gonna redirect you [28:01] guys i would stay on hanging out but because the time flies and i have to fix some things with the [28:06] stream and i have to make adjustments i'm gonna jump off or if not i'm gonna be scrambling again all [28:11] right but i appreciate you guys love you thank you so much i'll catch you in a little bit this press [28:15] comments the next one coming up should actually be interesting they're gonna supposedly reveal stuff [28:20] and information on the shooter all right bye