Nicolle on WHCD shooting: 'America is once again FORCED to grapple with...political violence'

[0:01] Hi again, everyone. It's four o'clock in New York, America once again, [0:05] forced to grapple and process another frightening incident of potential political violence in our [0:10] country, as well as big and important questions about how we protect our president. After our [0:16] government was able to get close to Donald Trump for the third time in less than two years, this [0:21] time it was at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, [0:25] U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, and FBI Director Cash Patel [0:30] held a press conference in the last hour about the shooting. Watch. [0:35] This was an attempted assassination of the president of the United States, [0:40] with the defendant making clear what his intent was. And that intent was to bring down as many [0:47] of the high-ranking cabinet officials as he could. This one hits a little differently. We were all [0:54] there. Many of you were there. Many of you watching were there as well. All of us on there put us in [1:00] a unique position. But all of us also acted uniquely. [1:04] We are investigating this matter fully. We will apply the law fairly. And we will ensure [1:10] that accountability is swift and certain. But we also should recognize what did not happen. [1:18] Law enforcement did not fail. They did exactly what they are trained to do. This was not an accident. [1:25] It was a result, as we know now, of preparation. But the men and women who protected us that night [1:34] were trained, professional, and had an enduring commitment to the rule of law. [1:40] The suspect is 31-year-old Cole Allen. He's a tutor and engineer from California. [1:48] He appeared in court earlier today, where he's now facing three charges. [1:52] They are attempted assassination of the president of the United States, transportation of a firearm [1:58] and ammunition across state lines, and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence. [2:04] The government is seeking life in prison and says more charges could be coming. [2:08] The New York Post obtained over 1,000 words attributed to the suspect. [2:13] They lay out his alleged motives for the shooting. It contains apologies to his parents, [2:18] colleagues, and students. It also lists so-called rules of engagement with the Secret Service agents, [2:24] guests, and Trump administration officials, making it clear the administration officials were his [2:30] primary targets. One person, a Secret Service agent, was shot in his bullet-resistant vest. He was [2:36] not seriously injured, fortunately. Outstanding questions remain, though, about just how this gunman was [2:43] able to get so close to the president. After the suspect was able to make it to the top of a [2:49] staircase near the ballroom, where Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and members of the Cabinet, and journalists [2:55] from all across the country, including from this news organization, were gathered. [2:59] MSNOW's Carol Lennick was at the dinner Saturday, and she reports this about security. [3:04] Unlike at major national special security events known as NSSEs, there were no specially trained [3:12] counter-assault agents on standby to stop a breach or a person with a weapon. The dinner is not [3:18] considered an NSSE, which triggers a higher, almost militaristic level of protection and brings in [3:25] security teams from across the federal government. A current Secret Service official told MSNOW that the [3:31] checkpoint staff was not paying close attention, in part because the dinner had begun at 8 p.m., [3:36] and they didn't expect to be screening any additional guests. While the full picture of what [3:42] happened Saturday is still coming into focus, the Trump administration quickly pointed the finger [3:46] at Democrats and critics of Donald Trump for the violence. Trump also seized on the events of [3:52] Saturday to demand the construction of his ballroom, which a judge has halted. Trump's saying now it [3:59] should proceed. Claims which were echoed by members of the Trump administration, including at that [4:05] press conference we just showed you a little clip from. Donald Trump sat down yesterday for an interview [4:10] of 60 Minutes about the events of Saturday. Take a look at how that went. The so-called manifesto [4:17] is a stunning thing to read, Mr. President. He appears to reference a motive in it. He writes this [4:24] quote, administration officials, they are targets. And he also wrote this. I'm no longer willing to [4:31] permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes. What's your reaction to that? [4:36] Well, I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would, because you're horrible people. [4:42] Horrible people. Yeah, he did write that. I'm not a rapist. I didn't rape anybody. [4:47] I'm not a pedophile. Do you think he was referring to you? Excuse me. I'm not a pedophile. You read [4:53] that crap from some sick person. I got associated with stuff that has nothing to do with me. I was [5:02] totally exonerated. Your friends on the other side of the plate are the ones that were involved with, [5:10] let's say, Epstein or other things. But I said to myself, you know, I'll do this interview and [5:16] they'll probably, I read the manifesto. You know, he's a sick person. But you should be ashamed of [5:22] yourself reading that because I'm not any of those things. And I was never, excuse me, excuse me, [5:29] you shouldn't be reading that on 60 Minutes. You're a disgrace. But go ahead, let's finish the interview. [5:34] That's where we start today. Former assistant special agent in charge at the FBI and national [5:40] security and intelligence analyst for us, Michael Feinberg, is here. Plus, senior investigative [5:45] reporter Carol Lennig is also here. Also joining us, PUC News senior political columnist, national [5:50] affairs analyst John Heilman joins us. And with me at the table for the hour, political analyst, [5:55] former Senator Claire McCaskill is here. Carol Lennig, how are you? Just fine. I was scared for a few [6:04] minutes, for sure, when those, when that gunfire was, you know, just beyond the door near our table. But [6:12] then we got to work. I'm really proud of the MSNOW team. People scurried to report in the room, [6:18] left the room to report. So I'm just fine. Thank you, though. [6:22] And in a model that you model for all of us, I have it on multiple sources that that's exactly [6:27] what happened, that you all jumped into almost like muscle memory reporting the news that night. So [6:35] let's start there. Tell me what we learned in the last hour that advanced, I mean, [6:44] they seem to be talking a lot. I'm not sure that some of the big unanswered questions have been [6:51] answered yet. But in fairness, it is early. Just tell me your understanding of where things stand. [6:57] Yeah, good, great, broad question. But let me give you what I took from especially the news [7:03] conference today. On Saturday night, the burning question was, did this guy intend to try to kill [7:09] the president? His letter that he sent to his family on the evening, I believe, of Saturday night, [7:17] and that was forwarded by the new London, Connecticut police to the Secret Service late, [7:23] late, late that night, sure seems to indicate that his intention was Donald Trump. As he says, [7:28] Trump administration officials from the top first down. And so his intention was to kill the president [7:36] based on that letter, again, surfaced by the new London police and his family and sent to the [7:43] Secret Service. I was told by a Secret Service source on Sunday, they received that information [7:48] somewhere before 11 p.m. at night, so pretty quickly after the shooting. The other important thing that [7:55] I've still been trying to learn ever since Saturday night, and we still don't know Monday morning, [8:00] is the Secret Service and the Justice Department are being really careful, waiting for FBI ballistics [8:06] to determine who shot who. You know, the UN, the Secret Service uniformed division officer we know [8:13] was shot in a bulletproof vest and was recovering. Even Saturday night was mildly injured and was going [8:21] to be fine. And we know now, newly, that the suspect, Mr. Colt, Mr. Allen, rather, also is alleged to have [8:32] discharged his weapon. Whether he shot anyone is still unclear. Secret Service sources told me [8:39] yesterday, Nicole, that they believe, based on the witness accounts of the agents and the officers that [8:45] were in that stairwell you've been looking at, that the UD officer began shooting at the suspect to try [8:51] to stop him after he'd already gotten through the final checkpoint. And they believe that the [8:57] suspect then turned around to engage that fire and try to stop it, and was the person who shot the UD, [9:04] uniformed division officer. Those UD officers, by the way, are the ones that always man the [9:10] magnetometer screening area and try to stop this from ever happening. But the Justice Department and the [9:17] FBI, I think, are being reasonably careful and conservative and not confirming what happened [9:23] until they get all the casings and they get all the bullets and can say for sure what happened. [9:28] It is conceivable, and I'm not saying it's true, but it is conceivable that another officer may have [9:35] accidentally shot that bulletproof vest. We just don't know yet.