‘We are actively combing through’ evidence: Blanche on WHCA dinner investigation

[0:00] We're joined now by the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche. [0:02] Mr. Blanche, thank you for joining us this morning. [0:04] You were in that room last night. [0:06] What was going through your mind when you heard those shots? [0:10] I think the same thing that was going through everybody's mind, a lot of confusion. [0:14] The president said he thought maybe a tray dropped. [0:17] I think that's a fair description of what I thought as well. [0:20] And then just kind of surprise, and then obviously the night unfolded after that. [0:26] We know a Secret Service officer was hit by gunfire. [0:29] How's he doing this morning? [0:32] I mean, he's doing great. [0:33] The president called him last night from the Oval Office, and he was in great spirits even then. [0:40] And I expect that he is, I'm not sure his status as far as whether he's been released or not, [0:45] but he was very appreciative. [0:47] The president thanked him and expressed his own appreciation, and he was in great spirits. [0:52] So I think he's going to be great, he's going to be fine, and thank God he was wearing a bulletproof vest. [0:59] Do we know if he was hit by shots from the gunman or from other agents? [1:36] We know that he had two firearms on him, as has been reported, along with some knives. [1:44] We believe that he traveled by train from Los Angeles to Chicago and then Chicago to Washington, D.C. [1:52] And we have executed search warrants on his devices as well, and we have started talking to folks that know him and try to just continue to gather information and evidence. [2:05] This is, I was on the phone with the director of the FBI after 1 o'clock last night, and they were working through the night, he was working through the night. [2:13] And I think that as the days go by, we'll certainly learn more, but that's what we know so far. [2:19] How was he able to get the guns into the hotel? [2:24] It's a good question. [2:25] Listen, I'm not sure. [2:26] It appears that he checked in on the 24th to the hotel, and we're still looking at video surveillance and footage of where he walked and how he got in and how those firearms got in. [2:39] But at the end of the day, I expect we'll have a lot more about that in the coming days. [2:43] Are you confident he was acting alone? [2:48] Look, it's 12 hours in. [2:50] As President Trump said last night, it appears he did. [2:53] We don't have evidence to the contrary, but that's not that surprising given the timing and when everything happened. [2:59] We are actively combing through all the evidence that we've collected and going to continue to do that today and in the coming days and weeks. [3:08] And if he did not act alone or if folks knew what he was doing or helped him along the way, we will find that out. [3:15] We don't have evidence to show that as of this morning. [3:19] You know, you look at last night and you see the president, the vice president, the secretary of state, the speaker of the house. [3:25] I'm not sure the Senate president pro tem was there. [3:28] But you've got the entire presidential line of succession right there all in the same room. [3:32] Is it safe to have an event like that at a hotel like the Washington Hilton? [3:39] Well, listen, I have two responses to that, George. [3:42] One, the system worked. [3:44] Law enforcement and the Secret Service protected all of us. [3:47] The man barely got past the perimeter. [3:50] And so when you have a perimeter designed to keep people safe like President Trump and it works, that's something that should be applauded. [3:57] Secondly, as President Trump said, we are not going to stop doing what we're doing. [4:02] We're not going to stop living. [4:03] We're not going to stop being out there. [4:04] President Trump is going to continue communicating with the American people in public. [4:10] And the fact that the vice president and other leadership were there last night in one room is why we had such a robust security surrounding the place, inside the place. [4:19] And it's why we are all safe. [4:22] And so this was tragic. [4:23] It was a night that none of us will forget for a very long time. [4:28] But do not forget that the system worked. [4:30] The Secret Service kept us safe. [4:32] And that man was quickly apprehended and subdued minutes, seconds after he tried to breach the perimeter. [4:39] Everything in place for the visit of King Charles this week? [4:44] Sorry, can you repeat that, George? [4:45] Is everything in place for the visit of King Charles this week? [4:48] Yeah, so, look, I think that we expect that he, the suspect, will be charged tomorrow morning in federal court with two counts, [4:59] assault of a federal officer and use of a firearm during a crime of violence. [5:02] We're going to continue to investigate. [5:05] And it will just be a complaint tomorrow. [5:07] And indictment will be coming in the coming days or weeks and go from there. [5:11] Finally, you know, this is the third and second time President Trump in the last two years. [5:15] We've seen members of Congress targeted. [5:16] We've seen other government officials targeted. [5:18] How would you describe the threat environment right now and what more needs to be done to keep us all safe? [5:25] It's a great question. [5:26] There have been threats against leadership for a very long time, years and years and years. [5:31] That's not new. [5:32] There is something unique about the threats against President Trump and his cabinet that is disgusting and it shouldn't be happening. [5:39] On the other hand, that's why we have great law enforcement. [5:42] That's why we have DHS and our intelligence community and the FBI and all of our other partners that are working every day to stop those threats before they happen. [5:52] And we've seen that exposed publicly a lot, like you just said. [5:56] But you also have a lot of times when we foil attempts, whether it's terrorists or whether it's domestic terrorists or Iran or other nation states that are threatening us. [6:06] And so it's it's a fight. It's something that that has kept all of us busy for a long time. [6:12] And and we are at a crunch time right now with security and keeping all of us safe. [6:17] And and we will continue to do that and to work hard and identify threats and stop them. [6:24] And and the rhetoric that that is out there on social media is one of the reasons for it. [6:30] And so we monitor that very carefully, as you would expect us to. [6:33] And and we'll keep doing that. [6:36] General Blanche, thanks for your time this morning. [6:37] Thank you.