White House Correspondents' dinner shooting suspect charged & other top trending stories — Searched

[0:06] Hey, what's going on? I'm Gio Benitez. It's Monday, April 27th. You've got questions, [0:10] we've got answers. This is Search, where we're breaking down what you're asking right now in [0:14] real time. So let's get right to it. We've got our Maya Ephraim right here. She oversees [0:18] our online search trends. All right, Maya, so what are people searching for right now? [0:22] Hi, Gio. The fallout from Saturday night's shooting at the White House Correspondents [0:26] Dinner continues to dominate search today. People are diving into the background and [0:30] motive of suspect Cole Allen. There's also a massive spike in searches for videos of the [0:34] chaos, specifically the moments President Trump, Melania Trump, and J.D. Vance were rushed [0:39] off stage. Moving to the Middle East, a major diplomatic shift is trending after Iran offered [0:44] to end its control of the Strait of Hormuz. But that's in the condition that the U.S. lifts [0:48] its blockade and ends the war. This comes as Iran's foreign minister heads to Moscow to meet [0:53] with Vladimir Putin. And this move has some people flooding search to see how oil and gas [0:57] prices are reacting to the possibility of the Strait finally reopening. And finally, winter [1:02] is hanging on in the west. Three states are under winter storm warnings today with up to 10 inches [1:08] forecast for Wyoming, Colorado, and Montana. We're seeing a surge in local searches for the latest [1:13] forecast, highway conditions, and school closures. As residents in the Rockies now prepare for a [1:18] significant late April dump. Okay, Maya, it is not a slow news day on this Monday. Thank you so much. [1:23] All right, let's dive a little deeper now into the story that's dominated the searches since Saturday. [1:27] Of course, that's the White House Correspondents Dinner and the Armed Man Arrested. We've got our [1:32] Alex Stone following the investigation now, keeping tabs on the suspect from our L.A. Bureau. All right, [1:37] Alex, it's good to see you. One of the top searches right now is who is Cole Allen? [1:42] Yeah, and we've been looking into that, Gio. A lot we're learning about him. 31 years old, [1:46] a trained mechanical engineer. On his LinkedIn page, he describes himself as being an indie game [1:51] developer currently. But we know that he's a smart guy. He's got an engineering degree from Caltech [1:57] that he got in 2017, a master's from Cal State Dominguez Hills last year. We've seen pictures [2:03] of him graduating from the master's program there at Cal State Dominguez Hills. But more in the last [2:10] year, he was working as a tutor, even winning a Teacher of the Month award for his tutor work last [2:16] year. This seems like what he was doing mostly over the last year or so. And FBI agents, they've been [2:23] going door to door. They, Gio, have been trying to figure out, like we have, who this guy is. His [2:29] clients say that he was very intelligent, that he seemed normal. They really liked him. [2:35] People really want to know about a manifesto. What are you learning about that? [2:39] Yeah, so he wrote a letter to his family. Now, the president has called it a manifesto. [2:43] Law enforcement has said, you know, a manifesto, a letter, whatever it is. But in it, he described [2:48] himself as the friendly federal assassin, is how he put it. And in the message, he apparently said that [2:55] the dinner guests were not his target. But he would, quote, still go through almost everyone here [3:01] to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary, is the way that he put it. And we're told he did [3:06] not mention President Trump by name in the letter, according to sources. But that he did say that FBI [3:12] Director Cash Patel was not a target of his. We didn't say why. We know that they've also been [3:18] looking at posts that he allegedly made, as we're learning right now, on the platform Blue Sky, [3:23] that were critical of President Trump, calling for his removal from office. But in that letter, [3:28] we understand from our sources that there was the letter in his hotel room at the Hilton. [3:34] Apparently, he wasn't saying much to law enforcement, but indicated they could find a writing and then [3:39] also at his home here in Southern California. Alex, we know that he's just been charged. [3:43] What is he facing right now? Yeah, so potentially, if he were to be convicted, it's three counts, [3:48] federal counts. And we're already being told there's probably going to be more that will come [3:52] later down the road. Federally, you've got to be indicted for a case to move forward. So an indictment [3:56] could come with more. Local charges could come with more as well. But the three counts, one, attempted [4:01] assassination of the president, transportation of a firearm over state lines, and discharge of a firearm [4:07] during a crime of violence. That first count alone, though, of attempting to assassinate the [4:12] president, if convicted of that, he could get life in prison. As you can imagine, people are searching [4:16] for the video. Do we know how he got into the building? We do know. So he was a guest at the [4:21] Hilton. He traveled from L.A., according to our sources, to Chicago on a train, and then Chicago to D.C. [4:27] on the train. Got there on Friday and checked into the Hilton. And because he was a guest, he was able to [4:36] be in his room. Your bags typically aren't searched going into a hotel if you're a guest. He had a key [4:41] card to get in. And then he was able to run down the stairs. Today, prosecutors are saying more [4:45] about how he got there and that takedown. And he called L.A. [4:49] U.S. Secret Service personnel assigned to the checkpoint heard a loud gunshot. One [4:54] Secret Service officer was shot in the chest but was wearing a ballistic vest that worked. This heroic [5:03] officer who was hit fired five times at Allen, who was not shot but fell to the ground and was promptly [5:10] arrested. So that moment when the shots were fired, that Secret Service agent was shot in the chest, thankfully [5:17] wearing a bulletproof vest, a ballistic vest. And that Secret Service agent or officer, uniformed officer, was saved by the [5:25] bulletproof vest. But it appears that even though everybody had to go through security to get into that area and show that they [5:30] belonged to the Hilton, because he was a guest there, he was able to be in the hotel and then ran through the [5:35] magnetometers and that's when he was taken down. [5:37] And we know he called L.A. home. I know you'll stay on top of it there in L.A. Alex Stone, thank you so much. [5:42] All right, let's get to our Tom Sufi Burge now on the ground in Tel Aviv, Israel. He's following the war with Iran and what's going on with the ceasefire, of course. [5:49] All right, Tom, so there's searches right now for Iran's foreign minister meeting with Russia on the war. What do we know? [5:55] Yeah, Gio, so the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Agarachi, was in St. Petersburg meeting the Russian [6:04] president Vladimir Putin, reaffirming their support for one another. Russia and Iran are key allies. [6:10] Of course, Iran has supplied weaponry to Russia, namely drones for its war against Ukraine. [6:15] And according to U.S. officials, in the U.S.-Iran war, we saw the Russians giving intelligence to the Iranians [6:22] for targeting U.S. bases in the Gulf. And I think if you step back to the bigger picture here, [6:29] Russia sees itself as a big power. Vladimir Putin wants to be the broker here. He's offered to [6:34] President Trump before to broker in talks with the Iranians. President Trump rebuffed that offer [6:39] months ago. And also, one other point, if one of the key sticking points in negotiations between the U.S. [6:45] and Iran is what happens to the stocks of highly rich uranium in Iran. And one option, potentially, [6:52] is for them to be sent abroad to Russia. But Iran so far hasn't agreed to that. [6:57] Is the U.S.-Iran ceasefire still holding? What's the status of these peace talks? [7:04] Yeah, the ceasefire is holding, in one word. But ceasefires generally are more complicated than that. [7:09] I think another ray of light is the fact that neither the U.S. military or the Iranian military, [7:13] the IRGC, have either attacked or seized cargo vessels near to the Strait of Hormuz or around the [7:19] U.S. military blockade to the east of there on Iranian ports. In terms of the talks, I think, [7:25] broadly speaking, we're at a stalemate. There is no sign right now that we're inching towards [7:31] even sort of formal talks between the U.S. and Iran. That said, there is still a lot of diplomatic [7:36] activity going on behind the scenes. The Iranian delegation was in Pakistan twice over the weekend, [7:41] also in Iman. So a lot of activity via the negotiators trying to prepare the ground for [7:47] formal talks to take place. But at this point in time, no positive signs that that even can happen, [7:52] let alone an actual deal between the U.S. and Iran to end the war. [7:56] Tom, you know this. Every day we're seeing people searching for questions about the Strait of Hormuz. [8:01] Is it open? Broadly speaking, it's not open, right? I mean, if you are a cargo vessel or a shipping [8:09] company owning a cargo vessel, say you're to the west of that narrow waterway, the Strait of Hormuz, [8:14] you want to transit to the east out of the Persian Gulf into the Gulf of Oman, you're going to have [8:20] to talk to the Iranians. You're going to have to get their permission because Iran still has the [8:23] ability via drones, via small gunboats to threaten boats. You're going to have to take a certain route [8:29] that they tell you about because there are potentially sea mines in the water. So that is not open. [8:34] And then you've also got the U.S. military blockade on Iranian ports to the east of there. [8:38] So it's a blockade on a blockade pushing up energy prices all around the world and causing havoc with [8:42] the world's economy. All right. Tom Sufi Burge there in Tel Aviv. Tom, thank you so much. [8:46] All right. Time now to tee up the winter storm warning triggering whiteout conditions [8:50] for multiple states and tracking that extreme weather is our senior meteorologist, Melissa Griffin. [8:55] All right, Melissa, good to see you. So people are asking what is a heavy snow warning and which states are [9:00] affected? A great question, Gio. It's almost May, just days away, and we're still talking about heavy [9:05] snow. Now, the actual term from the National Weather Service is called a winter storm warning, [9:09] but essentially means the same thing. Heavy snow bringing those whiteout conditions to places like [9:14] Colorado, Utah, Wyoming over the weekend. Look at how happy these skiers are. They are enjoying that [9:19] heavy snow and we're starting to see it wind down a bit across the Rockies. All the winter storm warnings [9:24] finally starting to expire. We still have winter weather advisories for parts of Wyoming, [9:28] still some scattered snow showers in those highest peaks of the Rockies and Colorado, Gio. [9:32] How many inches of snow are we looking at? What are the biggest risks? [9:36] Well, about 8 to 12 inches of snow has already fallen in some of these areas in northern Colorado, [9:41] right up into parts of southern Wyoming. Now, the risks you mentioned, of course, [9:44] is always dangerous driving. But the thing is about this snow in the Rockies that's happening right now, [9:49] it's actually beneficial. Look at this map. These three states, including Colorado, Wyoming, [9:54] in Utah, all that saw the heavy snow over the weekend continuing in today are under a record [9:59] snow drought. So this is actually much needed snow and we're hoping that even continues into May as [10:04] well if we could get some of these winter systems to continue across the Rockies. I do want to point [10:08] out I think this will be our next biggest searched item for weather is the tornado outbreak. That same [10:14] storm that brought the snow to the Rockies will bring the potential for tornadoes here in the Midwest [10:18] today. Very important for people to watch those alerts. Melissa Griffin, thank you so much. [10:23] All right, so we just ran through your top searches right now, but what else is in your timeline? [10:27] Let's get back to our Maya Ephraim. All right, Maya, so what else is trending? [10:30] Gio, King Charles and Queen Camilla have officially begun their first ever state visit to the U.S. [10:35] It's happening under a unique shadow, not just because of this weekend's security incident, [10:39] but because of the ongoing Epstein investigation and its alleged ties to Charles's brother, [10:44] Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Now, while the royals were welcomed at the White House today, [10:48] searches are also focused on the family drama. ABC News has confirmed that the King will not be [10:52] meeting with Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, or his grandchildren during this four-day trip. [10:57] All right, Maya Ephraim, thank you so much. We appreciate it. All right, coming up here, [11:00] one search always leads to another. We've got that trending topic, but that's just the surface. [11:05] Why Trump's new ballroom at the White House seems to be coming up after this weekend's shooting. [11:09] It's the spiral and it's next. And welcome back to Search. Today's top searches are only part of the story. [11:22] A simple swirl can sometimes take you down that deep rabbit hole. It's time now for the spiral. [11:27] All right, so now you guys are asking about the story that's gotten over five million searches [11:38] since Saturday. And that, of course, is the shooting at the White House correspondence dinner. [11:42] We are following your clicks and your curiosity. And it looks like you guys want to know about [11:46] President Trump's reaction and rhetoric about it all. And you're also searching for what this all [11:51] means for Trump's big ballroom push. So let's break it down. Now we've got our Stephen Portnoy here, [11:56] along with Catherine Folders. It is good to see you both. Let's start now with what the President [12:00] Trump is saying after that latest act of political violence against him. Stephen, you're following [12:06] that. You know all about it because you were actually there on Saturday night. You've served [12:10] as president of the White House Correspondents Association as well. So on the night of the incident, [12:16] President Trump called for unity. What has he said since? I'll tell you, Gio, his aides have said that [12:22] this attack was a function of anti-Trump rhetoric, fueling hatred against the President, who has been [12:27] identified by investigators as the primary target of the attack on the dinner. The President has [12:32] expressed his desire for the event to be rescheduled. He's also said the attack is a reason he needs his [12:37] ballroom built. That's, of course, the subject of ongoing litigation, which the administration is now [12:41] calling on historic preservationists to drop. The group said today it would not drop its lawsuit. [12:46] I should point out the White House Correspondents Association is a private organization, [12:49] and the President attends the dinner as a guest. It'll be up to the board of the WHCA to decide [12:54] if there is another dinner, when and where it takes place. And the Association's current President, [12:59] Weijia Jiang, has indicated she's going to have to talk about all of this with members of the [13:02] organization, and there has been no announcement about another dinner. Yeah, I can imagine that's [13:07] going to be pretty complicated to figure all of that out. There was a White House press briefing [13:11] earlier today, Stephen. What was said? You know, Press Secretary Caroline Levitt faced a lot of [13:16] questions today, Gio, about the security around the dinner, whether there may need to be any changes in [13:20] the protocols around presidential visits. She expressed the President's support for the Secret [13:25] Service, and we heard the Acting Attorney General say late today that law enforcement did not fail, [13:30] that the alleged attacker was stopped before he was able to enter the ballroom with his two firearms. [13:35] There is, however, a conversation taking place about whether there need to be additional steps [13:39] taken when it comes to securing the President at his appearances outside of the White House. [13:43] Stephen, as you know, this isn't the first time the President has faced political violence. We saw it [13:48] twice before while he was campaigning. What's his messaging on that? [13:52] You know, the President said the other night that it basically comes with the territory. He says he [13:57] has studied assassinations, and that the pattern he sees is that the targets are those who've made an [14:03] impact. He was also asked the other night about this idea that this is a uniquely American problem. [14:08] He denies that. He points to violence in countries all over the world. [14:11] You know, with this video, seeing him there, people might forget that Trump actually skipped the dinner [14:16] all four years of his first term. So do we know why he decided to go this time around? [14:22] You know, Gio, I don't know. You know, our Jonathan Karl was president of this association in 2020, [14:28] and he has talked about how Trump was very interested in attending the dinner that year, [14:32] which was ultimately canceled because of the COVID pandemic. The President called John the other day, [14:38] yesterday morning, to stress how he believes this dinner should be held and that it should not be [14:42] canceled just because someone posed a threat. Yeah, and he said that he wanted it to continue [14:47] that very night on Saturday. All right, Stephen, thank you so much. Let's go to Catherine now. [14:51] So, Catherine, you were also at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, and now a lot of people [14:55] are talking about that fight over Trump's White House ballroom. Yeah, Gio, they are, [15:00] and Stephen alluded to this. This is obviously the subject of ongoing litigation in the D.C. [15:05] District Court. Now, we know that DOJ has asked the plaintiffs who brought this to drop their lawsuit, [15:12] if you will. They have said that they're not expecting to drop this lawsuit, [15:16] but this will be a focus of what you hear from the White House and from the Department of Justice [15:21] as they continue to talk about this publicly. You heard the acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. [15:26] He said he absolutely believes there's no better example of why this White House ballroom is [15:31] necessary than what happened at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday night. He says [15:36] that's one of the only places in D.C. where you can hold an event of this size. He was speaking about [15:42] the Hilton. Therefore, he alluded to this is why there needs to be that construction of that ballroom. [15:49] Of course, that construction, as we were just discussing a little bit about, is halted by [15:53] the federal judge. So DOJ will try and get that judge to dissolve his ruling, his injunction. We'll [16:00] see what that judge says, but this will surely be central in the courts in the coming days. [16:06] Well, Catherine, on that point, actually, a lot of people are pointing to the timing of this, [16:11] because the timing itself has sparked all of these conspiracy theories online. [16:16] Yeah, it has. And it definitely is a reason for, as you know, the president and for [16:23] his colleagues at the White House to continue bringing this up. Yes, there are conspiracy theories [16:28] on the Internet about the timing of this. But in reality, we do know that, obviously, this is [16:35] something that Trump does want built. He says that he will be able to have more events like this [16:42] in the future if, for example, this ballroom is built. What will be interesting, Gio, about this is [16:48] obviously the focus on national security. We talk a lot about security at the Hilton Hotel. The reason [16:54] that this injunction from the judge, why the judge is preventing this from being built, the ballroom, [16:59] at least for now, is he repeatedly, Judge Leon, repeatedly rebuffed the administration's contention [17:04] that continued construction was essential to national security. Well, here we are talking about [17:09] national security again and, of course, the security of the hotel. So how will that play through the [17:13] courts moving forward will be something to watch. And we should mention during an interview last night, [17:17] he actually called a lot of those theories just ridiculous, essentially. Okay, Catherine, [17:22] what are the legal challenges that are blocking construction now? Well, the judge, and we do know [17:28] at least that the Department of Justice says that it will ask the judge to dissolve his injunction, [17:33] if you will, asking the judge to say, yes, construction can go forward on this. This ballroom [17:39] wasn't supposed to be done anyway for many years. So the reality is it's tied up in litigation in the [17:45] courts. Now, DOJ will try and get the judge to say something, whether that happens this week or in the [17:51] coming days. We'll just have to see. And whether the judge involves his opinion, that will be [17:55] something to watch for sure. Of course, there is pressure from the Department of Justice and the [18:00] White House. They are targeting the judge and saying that he's holding up something that is essential [18:04] to White House security. Well, as you know, this segment is called The Spiral for a reason, [18:09] and people are searching right now. They want to know very specifically how many people this new ballroom [18:14] would actually hold. Do we know? So it is supposed to hold, I believe, 999 people, [18:21] so nearly 1,000 people. Now, if we compare that, of course, to the crowd at the White House [18:26] Correspondents' Dinner, that wouldn't even hold half of the people, I don't believe, who were there [18:30] in the Hilton last weekend. So that is allegedly what that ballroom is supposed to hold, which is [18:37] a great deal of people. That's why Trump wants it there. It obviously, compared to the East Room and [18:42] other rooms in the White House where they hold events, is huge compared to that. So, of course, [18:48] the White House, you heard the Acting Attorney General basically say that this ballroom would [18:53] be the only other place in Washington that would securely hold such an event. [18:58] All right. Catherine Falters, thank you so much. Appreciate it. All right. Still ahead here, [19:02] it might be at the top of your feed, but what's the vibe? We've got your top pop culture and [19:06] entertainment searches with Roxy Diaz, including what sounds like a savage split between Megan Thee Stallion [19:12] and her boyfriend. The vibe check is next. You know what that vibe-y music means. It's time now [19:34] for our vibe check, a look at what's buzzing in entertainment and pop culture, and our queen of [19:38] vibes, Roxy Diaz, joins me now with more of what's trending on your feeds. Hey, Roxy. [19:43] Listen, Gio, it was a messy weekend, okay? Let's start with the breakup that's trending with over [19:47] half a million searches. Rapper Megan Thee Stallion says her boyfriend, well, ex-boyfriend basketball [19:52] player Klay Thompson, they are split. She's accusing him of cheating. It all went down on Instagram over the [19:58] weekend when Megan posted on her stories writing, quote, cheating? Had me around your whole family [20:04] playing house? Then she cited his alleged mood swings and his issues with monogamy before ending. [20:10] The H-Town hottie says she needs a, quote, real break after this one. Klay has not responded yet [20:17] publicly. All I can say is you fumbled the bag, bruh. You fumbled the bag, okay? And we don't know her name [20:24] or his name, but excuse me, Chris Brown has welcomed another baby. Check out this picture [20:30] from Baby Brown from Chris's Instagram. This is his fourth child, but his first with model Jada [20:36] Wallace. Now, it's not confirmed whether the baby is a boy or a girl, but we do know the baby's a [20:41] Taurus. Chris took to his Instagram commenting, Taurus gang, on the post, referring to, of course, [20:47] his birthday, which is on Cinco de Mayo for all those that love him. All right, and pop superstar Harry [20:53] Styles and actress Zoe Kravitz are sparking engagement rumors after Kravitz was seen wearing [20:58] a ring on that finger. You know the finger, the one all the girls dream of. According to the reports [21:04] by People Magazine, Styles has, in fact, proposed to Kravitz, who has been spotted with a huge rock [21:10] several times this month. Now, the couple first started dating rumors back in August of 2025 when [21:15] they were spotted strolling around Rome, and that is the perfect place to fall in love. [21:19] This is Zoe's third engagement and would be Harry's first engagement, and I know that that guest list [21:26] is going to be fire. And last but not least, Bravo says they have found the culprit behind a major [21:32] summer house leak, and appropriate action has been taken against them. Now, as you may already know from [21:38] the audio of the show's season 10 reunion, it was released capturing a dramatic exchange between cast [21:43] members Sierra Miller and Amanda Butola. Now, Sierra has been heard calling Amanda her former BFF, [21:50] calling her a snake for dating her ex-boyfriend Wes Wilson. And in a statement on Sunday, the network [21:55] said that the audio was leaked by someone that was actually involved in the production, and no cast [22:00] members were involved. Because Gio, I'm going to tell you, we were all ready to put the blame on [22:04] somebody. We was all saying it. Yeah. But it, you know, that's what we get for assuming things. [22:09] But you know what? I think the thing is that, yeah, it leaked, but I feel like people are [22:14] definitely going to watch now. Like, it actually helps with the publicity. For sure. Changes nothing [22:19] because I need to see facial reactions. That's right. You're not good with just the audio. Yeah. [22:24] Rox, love you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Gio. All right. I'm Gio Benitez. This is [22:27] Searched on ABC News Live, where your questions meet real answers. We're going to leave you with what's trending [22:32] right now on abcnews.com. You can scan that big QR code right there on your screen [22:36] and catch up on everything. And we will see you right back here tomorrow. Happy Monday.