Assassination Attempt Suspect Charged

Good afternoon, everybody. Thanks for being here. On Saturday night, as you all know, an act of violence occurred at a. gathering that symbolizes something. fundamental to our system of government. >> From The New York Times, I'm Rachel. Abrams, and this is The Daily. Today, the. Department of Justice filed three. federal charges in United States. District Court against Cole Thomas. Allen.

>> [music]. >> On Monday, the man accused of storming. the White House Correspondents Dinner. with multiple weapons was charged in. federal court in Washington, D.C. Violence has no place. in civic [music] life. It cannot and. will not be used to disrupt democratic. institutions. or intimidate those who serve them, and. it certainly cannot continue to be used. against the President of the United. States. Today, Devlin Barrett explains what we're. learning about the suspect, [music] his.

plan to target the President, and. whether this entire event should. ultimately be thought of. >> [music]. >> as a security failure or success. >> [music]. [music]. >> It's Tuesday, April 28th. Devlin Barrett, welcome back to The. Daily. Thanks for having me. So, we've.

been getting some clarity on who the. shooter was who attempted to storm the. White House Correspondents Dinner on. Saturday. Details have been emerging since this. happened, but Devlin, you cover the. Justice Department for the Times. Tell. us what we learned on Monday. So, [snorts] on Monday, there were a few. key developments. First, the suspect, Cole Allen, was formally charged in a. criminal complaint. He was charged with. attempting to assassinate the President. That wasn't the only charge, but it's. the most important charge by far.

because that charge carries a potential. life sentence. The other two charges in the criminal. complaint are transportation of a. firearm over interstate commerce, and. that's a reference to him allegedly. bringing weapons across country. >> [snorts]. >> And discharge of a firearm during a. crime of violence. That charge basically means that he. fired the weapon while committing a. crime. And one thing that officials have. emphasized since this happened is that.

the first round of charges aren't going. to be their last word on this. There may. be more charges added as they understand. the evidence better and as they have a. better grasp on what exactly they think. happened. Let's talk for a moment about the. suspect. At this point, what have we. learned about his background? So, once this happened, obviously, we've. been trying to figure out as much as we. can about his background, about his. life. He's 31. He's from Torrance, California, and he's, by all accounts, a. smart guy. He has a a master's in.

computer science. He went to Caltech, which is not an easy school to get into. We know that he, you know, was raised in. the Protestant church, and his father. was a church elder. And in talking to. people who know him, and talked to some. of his former students because he worked. as a tutor for a good bit of time, they. all describe him as nice, cheerful, a. bit of a nerd, um, and all of them that have been. interviewed by reporters expressed shock.

and surprise that the person they knew. as this tutor and academic would do. anything like this. We also know that he left behind a kind. of apology note, an explanation note to. his friends and family. Like many. people, I read the letter that he wrote, and it is. apologizing for what he's done. It's. sort of a goodbye letter to people that. he loves. It is imagining at times a Q&A where he. imagines criticism and then he imagines.

what he would say in response to that. criticism about his actions. Do we have any information about what. radicalized this man that made him go. from being angry and aggrieved to. actually picking up weapons, traveling. across the country, and attempting to. assassinate the president? Not yet. You. know, the FBI is combing through his. online presence, interviewing his family. and friends. So far, the online. presence, the online postings suggest.

that he was a liberal-minded person who. had liberal political views and was very. unhappy and upset and angry. about things the Trump administration. was doing. That seems to be a driving. factor for him. But in terms of how did he get to that. point, that's something that the FBI is. still unpacking. Can you just explain, Devlin, why is that piece of writing. relevant to the charges that we saw. today? Well, it's super relevant to what. prosecutors will have to ultimately.

prove in court, which is the mindset of. someone and the aims and goals of. someone who was tackled and and you. know, taken down, you know, very early. in his attempted attack. For. prosecutors, helps explain what his. actual target was, what his targets. were. That's why this note to his family. is so important because he makes pretty. clear without ever really saying Trump's. name in the writing that Trump is the.

one he is most angry at. Trump is the. one he is hoping to get to. Because. presumably they would not have been able. to charge him with attempting to. assassinate the president if they did. not know what his motivation was because. he did not actually get close enough to. the president to attempt any kind of. assassination. Do I have that right? Right. You mentioned earlier that the suspect. was from California. I'm sure by now a. lot of people are aware that he traveled. from California to try to carry out the. shooting in DC. What do we know about what and how he. planned?

So, we know that he bought the two. weapons involved, a pump-action shotgun. and a .38 caliber pistol. in recent years. He bought those in. California and he traveled with them. when he came to Washington. That doesn't mean that he's been. planning to do this from the moment he. bought those weapons. It just means that. he bought the weapons several years ago. Right. And. in early March, the president announces. that he will go to this dinner. It's.

called the White House Correspondents. Association Dinner. It is a big. production in the nation's capital. They. do it every year around this time, and. this president hasn't typically gone to. it. >> Mhm. So, in some sense, it was a bigger. deal this year because Trump had decided. to go. Mhm. Prosecutors say in the. beginning of April, the suspect starts. making his travel plans to go to. Washington. And so, in late April, he. gets on a train from Los Angeles, and.

that goes to Chicago. Once he gets to Chicago, he buys a. ticket to Washington DC. He arrives in Washington DC. on Friday and checks into the hotel, the. Washington Hilton. That's the same hotel. where this big gala dinner is going to. be held. >> Right. Then on Saturday night, the night of the. event, the dinner gala proper begins at. around 8:00. Around 8:30, there's a security camera footage that.

shows the suspect racing, just sprinting. all out through the first security. checkpoint. And you can sort of see the shotgun in. his hand. You can't really see the the. handgun or the knives. that agents say they later took off of. him, but he races through that. checkpoint and out of the frame of the. video. Law enforcement officials say. that the part you can't see that happens. right after that is that one of those.

agents turns and fires five shots at the. suspect. And none of those shots actually hit. him, but he does fall to the ground and. is quickly tackled and disarmed. Law enforcement officials also say that. the same agent who fired. also gets struck by a round in his. protective vest. The vest protects him. and he's not badly injured, but that. agent does take a bullet in the vest.

Some of what unfolds next is actually. quite similar to other security scares. People hear what they think are. gunshots. They're not sure what's. happening. They're not sure where the. danger is, but they're told to to get. down. Essentially, like just get down, you know, lower than your table. So, if. there is a gunman, he can't see you. And that's what a lot of people in the. ballroom are doing in that moment. And, you know, it's basically 90 120 seconds. of of real terror because no one really. knows what the danger is or what.

direction it's coming from. But at the same time, you've got Secret. Service agents outside the ballroom. dealing with the suspect on the floor. above, and you've got Secret Service. agents on the floor of the ballroom. essentially doing their best to seal off. and make sure no one goes in or out of. the ballroom in that moment to keep the. people inside the room safe. And you've got the president's security.

detail and the vice president's security. detail moving them as quickly as they. can off the dais to get them out of. harm's way. Right. So, once it's clear. that no one has been killed in this. incident, no one has been seriously. injured in this incident, it becomes more of a question of, "Okay, how does this keep happening?" This is. at least the third time someone has. tried to kill President Trump in one. form or another. And so, it raises a whole bunch of. questions about the security at the.

event. >> [music]. >> and, you know, preparation for the. event. >> [music]. >> We'll be right back. >> [music].

>> Devlin, before the break, you mentioned. that a lot of questions have emerged. about the security around this event. And I have seen a bunch of different. reports essentially criticizing what. happened as a security failure. Just the. fact that an armed gunman could get as. far as he did. He said in his letter how. unimpressed he was with security at the. hotel. What do you make of all of that. criticism? I mean, look, some of it is a very. natural human reaction, right, to the.

horror and surprise. that someone did this at all. That part I think is perfectly. understandable and it's always worth. asking questions, you know. I cover law. enforcement, that's sort of what I do. every day. I think here though, there's a big. difference between, for example, the. assassination attempt against Donald. Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania in 2024. and what happened here because. I think there was a clear security. failure in Butler where you had a.

rooftop with a sightline toward the. candidate that was not protected, that. was not guarded. I think most security. experts would tell you that's an obvious. thing that needs to be guarded. Right. Here the situation I think is quite. different in that. this person tried to essentially bum. rush a fancy black-tie gala. He made it a matter of steps past the. initial security screening, but he never. even got onto the floor where the event. was happening. Mhm. He was taken down.

and tackled before he could even get to. the stairs that led to that floor. So, in talking to former Secret Service. and talking to other security experts, a lot of folks have said to me, "Look, if the question is. what do you do to prevent this, this is. what the perimeter is for. The perimeter. is designed to deal with this issue. before you're close to the event itself, and that's what happened here.". I do think that you're going to see. though a number of conversations.

and debates about, "Well, maybe this. hotel is not the best place to hold. these events anymore because you do have. a functioning hotel. right on top of a large ballroom.". A lot of the questions and concerns I've. seen raised about what happened on. Saturday. really sort of center on the idea that. the hotel itself wasn't safe. That's. certainly what the suspect was pointing. out in what he wrote. Well, exactly. And. that's what he seemed to really focus on. in this letter he sent to family and.

friends. He seemed to think the security. was terrible and the security didn't. really police the lobby, didn't really. police the guests. He has a sort of. simplistic understanding of all the. security measures around him. and doesn't quite grasp that the. security he observes Friday night and. Saturday morning is not the same. security that is in place by Saturday. night. And I think. a lot of people don't necessarily. understand all of the multi-layered.

things that go into securing an event. like that. And. strangely enough, the gunman was one of. the people who didn't understand all the. layers that go into that. Can you tell us a little bit about what. goes into securing an event like this? Like you had mentioned earlier that the. security worked essentially the way that. it was supposed to. I'm curious kind of. what you mean by that. >> Right. So, the thing to keep in mind is. the goal of the security for this event. was not to secure the entire hotel. Mhm.

>> And I think that's where some of the. disagreements come, which is like, well, maybe should it be? Should, for example, the security perimeter be pushed out. essentially outside the building itself. so that you've already gone past. magnetometers, for example, before you. get into the building at all. But that's. not how this hotel is designed, and. that's not how this ballroom space is. designed. I [snorts] spoke to security. experts who said, "Look, if you push the. perimeter out further and further, that's not necessarily an improvement. because the actual thing you're trying. to protect is not the hotel. The actual.

thing you're trying to protect is the. gathering of all of these senior. government officials." To put it another. way, it's not Secret Service's job to. protect the lobby of hotel. Absolutely. I will say there is one, I think, important security question here that. hasn't really been answered and might. change our understanding of the security. of for this event. And that is. did law enforcement, whether you're. talking about Secret Service or FBI or. California police,

did law enforcement agents, before all. this happened, have any understanding. that this person might be a threat to. the president? And we don't really, I think, have a. clear answer to that yet. But if the answer is yes, then why. weren't tripwires telling investigators. that this person was coming. But that's a big if, right? We don't. know the answer to that yet. And do you think Devlin that we will get. clarity about that? Do you have any. indication somebody is like working on.

getting the public an answer? Is there. an investigation into what other law. enforcement agencies may have known? Right, it's an obvious question. We're. certainly trying to get that answer. ourselves. I'm sure others are as well. I'm sure Congress is trying to get that. answer. And to be clear, sometimes it. takes a while for the law enforcement. agencies to do a full scrub of all of. their files and make sure of what they. were told in the past about a particular. person. It's not something as simple as. just punching a name into the government. agency equivalent of Google and just.

spitting out a name and maybe a file or. two. It takes a bit of effort and time. to make sure that there isn't anything. anywhere in the system. I don't think I can recall a president /. presidential candidate just to be really. precise about our language here. who has had this many attempts on their. life in such a short amount of time. We. have seen, in addition to this, attacks. on politicians in Minneapolis and. Israeli embassy staffers in DC, just to. name a couple examples of why I think it.

feels to a lot of people like we're. living in this age of heightened. political violence. And Devlin, just given what you cover, your experience, I just wonder if this. is how you also see it and what you make. of this. So, it's a great question. One thing is definitely increased and. that is. the number of threats just floating. around the internet, the number of. threats that go after not just. politicians, but for example, judges and.

schools and hospitals and all manner of. American public life have a much larger. increase in just threats being thrown. around. That is definitely increased. There's. data that show that's increased. I think that is a problem for law. enforcement because. all of the agencies that are designed to. protect all these people, whether it's. local cops, federal marshals, FBI. agents, and Secret Service agents, they are having to dig through more. information. There's sort of a sea of.

hostility out there online, a sea of. angry, threatening. language. that makes it harder and more. time-consuming to figure out who is. really dangerous and who is just sort of. a keyboard commando. So, that's one challenge. And to the question of is there more. political violence in America? I think. it depends on how you measure. If your. measurement is. assassination attempts against a sitting. president or a presidential candidate, I. think you have to say the last few years.

would argue the answer is yes. If the question is political violence in. all its forms, I think that becomes a. much harder question to answer because. there has always been a degree of. political violence in this country. It's. not like. there's some golden age. prior to this of no political violence. in this country. And I think part of the. answer lies in. what types of political violence do you. count? I actually have that exact. question cuz as you're speaking, I'm. wondering whether you would count.

somebody who goes into a school having. written a thousand words about a. political grievance and commits a mass. act of violence. Would that be. considered political violence even if. the targets are not themselves. politicians, for example, or elected. officials? Right. I mean, most of the. time when we talk about political. violence, we talk about violence that is. motivated by politics. And so, in that. scenario, the victim isn't, you know, a. quote-unquote political victim, but the. act is carried out in the name of a.

political issue. I think most people. would consider that to be political. violence. Mhm. So, if you look at. political violence in terms of the. motivation, and if you look at political. violence in terms of who is affected by. it, a lot of the people in that ballroom on. Saturday night did not grow up with. school lockdown drills. Some of them. did, but a lot of them didn't. I think younger Americans, frankly, have. a little more experience than older. Americans. with that type of incident, that type of.

fear. And it may be that part of what happened. on Saturday is more and more of that. type of danger, more and more of that. type of panicked response. is finding its way not just into our. schools or hospitals or other public. places, but into even the most high-profile. powerful gatherings of American. government officials. How does law enforcement deal with all. of that? And.

are we in an age where it is worth. contemplating whether the president of. the United States. can actually be safe in a public event. like this? So, as part of this larger debate about. how to keep the president safe, how to. keep senior officials safe, the president and his senior advisers. are all arguing that this incident only. shows how badly they need to finish. construction of the White House. ballroom. This is a larger fight that, you know, has been going on for months.

about whether this is really necessary. or proper and whether the president can. do it on his own without congressional. approval. A judge has said no, but that legal fight is still going on. And what you've seen since Saturday's. event is both the president and his. senior aides arguing very forcefully. that this is exactly the kind of thing. that the ballroom would prevent from. happening or make more difficult to. happen. Right. >> But I think the challenge for law.

enforcement is really two things. One, you have to keep certainly the president. safe and senior government officials. safe. Events [snorts] like Saturday show you. how difficult that can be and that it. may be becoming more difficult to keep. them safe. But I also think part of the challenge. here for law enforcement is making the. public feel like the president is safe, making the public feel that senior. government officials are safe. And if a guy with a shotgun can just.

sort of storm a security checkpoint and. cause a great deal of panic and fear, in. that sense it may be becoming harder and. harder for law enforcement to prevent. that kind of incident. And [music]. I think one of the challenges here for. the government and for the public is. what are you willing to do or not do to. be as secure as possible. Where do you draw the line between.

public life and government having. events, [music]. you know, this was a very secure event. in many, many ways, but I think a lot of the people walked. out of that ballroom feeling more afraid. [music] and more in danger than they'd. ever felt in their lives. >> [music]. >> Devlin Barrett, thank you so much. Thanks for [music] having me. >> [music].

[music]. >> We'll be right back. Here's what else you need to know today. President Trump and First Lady Melania. Trump [music] demanded that ABC pull. comedian Jimmy Kimmel from its airwaves. over a bit that he did about the.

president [music] and the first lady. that was delivered days before the. attempted shooting at the White House. Correspondents Dinner. [music]. First Lady Melania is here. In the bit, Kimmel, who has a long history of. sparring [music] with the president, had. imagined himself as the MC at the. dinner. Look at more so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant. [music] widow. The comments come months after ABC. temporarily pulled Kimmel's late-night. show after a conservative uproar over. the way that he described the politics.

of the man accused of shooting [music]. the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. And President Trump has told advisers he. is not [music] satisfied with Iran's. latest proposal to reopen the Strait of. Hormuz and end the war. The proposal also called on the United. States [music] to end its naval. blockade, but would have set aside. questions about what to do with Iran's. nuclear program. Iran has [music]. repeatedly rejected American proposals. to suspend its nuclear program and hand. over its stockpile of highly enriched.

[music] uranium. >> [music]. >> Today's episode was produced by Diana. Wynn, Mary Wilson with help from Mood. Seiki. [music]. It was edited by Devon Taylor, Lisa. Tobin, and Michael Benois. [music]. Contains music by Sofia Landman and Dan. Powell. Our theme music [music] is by. Wonderly. This episode was engineered by Chris.

Wood. >> [music]. [music]. >> That's it for The Daily. I'm Rachel. Abrams. See you tomorrow.