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00:00Well, the suspects in last night's shooting has been identified as 31-year-old Cole Allen.
00:03According to reports, he traveled across the country from Southern California to that dinner to target Trump administration officials.
00:09Bloomberg's Jeff Mason is back with us, along with Elliot Williams.
00:12He's a CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor.
00:15He's also the author of a new book, Five Bullets, chronicling one of New York City's most infamous shooting.
00:21Thank you guys both so much for joining us.
00:23I want to ask you, at the moment, this individual, as far as we know, is only charged with gun
00:29-related charges.
00:31Are we expecting that will be upgraded as the facts become clear?
00:35How does this work?
00:36I would think it would be upgraded if more facts come out that give us sense as to why the
00:41shooting took place.
00:42Now, if you notice, the two crimes, Christina, that they've identified really are quite specific to just simply having a
00:47firearm,
00:48assaulting a federal officer, you know, someone goes after an officer, but also using a firearm.
00:53In the commission of a crime of violence, those are two things that are obvious to anybody that's on the
00:56video right now.
00:57No one knows if he attempted to kill the president legally.
01:00No one knows who he went there to kill or assault.
01:03And until you know that information, you can't really charge him with those things.
01:06There are federal crimes for attempting to kill a president of the United States, a vice president, a member of
01:11Congress.
01:12None of that has come out yet.
01:13Give us some sense of what's happening at this point in time.
01:16So we heard from Kash Patel, the head of the FBI, we heard from the acting attorney general last night
01:19as well,
01:20talking a bit about the contours of this investigation.
01:23What's happening behind the scenes and what is the interface like between Maine Justice, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's office
01:29and the FBI as well?
01:30Right. Certainly the FBI would be leading any investigation here because, and the Secret Service, too, for a few reasons.
01:36The FBI handles general violent crime at a federal level, but also acts of terrorism.
01:43And if there is some terrorist nexus, that would make it squarely within the FBI's purview.
01:48So they're looking into that.
01:49I think the FBI is gathering the kinds of things that I was talking about here, which would be, why
01:53did this person commit this thing?
01:55Now, you can get that just from searching his person.
01:57Is there a manifesto somewhere?
01:59What does he say in his emails?
02:00What is the record of his staying at that hotel, getting to the hotel?
02:05What can they put piece together about why he was there?
02:08It's very easy, particularly in a morning like this where feelings are raw, for people to think,
02:12oh, this person must have gone to try to kill the president of the United States or commit a terrorist
02:15act.
02:16And it seems obvious, right?
02:17You know, we saw on the television, and I think that's a natural conclusion.
02:21But prosecutors can only charge what they can prove beyond a reasonable doubt.
02:26And right now, at least based on what I'm reading in the newspapers and seeing on the television,
02:30it's a person with a gun at a big event where the president was, but that discharged his weapon perhaps
02:39in a violent manner.
02:40Or in a violent manner, of course.
02:41What is the legal threshold to upgrade those charges?
02:44What are they looking for?
02:45Yeah, it's not a question of even upgrading them.
02:47It's the same standard at the time.
02:49Adding to?
02:49Yeah, or just adding new charges.
02:51It would be, do you have probable cause to believe that this crime was committed?
02:56Probable cause being, it's more likely than not.
02:58So do they have evidence to suggest that there's a decent chance that any of these things happen?
03:04Now, that's just the threshold for charging.
03:06Convicting him is beyond a reasonable doubt.
03:08We've all heard that in cop shows through our whole lives.
03:11And are they convinced?
03:13And prosecutors can't and shouldn't, frankly, even with respect to their law licenses,
03:18can't bring charges that they don't believe they can win beyond a reasonable doubt.
03:23So, yes, I think we think of prosecutors as just, you know, I was going to say shooting into the
03:28air.
03:28That's maybe not the right metaphor to use here.
03:30But you think of prosecutors as blindly going after charges simply because to go after someone.
03:35No, they have to really be convinced and confident that they can win if they bring this to trial.
03:39Jeff, let's talk a bit about the tableau that we saw last night, which was so striking.
03:42That was the White House briefing room full of reporters in tuxedos and evening gowns.
03:46The president wearing a tuxedo as well.
03:47And as I mentioned, you had Todd Blanche there with Kash Patel.
03:50What stood out to you from their remarks as they talked about what had happened in the investigation?
03:54Kash Patel talking a lot about the success of law enforcement at this moment and them being emboldened or helped
04:00or encouraged by what the president has done.
04:02What stood out to you from the comments that they made, those law enforcement officials made during their comments last
04:07night?
04:07A handful of things.
04:08Number one, it was all staged.
04:11And that is, I mean, it was staged in real time.
04:14That's not a criticism, but that's very Trumpian.
04:17I mean, the president leaving the ballroom and then going straight to the White House and holding a press conference.
04:22With many cabinet members present.
04:24And his wife.
04:25Yes.
04:25Also unusual.
04:27And he answered reporters' questions.
04:29He talked about his feelings in the moment.
04:31But he also, as I referred to in the previous block, brought in a little bit of politics, brought in
04:36this sort of push for the new ballroom, which I can tell you, as a former White House Correspondents Association
04:44president, we wouldn't be planning an event in the White House ballroom unless that was directed, perhaps, by the Secret
04:51Service.
04:51So I understand that he's been making that case for the ballroom, which is caught up in the legal system
04:56right now for state dinners.
04:57But it was a first to hear him make an argument that you needed the ballroom for an event planned
05:02by an outside organization.
05:03But to your broader question, you also heard Kash Patel, as he often does, begin his opening remarks when he
05:10was given the podium last night praising President Trump.
05:13So lots of little pieces of politics and praise for the president who may or may not have been facing
05:24a third assassination attempt.
05:25Elliot, what's your take on that?
05:27Can the Secret Service, should the Secret Service be able to secure an external ballroom or does the president need
05:34to retreat behind those gates on Pennsylvania Avenue?
05:36Oh, my goodness.
05:38There are such longstanding procedures with respect to how to secure a space.
05:44I think one of the issues that they confronted here is the fact that this event is touching on what
05:48Jeff was talking about a little bit.
05:49This event takes place in a hotel with residents that have nothing to do with this event.
05:53And to some extent, people have a right or at least ought to have the ability to come and go
05:58from the place they're staying.
05:59That said, the president of the United States gets 24-hour Secret Service protection.
06:03And as we see from events like this, sometimes that breaks down, at least to us as lay people out
06:08in the public.
06:09There has to be a balance somehow where we secure the president and the people around him and the people
06:15who are entitled to legal protection under the law,
06:18but also that Americans can go about and live their lives freely.
06:21And I think that's what they run into, having this event in a regular hotel that's open to the streets.
06:27You can just walk in.
06:28Yeah, and it has, as I was saying before, it has the biggest ballroom in Washington, D.C.,
06:32and a ballroom in an area that has been a historically very safe place for presidents and leaders.
06:39This is also where the National Prayer Breakfast is held every year.
06:42I have to assume after last night that there are going to be lots and lots of questions about that
06:47hotel specifically
06:48and the security protocols for holding events, not just like the White House Correspondents Association last night that we were
06:56at,
06:57but also other events like the prayer breakfast and other things.
07:00But just quickly, as a matter of common sense, again, none of us are Secret Service agents here.
07:05I don't want law enforcement for much of my career, but as a matter of common sense, the idea that
07:10the ballroom was secured,
07:11but someone could still get into the hotel, yes, that probably fits protocol and makes sense.
07:17But just thinking about it, we want to have you in just a sec.
07:21We've got live photos of the suspect's house in Torrance, California,
07:26and I do want you to look at this footage that's coming up and talk a little bit about what
07:30folks are looking for.
07:31But also to that point, and Jeff, you know this too, when you travel, and you do as well,
07:35I mean, you've been around these trips, when you travel with the president abroad, he stays at hotels.
07:39Other people can stay at those hotels, but that perimeter is pushed way out.
07:43You cannot get into that hotel without going through a mag, even if you are just a guest staying there.
07:48I've never seen that here, but when you're overseas, that is always the protocol,
07:53because it's a pain, and you don't want to stay at that hotel, because you don't want to go in
07:55and out.
07:56And I wonder if that's what we see if they do this again, is that that perimeter is going to
08:00get pushed way out.
08:01Right, and I think, you know, I worked at the Department of Homeland Security for several years.
08:04I think we're constantly chasing the last vulnerability and the last problem,
08:08and I would think that the problem they fix now is, wait a second, people are getting too close to
08:12the president of the United States,
08:14and now we need to, whenever he's in a hotel, extend the perimeter a little bit more.
08:19It's tragic in many ways that it requires a vulnerability breach to fix the problem,
08:25but that's sort of what will happen next.
08:27I'm certain we're going to see something out of this.
08:28I think your point is spot on, and that is absolutely true domestically as well when you're traveling with the
08:33president.
08:33If you're in San Francisco, if you're in New York, the hotel that you're staying at with, in our case,
08:39is often the press pool, is very frequently at the same hotel as the president of the United States.
08:44You can't get into the building without going through the magnetometer.
08:47So, again, it raises the question about the security parameters at this hotel, not just last night, but in previous
08:54nights as well.
08:55And I think also worth explaining to people that the ballroom is on the very lowest level in the Hinkley
09:03Hilton, in the Washington Hilton.
09:04You have to go down, I think it's three floors.
09:07You have to go down two sets of staircases.
09:09It's at least two escalators.
09:11Escalators is the word I was looking for.
09:12I got you.
09:13And so this gentleman, this person, would have had to go down that many levels with what reportedly was a
09:20shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives.
09:22That, I don't know if he had it in a backpack or in some sort of a bag, but the
09:27fact, again, that he got as far as he did before he was apprehended is something that people are going
09:32to be asking questions.
09:32I've got about a minute left here before the break, but I'm curious what the investigation looks like both within
09:36that hotel, in that ballroom today,
09:38and also as we see these videos of Torrance, California, the house of the suspect, what law enforcement's doing there
09:43and who indeed is in charge.
09:44Is it D.C. police?
09:45Is it the FBI who's leading all of it?
09:46I think there's probably a task force working together.
09:49I would think the FBI is leading it, but, again, I can't speak for how they're proceeding.
09:53You know, the evidence in the room is probably the least interesting evidence because you see it.
09:57It's either firearms or casings, anything like that.
10:00The interesting materials will be at his house and on his computers.
10:04We live in a world right now where everything is electronic.
10:07Receipts for purchases for those firearms are going to be looking for those.
10:10They'll be looking for statements, emails, text messages, none of which lie.
10:15There's a perpetual record of someone's communications with others, and those, at least in the world we live in today,
10:21are hugely important bits of evidence.
10:23I know they're scouring for those at his house.
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