Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 4 months ago
Transcript
00:02We're getting new details about how that shooting unfolded at the White House
00:06Correspondents' Dinner, and just how close the gunman got. Surveillance video shows the
00:11suspect, 31-year-old Cole Allen, sprinting past security, running full speed right there
00:16through a checkpoint inside the hotel. CBS News reports he fired a shotgun,
00:21possibly hitting a cell phone inside a Secret Service agent's bulletproof vest.
00:26Allen then fell, and agents moved in quickly, pinning him down and taking away his weapons.
00:32In all, six shots were fired, one by the suspect, five by a Secret Service agent.
00:38The agent was hit in the vest, but not seriously injured.
00:42CBS News also reports Allen was able to get close after booking a room in the hotel,
00:47then using an unguarded stairwell to reach the event. One floor below, the president,
00:53first lady, and hundreds of guests were told to take cover as agents moved them out. Allen now
00:59faces federal charges, including attempting to assassinate the president.
01:03Same topic, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is expected to meet this week with leaders from
01:09the Secret Service and Homeland Security. The focus? Keeping President Trump and top officials safe
01:15after Saturday's shooting. Earlier, I spoke with Philip Farina of Risky Business Security and Safety
01:22Advisors, who reviewed video of the suspect rushing past security toward the ballroom.
01:27I asked what the Secret Service did right, where things may have broken down, and the risk
01:33of having the president and other key leaders all in one place.
01:36You know, when we think about security, especially at these very high levels,
01:41there's a concept called protection in depth. And what that basically means is that
01:47there are multiple layers that are happening both from what we can see as the public, but also really
01:55what's going on behind the scenes that we don't see. And so there's multiple layers that an individual
02:00has to be able to get through in order to try and accomplish what they're trying to do.
02:07So, you know, when you look at what actually happened, some of what we've been shown, right,
02:15this protection in depth was actually taking place. And there were more levels, I'm quite sure,
02:21of what we haven't seen, you know, off camera that would have provided additional levels of
02:27protection for the president and the attendees.
02:29On Saturday night, President Trump was there. Vice President J.D. Vance was there. Secretary of State
02:34Marco Rubio was there. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was there. The First Lady was there.
02:40Is it wise to have so many high-level officials in one central location?
02:47We don't see as many of those types of events. So, again, when you're, you know, when you're at the
02:55government level and you're in the Secret Service, you're the head of the Secret Service and you're
02:59the head of the Protection Division handling these, you're going to be coordinating these events out
03:08quite extensively and creating a plan that makes sense, that, again, provides, you know, layers of
03:16security really along the way and throughout, you know, this type of an event. So, I believe that
03:23certainly there were these layers in place and does it make sense to continue, especially in,
03:31in, you know, an environment now where it's, it's heightened with the different types of threats
03:39that are out there to bring everybody together. Those events are going to still continue to happen.
03:45And again, our government really just has to make sure that the planning and the process and the
03:52responses are in place to make that a successful event.
Comments

Recommended