Clinton Jaws - Panel Goes Silent as Republican Exposes CNN's 'atrocious' WHCD Coverage!

Episode Date: April 27, 2026

CNN was not ready for this evening as they report live at the White House Correspondence Dinner. Scott Jennings Obliterates Host. #trump #usa #whcd

Glad to see everyone's in great spirits and this is a party. I'm real bummed, real bummed about tonight. We just heard where, are we back on? Why aren't we? We're up. Okay, John Berman. People, what are people? We are now learning. There is a command. What? Hey, John, I'm going to be honest. Nobody knows what's going on. But you'll see there are people literally hiding under tables. Oh, I thought a waiter drops in plates by accident. Right. All of them were. I think that's.

I'll tell you more when I hear more. Good, good. We have the best reporters on earth in that room right now to go and get information. Dishes? Just some drop. Hold on. We have Caitlin Collins. We have Caitlin Collins on the line.

For some more insight. Get out of here, Brian. We're listening. He said he is confirmed. We don't know anything more than that. But I can tell you. We just watched is so upsetting. I'm in studio and I'm shaking.

Watching this. Get a grip. Imagine what Eric. Journalists are human too. And I would really understand. I will just say, we don't know who the intended target was. It may have been the president. It may have been the press.

It may have been the press, yeah. So, and this is still a crime scene. Last night, I spent five hours watching CNN, thinking that I was going to see a funny show. I want to show you CNN's reporting on the incident because it's kind of priceless. First, I'm going to show you a clip of Scott Jennings putting this wacko, Wacko in her place. And then you're going to see me start my video.

The videos are, I'm only leaving it up for a day, guys. I get a little tipsy in it. And I don't, I'm trying not to show that stuff. So watch it now if you want to watch it. Why, S.E. Is this the correspondence dinner he has decided to attend as president the first? What's changed? Well, from what I can tell, they made it real easy for him to attend.

And, you know, glad to see everyone's in great spirits, and this is a party. I'm real bummed, real bummed about tonight. Because here's what's happening tonight. Journalism is throwing a party. Journalism is celebrating journalism at this party. Journalism, for some reason, invited Brendan Carr, FCC Chair, who is threatening to revoke the licenses of broadcast networks. Pete Heggseth, who removed journalists from the Pentagon

and Donald Trump, who attacks us on the regular. Now, they're giving Donald Trump a... speaking position to roast us to our faces for an hour. And he doesn't have to stay for the part where we celebrate journalism and give out awards to journalists and talk about the importance of free speech. And here's the kicker, we broadcast it on national TV. He could not have planned this scenario better. And guess what? He didn't.

We did. Journalism planned this scenario for Donald Trump. So if I'm Donald Trump, of course I come under these conditions. And you just heard Brian Stelter say, that the Correspondents Association was trying to sort of mend some fences with a guy who wants us dead, figuratively. Figuratively, he wants journalism dead. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I don't think this is a great night for journalism. It's a night that's meant to be celebrating it, but I think it's a real bummer.

I was going to say that the people look very nice and that they were dressed very good. I was going to say, welcome to our support. Sorry, guys, I was going to say that this is a wonderful, evening in Washington, D.C., where people come together and put aside their partisan differences. But never mind. Why should we be happy? Look, this is awesome. I don't care what anybody says. This is great. You have all these people that are usually fussing and fighting and arguing and trying to make each other look terrible. They're there. They look nice of it. They smell nice. They're talking to each other. They're

asking about each other's kids. This is what D.C. could be every day. And we only get one time to be happy and I refuse to be unhappy tonight. It's awesome. Scott Jennings, what's your take? How thrilled are you? Well, I'm happy the president is speaking tonight. We do have serious issues going on in the country. We had a war going on, for goodness sakes. He might say something about that tonight, so there could be a news value to this. I'll respectfully disagree with SC on the state of journalism. I think journalism has never had more access to the leader of the free world than they have right now. Everybody in that room, as was noted by the press secretary, has his cell phone number, and lo and behold, he answers their calls. He answers their questions in the Oval Office on a daily,

routine basis. I mean, he answers questions on the tarmac. He answers questions on the South lawn. You couldn't pry access like this out of Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, or any other president. And so if you just think of what is the job of journalism, And that is to take us inside the decision-making process of the president of the United States. We've never had a more accessible president to get those answers than we have right now. And by the way, he may roast the press. And they spent 24 hours a day roasting him. And they need to have a little bit of thick skin and put on their big boy pants and take it.

We will. We'll sit there and we'll take it. I don't know all the people talking about walking out. You can't walk out when the president's in the room, the doors are shot. You're there. We will sit there and take it because that's what we do. Journalism isn't roasting. That's not the same thing.

And I would just push back a little bit. I love the access that Donald Trump gives the press. But is the press a guy from My Pillow channel? Because that's who's covering the Pentagon. That's who was allowed to come into the Pentagon as the New York Times and CNN and everyone else was pushed out because they wouldn't submit to his rules. No. Hexsets rules. So is the My Pillow guy?

That's journalism. That's access? The press is CNN's Caitlin Collins, who's getting an award tonight. And well-deserved. of the day that Zelensky had the meltdown in the Oval Office. That's the press. I wish he would stay to watch that. That we have.

So, no, I think the press is thriving in the Trump era. The access we have and the information that we get to bring to the American people because he allows it is a good thing, objectively a good thing. Clinton Jaws, you know what we're watching tonight, and I can't wait. I haven't seen it. Let's do this. Please like this video. It's the only thing I care about.

This time, there's no comedian. Well, we have Trump. He got that right big day. He's working comedian in America today. That's right. But not- Followed by a laugh. Good for you.

But he's objectively hilarious. Ladies and gentlemen, the 45th and 47th president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, and First Lady Melania Trump. And White House Press Secretary, Caroline Levitt, thank you for everything you and your team does to work with us every day, whether you like it or not. Now, the comedian that year was Larry Wilmore. Let me just say, Mr. President, the office has taken its toll and you look terrible, Mr. President. No, you do, man. I mean, look at you. Your hair is so white, it tried to punch me at a Trump rally. President's hair is so white, he keeps saying all lives matter. All right, fine, fine, I get it.

You've got seven months left and we should enjoy every moment of it. That's right, soak it in, people. I don't know when we're getting a black president again. I mean, they're not even going to let Morgan Freeman be president in movies anymore for a while. And with us now is Larry Wilmore. It is so great to see you. I actually the Are you kidding me? It was very surreal. I'll be honest. You know, sometimes you hit, sometimes you miss, believe me, I missed a lot that night. You got that right? I felt every single miss up there. I didn't see one thing real quick. One of my misses. We have a special guest

questioner here for you, Larry. S.C. Cup is here with us. Hi, Larry. As always, I just wondered what You thought, as we've all mentioned, Trump is not going to have a comedian there to do the thing where the comedian kind of roasts with the press and the president. It feels to me like Trump is a little scared of comedians, right? We've seen him go after Jimmy Kimmel and Colbert and now we have tonight. I'm just wondering what your take on on that is. Well, you know, I tend to try to focus on the positive of these things. Oh, please. Okay, we're done. Well, well, I'll see what I mean.

Larry Wilmore, we're so glad to see you. Thank you for joining us. Oh, you too. Does my heart good. So great seeing you guys. Thank you. I love this. This is such a nice, happy, happy moment.

Let's go now. Not with negative Nancy. Harry Enton joined us on some sombre. I like Harry. As he craters into Bush and Carter territory, I told you. Craters into Bush. Stay with us. It is Harry, though.

It is Harry. It is Harry, though. It is. Yeah, it's going to be Harry, Denton. There are you there? There were loud sounds in the room. We are seeing secret service. What the hell?

Others read between them. It's live, but I can go back 30 seconds. Oh, here we go. Something bad happened. We just heard, where, are we back on? Why aren't we up? We're up. Okay, John Berman.

Are people? Are they under them? commotion happening there were loud sounds in the room we are seeing secret service who appears to be armed on the stage the president of united states and what's lady who were previously along that stage are no longer present and visible to the audience right now just before we came back on air there was a big commotion john we're seeing this yeah okay to be completely transparent with everyone we do not know what is happening in there all we know is that there were loud sounds you can see people in the house crouched down. You can see people on the stage now armed security there.

The president was very quickly escorted out of the room, as was the vice president. The unusual thing I will know here is there is a pool, the White House pool traveling with the president. We'd normally be getting this information, but it may be a little while before we learn more just because of the nature. It's canceled. And remember who is in the room? Secretary Pete Higgseth is in that room. You've got Scott Bessent in that room. You have Tulsi Gabbard in that room. You of course have J.D. Vance in that room, naturally the president of the United States. And as John mentioned, the White House correspondence, dinner is where we are presently broadcasting from. And they are no longer on that stage as well.

Men, but we hear sounds inside. Let's listen in. Some sort of of chanting. Let's go to write to Brian Stelter. Brian, you were in the room. Why don't you tell us what you are seeing and hearing? the phone. Brian, go ahead. Okay, we're trying to get Brian Stelter on the phone to establish a connection. The minute we do there, the minute we do have him, please just have him start talking and telling us what he is seeing. Stelter was talking about somebody interrupting. Getting a connection with someone there is of the utmost importance. I will say, cell service is very hard of what's happening. There's Brian. Back face. Brian, go ahead. Can you hear me? Go Brian. Hey, John. I'm going to be honest. Nobody knows what's going on.

But you'll see there are people literally hiding under tables inside the bottom of the Washington Henson. We have seen many different security officers, some of them climbing over the chairs in order to get through this room. There are some people starting to stand up. I see some people walking out. You can see this is the center of the ballroom, the center hall, people walking out. This commotion happened very suddenly. People dropping to the ground. Some still hiding behind tables.

Some chairs and people now getting up, one person injured, it appears. limping with a you know something on his leg maybe from the commotion okay people that were very shocked as they were falling to the ground trying to seek shelter under the tables shelter from what what was that you can if you can't know that you can was it a sound what was it that said it off initially you know i i heard a loud sound and at first i thought it was a plate i thought it was a plate of dinner meals falling into the ground. My first thought, John, was one of the poor waiters who were trying to navigate this room had dropped all of the meals, you know, and it was, you know, a loud noise.

But I have no idea. That was, and I was, you know, pretty far away. You talk? But people in a matter of three to four seconds, Sean, fell to the ground under these tables as the Secret Service ran up the center hallway. But as you can see, most people now stand back up. He's not going to win our award. cares that are now littered all across the room.

Well, that ruin the party. Well, it is noteworthy to know that the President of the United States, Donald Trump, has been the victim of assassination attempts in the past. He has spoken about this. Can't take him anywhere. Negative Nancy must be happy. All we heard with plates falls. Yes.

And then we all went down. Yes. Yes. The cascating effects with the entire ball. I thought a waiter drops in plates by accident. Right. All of them were accidents. If it was plates,

That's priceless. And how? And they all have to go out. They haven't. Okay. It appears to me every Trump official who was in the room has left. Good for them. Yeah.

Very quickly. Right. To prepare them and they got them out. So John, the folks who were in the front did not know what was going on either. Here is now the front. You can see some of the damage, some of the lighting and things not were at the front of the room. It's going to be a long night. Hopefully this was a sudden reaction to some drive.

Hold on. Brian, we have Caitlin Collins. We have Caitlin Collins on the line. She's for some more insight. Get out of here, Brian. We're listening. What's happening? Hey, guys. Obviously, I mean, this is a total state of chaos right now in the ballroom. And we're seated maybe 50 feet from the stage where the president was up there, the first lady, Melania, Trump. Security is telling us that everything's okay. The shooter? There was a shooter? One second, guys. I'm literally... What happened? They're trying to identify it now.

Where was the shooter? Somewhere out there. In the lobby? In the lobby? All right, control. All right, guys. I just want you to know, this is not verified. We're just listening to what's happening right now. But we have security around us and it's Secret Service

because there's a lot of members of the administration here. The Secretary of Education is seated right next to me. and her security just said, confirmed that there was a shooter in the lobby. It's not clear where, obviously, it's a very big hotel. And the lobby of the Hilton, they said he is confirmed dead. We don't know anything more than that. But I can tell you, we had just sat down to dinner. The president, the first lady, Caroline Levitt, were all on stage,

including the vice president, J.D. Vance. So obviously, a lot of security here. And, you know, at the beginning of the dinner, everyone's just kind of seated having their meal. And within a moment, armed secret service is running in. with massive guns. I mean, maybe doesn't. And silence just went over the room as they ran in.

Everyone ducks, got on the floor, people were underneath the tables. No one knew it was going on. And for a second, the president actually was not evacuated offstage. I looked, he was sitting still right there. A secret service was coming in down the hallway. And so that there is a shooter who is confirmed dead. And now we are kind of basically locked inside the ballroom.

But basically they were saying everyone's okay. They have not identified the shooter yet. But obviously it shows you this was not some kind of false threat. That obviously something had happened, and they rushed the entire administration offstage. The security just confirmed to me that the shooter that was here inside the Hilton, where the president was, that it's been buried that seemed to indicate that he was,

this person was in the lobby. But, I mean, I want you to know this is all just coming in. This thing's over. We're really standing here in the room reporting on this as is happening. Has to be. Just to give you insight into this room, obviously it's always a huge gathering of media. But when the president comes, it generates a lot of interest. So there are some of those powerful figures in media, entertainment, news, Washington that are inside this room right now.

Crime scene will be a day. Just to give you a sense of what this security nightmare is like. Yeah, again, just let's reiterate what Caitlin has just told us and bring people up to speed. Caitlin, who is in there, Caitlin Collins is reporting. She is hearing from a security official that there were shots fired perhaps in the lobby by someone who is now dead. He suffered from mental health. We have no information about who the individual might be. Let's go to Brian Seltor and Manu Raju now.

Oh, please. No. No more, Brian. And this information, John, that you've been reporting is news to most of the people in the ballroom. Most folks in the ballroom do not yet know anything about shots being fired. Mommy, what have you seen? Yeah, I only saw when I was sitting at the table, I saw President Trump getting pushed down by his security detail and then being rushed out.

This thing's over. No question about it. It's unmistakable. It sounded like gunshots that we've heard from not inside the room but nearby. Sure it was enough. Sure it did. So many people that immediately. Dishes to, right. You know what they heard, like jump to the ground, try to protect themselves.

You heard that somebody told you was gunshots. We saw what, with how to see the security reactive very, very seriously. Immediately. Yeah. That's right. Yeah, that's right. It's not dishes. It is stunning to think about where we are right now.

Jake, what did you hear? Can you tell us what you saw? Jake, can you tell us? I'm looking there. Okay, sorry. Jake, it's Laura and Berman. Yes, I can hear you. What's going on?

Professionals. So this is what's happening. We're just all at the dinner. And then all of a sudden, I didn't hear the bangs, but I guess there was a bang. And then there were secret service running here. I'm sorry to get that there's a secret.

You don't go to telepromp. Running down this aisle right here. I have no idea what happened. I'm talking to you as a witness, not as a journalist. So like this is not like that. It's what I saw. Jake, I'm just going to cut in and we can just get so people can hear me because it's important that I say what I'm going to say here.

We're getting information. president is safe. We can report that President Trump is safe. See in the way of the train is reporting they are hearing the president is safe. And I, John, for what it's worth, yeah, just for what it's worth, we didn't see anybody heard in the room. I think that's- Okay, well, I'll tell you more when I hear more. Good, good. Yeah, we have the best reporters on earth in that room right now to go and get information. So we will get this information to you shortly. I will say we're getting more of

the president is safe. We can also just tell by looking, this doesn't look like this room. night's over a crime scene right you do not have uh you people are being escorted out there is a relative calm there so this room itself does not appear to be a crime scene and we're still trying to get much more information on what that single security official did say we didn't hear what they just said just now it apparently was not well received but they're getting more information we were learning things about brian what did they say just now brian Just a very brief announcement saying the program will resume shortly. Not to what format would take at this point, but that something will take place on stage in the next few minutes.

We have an announcement. I know everyone's going to want as many details as possible, and right now we don't have that, but I can tell you that our program is going to resume momentarily. We're going to hear from Wolf Blitzer right now, who is standing. by. He's obviously at this dinner as well. Wolf, are you able to hear us? I'd love to hear what your perspective is and what you can tell us. And as I was walking back towards the door to get back into the big area where the event was taking place, all of a sudden, I start hearing gunshots in the hall right near me. And the next thing I knew, a police officer threw me to the ground and was on top of me. And I was listening and watching what was going on.

and apparently they got the gunmen who had a major weapon there, but it was so worrisome. The noise was so loud in a small area, and all of a sudden I'm seeing gunshots. And then they grabbed me, the police officers, and they take me back into the men's room where I was safe, and there were about 15 other men who are stuck in there, and they won't let about.

And that's what happened. And then after a while, they let me out, and I'm out now. very scary incident all of a sudden a guy with a weapon and it was a very very serious weapon if starts shooting and i happened to have been been a few feet away from him as he was shooting and first thing he went through my mind is he trying to shoot me and i don't think he was trying to shoot me but i was very close to him as the gunshots were fired so you seen it and it was very very scary but i'm okay now this is the first we're hearing of any of this so i'm going to ask you to go over it again in great detail very scary gunshots is scary we're scary we're

with a gunshot and it was pretty frightening. One of my shoes fell off and now I have that shoe back. But it was just a terrible scary, frightening moment from me. Did you see a gunman? Can you describe the person and the weapon and what that person was doing? I didn't see all the details, but I did see the gunman on the ground after he started shooting. Police officers were threw him to the ground, but he was still shooting and I

could hear the shots going off. It was very frightening. I was on the ground too because a police officer was on top of me trying to protect me in case, you know, one of the bullets could get near me, which it didn't. But I can't describe the gunman. I have no idea what, if any, motive, this individual may have had. But the sense I got is that, but it was a very frightening incident. Wolf, are you still on the line? Are we able to hear him? Can you estimate the number of shots you fired or the number of people that you saw with a gun that you believe were the gunmen? Is it one person? You'll never get it right. You won't get it right here. I was a few feet away from this one gunman who was shooting

just randomly and I'm guessing I heard at least half a dozen maybe six gunshots. I mean they were booms. They were so loud. Very very, very frightening moment. I have been told by a source that the president wants to come back, but as is often the case, we know that Secret Service might have a difference in opinion. And it was a really scary moment, just maybe three, four, five feet away from me. There's a gunshot, a whole bunch of gunshots, and someone firing. It was just a very frightening moment. It was just a very, very, very scary moment, because I was brought down by a law enforcement officer. Yeah, we know. Maybe five feet, if that's away from me. Three feet. Erica Kirk was in this room.

She was in this room as well. There are reports that she was seen crying as she was leaving the room as well. People who did see her there. Say something while I appreciate the courage and stoicism from my colleagues here and wage at the dais to continue this night. What we just watched is so upsetting. I'm in studio and I'm shaking watching this. Get a grip.

I can't imagine what Erica Gark is going through again. And I think it's important to remember that the people in that room, we know so many of them. They're also human. And I imagine that while they want to show up for press freedom and we don't know what the motive of this shooter was, I imagine some of them are also really scared and traumatized. and I think viewers who are watching some of this footage will be scared and dramatized by it. It's really upsetting and I feel so exhausted by how much violence we have to cover. Violence against journalists, violence against politicians.

I just can't imagine continuing on with this night. I understand the importance of standing up there and standing against these threats of violence, but this is very real and we are human. are human too and I would really understand if for security reasons and also just compassion human human reasons this night didn't continue as planned oh no man I don't know that we had there which is that Zach is hearing from a source that there was a law enforcement officer that took a shot in the vest and this is the first we have heard we certainly hope that that agent is doing okay

I don't know. Andrew McCabe, if you are still with a... It's not bulletproof, bullet resistant. These are some of the questions we absolutely need answered at this point at what was, and as Andy, you just described, literally a national security event. Maybe it was Israel or Egyptian planes. Candace will be able to update us. We're talking about Wolf Blitzer, who we have on the line right now, who also was talking... Because it's not just a human event.

I'm just, I'm not done. You talked? I'm not done. It's not just a human event. that. Let me just jump in. We have a couple new pieces of information. If you guys go stand by for one moment, we have a statement from the Secret Service. The first official statement from the Secret Service, let me just lead that, read that right now. One individual is in custody that can, what are you hearing? What can you tell us? I heard dishes. The loud bang and then we heard a bunch of dishes break. And people were a little confused, but my instinct to having covered so

many of these shootings in this country and beyond was to go under the table, which is what we all. ended up doing. Nothing under there. And I just want to give you a sense. Hold your thought. We're hearing. I want to hear for you. Give me one second. We're hearing from the White House Correspondens Association President. And also more from a possible press conference. Let her speak. Let us listen in. This is a room full of reporters. So I know you've already seen the president's tweet. My apologies is post on truth social. And law enforcement has a question that we leave the premises consistent with protocol. And he wanted to emphasize that nobody was hurt. He and the First Lady, the cabinet, everybody's safe.

Wow, you're clapping. Kind of. The president will be having a press briefing at the White House in 30 minutes. Oh, Jesus. That is not a joke. And he has... insists that we will reschedule this event in the next 30 days. Good piece. I got a killer thumbnail.

I said earlier tonight that journalism is a public service because when there is an emergency, we run to the crisis, not away from it. What are you talking? You're running away. You're under a table. When we are thinking about the freedoms in the First Amendment, we must also think about how fragile they are. I saw all of you reporting. And that's what we do. We will do this again. Thank you. We Jill. And I think it is really important that the president's going to speak. I'm glad he's going to

speak. Right. Everyone's okay. I will just say we don't know who the intended target was. It may have been the president. It may have been the press. Maybe it been the press. Yeah. So this is still a crime scene. So, It's really important that all the people in that room, not just the president, not just the cabinet members, not just congressmen and women. They were going for wolf. But everyone is safe tonight and protected because we don't know what this lunatic was going to do tonight. After everyone's out of harm's way, take our focus off the fact that we are fundamentally sick right now as a country. You're not helping.

We think everyone. You didn't predict this one, Ozzy. And the pictures that we're seeing now. I have to say, I'm sure they're all just relieved, frankly, that it's. It's gone on the way it has. We have Wolf blitzer with us and Wolf has been crucial in understanding the course of this event. Because Wolf, you were really the first witness to tell us. What happened? You were scared, I know.

With a police officer jumped on me and threw me to the ground and lied on top of me for a few minutes before other police officers came and grabbed me and some other witnesses. A very, very frightening moment, frightening, scary moment indeed. Lots of wolf tonight. frightening moment. Got fans first. He fell down, Trump fell.

She also came out, and she came right by me. It was just a few seconds in tears, saying, I just want to leave. Are you serious, CNN? You show Erica Kirk, and then you have Harry running the numbers. Run the numbers. Professional baseball game. One other thing that I think should be noted, the Secret Service is an agency that it exists in the Department of Homeland Security, which has been shut down.

and not funded for 70 plus days. So when I think about watching these Secret Service agents and their heroism and what they have to do, they're currently working in an agency that, you know, for many, many, many weeks now has not been taken care of. So I suspect members of Congress are going to have to confront that.

People respond differently. You know, I've been shot at. You know, it's a very weird experience because, you know, bullets are, when you're playing, you know, cops and robberies, you just go bang, people fall down. Bullets are physical things and they move past you faster than you can react. And nobody knows how their body is going to respond in a situation like that.

So some people get very stoic. Some people get very emotional. Some people are fine for two days and then afterwards they completely crash. I have to say I think that President Trump is doing a good job tonight. I think that him decided that he's going to address the public, that he's given the country a timeline for us to do this. again, I think lets people have a little bit of structure for something like this. Absolutely, but also so are viewers at home.

Yes. I think it's so important that he's going to speak tonight. Again, I think it was the right decision to stop this event for all the reasons, the safety reasons, also just the human reasons. We've become almost, I think, desensitized to some of this, which is really, really awful. I have covered so many of these, too many of these, from Butler to Charlie Kirk to to the Minnesota lawmakers murders. I mean, I could go on and on.

There have been 930 attacks on journalists since 2020. That is crazy. We worked at CNN when pipe bombs were sent to our bureau. I mean, this is never ending, it feels like. And so I think the world wants to see what the president has to say about this, but so do people at home.

That's who I've been hearing from. My friends at home say, are you safe? Are you okay? What is happening? Oh my God. Are you safe? are still watching this at home. And again, I think it's, it's overwhelming to people and they want someone to get up and make some sense of something this senseless. They also, I think, want to learn

as much as they possibly can. And the details are scared right now. One piece of the terms they're using now were apprehended and in custody, which are suggestive that he is not succumbed to those injuries. So we'll have to sort through that. I think I got a name for this and it's going to be atrocious in with negative Nancy. We're making that clear because, again, the initial report, different than what we think we are hearing now. We are just hearing in custody at this point. A 30-year-old male.

He would have come back from the Washington, D.C. Hilton. It was extremely bright, a very frightening moment. The press is there. Wow. I bet you, Caitlin's there. Very scary situation. You see live pictures of the White House briefing room where we're expecting to hear from President Trump very shortly.

And inside that room is filling up with reporters. Some of the press pool, some of the reporters who made it from the Washington Hilton. And one of those reporters is our very own. Caitlin Collins, who was supposed to win an award. And their formal wearer and coming in, Secret Service was doing a magnificent job. I don't know about the dress. Get inside so they can make it in for this briefing. So you've got two vaginas on your tip.

We are expecting to see the president come out. You can see, John, they have the seal on the lectern here in the briefing room, obviously signaling that an appearance by the president is imminent. Now, there are a lot of questions that remain here. This is a president who has faced many security threats and obviously two assassination attempts. And so obviously a moment like that where he is rushed off stage is not unfamiliar territory. Kaelan and I don't want to make light of this situation, but we could all use a smile right now. This will be the best dress press briefing, I think, in the history of the White House with all the reporters, dressed for a black tie event.

It just gets to the absolute surreal nature of what Caitlin and all of our friends. have been through tonight and what we've watched play out before our eyes. I mean, we saw it happening in this camera that was focused in the room as the president was being let off. We were hearing that the gunman was dead. We were hearing multiple reports, but obviously understandably it was a great new situation. A lot of reporters in one ballroom asking people for information. The president himself was the one who said and confirmed that the suspect had been apprehended by law enforcement. So he'll be out here momentarily. I was I was watching tonight to see if Cash Patel was going to come for other reasons because he's suing a journalism outfit right now.

But we just saw him, you know, tucked out as a guest. The nation's top law enforcement officer was in this room tonight, which is remarkable and has so many implications. What did he see? What will he mobilize? I mean, was he a target? We have no idea. The actor in general. The U.S. attorney for watching me.

These are very important people for getting the politics. of these people. These are very important people. Is one of the journalistic heroes of the evening. And I'm not being glib. Our very own chief media analyst, Brian Stelter. And Brian, just so you know, and I don't even know that you know this. We saw what was happening on the screen, which was hard to tell. And then we didn't know anything.

And the very first bit of information we got was from you. And your first instance was to basically FaceTime and start reporting. So thank you for being such a great reporter. I appreciate that. Thank you for doing what you did. The only other time that's ever happened to me at CNN was a little bit like this night. It was the night there was a bomb threat at CNN in New York. And our old colleague, Don Lemon, was anchoring.

We had to evacuate out of that building and happened to live nearby. So I walked over. I think I used Skype because it was pre-COVID. Major Garrett and you thought it was dishes. Excuse me. Truly. And many of us, many people around were just hoping that this was some misunderstanding. That's what we were hoping.

And because I'd only heard dishes clanging around, I was hoping it was overreaction. But because so many law enforcement officers swarmed in, not just from the middle, the way you've seen on TV, but also from all the sides, it was pretty clear something was wrong. Let me just tell you right now, we're standing by. You're looking at the White House briefing or the president due to speak any moment. We were giving a two-minute warning about five minutes ago. It could be it will be that they're getting new information now. And they're holding back to wait for the president to come out. Although the door just opened there, there is the president of the United States.

It's about time. There we go. Smoke a cigarette. Well, thank you very much. A hot wipe there. And that was very unexpected. Get rid of the actual. But the fact that they just unified, I saw a room that was just totally unified.

It was in one way, very beautiful, a very beautiful thing to see. A man charged a security checkpoint armed with multiple weapons. And he was taken down by some very brave members of Secret Service, and they acted very quickly. The vest did the job. I just spoke to the officer, and he's doing great. He's great shape.

I didn't want to say this, but this is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we're planning at the White House. It's actually a larger room, and it's much more secure. It's drone-proof. It's bulletproof glass. We need the ballroom. That's why Secret Service. That's why the military are demanding it. And there was a tremendous amount of love and coming together.

I watched, and I was very, very impressed by that. I fought like hell this day. But they, it was protocol. They said, please, sir, in my opinion, a much better job than Butler. Butler had one weak spot that we all know about. Somebody should have been up there. But even Butler, we had a hour sniper, sniper in our side, within 4.2 seconds from a distance of a business of a,

about 400 yards. Wow. One shot, and he was gone. And if he didn't do it, now, you know, he's David. The name was David. I say, hello, David, every time I see him, David. I like you very much, David. But think of that.

Now, if he doesn't hit him, and he hit him right between the eyes from 400 yards without any notice, nobody knew. He heard a sound. He looked over, and there was actually a tree that was somewhat in his way. You know the story very well. He aimed, he fired, and if he didn't do that, beyond me, it would have had a lot more people killed who lost one great person and two people very badly hurt. They're okay now. But no, that was so.

Dementia? I don't think so, guys. Nice try. It's a dangerous profession. You know, I tell the story, race car drivers, I think it's very dangerous. So you take 1% and then take about 10%? of 1% just to break it down very easily. They die.

So much less than 1%, 10% of 1%. Can't do that. I think bull riding is very dangerous. If you take about the same, 10% of 1%, much less than 1%, but if you take presidents, it's 5.8%. What? And about 8% are shot at.

So nobody told me this was such a dangerous profession. profession. If Marco would have told me maybe I wouldn't have run. Maybe I would have said, I'll take a pass. No, it's a dangerous profession. They would let him get through, but they didn't let him get through. They drew those guns so fast. They looked like

they looked like Matt Dillon. They looked like somebody that knew what they were doing. It comes with the territory. And if you want to do a great job, I really believe that. You take a look at what's happened to some of our greatest presidents. and we're going to continue to do a great job. That's all I can do.

Thank you very much, everybody. And he is here now in the studio. Wolf, first of all, you are an international treasure, so thank goodness you are okay. What did you witness and what happened? It was really, really scary.