Meet the Press NOW — April 27

Meet the Press

NBC News

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3.6 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 27 April 2026

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

White House Correspondents' Dinner shooter Cole Tomas Allen is charged with attempting to assassinate President Trump as new details emerge about the incident and his motivations. Expert in extremism and polarization Cynthia Miller-Idriss talks about the rise in political violence. President Trump meets with top national security officials to discuss the future of the war with Iran after the latest negotiations were abruptly canceled. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Meet the Press Now.
0:12.5	I'm Melanie Zanona in Washington with breaking news.
0:15.3	We have new details and new fallout from Saturday night's attempted assassination of President Trump at the White House Correspondence Center.
0:23.4	After 31-year-old Cole Thomas Allen, armed with a shotgun, handgun, and knives, breached security in an attempt to target the president and other top government officials.
0:33.5	The sound of multiple gunshots echoed through the dinner, forcing the president, the vice president, and other high-ranking government officials to take cover before being evacuated by their security details.
0:45.2	The suspect was in federal court for the first time this afternoon.
0:48.9	And moments ago, we heard from acting attorney general Todd Blanche, alongside FBI director Cash Patel and U.S. Attorney Janine Piro.
0:58.6	This man was a floor above the ballroom with hundreds of federal agents between him and the president of the United States.
1:10.5	The Department of Justice approaches incidents like this with urgency and clarity of purpose.
1:17.6	Violence has no place in civic life.
1:22.0	There will be additional charges as this investigation continues to unfold.
1:27.3	But make no mistake, this was an attempted
1:31.4	assassination of the President of the United States with the defendant making clear what his intent
1:38.3	was. And that intent was to bring down as many of the high-ranking cabinet officials as he could.
1:46.0	In addition to being charged with attempted assassination of the president, Cole Tomas Allen also faces two counts of firearm-related offenses, including the discharge of a firearm.
1:57.2	Authorities say he exchanged fire with law enforcement before being wrestled to the ground and detained.
2:02.9	One secret service agent was shot, but was protected by a bulletproof vest and is expected to be okay.
2:09.7	Authorities also say that minutes before the attack, the suspect sent his family notes,
2:14.5	apologizing for what he was going to do, criticizing the president without
2:18.3	mentioning his name, and also writing about the lax security at the hotel. The president
2:23.9	describing his experience of the harrowing incident on CBS's 60 Minutes last night, along with
2:30.1	his interactions with members of his own security detail, trying to protect him.
	...

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