Washington Journal Open Forum previews a C-SPAN briefing on the White House shooting where officials like Mike Johnson and Marco Rubio attended without special security designations, leaving gaps exploited by the gunman. Viewers debate Trump's responsibility versus religious solutions, while news breaks that the criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has ended despite ongoing subpoena appeals. Ultimately, the episode highlights critical security lapses at the highest levels of government and the abrupt conclusion of high-profile legal probes. [Automatically generated summary]
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Security Chaos at White House Dinner00:03:02
Source.
No commentary, no agenda, just democracy.
Unfiltered every day on the C-SPAN networks.
Coming up shortly here on C-SPAN, we're going to take you live to the White House, where Press Secretary Caroline Levitt is set to hold her first briefing after Saturday's shooting at the White House correspondents dinner.
She's expected to give an update on the investigation into the suspect, as well as the administration's effort to review security procedures on future events attended by the president.
Reporters could also ask her about the conflict with Iran after the president recently canceled a U.S. delegation's trip to Pakistan to negotiate with Iranian representatives.
This briefing also will take place as the state visit of King Charles III and Queen Camilla begins here in Washington, D.C. Live coverage when the press secretary arrives here on C-SPAN.
While we wait, I'll show you a segment from our Washington Journal.
Welcome back to Washington Journal.
We're in open forum and looking forward to taking your calls.
I do want to show you real quick the article on the front page of the Washington Post about the attack at the dinner on Saturday.
The headline, dinner lacked highest security level.
This is a picture of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson being rushed out by his security detail.
They've got him, as you can see by his jacket, and they're all running out of the ballroom.
Here's what the article says: it says, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance were quickly evacuated to safety Saturday when a gunman charged the security perimeter and attempted to storm the ballroom at the Washington Hilton Hotel.
Others in attendance included Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
It says the concentration of high-ranking leaders in one ballroom left the nation unusually vulnerable as the would-be assassin raced past Secret Service before he was apprehended.
A worst-case scenario might have resulted in passing the power of the presidency to the senior most senator of the majority party, Scott Grassley, who was not at the event and is third in line to the presidency behind Vance and Johnson.
When so many officials gather in one place, the official functions such as an inauguration or state of the union, the Secretary of Homeland Security typically puts the Secret Service in charge of coordinating all security through a formal designation known as a quote national security, national special security event.
There was no such designation on Saturday night at an event also attended by thousands of journalists and other government officials, according to local and federal officials.
So that's at the Washington Post if you'd like to see more of that.
Let's talk to Annie in Tampa, Florida.
Justice Department Addresses Political Violence00:02:56
Democrat, you're on Open Forum, Annie.
Good morning.
Yes, Trump's violence has been going on for 12 years, you know, blowing up votes and people.
And, you know, our young people watch that.
And, you know, when it comes to a 27-year-old, you know, shooting, that's to me, that's a young person.
So 31-year-old.
Oh, 31.
They've been seeing this, you know, for 12 years, you know, the insurrection and so forth.
It's all been, you know, generated by Trump.
But I have a local cleaning service, and my customers will watch Fox News and all this information eight to 10 hours a day.
And I remember when we were growing up, we'd watch the news for maybe 30 minutes, you know, and then go to dinner or something else.
And these people, you know, you can't help them because they are so ingrained in this false information.
But for me, I would just watch Trump's mouth and not any media, definitely not social media.
Watch Trump's mouth and the ignorance that comes out of it every day.
And, you know, it's not media.
It's not social media.
It's, you know, and that's all we have to do.
Okay, thank you.
Larry in Chicago, Independent Line, you're on Open Forum.
Good morning.
I'm happy I got you on the line.
Clarence Thomas.
Justice already spelled it out.
We're still a divided nation.
So Mimi, here's my solution.
When all the brokenhearted people living in the world agree, there will be an answer.
Let it be, let it be Jesus.
A simple story for simple people.
Love you much.
Bye.
And let's take a look at some other news.
You remember that Senator Tom Tillis had said that he would not vote for the new Fed chair, the nominee, Kevin Warsh, until that federal investigation, criminal investigation into the current chairman, Jerome Powell, was dropped.
Here he is on Meet the Press yesterday.
Well, let me back up.
And the announcement on Friday was well received by me.
I think it's the first time that the Department of Justice in D.C., or I should say the D.C. prosecutors, have acknowledged that they're not going to carry this case forward.
The case is on appeal.
But after that statement, I've had a number of discussions with the Department of Justice.
They have made it very clear that the current investigation is completely and fully ended.
There may be some confusion because they're moving forward with the appeal, but I have been assured by the Department of Justice that that appeal is simply to challenge the basis for judging on the motion to quash the subpoenas.
It would not in any way constitute a basis for reopening the investigation.