Trump uses shooting for renewed ballroom push

0:00Well, let's return to the White House Correspondence dinner in Washington, D.C. at Luke Sinham Dundin is with me. Look, US officials have been giving updates this morning on the investigation. That's right, Sally, less than 24 hours after this attack at the White House Correspondence dinner and officials have been sharing a few details about this investigation. What we know so far is that 31-year-old suspect, the suspect Cole Thomas Allen was a guest at the Washington-Hilton hotel where this dinner was being held. Investigators are looking into reports that he assembled the gun in an empty room at the hotel. Security concerned they say they'll be looking into. He then allegedly stormed the security checkpoint outside the ballroom where the president was before firing upon security officials. So, this morning, the acting US Attorney General Todd Blanch was asked on NBC about whether the suspect was indeed targeting the president. We're still looking into that. And so, we know that there were some writings and we have preliminary work into some of his electronic

1:04devices and talking to some of individuals who knew him. It does appear that he did, in fact, have set out to target folks that work in the administration, likely including the president, but I want to wait and not get ahead of us on that. Now in reference to those writings, there's been a lot of speculation about what they might say and what that might mean for the motive. President Trump actually phoned into Fox News earlier on this morning with these comments. And the guy is a sick guy when you read his manifesto. He hates Christians. That's one thing for sure. So, US President Donald Trump calling those writings a manifesto. That not yet confirmed by investigators, but Sally Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch has confirmed that the suspect will be charged later on today. And the president is already talking about an alternative venue for events like this week. He is. Organizers have said that this year's dinner will actually be rescheduled, potentially for as quickly as next month. And there are questions around whether the same hotel can host next year's event. But it is clear that Donald Trump would rather this event be held

2:09a little closer to the White House. As you know, we're building a big, beautiful, very, very secure ballroom in every way with massive bulletproof glass. It's almost four inches thick. It's pretty amazing stuff. And all the different elements that you need, like drone proof, you know, you need drone proofing, you need everything. And the locations on the White House grounds, which is the most secure ground probably in the world. Now, as we've heard over the last year or so, this ballroom is one of the most contentious construction sites in the United States. The administration knocked down the East Wing without full legal permissions. They've been questions around who's funding the construction. Trump saying it won't be the taxpayer, but instead private donors. It ushered a lawsuit from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Now this morning, the Department of Justice, it has lashed out at the lawsuit, saying in a letter that the lawsuit puts the president, his family, and his staff, their lives at grave risk. And it says when the ballroom is complete, the president and his successes won't need to venture beyond the White House grounds to attend large gatherings at the White

3:13House Hilton ballroom. Now, it is hard to see the White House correspondents in there actually being held on the White House grounds, because journalists are flagged press independence concerns. And it's just not big enough. The new planned ballroom will only host a thousand guests, the White House correspondents, you know, around two and a half thousand guests, but it could play host to dinners like what we might see between King Charles and Queen Camilla and Donald Trump later on this week. So as this investigation continues, Sally and we undoubtedly hear questions around security, just watch us the Trump administration offers up this as an alternative solution.