Rep. Ro Khanna on WHCA Dinner Shooting, Political Violence, Epstein Files & More

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Apr 27, 2026 Latest Shows

Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-de... We speak to Congressmember Ro Khanna about the apparent assassination attempt against President Donald Trump and members of his administration at the White House correspondents' dinner. "Political violence strikes at the very heart of democracy. We cannot have a democracy if people are saying we're going to kill you if we disagree with your viewpoint. And that has to be condemned in the most strong, unequivocal terms," says Khanna. He also gives an update on his work calling for the full public release of the Epstein files and comments on Trump's attacks on press freedoms. Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET. Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe

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This is democracyow democracynow.org the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman.

5 seconds

More details are emerging about the gunman who rushed a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents Association dinner Saturday night and exchanged gunfire with law enforcement.

16 seconds

The suspect was tackled and arrested before reaching the ballroom.

21 seconds

Authorities have identified the man as Cole Thomas Allen, a 31-year-old who traveled by train to Washington DC from

30 seconds

California through Chicago. He booked a room at the Washington Hilton where the dinner was taking place. He was armed

37 seconds

with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives. Allan was a graduate of the California Institute of Technology and

44 seconds

worked as a tutor. In writing, sent a family shortly before the shooting.

49 seconds

Allen reportedly described himself as the friendly federal assassin," unquote,

55 seconds

and referenced grievances with Trump policies. Allen's expected to be charged today with two counts of using a firearm and one count of assault on a federal

1 minute, 3 seconds

officer using a dangerous weapon and maybe more charges. Officials believe Allen acted alone. Video from inside the

1 minute, 11 seconds

ballroom shows a chaotic scene in the moments after attendees heard nearby gunshots shortly after the dinner began.

1 minute, 42 seconds

Take it out.

1 minute, 58 seconds

We just watched security racing up to the deis and taking President Trump and

2 minutes, 6 seconds

first lady Melania Trump. Also, Vice President JD Vance and other top officials were rushed off the stage by

2 minutes, 14 seconds

Secret Service as guests crouched under tables for cover. On Sunday, acting attorney general Todd Blanch appeared on

2 minutes, 22 seconds

ABC this week and talked about the investigation.

2 minutes, 26 seconds

Well, we're 12 hours into the investigation. The FBI and and other law enforcement worked through the night.

2 minutes, 31 seconds

They executed search warrants on both coasts, both in DC at the hotel room where he was staying, which was inside

2 minutes, 39 seconds

the the conference center where we had the dinner, and also at at in Los Angeles at at the suspected home. Uh we know that that he he had two firearms on

2 minutes, 47 seconds

him as been as has been reported along with some knives. We believe that he traveled by train from Los Angeles to

2 minutes, 55 seconds

Chicago and then Chicago to Washington DC and and we've executed search warrants um on on his devices as well.

3 minutes, 3 seconds

And we've started talking to folks that that know him or and and to try to just continue to gather information and

3 minutes, 10 seconds

evidence. This is I was on the phone with the director of the FBI after 1:00 last night and and he they were working through the night. He was working

3 minutes, 18 seconds

through the night and I think that that as the days go by, we'll certainly learn more, but that's that's what we know so far.

3 minutes, 25 seconds

In his so-called manifesto, the gunman Cole Allen does not mention President Trump by name, but writes, quote, "I am

3 minutes, 34 seconds

a citizen of the United States of America. What my representatives do reflects on me. I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes."

3 minutes, 45 seconds

He also wrote he planned to target administration officials with the exception of FBI Director Cash Patel. On

3 minutes, 54 seconds

Sunday, President Trump was interviewed on CBS's 60 Minutes by Norah O'Donnell.

4 minutes, 1 second

The so-called manifesto is a stunning thing to read, Mr. President. He appears to reference a motive in it. He writes this quote, "Aministration officials,

4 minutes, 12 seconds

they are targets." And he also wrote this, "I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat

4 minutes, 19 seconds

my hands with his crimes." What's your reaction to that?

4 minutes, 22 seconds

Well, I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would because you're you're horrible people. Horrible people.

4 minutes, 28 seconds

Yeah, he did write that. Uh I'm I'm not a rapist. I didn't rape anybody. Uh,

4 minutes, 34 seconds

oh, you think you think he was referring to you? Excuse me.

4 minutes, 37 seconds

I'm not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person. Uh, I got associated with all stuff that has

4 minutes, 46 seconds

nothing to do with me. I was totally exonerated. Your friends on the other side of the plate are the ones that were

4 minutes, 54 seconds

involved with, let's say, Epstein or other things. But I said to myself, you know, I'll do this interview and they'll probably I read the manifesto, you know,

5 minutes, 4 seconds

was a sick person, but you should be ashamed of yourself reading that because I'm not any of those things, Mr. President. And I was never Excuse me.

5 minutes, 13 seconds

Excuse me.

5 minutes, 14 seconds

You shouldn't be reading that on 60 Minutes. You're a disgrace.

5 minutes, 19 seconds

That's President Trump admonishing CBS's Norah Oddonnell on 60 Minutes. Trump has

5 minutes, 26 seconds

sued CBS in 60 Minutes. CBS settled with him. We begin today's show with Congress

5 minutes, 33 seconds

member Roana, Democratic Congress member from California, who's called for a bipartisan national commission for

5 minutes, 40 seconds

political violence. Thanks again for joining us. Good to have you in our studio. Why don't we start off with this commission? What are you calling for?

5 minutes, 49 seconds

Well, first of all, the violence is never the answer in a democracy. And we've seen too many incidents, not just assassination attempts on the

5 minutes, 56 seconds

president's life, assassination attempts on Governor Shapiro, Paul Pelosi attacked uh by someone going to Speaker

6 minutes, 4 seconds

Pelosy's house. uh we need to uh lower the temperature and we need to look at the causes of political violence whether that's social media algorithms, whether

6 minutes, 13 seconds

it's mental health issues, whether it is access to guns, whether it is heated rhetoric, uh and what we can do to lower

6 minutes, 20 seconds

the temperature and prevent violence while not trampling on the first amendment.

6 minutes, 25 seconds

So what would this mean? What would this commission look like?

6 minutes, 28 seconds

Well, I think it would look at uh what we can do first of all on social media algorithms. Right now you have social media basically for profit uh

6 minutes, 36 seconds

sensationalizing information and sending information uh to people who are vulnerable. Uh do we need reforms on

6 minutes, 43 seconds

section 230? Uh we need to look at what sensible recommendations there can be on uh gun laws. What sensible recommendations there can be for

6 minutes, 52 seconds

security for elected officials. what are standards in terms of uh uh what we want elected officials how to communicate uh

7 minutes

so that we aren't uh inciting uh violence in the ways that we've seen in our democracy not to regulate it but as

7 minutes, 8 seconds

a a conversation about how we have more civility in our politics.

7 minutes, 12 seconds

Let me ask you about gun violence. Um you have oh how many attacks we've been

7 minutes, 20 seconds

talking about just in the last week numerous other cases of gun violence across the country. On Sunday nine

7 minutes, 28 seconds

people were injured in a mass shooting near the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington. I bet most people in this

7 minutes, 35 seconds

country didn't even hear about uh this shooting um with the number of victims of it in Indiana as people focused on

7 minutes, 44 seconds

the White House correspondents dinner shooting in Virginia. You have Lieutenant Governor, the former Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax

7 minutes, 52 seconds

recently fatally shot his aranged wife Serena Fairfax before taking his own life, a murder suicide. In Louisiana,

8 minutes, 1 second

the 31-year-old Army veteran murdered eight children, including seven of his own, in a mass shooting rampage that

8 minutes, 10 seconds

spanned four locations across Shriefport last week. And we're just talking about the last week. What about the easy accessibility of guns in this country?

8 minutes, 22 seconds

Well, it's uh shocking and tragic and makes me angry. I've been in Congress 10 years. We haven't passed anything significant. We know what would work. We

8 minutes, 31 seconds

know that when we had the assault weapons ban of 1993, 1994 that had lowered violence, we let that expire. We

8 minutes, 39 seconds

know we need universal background checks. We know that we need red flag laws to go to a court and take the guns

8 minutes, 46 seconds

away from people who have significant mental health issues where people raise a flag and we just have not been able to pass that. But there is, I do think, a

8 minutes, 54 seconds

difference between political violence a and all of the horrific violence we're seeing with guns more generally. And

9 minutes, 2 seconds

that is that political violence strikes at the very heart of democracy. We cannot have a democracy uh if people are saying we're going to kill you if we

9 minutes, 10 seconds

disagree with your viewpoint. And that has to be condemned in the most strong uh unequivocal terms. I remember years

9 minutes, 18 seconds

ago when President Clinton said something along the lines of this was after the shooting at Coline. Um, we have to teach our children that violence

9 minutes, 27 seconds

is not the answer. And this is when NATO was attacking Yugoslavia. And I'm wondering about that broader context of

9 minutes, 34 seconds

the massive violence. We're looking at the US and Israel bombing Iran. We're looking at the attack on Venezuela. Um,

9 minutes, 42 seconds

I was just reading in headlines about the attacks in the Pacific and Caribbean on uh these boats that the Trump

9 minutes, 49 seconds

administration doesn't provide evidence but says they're carrying drugs. But this level of violence in the world. uh

9 minutes, 57 seconds

if you can talk about what it means to have a government that

10 minutes, 4 seconds

makes violence look acceptable in some cases, but then you have this horror at the White House Correspondents

10 minutes, 11 seconds

Association dinner, this attempted attack on the mass dinner of hundreds of journalists and Trump administration

10 minutes, 18 seconds

officials. Um that is clearly and rightly condemned. But what is considered acceptable and what isn't?

10 minutes, 29 seconds

Well, I think that Dr. King said that militarism overseas uh leads to the corrosion of a society and violence at

10 minutes, 37 seconds

home. Uh and we live in times where there has been violence. There was violence with Netanyahu in Gaza that our

10 minutes, 44 seconds

country supported. You have the president threatening to wipe off Iranian civilization. You have a fuel blockade in Cuba leading to starvation.

10 minutes, 53 seconds

As you reported, we are shooting boats in the Caribbean. Some of those people uh innocent. Uh and this has uh d not recognize the dignity of human beings.

11 minutes, 4 seconds

That does not in any way justify the assassination attempt. Uh but what it does uh suggest is that uh we have a

11 minutes, 13 seconds

culture that has embraced violence inconsistent with our ideals. And interestingly, um, as you said, in no

11 minutes, 22 seconds

way does this justify, but in this reported manifesto, and by the way, um,

11 minutes, 28 seconds

this, uh, gunman Cole Allen, 31 years old, apparently sent this minutes before he engaged in his attack to family

11 minutes, 37 seconds

members and they went to law enforcement in their community quickly and they said, "This is what our brother or whoever he was in relation to them uh,

11 minutes, 48 seconds

is saying. So in the manifesto, Cole Allen referenced US foreign policy. He wrote, quote, objection one, as a

11 minutes, 56 seconds

Christian, you should turn the other cheek. Rebuttal. Turning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed.

12 minutes, 4 seconds

I'm not the person raped in a detention camp. I'm not the fisherman executed without trial. I'm not a school kid blown up or a child starved or a teenage

12 minutes, 12 seconds

girl abused by the many criminals in this administration. Uh that's what he wrote in the manifesto.

12 minutes, 19 seconds

Well, sometimes uh just because he had intelligence of Celtech, it's not correlated with character or wisdom. Uh

12 minutes, 26 seconds

it's a totally incoherent argument and he's doing real damage to the most vulnerable by uh engaging in violence.

12 minutes, 33 seconds

Uh he is actually hurting the very causes uh that he seeks to uphold. Uh and what we need to say is very clearly

12 minutes, 41 seconds

violence has no place. You have there's a democratic process to bring change.

12 minutes, 46 seconds

You can go organize. You can stand in no king's protests. You can help uh lead uh new people to be elected. Uh but when

12 minutes, 54 seconds

you take up arms, what you lead to actually is a a response of censorship or a a stronger security state. He's

13 minutes, 3 seconds

undermining the very causes uh that he claims to care about.

13 minutes, 7 seconds

What do you make of President Trump, the way he attacked Norah Oddonnell? uh once again uh particularly going after a woman journalist.

13 minutes, 16 seconds

Well, it's a pattern of his which is uh to attack the press. And this could be a moment a normal president would have said this was an attack not just on me.

13 minutes, 27 seconds

This was an attack on our democracy. It was attack on journalists. Uh and I'm appalled by what's happening and this is a time to celebrate open free society.

13 minutes, 36 seconds

Instead, he takes his personal anger and he can't transcend that. And it's just very very sad to see to him attacking

13 minutes, 43 seconds

it. And it's sad to see some people conflating the uh condemnation of political bonds which would be clear uh

13 minutes, 50 seconds

with criticism. I mean obviously you should be able to criticize the president of the United States and say that he did a bad job and he's bad for the country and that's very very

13 minutes, 57 seconds

different than threatening him with violence.

14 minutes

Now you hear Nora O'Donnell in this when she talks about she's reading from the manifesto and says he's referring to pedophiles and rapists. And when

14 minutes, 8 seconds

President Trump says, "I am not a rapist. I am not a pedophile." She says, "Oh, because he didn't name Trump." Uh,

14 minutes, 15 seconds

he Are you saying he's referring to you?

14 minutes, 20 seconds

I mean, that was a very interesting moment.

14 minutes, 24 seconds

Well, as you know, Thomas Massie and I passed the Epstein Transparency Act to get the Epstein files released. Uh, this

14 minutes, 31 seconds

has been the single biggest issue that has uh had a blow to the administration.

14 minutes, 37 seconds

and they've been covering up these files and you can tell it's on the president's mind. He's aware of this. His own wife,

14 minutes, 43 seconds

the first lady said, "We need justice for Epstein survivors." He still has not, his justice department hasn't released the documents. They aren't prosecuting any of the Epstein class,

14 minutes, 52 seconds

these people who raped and abused these girls. And this is on his mind that he says, "No, I have nothing to do with Epstein." But the reality is this was

15 minutes

bipartisan legislation. It's the first time Congress has stood up to Donald Trump. Uh, and we need to continue to demand the release of these files and these prosecutions.

15 minutes, 9 seconds

What do you make of Pam Bondi not coming forward on April 14th? I mean, granted, she was no longer attorney general. Uh,

15 minutes, 18 seconds

and would you say that Trump fired her because he didn't want her to come forward on April 14th and they would say because she's not AG, she doesn't have

15 minutes, 27 seconds

to. But they have, isn't it? Your committee, the House Oversight Committee, has subpoenaed the exboyfriend of Gileain Maxwell.

15 minutes, 38 seconds

Yes. Well, look, uh, I drafted the subpoena with Nancy Mace for Pam Bondi.

15 minutes, 43 seconds

It was not as attorney general. It was in her personal capacity. So, she's in defiance of the subpoena, in violation

15 minutes, 50 seconds

of the subpoena. She should be held in contempt. But is she going to be who holds her in contempt? Well, the oversight committee has to vote on it and Congress has to

15 minutes, 58 seconds

vote on it and we are working to get the Republican votes, the same people who voted for our subpoena to say, "Look, now you need to hold her in contempt.

16 minutes, 6 seconds

She's not showing up to Congress." You were willing to hold the Clintons in contempt when they didn't come uh before the committee. They then testified, "Why wouldn't you hold Pam Bondi in contempt?" She was far more relevant.

16 minutes, 17 seconds

But she was fired in part because of her mishandling of the Epstein files. There is no issue, not the war in Iran, not prices, that has hurt Donald Trump more

16 minutes, 26 seconds

with his own base than Epstein. And that is because he ran saying that the government was corrupt, that he was going to expose that corruption. And he

16 minutes, 35 seconds

has turned out to cover up for the rich and powerful people who wrote laws for their own benefit and abused these young girls. And that has really turned a lot

16 minutes, 44 seconds

of people who voted for Trump uh against him. and and and that's why I believe Bondi was fired and that's why the administration is reeling on this issue.

16 minutes, 52 seconds

So what's going to happen next in the Epstein files case again 3 million files or pages have not been released.

16 minutes, 59 seconds

Well, first King Charles is coming tomorrow. I had requested that he meet with the survivors. Uh he hasn't done that but the British ambassador assures

17 minutes, 7 seconds

me that he's going to address it in his remarks to Congress tomorrow.

17 minutes, 10 seconds

Explain why you want the king to address it. Well, his brother is uh implicated.

17 minutes, 15 seconds

serious allegations. Prince Andrews, a former Prince Andrew, of having a man formerly known as Prince

17 minutes, 22 seconds

Yes. Uh of having abused, allegedly abused young girls and of course he engaged in financial impropriety. There

17 minutes, 30 seconds

is uh questions about the royal family's relationship with Epstein. And so I thought he owed it to the survivors to acknowledge them and acknowledge their

17 minutes, 38 seconds

pain. Uh and if he's not going to meet them, he should very at least address that when he addresses uh the Congress.

17 minutes, 44 seconds

But we are continuing to subpoena people uh including Bill Gates, including other people who uh came Howard Lutnik who

17 minutes, 52 seconds

went to the island. We're continuing to push for the release and we're continuing to push for the prosecution of some of these individuals who are in

17 minutes, 59 seconds

these files who the survivors tell us raped and abused uh them as young girls.

18 minutes, 4 seconds

There have been no prosecutions yet in the United States, though there prosecutions in many other parts of the world. President Trump said in that interview with Noronnell that he was

18 minutes, 13 seconds

exonerated uh when referencing pedophilia or rape. Um was he exonerated?

18 minutes, 20 seconds

He has not been exonerated. If anything,

18 minutes, 22 seconds

there's been a cover up. They first did not release the files of someone who made very serious accusations against uh

18 minutes, 29 seconds

President Trump. Uh then they released the files because of journalists reporting saying they had selectively released files. Now, uh there is nothing

18 minutes, 38 seconds

so far that implicates him, but exoneration uh doesn't mean that there's nothing also that exonerates him. The reality is we still don't have 3 million

18 minutes, 47 seconds

files, and there are a lot of unanswered questions. Political reports. Members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are divided over

18 minutes, 55 seconds

whether President Trump should pardon Jeffrey Epstein's co-conspirator um convicted co-conspirator Gileain

19 minutes, 4 seconds

Maxwell in exchange for cooperation in the panel's Epstein investigation. Um that's according to committee chair James Comr in an interview last week.

19 minutes, 13 seconds

That's shocking. And when the survivors testified in front of the Capitol with Thomas Massie and me and Marjorie Taylor Green, they said that it would be a punch to their gut to pardon Maxwell.

19 minutes, 25 seconds

She was part of the abuse. You are basically then pardoning a someone who committed pedophilia or uh emedded

19 minutes, 33 seconds

pedophilia and you are uh totally ignoring the survivor's own sentiments.

19 minutes, 40 seconds

It would be just catastrophic on a human level. Um, I want to finally ask you, Trump quickly moved to use the incident,

19 minutes, 49 seconds

um, the attack on, uh, the White House correspondents dinner to promote the massive new ballroom he's constructing on the White House grounds, posting on

19 minutes, 57 seconds

Truth Social. This event would never have happened with the military top secret ballroom currently under construction at the White House. It cannot be built fast enough. Um, if you

20 minutes, 6 seconds

could address this, I was just watching Eugene Daniels, the former head of the White House Correspondent Association.

20 minutes, 12 seconds

And he said we would never hold it at the White House. There is a separation of church and state incl uh meaning between press and uh the state.

20 minutes, 21 seconds

Yeah. So he still doesn't understand the first amendment which is the freedom of the press. Of course you would not have a gathering of journalists with a

20 minutes, 29 seconds

comedian who's supposed to make fun of the president whoever the president is doing it at the White House uh where the White House gets to dictate the agenda.

20 minutes, 38 seconds

Uh, and so there there are other reasons we don't need a ballroom and we don't need corporate donors basically currying favor with Donald Trump giving millions

20 minutes, 48 seconds

of dollars to this ballroom pet project of his to get policy. But certainly you would never have this event uh at the

20 minutes, 56 seconds

White House and it just shows that the president still does not get it after all these years about the importance of the freedom of the press.

21 minutes, 3 seconds

Uh, finally the billionaires tax that you and Bernie Sanders are putting forward. The biggest issue in this country is wealth inequality. We have 19

21 minutes, 11 seconds

billionaires who have 12 and a half% of the economy. Three trillion dollars.

21 minutes, 15 seconds

That is three times a concentration of the guilded age during Rockefeller or Vanderbilt JP Morgan's times. Bernie and

21 minutes, 23 seconds

I have said tax them 5%. That means if you're worth $20 billion you'll now be worth $19 billion. By the way, their

21 minutes, 30 seconds

returns are about 10 15% or more over the last few years. And if we did that,

21 minutes, 36 seconds

we could have every teacher in this country paid at least $60,000. We could have universal child care. We could have

21 minutes, 44 seconds

free public college. We could give every working family a $3,000 check. We could expand healthcare to include dental

21 minutes, 51 seconds

vision hearing. Uh this is necessary for a new social contract in a country that is just uh seeing wealth inequality explode.

22 minutes

Thanks for watching Democracy Now on YouTube. Subscribe to the channel and turn on notifications to make sure you never miss a video. And for more of our

22 minutes, 8 seconds

audienceup supported journalism, go to democracynow.org or where you can download our news app, sign up for our newsletter, subscribe to the daily

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podcast, and so much

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