Transcript
Auto-generated transcript. Not time-synced to the video.
Good morning from Washington D.C. We are
standing outside the federal courthouse
where later today
Cole Allen or Allen Cole, I don't even
know the guy's name, but the person who
attempted to kill President Trump and
his cabinet at the White House
Correspondents Association dinner is
going to be appearing in court. So, he's
going to be here later today. I got here
early, a little bit too early, I think.
Well, maybe not too early because look,
the press is already setting up outside
in anticipation of his arrival, but the
thing is that I spoke to
the clerks inside the courthouse and
they're telling me that he probably will
not be here until the afternoon. They
don't want to give an exact time. In
fact, they were very vague. They said,
"If he were to be here today, it will be
in courtroom number seven on the second
floor." So, they're kind of like they
they're kind of giving out a little bit
of information, but not enough. So, I
don't think I'm going to wait around
here. I'll probably go and see what else
is happening in the city today.
So, some of you might be asking, "Why am
I here in Washington D.C.? What am I
doing at the courthouse?" And I think
many of you already know the answer, but
I'm sure there are a lot of you who have
no idea. So, in December of 2024,
Ami Magazine, the magazine that I've
been writing for and doing you know,
traveling all over the world for
for over 8 years,
reached out to me and offered me a new
They asked me to take on the role as
their chief White House and Washington
Bureau correspondent.
Um it was something that originally I
wasn't sure I wanted to do.
But as I started to think about it and
discussed it with my wife and you know
other people who are close to me,
we did make the decision to go for that
role. So actually for the past year
plus, since essentially the beginning of
the second Trump administration, I've
been here in Washington, D.C.,
you know, flying in from Texas pretty
much every week with some exceptions,
but for the most part I I am here all
the time. And
I get to go to the White House. I go to
Congress.
Um as you can see, you know, right now
we're at this intersection, but behind
me you can see the US Capitol. And
honestly, it's been quite a fascinating
experience uh just to see
how this country operates, especially uh
you know,
at the uh the executive levels.
It It's been quite fascinating.
Now,
I just realized actually that there's
even a a much bigger
um group of of
reporters and TV cameras, you know,
members of the media here outside the
courthouse, which I did not I don't know
why I didn't pick up on that earlier.
Look at this. Look at this.
So there's all these cameras set up.
One of the reporters is doing makeup
over there.
And more and more.
And of course everybody here is waiting
for the big moment when
the you know, attempted assassin is
going to
show up here. Wow, there's a lot of
media today.
But no one knows exactly when he's going
to be here. Although, it is rumored to
be happening in the afternoon.
So, we're definitely going to keep you
guys updated. I don't think I'm going to
wait around all day.
I have other places to be. I want to
head over to the White House
and uh maybe the Congress. So, maybe
we'll come back later closer to
the afternoon or maybe when more details
emerge about when
the
attacker is going to be here.
Another thing I should mention, by the
way, is that as you can see, we have the
American flag, the British flag,
and the
flag of Washington, D.C. up here on
these flag poles.
And that is because
later today, the king
of the United Kingdom and his queen will
be
getting to D.C. and they are going to be
here for a couple days on a state visit.
Also very interesting.
And we're going to be covering that as
well in this video. So, stay tuned,
guys. It's going to be interesting.
Okay, just finished the morning prayers.
Honestly, I should have done it earlier,
but I was in a huge rush in the morning,
so I had to run out to the courthouse.
I'm not perfect. I try to pray first
thing in the morning before I do
anything else, but sometimes that
doesn't happen.
All right, so I'm heading out right now.
I'm going to jump into an Uber and run
over to the White House because the
schedule for the day just changed.
Turns out there wasn't supposed to be a
briefing today, but now I got an email
from the White House saying that there's
going to be a briefing, so we got to run
over there and try to make it in time.
Hello.
Okay, so the streets are closed
around the White House right now.
Doesn't look like it's for security
reasons. It is
There's a sign that says road closed to
through traffic.
So, my Uber dropped me off here.
I'm going to have to walk the rest of
the way, which isn't far.
Um
just about a block down
is the entrance to the White House
complex. Let's go.
So, another thing that's very
interesting is that
I got an updated email
from the White House saying that there's
going to be a press conference today, a
press briefing in the briefing room,
which was originally not scheduled to
happen.
So, I guess uh
it'll probably have something to do with
the assassination attempt.
But,
what's really interesting is that it
says that Karoline Leavitt is going to
be doing the briefing. Karoline Leavitt
is the current press secretary, but last
week on Thursday,
she announced to the press that she was
leaving
on maternity leave because she's
approximately 39 weeks pregnant and
about to have a baby. So, she was going
to be leaving.
But, the email
implies that she's back.
Unless
unless they made a mistake
and they meant to write that she's going
to be replaced, but they didn't write
it. I don't know. We're going to see
once we get into the building.
It does look like security is very tight
around the White House today because
they put up this temporary metal fencing
here,
which happens when things are tense.
And uh you know, there was a
assassination attempt
only uh less than 48 hours ago. So,
I guess
they're taking things uh a lot of
precaution. You know what? I better put
on my badge.
Hello.
>> Good morning, boss.
>> How are you?
>> Good. Good.
>> Thank you for your service.
>> Thank you.
>> Okay, so now we're in the
semi-secure area of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Very often this part of the street is
open to
the public and to pedestrians, but right
now it's closed.
That is the Blair House right there.
That's where visiting heads of state
stay before they meet the president. As
you can see,
the American flag is up there,
but it'll probably be replaced by a
United Kingdom flag relatively shortly.
Here you can see
the UK flags and the American flags
all along the street.
And because this year is the 250th
anniversary of the United States, we
have that big flag over there, the 250
flag.
Um that is the
Eisenhower Executive Office Building,
which is essentially an extension of the
White House.
The White House is a large building, but
not large enough to fit in
everybody who
works in all of the
departments that uh
that are based here. So, they have
hundreds of offices that are essentially
right not directly in the White House
building, but right next door in this
building.
Now, this is the entrance
to the
north side of the White House.
Morning, Andrew.
And uh
that's Andrew Leyden.
He's a legend. Legendary photographer
here in DC, been working
the circuit for many years.
So, this is where the press enters.
Um we have to go through security, and
then we're going to be on the
essentially on the North Lawn, the North
Driveway
of the White House. Let's go.
Of course, he guys.
Of course these guys.
All right, just went through security.
Now we are on the White House grounds.
This is where many of the
TV networks report from. These little
tents or canopies.
As you can see there's a lot of
equipment in there and all the anchors
stand here and they do their live shots.
White House is looking beautiful today.
It is a very beautiful day.
And
let's see what the briefing room looks
like. It's probably going to be quite
packed.
So, do you guys see that Marine standing
right there?
The fact that he's standing there means
that the president is in the Oval
Office.
Whenever the president is in the office,
there'll be a Marine stationed outside.
And that's just how it is. So, you can
really tell whether the president is in
his office or not based on who's
standing there. Let's go into the
briefing room.
Ooh.
Do not use. They want us to use the back
door. Okay.
Thank you.
Okay.
So, we're going to be walking into the
essentially the break room here.
All these work stations.
And
now we enter the briefing room itself.
There we go.
>> You'll be fine.
>> Not too bad, actually.
Not too bad. There's a little crowd, but
we got here relatively early.
Uh we probably have about
40 minutes or so till the briefing.
So
we got a good spot.
So the room is starting to fill up, and
as you can see
unfortunately, some people don't really
respect uh manners, and I just
you you could be standing here early,
and other people will just come and
stand in front of you and block you, but
that such is life.
So there was just an announcement over
the PA system that it's 2 minutes to the
briefing, so Caroline should be in here
in 20 seconds.
This place is so packed right now.
>> I'm so sorry, can I pass you?
>> Sure.
She has a seat somewhere there, so she's
going to sit down.
The rest of us have to stand.
>> Yeah, it's only going to be the first
time we hear from the White House after
that event. We heard from President
Trump that night, and of course
about security protocols. We have more
>> She is one of CNN's uh White House
correspondent. She's doing a live hit on
air right now for CNN. Typically do this
right before the briefing starts.
And uh Caroline should be here any
second.
The other one doing the live hit is from
Fox News.
>> Good afternoon, everyone.
Later today, President Trump and the
First Lady will welcome King Charles and
Queen Camilla for a state visit here at
the White House. First Lady Melania
Trump has led all of the preparation for
the state visit, which will honor the
long-standing and special relationship
between the United States and the United
Kingdom.
As I told many of you on Friday
afternoon, I thought that would be my
last time taking your questions until
after my maternity leave.
But given the attempted assassination of
the president and quote top Trump
administration officials, as the
depraved shooter noted in his manifesto
at the White House Correspondents
Association Dinner on Saturday evening,
I felt it was prudent to be here today
to answer your questions and inform the
American people about how the
administration is responding to yet
another attempt on President Trump's
life.
Saturday was supposed to be a joyful
evening celebrating free speech and the
First Amendment with all of you members
of the press.
Instead, the night was hijacked by a
crazed anti-Trump individual who
traveled across the country to
assassinate the president and as many
administration officials as possible.
This is the third major assassination
attempt against President Trump in 2
years.
No other president in history has faced
such repeated, serious attempts on his
life.
First and foremost, the president, the
first lady, and everyone in this White
House are extraordinarily grateful to
the brave law enforcement professionals
who sprang into action to apprehend the
would-be assassin and keep all of us
safe.
The president would especially like to
express his gratitude to the men and
women of the United States Secret
Service who acted with the utmost
professionalism, courage, and sense of
duty.
This includes the heroic agent who took
a bullet to the chest. Thankfully, he
>> All right. So, the briefing just ended.
We're heading outside. There's another
briefing starting in about a half hour
at the Department of Justice.
And we're going to see if we can make it
over there and get in that building.
>> There are definitely questions about
security moving forward, but it was a
frightening incident.
>> So, I'm leaving the White House complex
now.
I'm running over to the Justice
Department. I couldn't reach any of my
contacts there, but I'm going to go and
see if I can make it into the briefing.
Thank you.
Okay, here we go.
So,
we're going to have to see if we can
make it in time.
There's about 25 minutes till it starts.
Still have to go through security
and try to get a seat.
Hopefully it works out.
So, one of the things that happens very
often in DC is that they close the
streets randomly. So, right now this
street is closed. I had an Uber who was
supposed to come pick me up here, but he
canceled the ride cuz he couldn't figure
out a way to get in. So, I have to
walk outside the security perimeter
right here at the corner,
order a new Uber,
and hopefully this guy
will
take me.
Something you have to deal with
regularly when you're in DC.
So, here we are outside the Department
of Justice. Let's see if we can get
inside the building.
Okay, so
that actually was not possible.
Apparently you have to be on the list.
Um
I'm not on the list. I'm going to make
some phone calls see if I can get on the
list, but for now I am not. I'm going to
go grab a bite to eat and then maybe
we'll be able to come back a little bit
later, but right now I'm starving. I've
already been up uh
since very early in the morning and
in order to power through the rest of
the day I got to have something to eat.
So, I just discovered this new place.
Well, it's not new, but it's a place I
didn't know about. It's a cafe
at the Local Hill which is kosher and um
they claim to have the best fried
chicken sandwich in the area. So, we're
going to find out.
So, this is the chicken sandwich. This
is called pickle fries.
Um looks really good both of them
actually and it's cheap.
So, that was actually really good and
really cheap.
I think it's probably the best price uh
kosher establishment in
Washington DC.
And I can't believe I've been coming
here for almost a year and a half and
never ate there.
So, come to think of it, I do know why I
haven't been there before.
It's because when you Google kosher
restaurants in D.C., this place doesn't
really come up. It's uh
cafeteria
for the kosher keeping students at uh
George Washington University here.
And I don't really hang around the
university area. When you look for
kosher places online, this place doesn't
come up. But if you dive deep down
into uh
the depths of Google
and do some serious research, you find
out about it. So,
I'd been coming for like close to a
year. I remember in the summer, last
summer,
I
learned about this place online.
And when I wanted to visit, it was
closed because the semester was over. I
guess they're on their summer break. So,
I figured I'd
come back once they reopened. And then I
completely forgot about it until today.
But the food was really good and cheap.
So,
if you're looking for something uh
quiet and cheap, good food, you go to
Zingers. Now, being that we are on the
university campus,
there's a lot of interesting stuff going
on here.
On the way over,
I passed a tent
or some kind of booth
uh with a little
Palestinian protest. So, we're going to
see if those people are still there.
Maybe we'll talk to them a little bit.
So, I just stumbled upon this Israel
Fest. Today they're celebrating Israel
here. This is a Jewish event and they
have falafel.
Hello.
And there's a lot of other stuff going
on. Now, you're not going to believe
this, but there's snipers on the roof.
You have a catering business here?
>> So, I do falafel.
>> Yeah.
>> And I go I have an
We do events like this for Israel. Like
today we have here for 600, tomorrow we
have University of Maryland for 500.
>> Oh, wow.
>> And
it's
original Ashkenazi falafel.
>> What does that mean?
What does that even mean?
>> No, it's that it's not
>> I'm an old I'm confused now.
>> For you, the boyut got to go.
>> Oh, that looks good. That looks good.
>> It's very good.
>> Just one for my friend here.
>> Just Just one falafel, but I'm still I
just finished eating at the cafe.
>> One falafel only?
>> Yeah, yeah, that's all.
>> Really?
>> Thank you so much.
>> our pita is from London.
>> It's what?
>> It's from London.
>> From
From Israel?
Are you serious?
>> We fly every morning.
>> You're kidding.
>> We have a factory in London.
>> It's called Israel Bakery?
>> It's really It really is.
>> Oh, wow.
>> But they have a They have a place in New
Jersey.
>> Okay, so I literally just stumbled into
this Israel festival. It looks like it's
winding down. They have a camel.
Which
I When I started my day, I was not
expecting to see a camel.
What's the camel's name?
>> Moses.
>> Moses, that's appropriate.
Okay, hi Moses.
Huge.
Wow.
So random.
There was some very loud music before. I
don't know if you could hear me, but up
there on the roof, there's snipers.
Literally, snipers.
They're for our safety.
Now, we're going to go talk to the
watermelon people for a minute.
Hello.
Good afternoon.
How are you?
What are we
uh protesting today?
>> We're here for the liberation of
Palestine, and that's all. We're not
interested.
>> Okay.
So,
what's the goal?
>> We don't want to talk to you. You should
leave.
>> Why is that?
>> We just don't want to. You're a freak.
>> Oh, thank you. Okay.
Have a wonderful day.
Oh, gosh.
There's another one.
Good afternoon, everybody.
>> Uh we don't want to talk to you, either.
>> How do you know they don't want to talk
to me?
>> I don't want to talk
>> We don't want to talk to you.
>> Why is that?
>> We're good. We're not talking, then.
>> Okay.
Have a wonderful day.
So, as you can tell, the watermelon
people are very friendly.
Very, very friendly.
And they're not interested in engaging
with anybody who might possibly have a
different opinion than they do.
Which is, obviously, a big shocker.
Anyway, that's that.
It's honestly
sad and a little bit disappointing that
people are not willing to engage in
conversation. Like, I
am somebody who prides myself
in engaging in productive and
intellectual conversations regularly
with people who I disagree with.
I think it's very healthy to have these
kinds of conversations.
You can agree, you can disagree, you can
figure out where you stand, maybe you
can find some common ground.
But,
unfortunately,
in
many of these groups,
they're just simply unwilling to engage
in a conversation with somebody who
might make them uncomfortable or
have a different perspective than them.
And it's it's really unfortunate, very
very unfortunate, because
what happens is
that when you're not willing to talk to
certain segments of the population,
yet you're frustrated
by
the views that other people hold,
perhaps about the country or about
political things happening around the
world, or perhaps about your group,
because you're not willing to engage in
dialogue, what ends up happening is that
the disconnect gets larger and larger.
And sadly, a lot of times that turns to
violence. Like we're standing right now
here in Washington, D.C., where
less than 48 hours ago, somebody tried
to assassinate the president and his top
cabinet members.
And I I would think that
that kind of rhetoric comes from a place
of people who are unwilling to engage in
healthy conversation and instead turn to
violence.
So, it's just upsetting to see that
there are
people like that all over this country.
And hopefully,
and hopefully we can try to get people
back to the table talking with each
other and
and instead of ignoring each other and
using violence, maybe we can
have a productive discussion.
I'm here, I'm willing and able, but
sadly, others are not always.
So, right here, this is pretty much as
close as people can get to the White
House.
As you can tell, security is very tight
because of the king's visit.
and everything is shut down.
Which way is that?
>> Down back down this way, so south. Go
back out.
>> Down that way?
Okay, thank you.
So,
I just tried to enter the
area of the White House, but they've
closed the streets even to pedestrians.
Like in the morning when we arrived,
streets were already closed, but now
they moved the perimeter
more outward,
which takes away more of the
sidewalk and street space from the
pedestrians, so
even with my hard pass,
I still can't
enter the White House from there. I'm
going to have to walk around the block
and uh
try to go in from there.
The King
King Charles
of the United Kingdom uh should be
arriving at the White House soon.
Maybe we'll get to see him, maybe we
won't.
But, if we don't get to see him today,
we'll see him tomorrow
when he gives his
address to a joint session of Congress.
What a beautiful day in Washington, DC.
You know, I'm thankful
that the weather is nice. Thank you,
Hashem.
Because I get to walk,
especially after that lunch, which
probably was not the healthiest.
I had an option to take an Uber or to
walk, I decided to walk.
And I'm also glad I'm able to walk,
cuz many people aren't, so I appreciate
Sometimes we just have to stop and like
appreciate basic things. Like, if you're
able to walk,
thank God.
You're able to breathe,
thank God. Some people can't.
They need help.
I'm also thankful
to be walking today
because if had I not been walking, I
wouldn't have
passed that whole uh
Israel festival
and
the
Palestinian counter-protesters.
So, that's another lesson I'm learning.
When you walk instead of taking taxis,
you experience more.
Hello.
Good. How are you?
May I enter?
>> Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You said yes.
>> Right there. I don't have that.
>> Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you for your service.
Okay.
So, we are
in the secure area.
Now, let's look outside the Blair House.
I don't recognize that flag.
Um
I'm wondering if it's the flag of the
House of Windsor.
I don't know what that is, but I'm
assuming it's
something to do with the royals who are
here.
All right. So,
we got to take a moment to appreciate
this motorcade. Look at this. Look at
all the armored vehicles.
Of course, as you can see behind me,
uh in front of the Blair House, they
have that
big privacy tent,
so that
the King and Queen can move in and out
without anybody seeing them.
>> About to walk into the West Wing.
Um
very soon there's going to be a ceremony
welcoming the King and Queen.
I don't know if we're going to be able
to go in, but we'll see. Maybe we can
talk to some people and get a ticket.
All right, so I just went into the press
office to talk to them. The big arrival
ceremony is tomorrow.
Today there was just the greeting
which was open to the press pool only,
which is the press pool is a select few
reporters.
You know, there are probably
definitely a few hundred, possibly over
a thousand
um
people who are members of the White
House press. Maybe even more. I don't I
don't know exactly what the numbers are,
but there's a select few who are a part
of the press pool, which is a rotating
group of
some of the most prominent news
organizations in America. It's very
small group, maybe
I don't know, a couple dozen people.
And today's event with the King
is only for the press pool,
which I am not part of.
Um but maybe tomorrow we'll have better
luck. Let's see.
All right, so it's almost 5:00 p.m. I
think we're going to call it a day. I'll
head back to the hotel,
take care of some work. I have a lot of
writing that I need to finish,
and uh wind it down.
It's interesting, if you notice back
there,
where is it?
There is a cra- Oh, there it is.
The crane.
So,
these cranes are here and they are
stalled. They're not doing any work
right now because the judge temporarily
halted the construction here of the new
White House ballroom, which is on the
other side of the building,
but as you can see the cranes are just
waiting.
Thank you.
All right.
Oh.
The king and queen are actually
they're in there.
They are in
the White House.
Fascinating.
Thank God
I did the groundwork ahead of time and I
did get access to
the
king's speech tomorrow. He's going to be
giving a speech
in Congress.
So, I do have a confirmed
ticket for that one.
And I'm looking forward to uh
showing you as much as I can from that
event.
Now, I'm going to
walk back to my hotel, get a little bit
more exercise
on the way and uh
take care of some work.
See you guys later.
This is a very important message.
Thank you.
God bless you.
All right. So, about 3 and 1/2 hours
have passed since I got back to the
hotel.
I did a bunch of work. Thank God I
finished my weekly column for Ami
Magazine, which was written already. I
wrote a a lot of it like last night, a
little bit this morning.
And um
had to finish it now, just do some
final touches.
You know what's interesting about today?
It was a very
busy day, a lot of stuff happening.
Sometimes you come here
and it's just a dead day.
President has a quiet schedule.
There's no breaking news.
And uh
sometimes the job is quite boring, but
today was actually a very busy and
exciting day.
I'm heading out now
to get a light dinner.
So, tonight I have a little treat for
you guys.
We are standing outside the Washington
Hilton.
This is the hotel
where just 48 hours ago, literally 48
hours ago, the assassination attempt
against President Trump happened and the
entire world is talking about it. We're
going to try to go in and see if
we can see anything interesting.
This is the gift shop.
These are nice.
Do you have any um items that say
Washington Hilton on them?
>> What?
>> No.
>> Okay.
>> Thank you.
So, we're going down to the concourse
level. I believe this is where the
ballroom is, where the Oh, yes.
Oh, yes.
This is the carpet we can see This is
the carpet with the
that was seen in all the pictures and
videos.
All right.
See, you see there it says International
Terrace Ballroom.
The dinner was in here.
And
says
this area is closed.
So,
I don't really want to be snooping
around. I'm
I'm sure this hotel is still being
watched by
probably the police and the secret
service and who knows who else. So, I'm
going to leave now.
Um but, it's interesting this Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah, definitely.
You can see there's there's some SUVs
across the street. One of them is
definitely
law enforcement.
Um
just very interesting.
We're literally
at a place right now
where history was made not once, but
twice because
I believe it was on March 30th, 1981, um
President Ronald Reagan
was also
um they attempted to assassinate him
here at the same hotel.
So, not only are we going to a historic
place, we're also witnessing history
happening right now. Anyway,
I think that's a
pretty good wrap-up of
my day and definitely what this city is
all about. There's so much history
happening here
all the time, every day.
Yesterday, today, tomorrow.
It's a historic city.
I think this is the end of this vlog.
Thank you for watching.
Make sure you like, subscribe,
leave a comment if you want.
And uh
we'll see you in the next one. Have a
good night.