Full transcript of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," April 26, 2026

On this “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” broadcast, moderated by Margaret Brennan: 

Click here to browse full transcripts from 2026 of “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”   

MARGARET BRENNAN: Good morning, and welcome to Face the Nation. I’m Margaret Brennan.

Washington is waking up to what still feels to those of us who are in attendance or even those watching on live television to be an unreal experience. But it’s an experience that’s becoming more and more common in these times of political turmoil.

Last night, at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, shots rang out as President Trump and his Cabinet, members of Congress and hundreds of journalists attended the annual event honoring the First Amendment, freedom of the press.

Secret Service agents quickly tackled the alleged shooter outside the ballroom following a brief exchange of gunfire. A Secret Service agent was hit during the attack but protected from serious injury by his bulletproof vest.

The president praised the quick actions of law enforcement that prevented the assailant from entering the ballroom, a breach which could have led to a more tragic outcome.

We have got a lot to get to, including an interview with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

But we begin with a report from senior White House and political correspondent Ed O’Keefe.

(Begin VT)

(MUSIC)

ED O’KEEFE (voice-over): Attending the dinner for the first time as commander in chief, President Trump took his place at the front of the room.

WEIJIA JIANG: And we’re going to get started now, so enjoy your dinner, and we will be back. Thank you.

ED O’KEEFE: Eleven minutes later, as guests settled into their meals, mentalist Oz Pearlman, the scheduled entertainer, was showing the president and first lady a trick.

Then:

(GUNSHOTS)

ED O’KEEFE: … in the back of the room, plates crashed, as attendees dove to the floor and under tables. Some could smell gunpowder.

In 10 seconds, the Secret Service surrounded and whisked out the first couple. They nearly lifted the vice president out of the room. Surveillance footage shows the suspect, 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, of Torrance, California, raced by magnetometers just a staircase above the ballroom.

He was quickly tackled and apprehended. With the suspect detained, guests climbed up from under the tables and picked themselves off the floor. Secret Service began to secure the room and the kitchen and started sweeping out other senior officials, the Treasury secretary, the House speaker, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose father and uncle were assassinated.

(Begin VT)

ERIKA KIRK (Widow of Charlie Kirk): I just want to go home.

ED O’KEEFE: Also in attendance, Erika Kirk, whose husband, conservative activist Charlie Kirk, was assassinated last year.

The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is one of the biggest events of Washington’s social calendar, held at the Washington Hilton, one of the capital’s largest public spaces.

(GUNSHOTS)

ED O’KEEFE: It’s also where President Ronald Reagan was shot in March 1981 after speaking in the very same ballroom.

The president, who’d wanted to continue with the dinner, was held backstage by Secret Service for more than an hour. When he returned to the White House, he and Cabinet secretaries headed to the Briefing Room.