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0:01 | LBC’s Joseph Draper updates Matthew Wright on the latest attempted assassination of Donald Trump. 4:45 | US political analyst Charles Feldman says this has become 'part of the fabric of America' 7:59 | 'This has become routine in America,' says Jason Pack, host of The Disorder Podcast. A suspected gunman was shot dead by Secret Service after opening fire at a White House checkpoint. Donald Trump was inside the White House at the time, meeting with aides in the Oval Office. No law enforcement personnel were injured in the incident, but a bystander was caught in the crossfire. US media have named the suspect as Nasire Best, a 21-year-old known to authorities with a history of mental health issues. Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp #donaldtrump #uspolitics #gunman #news #matthewwright #LBC LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK. Join in the conversation and listen at https://www.lbc.co.uk/ Sign up to LBC’s weekly newsletter here: https://l-bc.co/signup
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0:00
LBC's reporter Joseph Draper joins me now to bring us up to speed with the very latest
0:04
Good morning to you, Joseph. Morning. Well, yeah, this is an incident, a troubling incident, which happened overnight
0:09
We now know 30 shots were fired outside the White House when this gunman pulled the pistol out of his bag
0:15
We're told opening fire at a security checkpoint, not just outside the White House
0:20
at around 11pm our time, at 6pm local time, Secret Service officers shot back at this man, killed him
0:29
He later died of his wounds at hospital. No officers were hurt, we're told, but a bystander was wounded in the attack and we await details on their condition
0:39
We'll bring them to you as soon as we get them. The gunshots were actually captured on camera, interrupting ABC's Selena Wang live on air
0:48
Only for the two sides to remain far apart. Terrifying moment there, captured live on air, as I say
1:04
We've heard from President Trump on Truth Social as well. He was inside the White House at the time
1:10
He's thanked the officers for their swift professional action in stopping the gunman
1:15
And he said that this man had a violent history and possible obsession with our country's most cherished structure
1:23
structure. The gunman has been named as well this morning by American news outlets as 21-year-old
1:30
man Nasir Best. He was known to the Secret Service, to the Protection Agency, and he had a history
1:37
we're told, of mental ill health. And there were reports that Best had actually previously tried
1:41
to get into the White House last summer as well. He was arrested by officers nearby for that
1:47
and he spent some time at a psychiatric ward. So the motive here is still unclear, it must be said
1:53
But it just comes just months after a gunman rushed. Sorry, just a month, sorry, after a gunman rushed a White House correspondence dinner with the president was in
2:03
That was last April. The rate of this is unprecedented. Dave Leventhal is an American investigative journalist
2:10
He's been giving LBC an insight into the atmosphere in Washington at the moment
2:14
This is the third time in a month's time that Donald Trump has been very in close proximity to a shooting that either took place at the White House or close by
2:27
Usually it's a very safe and peaceful part of Washington, D.C., but over the past several months, it has been nothing but that
2:33
There is something really unusual going on here in terms of the rate, the rate of violence directed at the president
2:39
and of course all having an impact I'm sure in Washington. I was there last month just after the last attempt on the president life The atmosphere was incredibly tense incredibly embittered So a very unusual time I think in Washington at the moment There are a lot of people talking about the conspiratorial thing that Trump you know
3:03
picking up his ballroom and really the security compound. I mean, do you buy any of that
3:12
I think there are always going to be conspiracy theories. I honestly think that part of the reason there is so much conspiracy around this is, as I said
3:22
the rate of violent attempts against the president's life. It is unprecedented and it's all happened in the last month
3:32
This may be a second attempt within a month. We'll await confirmation of the motive
3:36
but I think because of how unprecedented it is that just lends itself to these conspiracy theories, doesn't it
3:43
Yes, yes, yes. Very good point. And you say motive unclear. I mean, when he was arrested in the summer of last year
3:50
I mean, he announced he was Jesus Christ. He was also going around the White House
3:55
asking security guards how he could gain entry not the behaviour, one would say, of someone who is in fine mental health
4:05
No, exactly. I mean, look, from what we know so far, this man was struggling with serious mental ill health
4:12
It is unclear whether this was politically motivated, whether he was targeting President Trump specifically because of a political motive
4:21
That is unclear. But as I said, this is part of a much wider pattern of violence against the president
4:27
I'm primarily, initially, what I would really like to feel is how America is responding to this
4:34
Is it considered a serious attempt on President Trump? Is it considered as someone with serious mental health problems
4:43
How are people responding? Well, you know, sad to say that there are so many different times when there is a shooting
4:55
whether it's at a school or a house of worship or in the case of earlier today in the vicinity of the White House
5:04
that I think many Americans just sort of take it as it comes
5:09
that it's sort of part of, sadly, the American fabric. You know, America has a history of being the wild, wild west
5:17
and I'm afraid that that era was not necessarily left behind in the 1800s
5:24
I think that some of that mentality still exists. when it comes to to mr trump you know this is the third time in as many months when there has been
5:36
a shooting incident in the vicinity of where mr trump was not clear that in in all three cases he was the target certainly not the first one That was back in May I believe April rather
5:50
But then there was the one just last month for the White House Correspondents' Dinner
5:54
when it is alleged that the shooter there was aiming to assassinate Mr. Trump
6:01
We don't know the motive, really, for the person tonight because he is dead, shot dead by the U.S. Secret Service
6:09
What we do know is that he apparently tried to get into the White House once before last June when he claimed that he was Jesus Christ
6:19
and wanted to get into the White House. Of course, if he was Christ, one would suspect he would have found a way in
6:27
I appreciate the dry humor. and I also, I've got family in the US
6:34
and I know that these events just drift on past in the news cycle
6:42
but still for us over here in Europe and I am mindful of the fact, you know
6:46
whilst we have seriously strict gun controls, it is not unheard of for criminals to access guns
6:52
and for them to be used but we're just sort of astonished by the US's sort of lack of ambition
7:00
really to to rein in the gun issue well there are two reasons i think for that matthew one
7:09
is for those who consider themselves to be strict constitutionalists there's a second amendment
7:16
and they say well we have a constitutional right to bear arms so that's one group
7:23
then you have another group that i would call you know sort of the religious fanatics they consider
7:29
the 11th commandment, rather, to be thou shalt own a pistol. So when you combine the strict
7:38
constitutionalists with the religious fanatics, you end up with a sizable, not a majority
7:45
but a sizable proportion of the American population that, for one of those reasons
7:50
thinks that it's perfectly fine, in fact, desirable to own a firearm
7:57
What do you make of the events overnight? Well, sadly, they become routine
8:05
None of us are surprised. What I would like to point out is that neither the New York Times
8:11
or the British papers like The Telegraph are going to lead with this as their front story
8:16
Political violence has become so routine that you click on the online homepage
8:20
and it's not the front story. is it political violence when you have an individual that previously turned up at the white house declaring he was jesus christ are we not looking at something else here I not a mental health professional but that is a very good point However a guy who
8:40
is mentally ill might want to go to Golders Green and say that he's going to stab some Jews to free
8:45
Palestine. And he may have made insane posts. It's still political violence because of the
8:51
choice of target and the milieu of radicalization in which we live. I think
8:56
you and I both know people are addicted to their phones, as the last caller said
9:01
What's unfortunate is that they're fed not only diets of hate, but delusional
9:08
radicalizing content. And this is the natural culmination of that. What I've been concerned with, with European terrorism is the prevalence of poor mental health
9:20
amongst the suspects. And here in the UK, unfortunately, our mental health services are
9:27
I know from personal experience, are extremely poor. And the instance, say, of a mentally ill person
9:33
turning up at Golders Green, when one way of that being prevented is to ensure people with serious mental illness
9:39
aren't able to walk the streets, and let alone in the United States obtain a gun
9:44
Now, I know that you ask questions, are you mentally ill when you try to purchase a gun
9:50
but you can, I mean, it's not beyond the realms of possibility
9:55
for the purchaser to say, no, I'm absolutely fine. I'm Jesus Christ, but I'm fine
10:03
I mean, well put. Obviously, I am for what's called gun control
10:08
and I'm on the left of centre. Every time there is one of these outrages
10:13
I hope Republican senators will say, you know, from Sandy Hook until now
10:18
we've kind of realized that we need to rethink our position on assault rifle bans. But it's not
10:23
going to happen. It's like a pillar of Republican identity, this misinterpretation of the Second
10:30
Amendment. And that's not what we're here in a way to discuss. Obviously, when I see these things
10:35
although I'm an opponent of President Trump, I'm saddened. I don't want the man to get
10:39
assassinated. That's completely tragic. This guy was so delusional, he wasn't even within 100
10:46
meters of where the president was. I will toss out, I used to work on 17th and K, and, you know
10:53
many lobbyists work on K Street. My office was 300, 400 feet exactly from where this happened
11:00
And I would frequently take a long lunch or a coffee at the North Lawn, exactly where
11:05
this shooting happened. On rare occasions in, you know, the past, I would think, oh
11:11
could there be political violence here? But now, essentially, if you're near an important personage
11:18
both in the UK and US, but more so in the US, it's a natural thing to be afraid
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