Who is Trump’s “would-be assassin”… were there security failings at DC shooting?

About this episode

The episode discusses the assassination attempt on the US president during the White House correspondents’ dinner and examines potential security failings.

The US president says the gunman who stormed a security perimeter at the White House correspondents’ dinner had written a “manifesto”. Investigators are continuing to examine a possible motive for the attack which appeared to be aimed at the president and his top aides. In this episode, Justin and Sarah talk to the BBC‘s state department correspondent Tom Bateman who was at the dinner and was in the room as it all happened. HOSTS: • Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter • Sarah Smith, North America Editor GUEST: • Tom Bateman, BBC State Department Correspondent GET IN TOUCH: • Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB • Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 • Email Americast@bbc.co.uk • Or use #Americast This episode was made by Alix Pickles and Purvee Pattni. The technical producer was Rohan Madison. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham. If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app. You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”. It works…

People in this episode

Hosts: Justin Webb, Sarah Smith

Guest: Tom Bateman

Topics covered

• Trump
• assassination attempt
• security failings
• White House
• politics
• investigation

Keywords

• Trump
• assassination
• White House
• security
• investigation
• politics
• manifesto

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BBC

Places: Washington, D.C.

More episodes of Americast

• The battle in rural America against AI data centres · June 12, 2026 · 38 min
• The Democrats fight back Trump-style in Maine… but have they messed up? · June 11, 2026 · 40 min
• Americanswers… on 5 Live! Why did Trump walk out of his TV interview with Meet The Press? · June 8, 2026 · 29 min
• The most expensive World Cup ever? (With Football Daily, part 3) · June 5, 2026 · 32 min
• Will War Overshadow the World Cup? (With Football Daily, part 2) · June 5, 2026 · 25 min
• Will this be the Donald Trump World Cup? (With Football Daily, part 1) · June 5, 2026 · 30 min