Inside the Chaos at the Correspondents’ Dinner, and How the U.S. Mint Is Buying Drug Cartel Gold
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From “The New York Times,” it’s “The Headlines.” I’m Tracy Mumford. Today is Monday, April 27. Here’s what we’re covering.
- shawn mccreesh
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Suddenly, we heard all this yelling, all this commotion. We were crouched low. And then cabinet members just started emerging from around the corner, and they were with their guards. First came RFK Jr. and Cheryl Hines. Then came Jeanine Pirro.
My colleague Shawn McCreesh was at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday night at a hotel in DC when an armed man tried to storm through security. It happened right as the dinner was getting started. Shots were fired, and Shawn was out in the hallway as members of the administration were evacuated from the ballroom.
- shawn mccreesh
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They were walking in a panicked, way, stricken faces, being ushered into hallways and elevators. There were teary reporters. It was just total pandemonium. We had no idea what was happening. People were shouting, wondering, where is the president? Where’s the president?
Inside the ballroom, President Trump was pulled off stage by his security detail, and guests hid under their tables. When it became clear the suspect had been apprehended, Trump insisted the night should go on. He was due to give a speech, but security officials ultimately decided they needed to get the president away from the scene.
- shawn mccreesh
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We pulled out behind him. We drove to the White House. We were the first reporters there, and everybody was just rushing to get to the White House, because the president had called a press conference. And what happened next was a pretty surreal scene. There were reporters in evening gowns and tuxedos, and then suddenly the president emerged. He held forth for a while and gave us a very extraordinary press conference.
- president donald trump
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Well, thank you very much. And that was very unexpected, but incredibly acted upon by Secret Service and law enforcement and —
Speaking to reporters, the president announced that the suspect had rushed a checkpoint with multiple weapons and that a Secret Service officer had been shot but was protected by a bulletproof vest.
- president donald trump
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In light of this evening’s events, I ask that all Americans recommit with their hearts and resolving our differences peacefully.
Trump called for an end to political violence, though he also said the night was an example of why his ballroom renovation is necessary, saying it would be much more secure. The president then took a few questions from the press.
- reporter
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I ask, respectfully, why do you think this keeps happening to you?
Including about how this was the third time a gunman has gotten perilously close to him following previous assassination attempts.
- president donald trump
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We’re the hottest country anywhere in the world. We’ve changed this country, and there are a lot of people that are not happy about that. So I think that’s the answer, Peter.
- reporter
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Thank you.
The investigation into the suspect is still ongoing, but here’s what we know we so far. Two law enforcement officials identified the man to “The Times” as 31-year-old Cole Thomas Allen of Torrance, California, a suburb of LA. He studied mechanical engineering at Caltech and was involved in a Christian fellowship on campus. According to his LinkedIn account, he spent several years working as an engineer, a self-employed video game developer, and as a college test prep tutor.
A few days before the attack, he took the train from California out to DC and checked into the hotel where the annual dinner is held. According to writings authorities say he left behind, he expressed outrage at policies put in place by the White House. He also seemed to call the president a traitor, though he didn’t name him explicitly, and alluded to allegations of sexual misconduct. Allen is expected to be charged with multiple crimes in a court appearance set for today.
In the Middle East, peace talks between the US and Iran hit more hurdles this weekend. Top Iranian officials have said they will not negotiate directly while President Trump keeps up a blockade on Iranian ports and ships, and President Trump cancelled plans to send his special envoy, Steve Witkoff and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to talks in Pakistan right before they were supposed to leave.
In a statement, Trump said the US was, quote, “not going to be making any more 18-hour flights to sit around talking about nothing.” He suggested that Iran has not offered to make enough concessions and complained that the officials scheduled to meet with the US representatives were not high enough in rank. The two sides now seem to be caught in limbo. The ceasefire has left them in a state of no war but also no peace.
In terms of how long that can last, analysts say it’s a question of how much pain each side can take. Iranian officials seem certain they can withstand the economic upheaval longer than President Trump. And Trump seems to be equally confident. He’s brushed off the effect of higher energy prices on Americans and said in his statement, quote, “we have all the cards.”
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The United States Mint sells more than $1 billion of investment-grade gold coins every year. Maybe you’ve seen one. Some are stamped with an eagle or Lady Liberty. Under federal law, the Mint is required to make sure that gold is 100 percent American. But a new investigation from “The Times” has found that’s not the case, and the mint has become part of a system that’s laundering foreign gold, much of which is illegally mined.
- justin scheck
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To figure out where the Mint’s gold actually comes from, we use public records and interviews to untangle the supply chain, and one of the many places we found the gold coming from is an illegal mine here in Northern Colombia that’s run by a drug cartel.
Justin Scheck is an investigative reporter at “The Times.”
- justin scheck
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The mine we visited is called La Mandinga. It’s illegal in multiple ways. It’s on government land, where it’s illegal to mine. The miners there are using heavy equipment, which is prohibited. And they’re using mercury, which is illegal to use in Colombia, because it’s toxic. The mercury is used to separate the gold from the ore and has polluted the entire area.
Justin says that once the gold is extracted, it begins its journey to the US Mint. In Colombia, it’s passed off as legal, even if some of the local buyers know it’s not. And once it reaches the US, it’s melted down along with other gold and poured into new bars that are, according to the industry’s logic, technically American.
- justin scheck
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La Mandinga is just one of many similar criminally run mines in Colombia that’s pumping gold into the legitimate supply chain. But we found all sorts of other maybe not illegal, but certainly not American sources of gold that are getting to the mint. And they include pawnshops in Mexico, a mine in Honduras, where the mining company dug up an indigenous graveyard to get to the gold, and even gold that comes from Congo, which is getting into the Mint supply chain, which is very far from American.
When “The Times” first approached the mint to ask questions about its supply chain, a spokesman claimed its gold came entirely from the US. But after my colleagues shared their findings, the Mint said American gold was its, quote, “primary source” and that it was taking better steps to track its origins. In a statement, the Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, who oversees the Mint, said he’s launching an investigation into the government’s procurement practices.
And finally —
- announcer
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History in the making. Under two hours, nobody has ever done this. They said it couldn’t be done.
In London yesterday, a shattered the world record for fastest marathon time ever in an official race.
- announcer
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Absolutely incredible. I’ve never seen anything like that.
Sebastian Sawe of Kenya crossed the finish line after just 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds, beating the previous record by more than a minute. Amazingly, the runner-up, who was making his marathon debut, also came in under two hours, a milestone that had never been reached in a competition like this. Some of it might have been the weather, mid-50s to 60s, not much wind, great conditions for a race, but marathon times have also been improving for a few years now, in part because of the runners’ shoes.
About a decade ago, the so-called super shoe era began, when runners started wearing shoes with ultra light, chunky foam soles embedded with carbon plates. The soles protect runners joints and muscles and help them lose less energy with each stride. The rise of that design kicked off what’s become a streak of record-breaking runs. Of course, you can’t forget that breakfast is important too. Sawe said that before he broke the two-hour mark, he had two slices of bread and tea.
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Those are the headlines. I’m Tracy Mumford. We’ll be back tomorrow.
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