Morning briefing Monday 27th April

0:00This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwCWC. Staying competitive means getting ahead, not just keeping up. So how do business leaders cut through the noise and focus on what really matters. PwC takes you further with tech, from optimising the systems that put your data to work, to scaling AI from proof of concept to competitive edge. PwC helps you meet tomorrow's tech demands, so you can compete at a speed that rewrites the rules. Discover more at pwc.co.uk This is Times Radio's morning briefing on Monday 27th April. President Trump has praised, in his words, the brave king for pressing on with his visit to America, as calls mounted in Washington for an inquiry into security failures that allowed a third assassination attempt in less than two years.

0:51Trump and members of his cabinet, including J.D. Vance, the vice president, were the targets of a lone gunman who tried to rush security gates yards from a hotel ballroom, hosting them on Saturday night. Cole Thomas Allen, 31, a teacher from California, was arrested uninjured after an exchange of gunfire with Secret Service agents. In a message sent to his family shortly before the attack, he mocked what he called the insane security lapses that had enabled him to bring two guns, ammunition and knives to a room in the Washington Hilton Hotel without his luggage being screened. Anne McElvoy is a journalist from Politico who was at the dinner on Saturday night and described the scene to Times Radio earlier.

1:32I had actually just stepped out to go and pick up some recording equipment and had gone up the escalator to the floor above. And that was, in fact, the escalator at the bottom of which all of the footage that you'll have seen. And we were then kettled to the wall and told not to move. It was very clear, I think, quite quickly that something's happened by the amount of security that then came through. and first we were asked just to move and then I think we realised once that the war happened strong that this was not just a scare or a protester or an adverse health incident, as someone said. Meanwhile, US Texas Representative Michael McCaul has called a decision to seat the President, Vice President and House Speaker together a dangerous security oversight.

2:13He warned CNN that a single explosive could have, in his words, knocked out the top three figures in the line of presidential succession. Mike Mantranger, founder and CEO of M6 Global Defense, explains. I think it's concerning that there were that many members of the cabinet there, but I think it's a testament of the trust that the president has in the United States Secret Service and the men and women there. McCall is now urging the Secret Service to stop allowing the nation's most senior leaders to attend the same events simultaneously. Allen is expected to appear in court later today. In other news, the Prime Minister's former Chief of Staff, Morgan McSweeney, will face the Foreign Affairs Select Committee tomorrow regarding his role in the appointment of Lord Mandelson as U.S.

2:58Ambassador. McSweeney, who resigned in February over the matter, has recently denied allegations that he bullied civil servants into approving Mandelson's security vetting. The appearance comes as The Times is reporting that Sir Keir Starmer is preparing to block a parliamentary inquiry into whether he misled the Commons regarding the appointment, amid claims he is ordering Labour MPs to vote down any such referral. For more on these stories throughout the day, tune in to Times Radio on DAB, online, through your smart speaker or on the Times Radio app. This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwC.

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