The gravity of the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner significantly altered the trajectory of the Sunday political affairs shows, which went from the usual talking points and “conventional wisdom” to tracking breaking news in real time. However, some of the shows found an opportunity to conduct themselves in their usual manner. Watch as NBC’s Kristen Welker gets an interview with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on a very fast-moving day where most of these agency heads have been working through the night on a complex bicoastal case, only to pinch off a question on the Kash Patel hitjob published by The Atlantic: OF COURSE: With the investigation into the WHCD shooting still ongoing, NBC's Kristen Welker finds time to ask Acting AG Todd Blanche about The Atlantic's hit job on Kash Patel. pic.twitter.com/KLaNBZVW4F — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 26, 2026 KRISTEN WELKER: Mr. Acting Attorney General, the security breach does come amid reporting in The Atlantic that FBI Director Kash Patel has alarmed some of his colleagues with episodes of what The Atlantic describes as “excessive drinking, unexplained absences.” Does President Trump still have confidence in Kash Patel to lead the FBI at this critical moment? TODD BLANCHE: That article was full of unnamed sources and should be completely discounted. I was with Director Patel last night. I was with him at the crime scene. I was with him in the Oval Office. I was with him afterwards. I was on the phone with him late into the evening. He was at the command center of leading the investigation along with our great U.S. Attorney from D.C. Jeanine Pirro, and that’s what he’s doing. So there are all these fake articles with unnamed sources claiming things, and then there’s the reality of what’s happening, and what we all saw last night. And so I’m not going to speak for President Trump but I certainly have confidence in Director Patel, and also the men and women working with him that worked through the night, will work through the day and through the night tonight, to investigate this crime. And it’s something that I’m very proud of, and everybody in this country should be proud about as well. WELKER: Okay. And you’re saying that — The Atlantic has stood by its reporting. I do want to ask you: looking forward, what specific steps is the Department of Justice taking to monitor or disrupt more potential acts of violence, and potentially political violence? BLANCHE: We work every day to protect this country. There’s thousands of agents that are working every day to protect this country. And it’s regular investigative steps, it’s tips coming in from members of the public, it’s us doing the investigative work that we have done for decades that we continue to do. And you’ve seen that in the results. You’ve seen that in the charges that we’ve brought, in the attempts of terrorism that have been stopped by the FBI, and by DHS agents as well. And so this is an all-government approach to make sure that our country is safe, not only within our borders but also outside as well. And that’s the work that we have always done, and not withstanding the noise that comes from some parts of this country about the work that we’re not doing, it’s not true. And so I think that the work that happened last night is something that the whole world got to see. But that’s what happens every day inside the FBI, the Department of Justice, and DHS. This is who the Elitist Media are. In the immediate aftermath of what could have been a national tragedy, Welker chooses to push a story with no on-the-record sources, and which is very clearly part of an ongoing agenda to undermine the Trump administration. Blanche addressed the story in one sentence and then went on to express his full confidence in Patel. Welker very stunningly and bravely stands cites The Atlantic as standing by their reporting. In so doing, she demonstrates everything that is currently wrong with the journalistic profession and why there is such low overall confidence in the media. Lest anyone think this is an isolated problem, here’s CNN’s Dana Bash doing the exact same thing on State of the Union. What’s different here is that Bash merely alludes to the article by asking Blanche whether President Trump still has faith in Patel: WATCH: CNN's Dana Bash asks Acting AG Todd Blanche whether President trump still has confidence in Kash Patel to lead the investigation of the WHCD shooting, for some reason: DANA BASH: Does President Trump still have faith in Kash Patel enough to lead this investigation? TODD… pic.twitter.com/lWo66fcVWr — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 27, 2026 DANA BASH: Does President Trump still have faith in Kash Patel enough to lead this investigation? TODD BLANCHE: Kash Patel was with the president last night, as everybody saw- he was up. I was on the phone with him after 1:00 in the morning. His men and women, and he was on site with our U.S. Attorney and the prosecutors. The- until late in the evening, if not all night, at the command center. And so this- this is a testament to hard work. And Director Patel did a great job last night. I spoke with him this morning already about the investigation. He's leading this investigation, as you would expect. And- and I feel very confident and comforted in the work that the FBI is doing. And it's not just me. Every American should feel comfort in the work that we’ve done over the past 12 hours and in the work that we’re going to be doing in the coming days.