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Suspected gunman likely targeting Trump administration officials at White House press dinner, acting attorney general says – live | White House correspondents’ dinner shooting
‘Preliminary findings’ suggest suspect was ‘likely’ targeting Trump administration officials, says acting US attorney general
The acting US attorney general, Todd Blanche, has said that “preliminary findings” suggest that the alleged White House correspondents’ dinner shooter was targeting Donald Trump and officials in his administration.
Blanche told NBC News’ Meet the Press:
We’re still investigating a motive, and that’s something that will necessarily take a couple of days at least. We believe he was targeting administration officials in this attack, attempted attack, but that’s again, quite preliminary.
Those officials “likely” include the US president, Blanche added, “but I want to wait and not get ahead of us on that.”
Blanche went on to say that he does not believe that the suspect is cooperating with the investigation.
He will be charged in federal court tomorrow with assault of a federal officer, discharging a firearm and attempting to kill a federal officer, Blanche said, adding he did not know if there was an Iran connection to the attack.
Investigators believe the suspect travelled by train from Los Angeles to Chicago and then Chicago to Washington DC by train, before checking into the hotel where the dinner was held, Blanche added.
He said investigators were looking into reports that the suspect had assembled the weapon somewhere in the hotel, but that he “didn’t get very far”.
He barely broke the perimeter. And by barely, I mean by a few feet.
Key events
Trump speaks to 60 Minutes about shooting
Donald Trump will make an appearance on the CBS News program 60 Minutes, according to Steven Cheung, the White House communications director.
“President Trump sits down with 60 Minutes to discuss what happened at the White House Correspondents Association dinner last night,” Cheung wrote in a post on X, accompanied by an image of the president being interviewed.
Ben Smee
Leaders from around the world have condemned the shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner on Saturday night as an act of “political violence” and expressed relief that Donald Trump, officials and journalists were unharmed.
The president and his wife, Melania, as well as members of the US cabinet, were evacuated from the ballroom at the Washington Hilton on Saturday after gunshots were heard from the hotel lobby.
Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, sent a message of solidarity to Trump after the incident, according to his chief secretary, Darren Jones. “These are remarkable scenes. The prime minister has, this morning, sent a message to the president of the United States in solidarity for the events that took place,” Jones told Sky News.
Buckingham Palace said King Charles was “greatly relieved” the Trumps and other guests were unharmed.
Read more:
King Charles’s US state visit to go ahead as planned, Buckingham Palace confirms
Buckingham Palace has confirmed that King Charles and Queen Camilla’s four-day state visit to the US will go ahead as planned.
Earlier, the palace said a “number of discussions” were taking place to discuss how last night’s shooting may or may not affect security planning, with the British monarch due to arrive in the US tomorrow.
“Following discussions on both sides of the Atlantic through the day, and acting on advice of government, we can confirm the state visit by their majesties will proceed as planned,” a palace spokesperson said.
“The king and queen are most grateful to all those who have worked at pace to ensure this remains the case and are looking forward to the visit getting underway tomorrow.”
The suspected shooter is being held at a Metropolitan police department station in north-west Washington DC, law enforcement sources have told CBS News. He will be transported later today to a detention facility in the southeast of the capital.
The alleged gunman will be transported by the US Marshals Service to federal court on Monday, where he is expected to be arraigned before a federal judge, the justice department has said.
‘We are proud of everyone in that room,’ White House Correspondents’ Association says
Here is a statement from Weijia Jiang, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, who was seated next to Donald Trump at the dinner last night for what should have been a celebration of journalism.
Last night’s shooting at the Washington Hilton was a harrowing moment for everyone in attendance.
We express our deepest gratitude to the U.S. Secret Service and all law enforcement personnel who ensured the safety of everyone in the ballroom and beyond. Their actions protected thousands of guests, and we wish a full and speedy recovery to the officer who was injured in the line of duty. We are grateful everyone in attendance was unharmed, including the President, the First Lady, and the Vice President.
Our dinner exists to celebrate the First Amendment and the hard daily work of the journalists who defend it. Last night, those journalists showed exactly the kind of calm and courage that work demands, jumping into reporting immediately after the incident unfolded. We are proud of everyone in that room.
The WHCA board will be meeting to assess what happened and determine how to proceed. We will provide updates as soon as any are available.
In his alleged manifesto, Cole Allen, the man accused of targeting the White House correspondents’ dinner, called himself a “Friendly Federal Assassin” and created a list of targets for the shooting, formatted from highest to lowest priority, with Trump administration officials at the top, according to a report from the New York Post.
The manifesto, obtained by the Post, begins with apologies to those who knew the suspect and lists his motives for the shooting. It said the shooter targeted administration officials with the exception of FBI director Kash Patel.
“I am a citizen of the United States of America,” it said. “What my representatives do reflects on me. And I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.”
“Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes,” it later says.
The writer also describes security at the event as being weak. “Like, the one thing that I immediately noticed walking into the hotel is the sense of arrogance… The security at the event is all outside, focused on protestors and current arrivals, because apparently no one thought about what happens if someone checks in the day before,” it reads.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described last night’s correspondents’ dinner as having been “hijacked by a depraved crazy person who sought to assassinate the President and kill as many top Trump administration officials as possible”.
“I was with President Trump and the First Lady back stage after we were quickly ushered to safety by Secret Service,” she wrote in an X post. “President Trump was truly fearless, but as he said last night, this political violence needs to end.”
“Thank you to law enforcement for keeping all of us safe, including the brave agent who took a bullet to the chest and immediately moved to neutralize the shooter,” she added.
Trump also said that he had wanted to continue with the White House correspondents’ dinner following the shooting but acknowledged that it was the “right thing” to postpone it and leave.
“I really wanted to do it that night, even if we stayed late into the night, but we did the right thing, and we came back to the White House, we did a news conference and explained what happened,” Trump said in his Sunday interview with Fox News.
“I really wanted to, but the protocol was no and, you know, once those doors were open, that room was sealed,” he added.
The president went on to say, “we can’t let these criminals and these really bad people change the course of events in our country” and added that he had planned to “really rip it last night”.
“But I didn’t get a chance to do that. Probably, I was better off if I didn’t,” he said.
King’s visit to Washington to continue as planned, Trump says
Trump also confirmed to Fox News that King Charles III’s visit to the US will continue as planned.
“He’s a great guy, and we look forward to it. He’s really a fantastic person and a tremendous representative, and he’s brave,” Trump said. “We’re gonna have a great time. And he represents his nation like nobody else can do it.”
Donald Trump said in an interview on Sunday on Fox News that the suspected shooter at the White House correspondents’ dinner was stopped by law enforcement and didn’t come close to entering the ballroom where the event was taking place.
He described the suspect as “a sick and very troubled guy”. He added that the suspect appeared to have had “hatred in his heart for a while” and described him as being “strongly anti-Christian”.
He also said the suspect’s family had raised concerns about him to police ahead of his targeting of the media gala.
“He’s got some big problems with the rest of his life,” Trump said.
The president also reiterated once again on the need for a secure ballroom at the White House, which he says is under construction ahead of schedule and on budget.
FBI director Kash Patel said “the best of American leadership” was on show last night and reiterated that the investigation is ongoing.
“Last night we saw the best of American leadership,” he wrote in a post on X. “I am proud to work for President Trump who so strongly backs law enforcement across this country – and proud to lead this agency that works 24/7 to keep Americans safe.”
“Thank you to our brave law enforcement and interagency partners who acted quickly and protected their fellow Americans. Investigation ongoing,” he added.
Suspect’s writings in hotel room reveal he wanted to target Trump officials – report
The suspect’s writings, reportedly found inside his hotel room, are being examined as part of the investigation into the attack, according to CBS News.
Sources told the network that the writings “clearly stated” he wanted to target administration officials.
Prime minister Keir Starmer spoke to Donald Trump on Sunday and expressed relief that the US president and the first lady were safe following the shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner, a Downing Street spokesperson told Reuters.
“He [Starmer] extended his best wishes to the President and First Lady following the shocking scenes at last night’s White House Correspondents Dinner,” the spokesperson said.
They added that Starmer had “expressed his relief that the President and First Lady were safe and wished a speedy recovery to the officer injured”.
Today so far
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Preliminary findings suggest that the alleged White House correspondents’ dinner shooter was targeting Donald Trump and officials in his administration, according to acting US attorney general Todd Blanche. The suspect’s motive remains under investigation.
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The suspect – identified by the Associated Press as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California – is set to be arraigned in federal court tomorrow. He faces charges of assault of a federal officer, discharging a firearm and attempting to kill a federal officer, but Blanche said depending on how the investigation goes, he can also be charged with the attempted assassination of Trump.
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The officer who sustained injuries in last night’s attack had been released from hospital, according to US Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi. “The ballistic vest helped us avoid a potential tragedy last night,” Guglielmi said.
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Trump on Sunday reiterated that the shooting is why the White House needs a ballroom. A US judge last month halted construction on Trump’s $400m ballroom, granting a request for a preliminary injunction by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
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Security for King Charles is under review ahead of his state visit to Washington, the Buckingham Palace has said. Buckingham Palace said on Sunday that Charles was being “kept fully informed of developments” of last night’s shooting and was “greatly relieved to hear that the president, first lady and all guests have been unharmed”.
The deaths of teenagers Kyrees Sullivan and Harvey Evans sparked hours of violence and vandalism.
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Supreme court sides with Texas marijuana user who wants to own a firearm in latest case expanding gun rights – live | US supreme court
Supreme court backs challenge to ban on gun ownership for drug users
The supreme court has sided with a marijuana user who wants to legally own a gun, the latest in a line of firearm cases from a court that has expanded gun rights.
In a 9-0 ruling, the justices sided with Ali Danial Hemani, a resident of Texas who was charged with felony gun possession after he acknowledged being a regular marijuana user. Hemani wasn’t charged with any other crimes or accused of using the weapon under the influence.
The 1968 Gun Control Act makes possession of a firearm illegal for anyone who “is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance”.
That gun restriction led to the 2024 conviction of Hunter Biden, who later that year received a pardon from his father, then-president Joe Biden. Prosecutors had accused him of lying about his use of narcotics in 2018 when he purchased a Colt Cobra handgun.
Hemani argued that a federal law barring gun ownership from anyone who uses drugs illegally violates the constitution’s second amendment.
The decision is a loss for the Trump administration, which had defended the 1968 law despite arguing against other gun restrictions.
Key events
Supreme court releases opinions
The supreme court has started releasing opinions, so far it has issued a ruling backing a challenge to a federal law barring drug users from owning guns.
We’ll bring you any more updates here as we get them.
Indeed, this morning’s Washington Post Early Brief (paywall) asks the question: “Are we back to where we started on Iran?”
The memorandum ends the fighting, reopens the strait of Hormuz and gives Trump a chance to claim he prevented a broader economic crisis. But many of its core terms appear to return the US and Iran to roughly where they were before the conflict: with Iran’s government still in power and its long-term nuclear commitments still unresolved.
Before the war, the strait of Hormuz saw the free flow of shipping, including roughly a fifth of the world’s oil traffic. Reopening the water way essentially restores the status quo.
Iran and the US had also already engaged in negotiations – albeit brokenly – on a framework over Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting U.S. sanctions. The negotiations were in pursuit of a deal to replace the 2015 Iran nuclear deal negotiated under President Barack Obama, which Trump vehemently criticized and left during his first term.
The terms of the MOU diverge substantially from Trump’s initial threats to obliterate Iran unless it agreed to “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” back in March. And it diverged from long-standing conservative criticisms of Obama’s deal that lifted sanctions on Iran.
After Donald Trump’s signing of the 14-point agreement with Iran yesterday at the Palace of Versailles – the home of humiliating treaties – the question of what the president’s war was actually for continues to divide some Republicans and foreign policy hawks.
GOP senator Lindsey Graham, a key Trump ally, appeared to soften his view of the memorandum of understanding yesterday (from this to this) after a “very lengthy and productive” conversation with US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
“After this discussion, it is my opinion that signing the MOU will be beneficial to the United States, in as much as the strait of Hormuz will begin to open, and the hostilities with Iran will stop,” Graham wrote on X. “Whether or not the United States can reach an acceptable, verifiable deal with Iran regarding its nuclear program and other issues is yet to be determined, but I see little downside to trying.”
But a handful of other Senate Republicans were more scathing in their views.
Outgoing Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy, who Trump failed to back in a tightly fought primary last month, said that the whole affair had Ronald Reagan “rolling over in his grave”. He wrote on X:
Iran’s nuclear ambitions were not curbed, and they have learned that threatening the strait of Hormuz works and will undoubtedly leverage it in the future.
Before the war, the strait was open, Iran was being crushed by sanctions, and 13 service members were still alive. Now, 13 Americans are dead, families have paid billions at the pump, sanctions will be lifted, and the bombing has stopped. This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.
Ted Cruz, who has backed the war, said the president was getting “very poor advice when it comes to this deal”.
Susan Rice, a former official in the Obama and Biden administrations was more blunt in her assessment, calling it “the biggest national security blunder in decades”, while Democratic senator Adam Schiff said it was “hard to imagine a more thorough capitulation”.
Iran gets sanctions relief, the release of frozen funds, the ability to export oil, and a $300 billion reconstruction fund. The US gets a reiteration of the vague promise Iran won’t develop a nuke.
In case you missed it, last night Donald Trump signed a 14-point agreement with Iran, claiming it delivered a “major win” for the United States – even as it made significant political and financial concessions to Iran to reopen the strait of Hormuz and prevent a “worldwide depression”.
In extraordinary remarks yesterday, Trump went from threatening Iran with a new wave of attacks to suggesting the country had basic rights to enrich uranium for civilian use, that he would not pressure Tehran to abandon its ballistic missiles programme and the US was “going to have to give back” billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets.
Those remarks, as well as the full text of the agreement – which was hailed by the Hezbollah chief, Naim Qassem, as a “great victory” – are likely to fuel anger in Israel and among hardliners in the Republican party who had urged Trump not to make a deal with Tehran.
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, signed the agreement yesterday from Tehran. US vice-president JD Vance is also expected to sign the deal at a more formal ceremony in Geneva tomorrow.
Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said:
The agreement is a record of US failure. People will see it and judge.
Supreme court to release opinions with several high-stakes rulings to come including birthright citizenship
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
The supreme court is expected to render at least one judgment today as the term is set to come to an end later this month. There are a series of cases yet to be decided that are relevant to Donald Trump, including his attempt to limit birthright citizenship and plan to remove legal protection from Haitian and Syrian immigrants.
Generally, terms last between October and late June – but the most significant cases are often left until the end of the term.
There are two main immigration-based decisions yet to be made. One pending ruling is on Trump’s desire to ban birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants and those whose parents are temporary residents.
“Birthright citizenship is one of America’s most consequential commitments – the idea that where you are born, not where your parents came from, determines your belonging to this nation,” said Adam Strom, executive director and co-founder of Reimagining Migration, in The74. “For the millions of immigrant-origin children in our schools, this isn’t an abstraction. It’s the ground they stand on.”
The court also has a case that will decide if the US can terminate the Temporary Protected Status that has allowed Haitian and Syrian immigrants to live and work in the country.
Other significant cases include Trump’s wish to fire a member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors.
In other news:
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Donald Trump has signed a 14-point agreement with Iran, claiming it delivered a “major win” for the US. The Guardian’s Andrew Roth argues that the US entered war with maximalist goals and exited it with a pragmatic decision to end conflict despite political cost.
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A teenager has died after being thrown to the ground on Wednesday when a Central Park carriage horse bolted away from its driver, police in New York have said.
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On Wednesday, court proceedings revealed that Luigi Mangione’s legal team plans on pursuing a psychiatric defense during his upcoming Manhattan state court trial over the killing of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson.
Forwarder, a Russian-flagged ship which left port in Primorsk last week, entered the Channel on Wednesday evening.
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