Closing summary
We’re wrapping up this live coverage now. A full report on the White House correspondents’ dinner shooting is here, and below is a summary of the day’s main news. Thanks for reading.
The suspect in Sunday night’s shooting in Washington DC has been identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California. Preliminary findings suggest the shooter targeted Donald Trump and officials in his administration, according to acting US attorney general Todd Blanche.
The suspect’s writings – reportedly found in his hotel room – are being examined as part of the investigation into the attack. An alleged manifesto was reported earlier in which the suspect 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.
Trump said the manifesto showed the suspect “hates Christians” and had “a lot of hatred in his heart”. The president told Fox News the suspect was “a sick guy” and that his family previously expressed concerns about him to law enforcement officials.
The suspect was part of the Caltech Christian Fellowship during his final year at the California Institute of Technology, according to Allen’s LinkedIn page.
Trump said he wasn’t concerned about whether there would be injuries during the commotion at the dinner, telling 60 Minutes: “I wasn’t worried. I understand life. We live in a crazy world.” The president also agreed Melania Trump was “very alarmed” as it occurred.
Barack Obama denounced the shooting, posting on X that it was “incumbent upon all us to reject the idea that violence has any place in our democracy”.
Trump and his allies have repeatedly cited the shooting as evidence for why a White House ballroom is necessary. In a letter shared by Blanche, the Department of Justice pressed the National Trust for Historic Preservation to end its lawsuit challenging the $400m construction project and insisted the ballroom was “essential for the safety and security of the president”.
The White House Correspondents’ Association president said: “Last night’s shooting at the Washington Hilton was a harrowing moment for everyone in attendance.” Weijia Jiang added: “We are proud of everyone in that room.”
Buckingham Palace confirmed that King Charles and Queen Camilla’s four-day state visit to the US would go ahead as planned. Earlier, the palace said a “number of discussions” were taking place to discuss how the shooting may or may not affect security planning, with the British monarch due to arrive in the US on Monday.
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Donald Trump’s interview with 60 Minutes became confrontational when reporter Norah O’Donnell read parts of the “manifesto” allegedly written by the suspected shooter that referred to a “rapist” and “pedophile” and asked Trump to react.
“I was waiting for you to read that, because I knew you would, because you’re horrible people,” the president responded, continuing:
Yeah he did write that, I’m not a rapist … I read the manifesto. You know, he’s a sick person. You shouldn’t be reading that on 60 Minutes, you’re a disgrace, but go ahead, let’s finish the interview.”
As our full report says, Trump continued to take jabs at O’Donnell for the rest of the interview. After she noted that the shooting suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, had reportedly attended a “No Kings” protest, Trump shot back:
The reason you have people like that, is you have people doing ‘No Kings’. I’m not a king. What I am – If I was a king, I wouldn’t be dealing with you.”
Despite Trump’s criticisms of the press, which he described as a “soft on crime”, he urged the White House Correspondents’ Association to reschedule the dinner event within the next 30 days.
“I don’t want to see it be cancelled. I think it’s really bad for a crazy person to be able to cancel something like this,” Trump said. He added:
It’s not that I want to go. I’m very busy. I don’t need that.”
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Donald Trump describes the chaotic moments after the shots when security came in to secure his safety, as well as others including vice-president JD Vance, who is grabbed by his coat at the table and moved away.
Norah O’Donnell asks Trump: “At one point you were down. What was happening?”
The president replies in the 60 Minutes interview:
Well … it was a little bit me. I wanted to see what was happening, and I wasn’t making it that easy for ’em. I wanted to see what was going on. And by that time we started to realise maybe it was a bad problem, different kind of a problem, bad one. And different than what would be normal noise from a ballroom, which you hear all the time. And I was surrounded by great people. And I probably made them act a little bit more slowly. I said: ‘Wait a minute, wait a minute. Lemme see. Wait a minute.’ So, you know, I’m telling guys to –”
O’Donnell: Just at that moment where it looks like you go sort of down with the [Secret] Service, you were telling them to wait?
Trump:
Well, no what happened is then I started walking with them. I turned, I started walking, and they said, ‘Please go down. Please go down on the floor.’ So I went down and the First Lady went down also. But we were asked to go down by the agents as I was walking.”
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Trump is asked about the moments before the incident occurred, when the performer known as Oz the Mentalist is speaking to Donald and Melania Trump, and is shown a video clip.
Q: When did you know something was wrong?
Trump says:
Right round that point. In fact, you can see the expression on the First Lady’s face...”
Interviewer Norah O’Donnell says on 60 Minutes that the First Lady looked very alarmed.
“She was”, Trump replies.
Q: “Was she scared?”
Trump says:
Well I don’t want to say, and people don’t like having it said that they were scared. But certainly, who wouldn’t be when you have a situation like that?”
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Trump says he 'wasn't worried' during shooting
Donald Trump also told 60 Minutes he “wasn’t worried” about injuries during the commotion at the press dinner and that “we live in crazy world”.
Norah O’Donnell says in the interview soon to be aired on television that she was in the room when it occurred and could hear what sounded like gunshots or commotion. People nearby could smell gunpowder and “everybody hit the floor”. She asks Trump: “How worried were you that there were going to be injuries?”
Trump replies:
I wasn’t worried. I understand life. We live in a crazy world.”
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Donald Trump has said he doesn’t know if he was the target of the alleged gunman but described him a “probably a pretty sick guy”.
In a promotional clip posted on X by 60 Minutes ahead of the show’s airing of his interview with 60 Minutes, Norah O’Donnell of CBS News asks the president if he knows whether he was the gunman’s target. Trump replies:
I don’t know. It sounds to me, I read a manifesto, he’s radicalised, he was a Christian, believer, and then he became an anti-Christian. He had a lot of change, he’s been going through a lot, based on what he wrote.
His brother complained about him, and I think reported him to the police, and his sister likewise complained about him. His family was very concerned. He was probably a pretty sick guy.”
As posted earlier, US attorney general Todd Blanche said preliminary findings suggested that the suspected shooter – identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31 – targeted Trump and officials in his administration at the dinner event in Washington DC.
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Alleged gunman wrote anti-Christian 'manifesto', says Trump
Donald Trump has saidthe suspect accused of trying to attack administration officials at the White House correspondents dinner had an anti-Christian manifesto and “a lot of hatred in his heart”.
The president told Fox News that the suspect was “a sick guy” and that his family previously expressed concerns about him to law enforcement officials.
“When you read his manifesto, he hates Christians,” Trump said.
The suspect – identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of California – was arrested at the scene of the Washington DC event after being stopped well short of the hotel ballroom hosting it.
The manifesto was sent to Allen’s family members shortly before the attack, a law enforcement official told Reuters. In it, the suspect called himself the “Friendly Federal Assassin”, the official said, as mentioned earlier.
“Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behaviour; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes,” the manifesto read, according to the official.
According to Allen’s LinkedIn page, he was part of the Caltech Christian Fellowship during his final year at the California Institute of Technology.
Targets listed in the manifesto included administration officials – although not FBI director Kash Patel – prioritised from highest-ranking to lowest, the official said.
The manifesto mocked the “insane” lack of security at the Washington Hilton, where the dinner was held, the official added.
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Obama denounces correspondents' dinner shooting
Barack Obama has taken to social media to decry the Washington DC shooting and say violence has no place in the US democracy.
The former Democratic president posted on X:
Although we don’t yet have the details about the motives behind last night’s shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner, it’s incumbent upon all us to reject the idea that violence has any place in our democracy. It’s also a sobering reminder of the courage and sacrifice that U.S. Secret Service Agents show every day. I’m grateful to them – and thankful that the agent who was shot is going to be okay.
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Summary of the day so far
The suspect in the shooting at last night’s White House correspondents’ dinner has been identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California. Preliminary findings suggest that the shooter targeted Donald Trump and officials in his administration, according to acting US attorney general Todd Blanche.
The suspect’s writings, reportedly found inside his hotel room, are being examined as part of the investigation into the attack. An alleged manifesto was reported earlier in which the suspect 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.
Trump and his allies have repeatedly cited the shooting as evidence for why a White House ballroom is necessary. In a letter shared by Blanche, the DOJ pressured the National Trust for Historic Preservation to end its lawsuit challenging the $400m construction project and insisted that the ballroom is “essential for the safety and security of the president.”
In a statement, Weijia Jiang, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said “Last night’s shooting at the Washington Hilton was a harrowing moment for everyone in attendance,” adding “We are proud of everyone in that room”.
Trump will make an appearance later tonight on the CBS News program 60 Minutes, according to Steven Cheung, the White House communications director.
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.
Oz Pearlman, a mentalist who was performing a trick for Trump during the White House correspondents’ dinner, spoke to CNN about his experience.
“I didn’t hear any shots or see what looked like a shooter. I thought there was about to be a bomb,” Pearlman said. “I really very much thought, ‘oh my god, it’s about to explode,’ because of the way that it was being approached. It wasn’t like, guns out. It was like to stop someone.”
“They bring the president down directly in front of me, and we just look at each other for about two seconds, and my mind [is like], ‘Oh, no. Are we about to die?” he added. “I thought it was about to explode. That was really my instinct.”
After Trump was taken away, Pearlman said there was “chaos” backstage for several minutes, during which he didn’t know the president’s condition. “No one really knew what had happened for an extended period, which was kind of jarring,” he said.
Senator and close Trump ally Lindsey Graham also posted in support of building the new White House ballroom, writing that he is in “total agreement” with the president’s “assessment that the presidential ballroom at the White House is a national security necessity.”
“This facility would accommodate large events like the White House Correspondents Dinner and others in the most secure fashion for this president and future presidents,” he wrote in an X post. “The Secret Service will be one of the largest beneficiaries of the ballroom because they will have immense control over the security environment of future events with a very hardened facility.”
“The most obvious benefit is the President can attend future functions like this without ever having to leave the White House grounds,” he added.
Again, the White House correspondents’ dinner is not hosted by the White House, but by the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), so it remains unclear whether a White House ballroom would be used for such events hosted by independent organizations.
The US Department of Justice is pressuring the National Trust for Historic Preservation to end its lawsuit challenging Trump’s construction of a new ballroom at the White House in the aftermath of last night’s shooting.
In a letter shared by acting attorney general Todd Blanche on X, the DOJ urges the preservation group to drop its case and insists that the ballroom is “essential for the safety and security of the president.”
“When the White House ballroom is complete, President Trump and his successors will no longer need to venture beyond the safety of the White House perimeter to attend large gatherings at the Washington Hilton ballroom,” Brett Shumate, a top lawyer with the DOJ, wrote. “The White House ballroom will ensure the safety and security of the President for decades to come and prevent future assassination attempts on the President at the Washington Hilton.”
In its lawsuit, the organization argued that Trump rushed demolition of the historic East Wing in October over objections from preservationists who urged the White House to pause and submit plans to federal review panels.
Notably, the White House correspondents’ dinner is hosted by the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), not the White House itself, though the president is traditionally in attendance. It is unclear whether a White House ballroom would be used for events not hosted by the president.
Donald and Melania Trump appeared in good spirits as they settled in on the high table at the White House correspondents’ dinner in Washington, DC on Saturday night, despite the event already being steeped in controversy over the US president being invited when he frequently makes aggressive verbal and legal attacks on the media that covers him.
But smiles turned to shock and fear, Trump dived to the ground and guests ducked under tables after loud bangs were heard. Here is a timeline of how the White House press dinner shooting unfolded:
FBI agents are currently inspecting the neighborhood and questioning local residents where the alleged shooter, Cole Allen, was located in Torrance, California. Members of the media are also outside the address connected to Allen.
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C2 Education, the tutoring company where the suspected shooter allegedly worked, said in a statement shared with multiple news outlets that it is cooperating with law enforcement in the investigation.
“We were shocked to hear the news of the horrifying incident that transpired at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” the statement said. “We are cooperating fully with law enforcement to assist them in their investigation. Violence of any kind is never the answer.”
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.
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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.”
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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.
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'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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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”.
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Today so far
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.
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.
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.
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.
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”.
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Trump again says shooting is why White House needs ballroom
Donald Trump took to Trump Social on Sunday to repeat his statement from the night before in which he said the shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner was why a White House ballroom was necessary.
“What happened last night is exactly the reason that our great Military, Secret Service, Law Enforcement and, for different reasons, every President for the last 150 years, have been DEMANDING that a large, safe, and secure Ballroom be built ON THE GROUNDS OF THE WHITE HOUSE,” Trump wrote.
“This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House. It cannot be built fast enough! While beautiful, it has every highest level security feature there is plus, there are no rooms sitting on top for unsecured people to pour in, and is inside the gates of the most secure building in the World, The White House,” Trump continued.
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.
Trump on Sunday called the lawsuit “ridiculous” and said it must be dropped “immediately”.
“Nothing should be allowed to interfere with with its construction, which is on budget and substantially ahead of schedule!!!” Trump said.
Further to my previous post, acting US attorney general Todd Blanche has also told CNN’s Dana Bash this morning that the suspect appeared to be targeting members of the Trump administration.
It does appear the suspect was targeting members of the administration … We don’t have specifics yet about particular members of the administration, except that we do understand that that was his goal and his target.
US Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi has confirmed that the officer who sustained injuries in last night’s attack had been released from hospital.
The BBC carries this statement:
I can confirm the officer has been discharged, and the ballistic vest helped us avoid a potential tragedy last night.
The defendant is now before a federal court, and comments at this stage will come from the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
The Secret Service is now conducting a “comprehensive review of the defendant’s background and networks to better understand his motivations, leaving no detail unexamined”, he added.
'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.
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Discussions taking place on security planning for King Charles's US state visit, Buckingham Palace says
King Charles is being kept fully informed of developments and is greatly relieved to hear that Donald Trump and the first lady have been unharmed, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said today.
Charles and Queen Camilla are due to travel to Washington for a four-day state visit beginning tomorrow, and are set to meet Trump at the White House.
Following the shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson told Reuters that a number of discussions were taking place today on how the shooting may or may not affect any operational planning for the visit.
Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the British prime minister, said the US and UK were “working closely to ensure that security arrangements are put appropriately in place” for the visit.
Asked on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News if there were any extra concerns for the king’s safety, Jones said:
As you would imagine, the [UK] government and the palace take the security of his majesty very seriously, and there were already extensive discussions taking place, which will continue over the coming days.
Jones told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that discussions about the king’s security during his visit to the US would take place on Sunday.
Asked if that meant the existing plans would be stepped up, he said: “There’ll be appropriate security in place in relation to the risk.”
Here’s my colleague Robyn Vinter’s report:
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Here is a quick clip that Donald Trump posted on Truth Social of what appears to be surveillance footage of the purported shooting incident at the White House correspondents’ dinner.
Here are some images coming in over the wires showing investigators and members of the media converging on the home of the suspected gunman in California:
At the White House correspondents’ dinner, darkness came viscerally close
Shocking. Unnerving. Unpredictable. Violent. For a decade I have been following the twists and turns of Donald Trump’s America with the privilege of journalistic distance. On Saturday night I felt the darkness come viscerally close.
Bang! Bang! What was that? Where was it? At 8.36pm panic and pandemonium reigned in the cavernous ballroom at the Washington Hilton hotel. There were men running and cries of “Get down!” and “Stay down!”
I saw guests at the White House Correspondents’ Association’s (WHCA) annual dinner – men in tuxedos, women in dresses – diving under the circular tables and, almost as if acting on a cue, did likewise. It was a scene from a dozen Hollywood movies but now it was happening to me, right here, right now.
Here’s what we know so far about the suspect:
The Associated Press, citing two law enforcement officials, have identified the suspect as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California.
He appeared to have been a “lone” gunman, said Jeff Carroll, the interim chief of police of the Metropolitan police department, and was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives when he allegedly “charged a US Secret Service checkpoint” at the Washington Hilton.
We have no reason to believe at this time that anyone else was involved,” said Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser. The suspect was taken to a local hospital where he was being “evaluated”, she said.
The suspect has been charged with felony firearms and assault charges, said Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia.
Aftermath of shooting incident at White House correspondents' dinner
Hello and welcome to our continuing live updates on US politics.
A suspect is in custody following a shooting incident at last night’s White House correspondents’ dinner.
Donald Trump and and wife Melania Trump were rushed out of the event at the Washington Hilton, the hotel where former president Ronald Reagan was shot in an attempted assassination in 1981.
Hundreds of guests, dressed in their black-tie best, hid under tables as US Secret Service agents with guns drawn rushed reporters out of the room and mentioned “shots fired”.
The suspect was identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, the Associated Press reported, citing two law enforcement officials. Trump posted on Truth Social two photos of the purported suspect, shirtless and facedown on the ground.
At a briefing in the press room not long after the event, Trump described the Washington Hilton as “not a particularly secure building” and argued for the merits of the construction of a ballroom at the White House. “This is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we’re planning at the White House. It’s actually a larger room, and it’s much more secure.”
Trump posted on Truth Social that he hoped to reschedule the dinner in the next 30 days.
Stay tuned for more.
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