White House Correspondents’ Dinner suspect to be charged as Trump prepares to welcome king – US politics live | US news
White House Correspondents’ Dinner attack suspect to be formally arraigned today
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of US politics. The suspect in the shooting that took place at a White House correspondents’ dinner on Saturday evening, identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, will appear in court later today.
He is expected to be formally charged with using a firearm during a violent crime and assaulting a federal officer using a dangerous weapon.
Acting U.S. attorney Todd Blanche told CBS News’ Face the Nation: “There could be a lot of federal charges beyond those two charges, but it depends on us understanding his motivation, his intent, his premeditation of what made him decide to do what he did last night.”
As part of the investigation into the attack, the documents reportedly found in the suspect’s hotel room are being examined. A manifesto was previously reported in which the suspect allegedly called himself a “Friendly Federal Assassin” and created a list of targets for the shooting formatted from highest to lowest, with Trump administration officials at the top.
Despite the clashes raising security concerns, Buckingham Palace released a statement last night confirming that King Charles and Queen Camilla were going ahead with plans to visit the US on Monday.
It appears there will be some modest adjustments to one or two royal engagements during the trip, but the overall plan remains unchanged, as my colleague Robyn Vinter noted in this story.
The King will visit Virginia, New York and Washington DC during a four-day trip to celebrate the 250th anniversary of US independence. He will meet Trump privately and attend a state banquet for him and Queen Camilla.
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What do we know about the suspected gunman?
My colleagues Fabiola Cineas, George Chidi and Robyn Vinter presented the following report:
Cole Tomas Allen, of Torrance, a suburb of Los Angeles, has no criminal or civil court history in Los Angeles County, according to a records search.
A LinkedIn profile named “Cole Allen” showed a photo of a man similar to the photo shared by Donald Trump.
In his social media profile, Allen said he is an engineer with a passion for game development in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
“Mechanical engineer and computer scientist by degree, indie game developer by experience, teacher by birth,” according to his profile, which states that he has a bachelor’s degree from the California Institute of Technology. The profile also notes that Allen earned a master’s degree in computer science from California State University at Dominguez Hills last year.
Initial reports indicate that those who knew Allen in his youth were surprised to discover he was the suspect.
A former high school volleyball teammate from Pacific Lutheran High School in Gardena, California, told NBC News that her experience was that Allen was a “borderline genius” and “super consistent.”
“Other people work hard,” said the former teammate, who asked not to be named. “He didn’t have to work. He would think about it. He was really smart.”
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles will hold a meeting this week that will include the Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to consider protocols for major presidential events. A US official told CBS News:.
No one was killed in the attack, but a police officer wearing a bulletproof vest was shot and taken to hospital.
The ability of the suspect, who was reportedly armed with a shotgun, handgun and knives, to get close to Donald Trump and his aides reveals some troubling vulnerabilities in the Secret Service’s protection model, law enforcement officials said.
It was the third time since 2024 that Trump was under threat from an attacker in his inner circle; This includes an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, which included a bullet that grazed his ear.
a Senate committee reportIn his article about the assassination attempt on Butler, published in July 2025, he described the events as “a series of preventable failures” and called for more serious disciplinary measures against the Secret Service in the future.
Trump says he was ‘not worried’ during shooting
Roque Planas
Donald Trump spoke to CBS correspondent Norah O’Donnell in a broadcast interview Sunday night on 60 Minutes He describes his distress when gunshots were heard at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
“I wasn’t worried,” Trump said in the interview when asked how worried he was about possible injuries after hearing the gunshots. “I understand life. We live in a crazy world.”
The interview turned cold when O’Donnell presented Trump with portions of the gunman’s manifesto in which he appeared to refer to the president as a “rapist” and a “pedophile,” leading him to call O’Donnell a “disgrace” and the media “horrible people.”
Recounting the events of the shooting, Trump told 60 Minutes that his curiosity likely slowed down the Secret Service’s efforts to get him to safety.
“I wanted to see what was going on,” Trump said. “I wasn’t making it that easy for them. I wanted to see what was going on. And by then we started to realize that this was a bad problem, a different kind of problem, a bad problem, and it was different from the normal noise coming from the ballroom.”
“I was surrounded by great people,” Trump added. “And I probably made them move a little slower. I said, ‘Wait a minute, wait a minute.'”
You can read the full story here:
White House Correspondents’ Dinner attack suspect to be formally arraigned today
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of US politics. The suspect in the shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner on Saturday evening, identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, will appear in court later today.
He is expected to be formally charged with using a firearm during a violent crime and assaulting a federal officer using a dangerous weapon.
Acting U.S. attorney Todd Blanche told CBS News’ Face the Nation: “There could be a lot of federal charges beyond those two charges, but it depends on us understanding his motivation, his intent, his premeditation of what made him decide to do what he did last night.”
As part of the investigation into the attack, the documents reportedly found in the suspect’s hotel room are being examined. A manifesto was previously reported in which the suspect allegedly called himself a “Friendly Federal Assassin” and created a list of targets for the shooting formatted from highest to lowest, with Trump administration officials at the top.
Despite the clashes raising security concerns, Buckingham Palace released a statement last night confirming that King Charles and Queen Camilla were going ahead with plans to visit the US on Monday.
It appears there will be some modest adjustments to one or two royal engagements during the trip, but the overall plan remains unchanged, as my colleague Robyn Vinter noted in this story.
The King will visit Virginia, New York and Washington DC during a four-day trip to celebrate the 250th anniversary of US independence. He will meet Trump privately and attend a state banquet for him and Queen Camilla.
