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The US Acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche, said yesterday that President Donald Trump was likely the target of the suspect in Saturday’s shooting at the white house.
On Saturday night, a gunman fired at a security agent guarding the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington. The shooting erupted just after 8:30pm, about 20 minutes after Trump and Melania made their grand entrance into the hotel’s ballroom. Vice President James Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson attended the gala.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and many leaders of the Trump administration and top lawmakers also attended the dinner before they were evacuated from the ballroom by Secret Service agents.
The gunman was shot and has been detained, according to law enforcement sources. He was intercepted at the metal detectors outside the Washington Hilton ballroom, where Trump and countless dignitaries were set to toast the Washington press corps.
Trump, while addressing reporters at the White House after he and other top leaders were evacuated said the suspect was armed with multiple weapons before he stopped by Secret Service.
He said an officer was shot but he was protected by a bulletproof vest.
“He was shot from very close distance with a very powerful gun, and the vest did the job,” Trump said.
The president had also posted to his Truth Social that the dinner will be rescheduled within 30 days.
Organizers of the star-studded gala originally said that they wanted to continue as planned but then announced that the event was cancelled by 9:45pm.
It is the first time Trump has attended the gala since 2011, marking his first appearance as president.
Before the event, pro-Palestine protesters lined the street outside the Washington Hilton, waving flags and holding signs that read “Media lies, Gaza dies” and “no war for Israel.”
“It does appear that he, he did, in fact, set out to target folks that work in the administration, likely including the president. Meet the Press.
“The suspect likely traveled by train from Los Angeles to Chicago and then to Washington,’’ Blanche said.
According to Blanche, the suspect will be charged in federal court today with assault of a federal officer, discharging a firearm and attempting to kill a federal officer, adding that he did not know if there was an Iran connection to the attack.
U.S. Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi confirmed the officer had been released from hospital.
Trump told reporters he believed that he was the target of the attack. The president has survived two previous attempts on his life since 2024, a period of deepening political polarisation in the United States.
Around the world, leaders condemned the attack, adding they were relieved that Trump and all present were safe and expressing their solidarity with the United States.
NATO leader Mark Rutte called it an attack “on our free and open societies,” and leaders stressed violence had no place in a democracy.
A law enforcement official identified the suspect as Cole Tomas Allen, a California resident about 31 years old.
Little was immediately known about Allen’s background, but social media postings suggested he was a teacher in Torrance, near Los Angeles.
Washington interim Police Chief Jeffery Carroll said the suspect was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives.
He was taken to a local hospital to be evaluated but it was too soon to say what his motivation was, Carroll said.
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Based on preliminary information, he was believed to have been a guest at the hotel, Carroll added.
The chaotic events from around 8:35 p.m. (0035 GMT on Sunday) raised fresh questions about the security of top U.S. officials, many of whom were gathered in the hotel’s expansive ballroom.
A focus of the investigation is likely to be how the gunman was able to smuggle the shotgun into the hotel, which hosts the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, a marquee fixture of Washington’s social calendar.
The black-tie event was attended by many members of Trump’s cabinet and other senior administration officials amid heavy security.
It was the first time Trump attended the event as president, having boycotted it in previous years.
Afterward, Trump addressed reporters, many still in evening attire, in an extraordinary late-night press conference in the White House briefing room, flanked by JD Vance and other cabinet members.
Trump’s wife Melania looked on from the sidelines and demurred when he asked her whether she wanted to talk about the events of the evening.
The venue for the dinner was the scene of an attempt on the life of President Ronald Reagan, who was shot and wounded by a would-be assassin outside the hotel in 1981.
Closed-circuit TV footage released by Trump on Truth Social showed the suspect running rapidly through a security checkpoint, momentarily catching security personnel off-guard before they drew their weapons.
No shots were fired at the gunman who got through two checkpoints before being brought down.
“You know, he charged from 50 yards away, so he was very far away from the room. He was moving. He was really moving,” Trump said after the gala dinner was cancelled.
Officials believe he is a “lone wolf,” Trump said.
Video footage shows Trump and his wife sitting at a banquet table on stage in conversation with someone when a commotion at the rear of the ballroom – caused by the noise of gunshots – triggers a ripple of gasps through the room.
People started screaming “Get down, get down!” Many of the 2,600 attendees dressed in tuxedos and ball gowns took cover under tables as security personnel drew their weapons, with some pushing cabinet secretaries to the floor and covering them with their bodies while others formed a protective cordon.
Security personnel in combat fatigues stormed the stage pointing rifles into the ballroom as Trump, his wife and Vance were evacuated. Cabinet members who had been sitting at tables dotted around the vast room were escorted out by their security details one by one.
While most guests huddled under tables, some people began chanting “USA, USA!”
Trump stayed backstage for about an hour after being hustled from the stage, a source told Reuters.
He later said he had not wanted to leave the event, a remark that echoed images of him defiantly pumping his fist after narrowly escaping an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in 2024.
In that attempt, Trump was shot and wounded in his upper ear by a 20-year-old gunman, who was shot dead by security personnel.
Just over two months after the Butler shooting, Secret Service agents spotted a man wielding a gun and hiding in bushes at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, while Trump was on the course.
It was deemed an assassination attempt and the suspect was sentenced to life in prison in February.
