The gunman who tried to breach the ballroom at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington DC on Saturday night is believed to have been targeting Donald Trump and senior members of his administration, the acting US attorney general, Todd Blanche, said on Sunday, although his exact motive has not yet become clear.
The suspect, who is in custody after being subdued by members of law enforcement as he rushed through the hotel venue, could be charged with trying to assassinate the US president, Blanche said.
Blanche said in a live interview with CNN on Sunday morning, when asked if the suspect apprehended could be charged with trying to assassinate the US president, “absolutely”.
Trump, Melania Trump and JD Vance were on the high table at the head of the large ballroom at the Washington Hilton on Saturday night as the glittering event was getting under way at the hotel, packed with thousands of journalists and their guests in evening wear.
Blanche also said officials believe that the suspect traveled by train from California to Chicago and then on to Washington, where he checked in as a guest at the hotel just a few days before one of the capital’s glitziest annual events.
Trump was rushed off the stage at the sound of gunshots. The US president could be seen dropping to the floor as Secret Service agents protected him, then got him to his feet and hurried him out. Melania Trump had been talking to the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, when muffled sounds of gunshots just outside the ballroom were heard ringing out. The two women can be seen exclaiming to each other, then Trump turned his head to see what was happening.
Vance was also rushed from the room, in the opposite direction from the president, moments later.
Law enforcement agencies have identified Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, a suburb of Los Angeles, as the suspected gunman arrested at the event.
Allen, 31, has no record of criminal charges or a civil court history in Los Angeles county, according to a records search. Allen’s motive is still unknown, but a family member who spoke to investigators after the attack said Allen made statements about wanting to do something to fix problems in the world, according to CBS.
Trump said on Sunday that the suspect had “a lot of hatred in his heart” but was stopped well short of the hotel ballroom. 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.
The suspect had sent something resembling an online manifesto to family members minutes before the shooting, referring to himself as a “Friendly Federal Assassin”. The writings include him railing against Trump administration policies and signaling what investigators increasingly believe was a politically driven attack, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation.
He made repeated references to the president without naming Trump directly and alluded to grievances over a range of administration actions and recent events, including US strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific, the official said. Investigators were treating the writings, along with a trail of social media posts and interviews with family members, as some of the clearest evidence yet of the suspect’s mindset and possible motives.
Blanche said the suspect was “not actively cooperating” with the authorities.
He added: “We do believe based on a preliminary under standing of what happened that he was targeting members of the administration.” But he cautioned that investigators don’t have “specifics beyond that general statement”.
Blanche said to NBC earlier in the day that the alleged gunman will face charges that include assault of a federal officer, discharging a firearm and attempting to kill a federal officer. Allen is expected to appear in federal court in Washington on Monday.
Blanche was asked on CBS’s Face the Nation if Amtrak, the national long-distance US rail company, needs security screening.
“This isn’t about changing the law or making the laws more restrictive around possession of firearms,” he said, adding that investigators “don’t know how those firearms ended up in his possession in DC”.
“This is about law enforcement who are doing their jobs and a suspect who tried to do something and failed miserably,” Blanche added.
Trump said on his Truth Social platform that the incident showed why “a large, safe, and secure” ballroom needed to be built at the White House, which is already a subject of considerable controversy amid court challenges. He raised the topic at a press conference at the White House not long after being evacuated from the dinner event the previous night.
The Hilton hotel is the same hotel where Ronald Reagan was badly wounded by a gunman in 1981.
Surveillance footage from the Hilton on Saturday night shows a man rushing across the space outside the ballroom. A federal agent was shot but was wearing a bulletproof vest, and was taken to the hospital but discharged on Sunday.
Trump was due to address the annual black-tie dinner honoring the White House press corps for the first time as president. He had been at the venue for at least half an hour before the incident erupted, and had been chatting amicably from his seat on the dais. But the meal was barely beginning when the event was suddenly interrupted by confusion and chaos.
Trump was seated next to the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, Weijia Jiang.
As shots rang out, journalists and guests ducked under tables and law enforcement officers with rifles pointed at the audience attempted to block lines of sight to the president.
Blanche said he did not know if there was any connection to the US-Israel war in Iran.
CNN’s veteran reporter and anchor Wolf Blitzer reported that he saw someone with a gun at the event.
“I did see the gunman on the ground after he started shooting,” he said. “Police officers threw him to the ground.”
Jamie Raskin, a Democratic congressman from Maryland, who was attending the dinner, said he never saw a shooter, but “I think a Secret Service agent threw me to the ground and on top of some other people and people were screaming and yelling”.
Guardian reporters in the room said there were initially mixed messages about whether press and guests should stay in the room. The entire room emptied as people were told the event would not resume and the presidential seal was removed from the podium.
This year’s dinner was already tense, given the presence of Trump and top members of his cabinet, including Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state. Trump agreed to attend this year’s dinner after refusing to go last year’s event and those held during his first term.
Trump held a press conference at the White House, still in his tuxedo, shortly after he left the Hilton. He said that being president of the United States was a “dangerous profession”. He also said that he had planned to make an “inappropriate” speech, which would have presumably criticized the media in train with his track record. He insisted the event would be rescheduled soon, as a signal of defiance, and the second time around his planned speech would be different.
This was the third time that someone has been caught apparently trying to shoot Trump. In the first attempt, during the 2024 election campaign in Pennsylvania, the bullet grazed Trump’s ear and shots killed spectators.
Security is being reviewed for the scheduled visit to Washington this week of Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla, but the visit was announced as going ahead.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting
