Here's what we covered today
• Suspect charged: Cole Tomas Allen, the suspect in the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, made his first court appearance Monday and was charged with attempting to assassinate the president. A CNN review of his social media shows a shift from video games to political rage.
• Reaction to rhetoric: At the daily press briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt sought to shift blame for a rise in political violence to Democrats, while omitting incendiary rhetoric coming from Republicans and from President Donald Trump. Her remarks drew a sharp rebuke from House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
• Security under scrutiny: Separately, Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin said he “saw no indication” of a security lapse at the event after he and Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley were briefed by Secret Service Director Sean Curran.
Our live coverage of today’s developments following the shooting incident Saturday night at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner has concluded. Please scroll through the posts below to learn what happened on Monday.
FBI director says authorities have accessed shooting suspect's cell phone
FBI Director Kash Patel said today the bureau has gained access to the cell phone “on the person” of the suspect in this weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting.
Patel told Fox News in an interview the FBI gained “access into his phone lawfully, utilizing all methods, including search warrants, provided to us by our great partners at the Department of Justice.”
Patel also said FBI technicians would review other evidence and devices collected during the investigation.
“We’re always looking to lawfully obtain information, that’s why the FBI immediately launched teams to Los Angeles to interview his family and also New London, Connecticut, where we obtained valuable information,” Patel said. “We also dispatched fixed-wing aircraft across the country to transport any evidence and devices that were collected in the home to be immediately exploited by our technicians back here in Washington and down at Quantico.”
Suspected shooter's 2024 social media posts show shift to political rage
CNN’s investigative team takes a deep dive into the alleged gunman’s social media accounts that show a turn from video gaming to political anger.
And read more about the investigation here.
US attorney for DC: "There's a lot more evidence" to gather about suspect
US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said Monday that the investigation into the press dinner shooting suspect had just begun, saying that “there’s a lot more evidence that we need to get,” including his online activity.
“Right now, we’re looking into digital presence of this particular defendant,” she told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham.
“I mean, this is a solid case,” she said, adding that officials are “just at the beginning” of the investigation.
“We will be able to track everything he did, from the moment he made that decision to make the reservation at the Hilton hotel. … There’s a lot more evidence that we need to get,” she continued.
Pirro also brushed off concerns about the potential of jury nullification, in which jurors refuse to side with prosecutors to send a larger message, arguing that this case was different.
CNN reported earlier this month that Pirro’s office has had an unusually low win rate in trials in Washington’s federal district court this year. The record has appeared to stem from several issues, including a jury pool that has lost trust in the Trump administration.
“We will, with the evidence, with the facts and with the reality that, hey, there were 2,500 people in that room — Democrats, Republicans, people who like Trump, people who don’t like Trump,” she said. “It’s time for us as a society to recognize this has to stop.”
Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats reject administration's claim about political rhetoric
Several House Democrats pushed back on the White House’s claim that their party’s rhetoric has inspired political violence against the president.
“When you have people committing crimes in office, we have an obligation to say that someone is committing a crime in office,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told CNN today. “That includes the President of the United States. It includes members of his Cabinet.”
She cited the administration’s failure to comply with the law in terms of the Epstein files disclosure and said there are “open questions” about cryptodeals.
The White House sought to shift blame for a rise in political violence to Democrats, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt pointing to a long list of remarks from Democratic elected officials — while omitting incendiary rhetoric coming from Republicans and the president himself.
Asked about President Donald Trump’s criticism of Democrats’ rhetoric, Rep. Pramila Jayapal responded, “just look at the guy’s rhetoric.”
Jayapal pointed out that Trump has “pardoned violent insurrectionists,” referring to the pardoning of over 1,000 people charged in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. “That is not the signal that you want to send if you’re trying to bring down the rhetoric,” she said.
The lawmakers also rejected the president’s argument that this most recent alleged assassination attempt justifies the construction of his contentious White House ballroom project.
“He demolished the East Wing of the White House, a historic jewel of the American people, and he started to build this ballroom long before any incident,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Jayapal called Trump’s push to build the ballroom “ridiculous.”
Conspiracy theories quickly spread online about the shooting at the press gala event
No sooner had a gunman tried to storm the ballroom of the Washington Hilton, where the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was taking place Saturday night, than social media was awash with conspiracy theories about what was still unfolding in real time.
CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan spoke about them to OutFront tonight and you can read more of his reporting here.
Grassley commends Secret Service for bravery after briefing with director
Sen. Chuck Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, commended the Secret Service for their bravery after a briefing with the director.
Grassley said the Secret Service is “closely reviewing its security posture” and the attacker’s background, calling their response “swift” and “transparent.”
“I appreciate Secret Service Dir Sean Curran coming 2my office 2day 4 bipart briefing w me+Sen Durbin USSS is closely reviewing its security posture+the attacker’s bkground Overall Secret Service response has been swift&transparent I commend their bravery + ongoing work,” Grassley wrote in a post on X.
Who in the line of succession was and was not at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner
The incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner has raised security questions, including over the line of succession.
CNN analyzed — through photos, videos and outreach to Cabinet offices — who was and was not present at the Washington Hilton hotel in Washington, DC, on Saturday night:
Read more details here
Durbin says "no indication" of security lapse after briefing from Secret Service director
Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, who also serves as the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters that he “saw no indication” of a security lapse at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, after he and Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley were briefed by Secret Service Director Sean Curran.
“I have a better understanding of what happened Saturday night. I thank all those who were involved in it for an excellent job from the law enforcement perspective,” he added.
“I’ve been to that 50 times for events similar to the Correspondents’ Dinner; it’s a common venue in Washington, it’s a big venue, and there’s a big hotel with 1,000 rooms that’s attached to this meeting space. So, it’s a challenge to bring that many people, 2,500 or whatever the number was together. But they gave us a good explanation, answered our questions, the investigation continues.”
Durbin said he was able to ask “a dozen, maybe 20 different questions about details,” of the shooting. “But I’m confident that they understood the venue; as I said, it’s been time-tested over the many years it’s been used, and that they had a good plan to protect all of the guests, but especially the president, that’s a major responsibility.”
The No. 2 Senate Democrat said that Grassley has not decided whether he will ask Curran to testify publicly before their committee. “Sen. Grassley, he wasn’t prepared to make a commitment about where we go from here. He mentioned that there are other committees involved, House and Senate, and so I don’t think any decisions been made on it.”
DOJ officials provide new details about Cole Tomas Allen after first court appearance
Top Department of Justice officials held a news conference a short while ago following the initial appearance in federal court by Cole Tomas Allen — the suspect in the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting.
Officials offered new details into the investigation. Here’s the latest on what we’ve learned:
- Allen will face additional charges, US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said.
- Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Allen, “ran through the magnetometer, holding a long gun, as he did so, US Secret Service personnel assigned to the checkpoint heard a loud gunshot.”
- Blanche said it wasn’t clear whether the Secret Service agent who was hit in a protective vest was shot by the alleged attacker. He added it appears “there were five shots that law enforcement fired.”
- The affidavit against Allen said he “fell to the ground and suffered minor injuries” when one officer began firing at him. Pirro later said Allen was not injured aside from “some kind of scrape on his knee.”
- Officials laid out a timeline of Allen’s movements ahead of Saturday’s shooting and said he made reservations at the Washington Hilton, where the annual dinner takes place, on April 6 for three nights: April 24 through April 26.
- Allen traveled from Los Angeles to Chicago and then Washington, DC, by train, Justice Department officials said.
- Blanche also defended the US Secret Service saying that “law enforcement did not fail.”
- The acting attorney general said the “political violence and rhetoric has got to stop” and criticized the media.
- Blanche outlined the steps investigators have taken since the shooting this weekend, saying the probe is ongoing.
CNN’s Audie Cornish talked today with other journalists about what they experienced as a gunman attacked the White House Correspondents’ Dinner
CNN’s Holmes Lybrand, Katelyn Polantz, Zoe Sottile, Tierney Sneed and Elise Hammond contributed to this report.
Jeffries: Ultra-secure White House ballroom is a "vanity project"
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries quickly ruled out supporting the GOP push to fast-track construction for an ultra-secure White House ballroom, calling it a “vanity project” and saying that the White House should focus on affordability.
Asked by CNN about whether he would support Congress authorizing construction of the new White House ballroom, Jeffries said what was “most important” for national security was ending President Donald Trump’s costly war against Iran.
Pressed again on the ballroom, Jeffries added: “I have not seen a specific request with respect to the ballroom. But needless to say, we have to drive down the cost of living.”
“These are the things we should actually focus on, not a vanity project that resulted from the destruction – that was unauthorized – of the East Wing of the White House,” he said.
Secret Service director briefing top lawmakers on press gala shooting
The director of the US Secret Service, Sean Curran, is meeting with top lawmakers on Capitol Hill today. This comes as the suspect in the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting made his first court appearance today and was charged with attempting to assassinate the president.
Curran was seen arriving at the office of Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley ahead of an expected briefing. The panel’s top Democrat, Dick Durbin, also said he will be part of the briefing with Grassley.
Curran will also meet with House Oversight Chair James Comer on Monday as the committee works to schedule a briefing for all committee members, a panel spokesperson told CNN.
The suspected gunman’s ability to get so close to the event on Saturday night has raised questions about whether Secret Service protocols were sufficient.
Asked if he’s confident in his agency, Curran told reporters, “Very confident. My agents did a great job.”
Asked why the security perimeter wasn’t further out, he said, “There’s a reason, but I’m not going to get into that. It’s classified. I don’t want to get in to why we do that, but there’s a reason.”
Curran also told reporters on the Hill he plans to brief more members going forward.
This post has been updated with additional details.
Justice Department decision-makers were guests at the dinner
The beginnings of the prosecution of Cole Tomas Allen have raised an unusual situation for the top officials of the Justice Department. They will be overseeing the case while they were also in attendance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner when shots could be heard — and they could have been targets of the alleged gunman themselves.
Several top Justice Department officials — acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, top officials Stanley Woodward and Harmeet Dhillon, FBI Director Kash Patel and DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro — were guests at the dinner Saturday night.
Some, such as Pirro, Patel and Blanche, were escorted out of the banquet hall as law enforcement secured the scene, and were still in black-tie formalwear as they spoke at a news conference with the president following the event.
According to writings prosecutors say Allen shared with family, he was seeking to target Trump administration officials gathered there and called himself a “Friendly Federal Assassin.” Patel, he allegedly wrote, was excluded from his list.
Lower-level line prosecutors and FBI agents will likely handle the day-to-day evidence gathering and prosecution of the case against Allen, who appeared in court this afternoon.
But rarely in Washington have federal threat or assault cases personally intersected with so many top law enforcement decision-makers at once.
This post was updated with Patel’s remark from today’s news conference.
A furious Jeffries calls out Leavitt for blame-game on political violence
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries sharply rebuked White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt for her earlier remarks accusing Democratic rhetoric of “inspiring violence” against President Donald Trump.
A visibly angry Jeffries called out Leavitt for singling out Democrats while ignoring Trump’s incendiary rhetoric over the years.
The White House sought to shift blame for a rise in political violence to Democrats, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt pointing to a long list of remarks from Democratic elected officials — while omitting incendiary rhetoric coming from Republicans and the president himself.
Jeffries pointed out that Leavitt sought to blame the rhetoric of another top Democrat – Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro – whose family was targeted by an antisemitic arson attack last year.
“How can we take them seriously when they raise these partisan attacks, and completely ignore the fact that a lot of folks – including Gov. Shapiro – his home was attacked by an arsonist while he and his kids and his wife were there?”
Officials lay out timeline of suspect's movements leading to press dinner
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro on Monday laid out a timeline of suspect Cole Tomas Allen’s movements leading up to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting.
Here’s a timeline of his movements, according to officials:
April 6: Pirro said Allen made a reservation at the Washington Hilton, where the annual dinner is held, for April 24 through April 26.
April 21: Allen traveled by train from Los Angeles to Chicago, officials said.
April 23: Allen arrived in Chicago, Pirro said. Allen then traveled from Chicago to Washington, DC, according to Blanche.
April 24: Allen arrived in Washington, DC, at approximately 1 p.m. ET, Blanche said. Pirro added that at 3 p.m. ET, Allen checked into the Washington Hilton, where he stayed overnight.
April 25: At approximately 8:40 p.m. ET, Allen approached a security checkpoint on the terrace level of the Washington Hilton, which is a floor above the ballroom where the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was taking place, Blanche said.
Allen then ran through the magnetometer “holding a long gun,” according to Blanche. He added that US Secret Service personnel assigned to the checkpoint “heard a loud gunshot” as Allen ran through the magnetometer.
A Secret Service agent “fired five times at Allen, who was not shot but fell to the ground and was promptly arrested,” Blanche said.
Speaker Mike Johnson recounts his experience at the White House Correspondents' Dinner
House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke today about his experience at Saturday’s shooting in Washington and why he feels the incident proves the need for President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom.
Unserved dinners were donated to local shelters, WHCA president says
The Washington Hilton donated about 2,600 unserved meals from Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner after it was cut short, according to the White House Correspondents Association President Weijia Jiang.
The hotel gave steak and lobster to two shelters for women and children, Jiang said in a post on X.
The food was freeze dried to give it a longer shelf life, she said.
Law enforcement fired 5 shots, Blanche says
When pressed on how many rounds were fired on Saturday night and whether the Secret Service agent who was hit in a protective vest was shot by the alleged attacker, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said it wasn’t clear.
“It appears, and I don’t want to overstate — because we are still looking at this — that there were five shots that law enforcement fired,” Blanche said.
It is unclear whether the officer who was shot was hit by the man who rushed through security, Cole Tomas Allen, who was allegedly armed with a shotgun and pistol. Allen, according to Blanche, fired his weapon during Saturday’s attack.
“All the evidence is being examined very carefully and expeditiously, and we’ll know more soon,” Blanche said. “We do believe that, as the complaint lays out, the defendant fired it out of his shotgun, and we know that that happened.”
Blanche added: “As far as getting into exacting ballistics, I’m not going to do that today, because it’s still being looked at and finalized.”
Blanche says political violence has to stop as he criticizes media after shooting
In the wake of what prosecutors say was an attempted assassination of President Donald Trump, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the “political violence and rhetoric has got to stop,” going on to criticize the media.
When reporters are “being overly critical and calling the president horrible names for no reason and without evidence, without proof, it shouldn’t surprise us that this type of rhetoric takes place,” Blanche said at a news conference following the suspected shooter’s first court appearance this afternoon.
Acting attorney general details investigative steps since shooting
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Monday outlined the steps investigators have taken since the shooting this weekend, saying the probe is ongoing.
Prosecutors in Washington, DC, worked overnight Saturday and through Sunday as law enforcement interviewed “multiple” witnesses, he said at a news conference.
Blanche said law enforcement also conducted court-approved searches in California, Allen’s home state, and in Washington, DC.
FBI Director Kash Patel later said shell casings were sent to the FBI facility in Quantico, Virginia, for analysis.
“We collected the shell casings on scene, including the firearms and the weapons that the judge talked about,” Patel said. “Those were also sent to our Quantico laboratories for immediate analysis.”
