Trump Assassination Attempt: US Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Sunday that he believes that the alleged White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooter was targeting Trump administration officials. “It does appear that he did, in fact, have set out to target folks that work in the administration, likely including the President,” Blanche told NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” adding that the suspect likely travelled by train from Los Angeles to Chicago and then to Washington, D.C.
The suspect will be formally charged in federal court on Monday with assault of a federal officer and discharging a firearm in an attempt to kill a federal officer, Blanche said.
Blanche said the suspect was not cooperating with investigators as of Sunday morning.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump were rushed out of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington by Secret Service agents on Saturday night after a man opened fire on security personnel nearby.
The man fired a shotgun at a Secret Service agent at a checkpoint in the Washington Hilton hotel before being tackled and arrested, officials have said.
The shooting on Saturday night of a Secret Service agent at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner raises questions yet again about the protection afforded to America’s political leaders at a time of increased political violence.
Hundreds of agents from several law enforcement agencies were tasked with protecting the annual bash, which President Donald Trump headlined this year.
Yet a suspect with a shotgun and other weapons managed to get just a floor above the Washington ballroom where an extraordinary concentration of cabinet members, high-ranking lawmakers and celebrities were dining.
In addition to Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Todd Blanche, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and various other government officials were in attendance, many with their own security details.
‘NOT PARTICULARLY SECURE BUILDING,’ TRUMP SAYS
It is too early to definitively say whether there were any law enforcement failures or miscommunications.
But coming less than two years after a pair of assassination attempts against Trump during the presidential campaign in 2024, Saturday’s incident suggests even the nation’s most comprehensive personal security apparatus has points of vulnerability.
Washington’s police chief said the alleged gunman – who was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and knives – was staying at the Washington Hilton hotel where the dinner took place.
During an impromptu White House press conference after the incident, Trump praised first responders, including the Secret Service.
He also mused about the dangers of being president, noting some of his predecessors had been assassinated, but adding that the suspect had not been close to “breaching” the doors of the ballroom.
“It’s not particularly a secure building,” Trump said of the hotel about a 10-minute drive from the White House. It was also the site of a 1981 assassination attempt against then-President Ronald Reagan.
(With Inputs From Reuters)
