Suspect in White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting expected to appear in court

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.

President Donald Trump, who has frequently used inflammatory rhetoric against his political opponents, initially called for unity after a shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday evening. But in an interview with CBS News on Sunday, he warned that Democrats’ “hate speech” is “very dangerous.”

Leavitt on Monday read a selection of comments from Democratic leaders including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Sen. Alex Padilla of California, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Sen. Adam Schiff of California, Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois, Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rep. LaMonica McIver of New Jersey.

“These are Democrat elected officials calling for war against the president of the United States and his supporters,” Leavitt said.

She continued: “When you have people in positions of power that are saying things like this every single day for years, you are inspiring violence by people who are already mentally ill, and that’s what we’ve seen against this president for far too long.”

Political violence has targeted lawmakers and their loved ones on both sides of the aisle in recent years — from the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a Utah university to the murder of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband to an arson at Shapiro’s home to an attack on Paul Pelosi.

Selecting one designated survivor was not necessary for the night of the White House Correspondents’ dinner because several Cabinet members did not attend, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

There were conversations before the dinner about designating a specific survivor, Leavitt said, “but there were several members of the Cabinet in the line of succession who did not attend for various personal reasons.”

She added: “So, designating one survivor was not necessary, as we had several members who were not there already.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt takes questions during Monday's press briefing.

The White House declined to rule out operational changes to Donald Trump’s schedule following Saturday’s shooting at a gala in Washington, including the prospect of ensuring the president and Vice President JD Vance not attend events simultaneously.

“I definitely wouldn’t say changes are out of the question,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters when asked whether there would be changes in protocol for events outside the White House.

She said that Trump was satisfied with the security response Saturday evening at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, but that reassessing protocols was still a prudent step.

She said if the dinner is rescheduled, as Trump has requested, there would be a conversation over whether Vance would attend.

“I can assure you the president intends to attend the event, as he has told all of you publicly. I don’t want to rule in or out the vice president’s attendance, but certainly that’s a conversation that will take place,” she said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters on Monday.

The White House urged Democrats in Congress to fund the Department of Homeland Security in the wake of the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

“The Democrats’ obstruction is placing an enormous and totally pointless burden on the Secret Service that can get more people killed. Enough is enough. There should be no further debate about this,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday in the White House briefing room.

“Democrats need to do what President Trump has been calling on them to do for 73 days in a row and fund the Department of Homeland Security, period. This is a national emergency and every member of Congress needs to put their country over party and get the Department of Homeland Security funded,” Leavitt added.

She called the lapsed funding a “national scandal” that deserves more attention.

“If Republicans defunded DHS, and we saw an another attempted assassination on a Democrat president, I would hope that the media coverage would be relentless and unforgiving, and I hope that it continues to be now with the World Cup, America 250, the 2028 Olympics and a presidential election all ahead,” she said.

Secret Service agents respond near President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump during the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday.

Security measures around large-scale events must be reevaluated following Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, House Speaker Mike Johnson said, aruging the shooting underscored the need for a White House ballroom.

“Secret Service did a great job; valiant people there. But obviously we do need to look at security measures,” Johnson told reporters Monday as he arrived at the US Capitol.

He also underscored the stakes of the event: “You had the president, the vice president, speaker of the House, that’s the first three in line (of succession) … half the Cabinet, at least, was there.”

Saturday night’s episode demonstrated why President Donald Trump should be able to construct a White House ballroom, Johnson said, echoing arguments made by the administration.

“This is why we need the ballroom. It really is. The president’s right about that. We need a facility that is secure enough to host events like this without having major national security concerns,” the Louisiana Republican said.

DHS funding: Following the shooting, calls are growing on Capitol Hill for Congress to finally pass funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which has been shut down since mid-February.

The Senate earlier this month sent the House a measure that would fund the department — excluding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol — but House Republican leaders have not put it on the floor for a vote.

The speaker was noncommittal when pressed by CNN’s Lauren Fox on when exactly he’ll bring DHS funding to the floor. But he said the matter was “urgent.”

Jimmy Kimmel appeared on a mock version of the White House Correspondents' Dinner during his April 23 show.

First lady Melania Trump implied late-night show host Jimmy Kimmel should lose his job over a mock White House Correspondents’ Dinner sketch on his show last week.

As part of the skit, Kimmel delivered a series of jokes, including one saying the first lady had “a glow like an expectant widow.”

Kimmel made the joke Thursday on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” days before the alleged gunman attempted to enter the event where President Donald Trump, Melania Trump and other top officials were evacuated.

The first lady called Kimmel “a coward” and wrote: “Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand.”

Here are some of the latest developments in the aftermath of this weekend’s shooting:

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel and US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro plan to hold a press conference after the alleged gunman at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner appears in court.

The event is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET.

The alleged gunman, identified as Cole Allen, will make his first appearance in DC federal court this afternoon.

He is expected to be arraigned on charges that include using a firearm in a violent crime. The charges have not yet been released and the investigation is active.

In a photo obtained by CNN, Cole Tomas Allen is seen covered with a mylar blanket after being arrested. His clothes were removed by officers who searched him for weapons and wounds.

Authorities are going through a message sent by the suspected gunman involved in Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner attack, seeking to understand what allegedly led him from his life as a respected California teacher to a would-be assassin.

“Let me start off by apologizing to everyone whose trust I abused,” reads a note that authorities say was sent by the suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old from Torrance, California, who worked part-time as a teacher and also developed video games, according to public records.

In the note Allen allegedly sent to family members before the attack, he called himself the “Friendly Federal Assassin,” said he intended to target Trump administration officials and vented political anger, adding, “I don’t expect forgiveness.”

Investigators are reviewing the statement Allen allegedly sent and his social media history — which President Donald Trump has described as “anti-Christian” — speaking to family members and seeking to learn more about what drove him to allegedly carry out the violent attack.

The note laid out several grievances in broad terms that could point authorities toward a motive, including anger toward conditions in detention camps and appearing to refer to Trump as a “traitor.”

Allen had a tendency to make radical statements as he became involved in left-wing activism in Los Angeles, acquired firearms and began regularly practicing at a firing range, his sister told law enforcement, according to the White House.

A crane is seen above the construction site of President Trump's White House ballroom on April 1.

Lawyers for the historic preservation group suing President Donald Trump over his plans to build a massive new White House ballroom told the Justice Department yesterday that it was “incorrect and irresponsible” for a top official to suggest the litigation puts the president’s life at risk.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which has rebuffed a request from the department to drop the case in light of the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, told the department in a letter that claims made earlier Sunday about the potential impact of the litigation were meritless.

The group emphasized that the case wasn’t focused on whether there should be a new ballroom but rather whether Trump could proceed without congressional approval. A federal judge agreed with the group last month and ordered construction to stop, but an appeals court has paused that decision.

Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate had demanded the trust drop its “folly of a lawsuit that literally serves no purpose,” arguing that the ballroom would ensure presidents don’t need to travel outside the White House to attend large gatherings like the one at the Washington Hilton on Saturday.

Observers, however, have pointed out that the correspondents’ dinner is a private event and that a new ballroom would not change that reality.

Shumate said that if the group didn’t agree to end the litigation, the department would ask a federal court to dismiss the case, though that ask has not yet happened.

Los Angeles County prosecutor Paul Thompson, who told the Los Angeles Times he lives next door to the family of Cole Tomas Allen, described the suspect’s parents as “good people” in an email to CNN.

Thompson specified he was “answering as a private citizen and not as a representative of my work.” He is currently running for election to the Superior Court of Los Angeles County and has been endorsed by the county’s Democratic Party.

The prosecutor said he met Allen’s parents when they moved in to their home about 3-4 years ago but had “basically no interactions” with Allen, who has been identified by sources as the suspect in the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

“He didn’t make eye contact much when I saw him, and I probably said ‘hi’ to him once or twice,” he wrote. “I only saw him in passing and didn’t notice a change in his behavior.”

He described the family as “quiet.”

“I didn’t ever observe anything that stands out,” he said.