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WHCA shooting latest: Suspect due in court; dinner security hotly debated

10 0
27.04.2026

WHCA shooting latest: Suspect due in court; dinner security hotly debated 

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It’s Monday. Well, this is definitely not the newsletter edition I expected to post after White House Correspondents’ Association dinner weekend. I’m so thankful no one was hurt.  

WHCA shooting suspect’s first court appearance 

Journalists recount shooting 

King Charles, Queen Camilla arrive in DC today 

Supreme Court weighs police’s digital data access 

Trump backs renaming ‘ICE’ to ‘NICE’ 

🚔 News of the morning 

The suspect’s first expected court appearance: 

The alleged gunman who tried to enter the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday is expected to make his first court appearance today.  

💻 Livestream outside the courthouse 

Several media outlets have identified the suspect through law enforcement sources as 31-year-old Cole Allen, though The Hill has not independently verified the suspect’s identity. Allen is from Torrence, Calif., and is a professional game designer with a master’s degree in computer science. Read more about Allen 

He left behind a written “manifesto,” according to several outlets including CBS News, where he wrote about his anger toward the Trump administration. The writing suggested he was targeting members of Trump’s team, per The New York Times. 

^ President Trump slammed CBS News’s Norah O’Donnell for reading the reported manifesto. 

How did the suspect make it inside?: There has been wide criticism of the level of security to enter the dinner with the president and top White House officials present. 

U.S. attorney general Todd Blanche says the suspect had checked into the hotel. The Washington Post reports that the alleged gunman sprinted through the magnetometer and made it roughly 60 feet before being stopped. Trump joked the NFL “should sign him up.”  

This was the same venue as Reagan’s attempted assassination: The Associated Press pointed out that former President Ronald Reagan was shot in the chest when leaving the Washington Hilton, the very same hotel where a gunman tried to enter the ballroom on Saturday. 

💬 Follow today’s live blog 

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS FROM THE WASHINGTON HILTON: 

The dinner included some of the best journalists in the world, who documented the events as they........

© The Hill