Press dinner shooting suspect charged with attempting to assassinate the president

By Betsy Klein, Kevin Liptak, CNN Politics

(CNN) – Cole Tomas Allen, the suspect in the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, has been charged with attempting to assassinate the president among other charges. The 31-year-old made his first appearance in federal court on Monday. Investigators are examining a message alleged to be from the suspect.

President Donald Trump said in an interview he “wasn’t worried” there would be injuries after the sound of gunfire rang out, detailing how he and first lady Melania Trump realized the seriousness of the situation.

Meanwhile, the White House operations team, US Secret Service and leaders at the Department of Homeland Security will convene this week to discuss security protocol for major events involving Trump.

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

The Administration 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 from Republicans and the president himself.

President Trump, who has frequently used inflammatory rhetoric against his political opponents, initially called for unity after the shooting 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.”

The-CNN-Wire
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