Donald Trump has survived two attempts on his life in three years, one of them an extremely close call when a bullet grazed his ear. On Saturday, a gunman appears to have targeted him again.
The attack has put the spotlight back on a worrying rise in political violence in the United States. The gunman is in custody. Investigators are still trying to piece together the motive for his attack. We have more for you below.
Trump officials were ‘likely’ targets of shooting
The armed man who rushed an event attended by President Trump sent messages denouncing the administration and laying out a plan to take violent action, according to a person familiar with the investigation.
Trump said the gunman had written a “manifesto” before trying to enter a dinner event for the White House press corps in Washington on Saturday, but did not give details. The acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, said a preliminary review of the evidence had indicated that members of the administration, “likely including the president,” were the targets. Here’s the latest.
Law enforcement officials identified the suspect as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, Calif. He was carrying knives, a shotgun and a handgun when he was taken into custody, and was believed to be staying as a guest at the hotel hosting the dinner when he carried out the attack.
My colleague Shawn McCreesh, who was part of the White House press pool at the dinner, described the frantic scene in the video below.
Many guests took cover on the ground as security agents escorted out members of Trump’s cabinet. Trump, along with Vice President JD Vance and the first lady, Melania Trump, took their seats just a few minutes earlier.
Security video posted by Trump on Truth Social shows the suspect running through the foyer of the terrace level, one floor above the ballroom where the dinner was taking place. Here’s a timeline of how the shooting unfolded.
The gunman faces federal firearm and assault charges and is expected to appear in court today.
The attack revived questions about political violence in the U.S. and about security around Trump, one of the most targeted presidents in history. In 2024, he was grazed by a bullet in an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Months later, Secret Service agents opened fire on a man armed with a rifle at his Florida golf club.
Trump hasn’t been the only target. Melissa Hortman, a Democratic state lawmaker in Minnesota, was fatally shot, alongside her husband, at her home last June. Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist, was killed while speaking on a university campus a few months later.
For more: The Washington Hilton Hotel, where the dinner was taking place, was also the site of an attempted assassination in 1981 that left President Ronald Reagan seriously wounded.
Iran-U.S. talks stalled as risks grew
Iran and the U.S. have sunk into an awkward limbo of “no war, no peace,” as an Iranian newspaper described it over the weekend. Neither side seems willing to give ground that could move talks forward. Analysts are warning about the risks to the global economy.
Trump on Saturday called off sending his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner to Pakistan for a second round of talks. Iranian officials maintain they will not meet for direct negotiations until Trump lifts a naval blockade on Iranian ports.
The cease-fires in Iran and in Lebanon are on shaky ground. Israel and Hezbollah traded strikes in Lebanon yesterday.
My colleague Eric Schmitt looked at how the U.S. military has been burning through critical munitions in its Iran campaign. The cost of the war has hit nearly $1 billion a day. Watch his video.
Every day we’re faced with small choices: Go to sleep early, or watch one more episode of that Netflix drama. Call an old friend to catch up, or cruise social media. Of course, no single action will guarantee a long, healthy life. But those little daily decisions can make a difference. This quiz will help you understand the factors that shape the way we age.
Forty years after the meltdown at the Chernobyl power plant, the world’s worst nuclear disaster, the area around the site in northern Ukraine remains a landscape of ghost towns. Now, another disaster has been layered on that one: a war fought in a radioactive zone.
The area is now controlled by the Ukrainian Army and fortified against Russian attacks. But last year, a Russian drone punched a hole in a $2.5 billion outer containment shell over a ruined reactor, setting back efforts to isolate the worst of Chernobyl’s radiation by two decades. Read more.
AROUND THE WORLD
Japan’s fashion designers go global
Want to know where men’s fashion is heading? Follow the obsessive shoppers. The ones fixated, with a NASA technician’s precision, on how to size moleskin trousers.
These days, they are focused on a vanguard of newish-to-the-West labels from Japan, like A.Presse, Comoli, Auralee and T.T. Many of these shoppers, priced out by luxury fashion labels, have convinced themselves that Japanese labels are a better value. Browse the looks.
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