The annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, held last Saturday at the Washington Hilton Hotel, ended in chaos as attendees, including President Trump, were rushed out by the Secret Service or ducked for cover under tables just past 8:30 p.m. after a gunman charged past a security checkpoint and began firing outside the ballroom, wounding a Secret Service agent.
This was the third attempt on Trump’s life in the past two years, and the President held a hastily organized presser with reporters at the White House late Saturday after the dinner’s attendees had been evacuated or left of their own accord. According to PBS News, Trump was ‘unusually conciliatory,’ striking a tone different from what many Americans may be used to hearing, one urging bipartisanship and unity.
“We have to, we have to resolve our differences,” Trump said. “I will say, you had Republicans, Democrats, independents, conservatives, liberals and progressives. Those words are interchangeable, perhaps, but maybe they’re not. But yet everybody in that room, big crowd, record-setting crowd, there was a record-setting group of people, and there was a tremendous amount of love and coming together. I watched, I watched, and I was very, very impressed by that.”
Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old California native, was arrested shortly thereafter and charged with three criminal counts: use of a firearm during a crime of violence, transportation of a firearm in interstate commerce with intent to commit a felony and an attempt to assassinate a United States President.
Allen was arraigned on Monday, with U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro suggesting that he would be charged with more than just one assassination attempt.
“It is clear, based upon what we know so far, that this individual was intent on doing as much harm and as much damage as he could, and thankfully, because of the checkpoint right outside the ballroom where thousands of people were situated to hear the President of the United States, that checkpoint worked,” Pirro said. “There was no one who was injured, but it was clear where this defendant was going.”
Despite a heavy Secret Service presence, CBS News reported on Monday that identification was not required anywhere within the hotel, and only a physical ticket or screenshot of a ticket was required to gain entry to the ballroom. The Secret Service maintained in the aftermath that the ballroom itself was secure, which is why there was a delay in evacuating attendees.
Federal authorities raided Allen’s California home in the early hours of Sunday, while also investigating a note alleged to be written by the gunman. According to The New York Times, the note suggests the President, among other administration officials, was his main target, writing, “I’m no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.”
Less than 24 hours later, the President sat down with CBS News correspondent Norah O’Donnell, who quoted directly from Allen’s alleged manifesto, angering Trump.
“I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would,” Trump said. “Because you’re horrible people. Horrible people. Yeah, he did write that. I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody.”
O’Donnell asked if Trump believed the manifesto was referring to him, to which the President responded that he was “not a pedophile,” before going on to further attack O’Donnell during the rest of the interview.
Since then, Trump has had to refocus as King Charles III and Queen Camilla visited the White House on Tuesday. The King addressed Congress, the second British monarch to do so since his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, did in 1991, in a time of uncertainty regarding American-British relations. The President said on Monday that the King would be very safe, as both governments increased security in light of Saturday’s events.
