Apr. 26, 2026, 7:35 PM EDT

Trump administration officials — “likely including the president” — were the apparent targets of the shooting at the annual White House correspondents’ dinner, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday.

In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” the morning after President Donald Trump was rushed off stage by Secret Service agents as guests ducked under dining tables while shots rang out at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, Blanche said of the gunman: “We believe that he was targeting administration officials.”

Blanche cautioned that the belief is “quite preliminary” as law-enforcement officials sift through evidence.  The acting attorney general said investigators had recovered the suspect’s “electronic devices” and that “there were some writings, and we’ve already spoken with several witnesses who knew him.”

He did not elaborate on the writings. But the New York Post obtained what it called a 1,052-word missive from the gunman, sent to his family members moments before he carried out the foiled attack, in which he said he intended to target administration officials.

The suspect referred to himself as the “Friendly Federal Assassin” in closing his letter. Law enforcement sources described the writings to MS NOW as anti-Trump in nature but not aligned to one specific ideology.

In an interview on Sunday with CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” Trump said he read the alleged gunman’s manifesto. “He’s radicalized,” Trump said. “He was probably a pretty sick guy.”

U.S. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Sunday that the suspect’s brother in New London, Connecticut, contacted local police, who then alerted the Secret Service. Guglielmi said the Secret Service learned of the suspect’s writings sometime between 9 and 11 p.m. ET Saturday night.

Blanche said investigators believe that the suspect, which a former senior law enforcement official identified to MS NOW as 31-year old California resident Cole Tomas Allen, acted alone. He said the man traveled by train from Los Angeles to Chicago and then from Chicago to Washington. The suspect had two firearms on him that were purchased legally in past couple of years, Blanche said.

The armed suspect was tackled near a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton hotel, where the event has been held annually for decades, before he could enter the ballroom. He was taken into custody, hospitalized and remains under observation, according to D.C. interim Police Chief Jeff Carroll. The gunman shot a Secret Service agent in his protective vest and that agent was injured but in good condition, Trump told reporters Saturday night.

Trump, Vice President JD Vance and several top administration officials — including Blanche — were in attendance.

“Obviously, President Trump is a member of the administration, the head of it,” Blanche noted on Sunday. But he said any “exacting threat that may have been communicated beforehand” are still under investigation and not yet known.

Blanche said he expected formal charges, which he said would likely include assault of a federal officer and discharging a firearm during the assault of a federal officer, would be filed on Monday.

CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, called the shooting a “harrowing moment,” and thanked Secret Service and law enforcement personnel.

“Our dinner exists to celebrate the First Amendment and the hard daily work of the journalists who defend it. Last night, those journalists showed exactly the kind of calm and courage that work demands, jumping into reporting immediately after the incident unfolded,” Jiang said in a statement Sunday.

Jiang said late Saturday night that Trump “insists” the dinner be rescheduled within 30 days, but details of a new event have not been announced.

Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.

Apr. 26, 2026, 10:56 AM EDT

WASHINGTON — As hundreds of journalists exchanged hugs, handshakes and laughter, while they and other attendees took their seats, White House Correspondents’ Association President Weijia Jiang welcomed everyone to this year’s dinner — Donald Trump’s first as president.

A military color guard played the national anthem. Like most events involving a U.S. president, every action was carefully choreographed. The atmosphere felt both routine and yet still historic. The sound of forks hitting plates clattered as Jiang gave her brief remarks, and people returned to conversation.

Suddenly, multiple loud bangs rang out from behind the closed doors of the oval underground ballroom in the Hilton Hotel. Journalists, friends, lawmakers, congressional staffers, and members of Trump’s Cabinet and other administration officials — dropped to the ground. Plates shattered, and chairs toppled over as people took cover under tablecloth-covered tables.

MS NOW reporter Julia Jester, who had reported on air from the red carpet leading up to the event, had briefly gone to an upper level of the hotel and returned to see her fellow journalists crouched on the floor.

“Just as someone said there was a shooter, an officer shouted to ‘get down and stay down,’” Jester recalled. “Not long after, a Secret Service agent ran into the area shouting, ‘Everyone out, this is now an active crime scene.’ Anyone who tried to run back to grab belongings was warned to leave or face arrest. They were not playing around.”

The evening is an annual celebration of the freedom of the press, one that typically includes a comedian’s performance and a joke-filled speech from the president along with the presentation of awards to journalists. Trump broke with tradition in his first term by not attending; his presence Saturday was a lightning rod for debate in the wake of his lawsuits against and threats to sue several media outlets over the past year.

Tension was expected to center on First Amendment speech protections. Instead, the night was derailed by gun violence, another growing threat to America’s democracy.

Outside the ballroom, a man — later identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California — had attempted to run through a security checkpoint with two guns, along with multiple knives, according to Jeffery Carroll, D.C. interim police chief. Several MS NOW reporters, producers and executives were seated in the ballroom, a below-ground space with notoriously poor cellphone service.

“It wasn’t until we were all outside that I remembered how odd, and mildly concerning, I thought it was when no one screened me — or my bags — when I arrived on the terrace-level hours before [most attendees] to cover the red carpet,” Jester said. “The reality sunk in: as jarring as tonight was, it could have been far worse.”

Inside the room, Republican Rep. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana was seated near the center aisle. He estimated he was 50 to 75 feet from the back doors, when “all of a sudden,” he said, “we hear these large gunshots.”

MS NOW “Way Too Early” anchor and senior congressional reporter Ali Vitali heard shouts of “shots fired.”

“Someone behind me shouted ‘get down’ and I hit the floor, grabbing Symone Sanders next to me and telling her to get under the table,” she said. “I worried we couldn’t find cover because of how tightly packed the chairs and tables were. One of the servers also dropped down near us.”

“After a minute, I put my phone in the air and starting filming the dais, trying to understand where the president was,” Vitali said. Then she realized the server on the ground next to her was sobbing. “So, I used one hand in the air with my phone and the other to hold hers, and tell her it was going to be OK.”

Multiple Secret Service agents sprinted to the stage, where Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt were seated along with the board members of the White House Correspondents’ Association. As the guests on the dais crouched down and then were evacuated from their table, heavily-armed officers stood guard on the stage.

Quiet fell across the room, as uncertainty and fear spread among the guests. “I don’t recall any screaming. How much of the silence in that room was learned behavior?” Jonathan Capehart, co-anchor of “The Weekend,” reflected about the experience after years of mass shootings in America.

“It felt like a long moment,” said Stutzman.

In an interview with MS NOW’s Mychael Schnell shortly after the incident, Stutzman and Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Ariz., recounted following Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, and other officials down the center aisle as they were ushered out of the ballroom.

Hamadeh spotted Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. among those being rushed to safety. “When everybody was down there [on the floor]I’m just hearing people praying,” the Arizona congressman said. “People were obviously scared.”

White House reporter Jake Traylor, who covered the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, during the 2024 campaign, also began filming on his cellphone. “We were a few feet away from FBI Director Kash Patel. I saw agents covering and protecting him moments after the commotion began,” he said.

“We actually left the exit where Ronald Reagan was shot just over 40 years ago,” MS NOW’s senior White House reporter Vaughn Hillyard told viewers on air as law enforcement officials asked him to move further back from the scene.

Hillyard recalled seeing House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth being escorted out by their security details.

Kari Lake, who has overseen a gutting of the government-funding international news agency Voice of America into a pro-Trump media organization, expressed disdain for journalists in the room as she exited in an interview with Newsmax, a conservative streaming service, moments after the shooting.

“I saw so many people from all of these news outlets,” Lake said, accusing journalists of spreading falsehoods. “They’re part to blame of this,” she claimed moments after the shooting occurred and only as an investigation was just underway.

Back inside the ballroom, MS NOW’s Traylor reported that the president was safe and that he still intended to deliver a speech from the dinner, citing a White House official.

The president posted on social media that he wanted to “LET THE SHOW GO ON.” He praised law enforcement’s swift response and announced a press conference at the White House after it was determined that, following security guidance, he would leave the premises. Attendees were soon asked to leave the hotel as law enforcement investigated what had become a crime scene.

Trump posted a photo of a man handcuffed on the carpeted floor of the hotel and then shared video of a person charging through a security checkpoint. Shortly after, he addressed journalists — many still dressed in gowns and tuxedos — from the White House briefing room, saying the posts were part of an effort to create transparency as law enforcement worked to learn more about the suspect and possible motives.

“It’s always shocking when something like this happens,” Trump told reporters. “Melania was very cognizant, I think, of what happened. I think she knew immediately what happened. She was saying, ‘That’s a bad noise,’ and we were whisked away.”

MS NOW “The Weeknight” anchor Symone Sanders recalled on air riding a scooter up to the driveway of the Hilton, describing her ability to arrive that close to the entrance as “unusual” compared to previous dinners. She questioned the hotel’s overall security after attending numerous events where presidents and vice presidents were present.

It is unclear whether Trump was the intended target, but, if so, this would be the third time a gunman has targeted Trump since 2024. In the Washington Hilton Saturday  night were two officials in the presidential line of succession: the vice president and House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Unlike Lake, Trump praised the reaction of journalists in the room and what he saw of the event before it was derailed. “I told the representatives of the evening, and they did such a beautiful job with such a beautiful evening,” the president said. “They’re talking about free speech in our Constitution. That’s what it’s all about.”

As he addressed the reporters in the briefing room who sprang into action to tell the world what had happened, he also took questions and shared that he has “studied assassinations.”

“The people that make the biggest impact, they’re the ones that they go after,” Trump said. “I hate to say I’m honored by that, but I’ve done a lot. We’ve done a lot.”

Contributed Jake Traylor, Ali Vitali, Symone Sanders, Mychael Schnell, Ken Dilianian, Carol Leonnig.

Akayla Gardner is a White House correspondent for MS NOW.