The suspect at the White House correspondents’ dinner wrote of targeting Trump officials before the shooting. King Charles is headed to the U.S. to celebrate America’s 250th birthday and mend Britain’s relationship with Trump. Plus, Elon Musk and Sam Altman square off in a trial that could influence OpenAI’s future.
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Here’s what to know today.
Suspect in correspondents’ dinner shooting wrote of targeting the Trump administration
The teacher and engineer accused of opening fire outside the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner is expected to be charged today in federal court, officials said, after the weekend shooting rocked attendees of the annual event — the first one President Donald Trump attended while in office.
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The suspect was identified by a federal official familiar with the case as Cole Tomas Allen, of Torrance, California.
Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C, said the suspect would be charged with two counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence and a second crime of assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon. She added that “many more charges” were expected to be filed.
Just 10 minutes before the attack, Allen wrote in a note he sent to family members that he believed it was his duty to target Trump administration officials. The note — in which he apologized to his parents, colleagues, students, bystanders and others for what he was about to do — criticized Trump but didn’t mention him by name.
A senior administration official said that Allen’s brother contacted law enforcement in Connecticut when he received the note. Allen’s sister told the Secret Service after the shooting that her brother had a tendency to make radical statements.
Allen was armed with a shotgun, handgun and knives when he rushed a security checkpoint and ran toward the ballroom where the black-tie dinner was being held, authorities said. He exchanged gunfire with law enforcement and was tackled to the ground.
Public records show that Allen was a trained engineer who graduated from the California Institute of Technology. A former high school volleyball teammate described Allen as a “borderline genius” and “probably the most gentle person” on their team. A professor at Cal State Dominguez Hills, where Allen attended graduate school, remembered him as “soft spoken, very polite, a good fellow.”
What else we know about the suspect.
Follow the latest on our liveblog.
More coverage of the shooting:
- Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker that authorities believe Allen traveled by train from Los Angeles to Chicago, and then on to Washington, D.C. Blanche also said that Allen is not cooperating with investigators.
- Trump is using the shooting to gin up support for his $400 million White House ballroom, which has faced various legal challenges that threaten to shut down the project. But it’s uncertain if the correspondents’ dinner would even be hosted there.
Fuel is so expensive that America’s shrimpers can’t afford to work
As of last week, it cost around $80,000 to fill up the fuel tank on Capt. Wilmer Ruiz’s shrimp boat. The trouble is, the crew would need to bring in close to three times the usual catch to make it worth getting on the water. So his trawler, the Uncle Billy, sits at a dock in Brownsville, Texas. It hasn’t left its port since the start of the Iran war, when the price of diesel surged to as high as $4.75 per gallon — more than double what it was a year ago. “If the diesel doesn’t go down, I’m going to have to look for other jobs,” Ruiz said. “The industry is going to disappear.”
King Charles seeks to reset Britain’s relationship with the U.S.
This year, the U.S. will celebrate 250 years of independence from British rule with fireworks, parties — and a visit from the king? King Charles and Queen Camilla are set to arrive in Washington today to help America celebrate its 250th birthday. That includes a private tea ceremony with Trump and the first lady, an address to Congress and trips to New York and Virginia. There’s also a larger mission, which Charles has chosen to accept: repairing what’s known in Britain as the “special relationship” with the U.S.
In recent months, Trump has questioned the contribution of NATO soldiers during the Afghanistan war; he has also publicly attacked British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for his lack of support for the war with Iran.
Read more about the mixed reaction in Britain to the king’s visit.
More politics news:
- Supreme Court justices will today consider the lawfulness broad police requests for cellphone location data.
- Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said he’ll vote to confirm Kevin Warsh, Trump’s nominee to leave the Federal Reserve, after Tillis blocked the nomination for weeks.
What’s at stake in the Elon Musk-Sam Altman trial
It’s a trial so unusual, not even artificial intelligence could make it up. Jury selection begins today in California for a civil trial that features billionaires Elon Musk and Sam Altman. The case is one part business dispute and one part highly personal grudge match — and it could determine the future of red-hot startup OpenAI and its signature app, ChatGPT.
At the heart of the case is OpenAI’s transformation from a nonprofit research center founded in 2015 into a for-profit behemoth. Musk said OpenAI’s move to become a for-profit company is a betrayal because Altman and others accepted his money, advice and time under the pretense of creating a public-spirited enterprise. Altman counters that Musk never gave the full $1 billion he pledged and that Musk previously agreed about the need to convert OpenAI into a for-profit company.
Learn more about the simmering tensions between the CEOs.
Read All About It
- Hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough between the U.S. and Iran faded over the weekend, as efforts to revive peace talks stalled.
- A recent survey of nearly 600 adults found that 85% of them said they would take a blood test to assess their Alzheimer’s risk. But some doctors aren’t sure they help.
- The man accused of killing two University of South Florida doctoral students asked ChatGPT about putting a person in a trash bag and throwing them in a dumpster, according to a court filing.
- The two-hour barrier for a marathon has officially been broken — not one runner, but two.
Staff Pick: Deportation fears make immigrants easy targets for scams
Odalys González Silvera, a 61-year-old Venezuelan immigrant who has lived in New York for 30 years, said her life changed dramatically after she sought legal help for a family member in immigration detention in Arizona. She said she contacted a Facebook account appearing to belong to a law firm. After a series of payments and no progress, she realized she was being scammed. In total, she spent $5,488.
She and other immigrants told Noticias Telemundo reporter Albinson Linares that they’ve lost up to $11,000 to people who impersonated law firms or staged fake hearings via video calls.
Each time I read a story about a scam, I’m filled with fear and sympathy. The tricks scammers pull to lure in victims sometimes seem so simple that I wonder if one day I’ll fall for one. And the resignation from victims who must accept they’ll never get their hard-earned money back is always saddening. I hope articles like this one help people stay vigilant on the internet and in real life. — Elizabeth Robinson, newsletter editor
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