AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
A dramatic evening at the White House Correspondents' dinner last night. President Trump and the first lady were rushed out by law enforcement after a gunman fired shots outside the ballroom full of journalists and lawmakers. Trump was uninjured and gave a press conference in the White House briefing room afterwards. The dinner was canceled, but Trump said he wants it to happen at a later date. NPR's White House correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben joins us now. Good morning.
DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN, BYLINE: Hey, good morning, Ayesha.
RASCOE: So what happened here?
KURTZLEBEN: Well, colleagues of ours who were in the ballroom last night said they heard a sort of muffled popping sound soon after the National Anthem at the dinner. One colleague said it sounded kind of like popcorn. After that, law enforcement rushed the president, the first lady and other top officials away from the head table where they were seated. Everyone else in the ballroom, meanwhile, fell to the floor and waited for an all clear from law enforcement. And colleagues say it was a very frightening couple of minutes.
We now know, of course, that an alleged gunman was apprehended inside the hotel, not far from this ballroom that was full of really powerful people - cabinet members, Congress members and journalists. The White House Correspondents' Association President Weijia Jiang said that the dinner will be postponed. And she said in a statement today that the Association will meet to determine how to proceed from here.
Now, meanwhile, President Trump held a press conference at the White House late last night where he said one law enforcement officer was shot last night but is doing great - president's words - thanks to his bulletproof vest.
RASCOE: What do we know about the alleged shooter?
KURTZLEBEN: Well, information is just kind of trickling out. Two sources familiar with the matter identified this man as Cole Allen, a 31-year-old from Torrance, California. And a White House official, in an email to NPR today, said Allan's brother had alerted police just ahead of last night's attack of some sort of writing that Allan had composed. And the White House said this writing said that Allan wanted to target administration officials. However, NPR has not seen any of this writing independently, we should say. The White House official also said that Allan's sister told law enforcement that her brother sometimes, quote, "referenced a plan to do something to fix the issues with today's world," unquote.
Now, just a note here, it's very unusual for an anonymous White House official to be providing this kind of update on an ongoing criminal investigation. We also learned from Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for D.C. last night, that the suspect has been charged with using a firearm during a crime of violence and with assault of a federal officer using a dangerous weapon. And Pirro added, additional charges are expected, and the suspect will be arraigned on Monday in federal court.
RASCOE: So we're still learning about the potential motivations and target of this alleged gunman. But in July 2024, Trump survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, and you were there. And there was another attempted assassination that was thwarted later at his golf course.
KURTZLEBEN: Right. And first off, we should stress, there's a lot we don't know about the gunman's motivations last night. But depending on what we all learn in the coming days, given that context you just mentioned of those other incidents, there will likely be conversations about security, as there were after Butler. But as of last night, Trump had his own take. He said that he thinks any attempted political violence against him is because he's just been so consequential as a president.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: When you look at the people that have either - whether it was an attempt or a successful attempt, they're very impactful people. Just take a look at the names here. They're big names. And I hate to say I'm honored by that, but I've done a lot. We've done a lot.
KURTZLEBEN: He also said that this whole incident only underscores why the White House needs the massive ballroom he's building, which he says will have tight security for large events. And he reiterated that argument in a social media post today, but of course, the Correspondents' Dinner is not put on by the White House. It's a Correspondents' Associations event. And so it's hard to imagine them holding it on White House grounds.
RASCOE: That's NPR's White House correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben. Thank you so much.
KURTZLEBEN: Of course. Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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