Good afternoon. This is the Final NOTUS newsletter for April 27, 2026. You can get it in your inbox every day by signing up here — it’s free!

THE LATEST

The suspect accused of attempting to storm into Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner carrying multiple firearms was charged this afternoon with attempting to assassinate Donald Trump (along with two separate gun charges). Cole Tomas Allen, 31, made his first appearance in a D.C. federal court, where he did not enter a plea.

• Allen is expected back in court for another hearing later this week.

At Karoline Leavitt’s first briefing since the incident, the White House press secretary abandoned the conciliatory tone that Trump struck in the hours after the shooting and said there was “no difference at all” between Democrats’ rhetoric and the suspect’s alleged manifesto.

It’s all about the ballroom now. Senate Republicans are pushing several measures that would restart construction of the White House ballroom after a federal judge ordered Trump to seek congressional approval. They include a proposal from Lindsey Graham to appropriate taxpayer funds and another from Rand Paul that would allow the project to continue using private donations.

• The House got in on the action today as well. Rep. Randy Fine said he planned to introduce a “Build the Ballroom Act” that would allow construction to proceed.

THE HILL

Then there’s the rest of the to-do list. Speaker Mike Johnson has his work cut out for him as he attempts to host the U.K.’s King Charles III, thread the needle on FISA, end the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history, pass the crucial farm bill and deal with aforementioned calls to fund Trump’s ballroom.

• The DHS shutdown appears destined to continue. Johnson told reporters today that he would not hold a vote on an appropriations bill that cleared the Senate last week.

THE ADMINISTRATION

Jimmy Kimmel is once again the target of MAGA’s ire. Last Thursday, Kimmel called the first lady an “expectant widow” during a skit about the White House Correspondents’ dinner.

• By Monday, the clip caught Trump’s attention. He called it a “despicable call to violence” and demanded that ABC and Disney fire the late-night host.
• Melania Trump, in a social media post, also called for Kimmel’s network to “take a stand.”

JD Vance has questions. In closed-door meetings, the vice president has repeatedly questioned the Defense Department’s public depiction of the Iran war and asked whether the Pentagon has understated how depleted U.S. stockpiles of missiles have become, The Atlantic reported.

• Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have publicly characterized the stockpiles as robust. Trump has suggested they are “virtually unlimited.”

THE STATES

New Florida map? A week after Virginia voters approved a new map that could give Democrats all but one of that state’s U.S. House seats, Gov. Ron DeSantis showed off a redistricting plan today that could add up to four Republican seats to Florida’s congressional delegation.

• Florida has a constitutional ban on partisan gerrymandering — but DeSantis’ office argued in a memo to lawmakers obtained by the Tampa Bay Times that the “race-based requirements” included in that ban make the measure illegal, citing a pending Supreme Court case involving the Voting Rights Act.

FOR THOSE WONDERING

Thank you for reading! Today’s newsletter was produced by Kate Nocera and Andrew Burton. If you liked it, please forward it to a friend. If someone shared it with you, please subscribe — it’s free! Got a tip or comments to share? Email us at finalnotus@notus.com.