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WHCD Suspect Was ‘Targeting Members of the Administration,’ Blanche Says

The suspect is not cooperating, though investigators have inspected his “writings” and evidence obtained through “other means,” the acting attorney general said.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche

Francis Chung/POLITICO/AP

Federal law enforcement officials believe that the suspect in a shooting that prompted the evacuation of President Donald Trump from the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was looking to target high-profile members of the administration, acting attorney general Todd Blanche said Sunday morning.

He did, however, stress that the evidence was preliminary and that the investigation remains ongoing.

“I don‘t want to go beyond that, because we don‘t have specifics yet about particular members of the administration, except that we do understand that that was his goal and his target,” Blanche said during an interview on CNN.

Authorities have identified the suspect to multiple news outlets as Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, and said that he traveled by train from Los Angeles to Washington prior to Saturday’s incident. Allen had checked into the Washington Hilton, where the event was taking place, several days prior, Washington’s interim police chief Jeffery Carroll said Saturday at a news conference.

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Officials said the 31-year-old “lone wolf” was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and several knives when he ran through a metal detector and engaged with agents operating the security checkpoint, after which he was quickly apprehended.

It does not appear that the suspect was struck in the crossfire, and it remains unclear whether he personally fired any shots.

During an impromptu White House news conference shortly after the incident, Trump revealed that one Secret Service agent was injured when a bullet struck their bulletproof vest, though the president said he had spoken with the officer and they were doing “great.” Authorities on Sunday morning said the agent had been released from the hospital.

Allen is not cooperating with the investigation and what little information investigators have gleaned comes from his “writings” and evidence obtained through “other means,” Blanche said.

“We‘ve already started talking to folks who knew him. We‘ve already started going through the evidence,” Blanche said. “It’s been 12 hours, so this is not something that is over — it‘s just starting.”

The suspect is likely to be charged in federal court Monday on a number of counts, including the use of a firearm during a violent crime and assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon, the U.S. Attorney for D.C., Jeanine Pirro, said on Saturday night.