US politics live updates: Trump dinner shooter identified as Cole Tomas Allen; Iran peace talks on hold as ceasefire between Israel, Lebanon becomes fragile

• The gunman arrested at the Washington Hilton, outside the room where US President Donald Trump and members of his administration were attending the White House Correspondents’ dinner, has been identified as Cole Tomas Allen.
• The 31-year-old from California has been accused of trying to breach a security checkpoint at the dinner while armed with multiple weapons.
• Allen’s brother contacted law enforcement after receiving writings from Allen referring to himself as a “Friendly Federal Assassin”.
• Allen’s sister has been interviewed by federal agents, and described her brother as prone to making radical statements.
• Allen legally bought a .38-caliber semiautomatic pistol in October 2023 and a 12-gauge shotgun two years later.
• Investigators are examining whether his grievances centred on Trump and Vice President JD Vance personally or reflected a broader hostility towards the administration.
• Allen is believed to have travelled by train from California to Chicago and then onto Washington, where he checked himself in as a guest at the hotel days before the gala dinner was held.
• Allen was tackled to the ground as he attempted to charge into the ballroom at the Washington Hilton. Shots were exchanged and a US Secret Service agent, wearing a bulletproof vest, was hit in the chest.

with AP

Former US President Barack Obama has called on Americans to “reject the idea that violence has any place in our democracy”.

Obama said the incident was also a sobering reminder of the courage and sacrifice displayed by Secret Service agents, who are tasked with protecting political leaders, their families, and visiting leaders.

Secret Service agents also protect former presidents.

Obama, elected in 2008, re-elected in 2012, and succeeded by US President Donald Trump when he was first elected in 2016, said he is “grateful to them – and thankful that the agent who was shot is going to be okay”.

The arrest of a gunman outside a ballroom hosting the White House Correspondents’ dinner has prompted security concerns.

The suspect, identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, allegedly tried to breach a security checkpoint armed with a handgun, shotgun, and knives.

It’s believed he travelled from California to Chicago via train and then on to Washington DC, checking in to the hotel in the days before the incident.

The arrest of a gunman outside a room where US President Donald Trump and key members of his administration were attending the White House Correspondents’ dinner took place at the same hotel where a gunman tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan 45 years ago.

Reagan, along with his press secretary James Brady, a US Secret Service agent and a Washington policeman were shot outside the Washington Hilton on March 30, 1981.

All four survived the shooting, but Brady’s eventual death in 2014 was ruled a homicide caused by the shooting.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong is travelling to Japan, China and South Korea this week to secure supply chains for vital commodities including fuel and fertiliser, as stalling peace talks prompt further uncertainty over oil supply through the Strait of Hormuz.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles this morning said the government had done “a good job” amid supply shocks triggered by the war in the Middle East.

“The foreign minister will be seeking to work with these countries around securing fuel supplies to Australia, and that’s across all types, but I think particularly jet fuel and diesel, which are the fuel types that are most under pressure,” Marles told ABC Radio National this morning.

“We’ve done a good job up until now in terms of being able to secure supply to Australia, but we’re very cognisant of what may play out going forward.”

Israeli strikes killed 14 people and wounded 37 on Sunday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said, as the Israeli military warned residents to leave seven towns beyond the “buffer zone” it occupied before a ceasefire that has failed to fully halt hostilities.

Sunday’s death toll included two children and two women, the ministry added in a statement. Israel said one of its soldiers was also killed.

A spokesperson for the Israeli military said in a statement on X that Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was violating the ceasefire and that Israel would act against it, telling people to head north and west away from the towns. The ceasefire is between Israel and Lebanon, and does not involve Hezbollah.

The towns are north of the Litani River and the zone in southern Lebanon occupied by Israeli troops, who have continued military operations despite the ceasefire. The military said that it struck Hezbollah fighters, rocket launchers and a weapons depot.

US President Donald Trump said Iran could telephone if it wanted to negotiate an end to their two-month war, stressing that Tehran could never have a nuclear weapon, while Iran’s foreign minister returned to Pakistan for talks despite the absence of US counterparts.

Hopes of reviving peace efforts receded on Saturday when Trump scrapped a visit to Islamabad by his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, even as Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi continued to shuttle between mediating countries.

“If they want to talk, they can come to us, or they can call us. You know, there is a telephone. We have nice, secure lines,” Trump told The Sunday Briefing on Fox News.

“They know what has to be in the agreement. It’s very simple: They cannot have a nuclear weapon, otherwise there’s no reason to meet,” Trump said.

US President Donald Trump has recorded an interview with 60 Minutes discussing the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ dinner.

The interview with the US version of the current affairs program will air after 9am today.

Presidential assistant Steven Cheung posted to social media a picture of Trump sitting down with a reporter from the program to record the interview.

Already Trump has used the incident at the Washington Hilton as evidence the ballroom being built at the White House is necessary.

“This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House.

“Nothing should be allowed to interfere with its construction, which is on budget and substantially ahead of schedule!!!” Trump posted on social media.

Efforts to resume peace talks over the Iran war stalled after US President Donald Trump cancelled a planned trip by his top envoys and the Islamic Republic said it won’t negotiate so long as it’s being threatened.

Trump on Saturday told Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to skip the trip to Pakistan, which is mediating talks, and later told reporters that Iran “offered a lot, but not enough.” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his nation won’t enter “imposed negotiations under threats or blockade.”

While a ceasefire has mostly held since early April, both countries are maintaining a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, making the key energy chokepoint virtually impassable. The disruption to about a fifth of the world’s oil flows has been dubbed the biggest supply shock in history by the International Energy Agency, and the conflict has prompted cuts to global economic growth forecasts.

“Too much time wasted on traveling,” Trump wrote in a social media post.

“Nobody knows who is in charge, including them. Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!”

Bloomberg

Washington: A manifesto allegedly written by the suspected correspondents’ dinner gunman in the minutes before his rampage suggests he was targeting a broad range of Trump administration officials and referred to himself as the “Friendly Federal Assassin”.

Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old man from California, is due to appear in court on Monday (US time) after he allegedly charged through security armed with a handgun and a 12-gauge shotgun, injuring a Secret Service agent, at the Washington Hilton on Saturday night (yesterday, AEST).

President Donald Trump confirmed the manifesto’s existence, and said it showed the suspect was a “sick” and “very troubled guy” who hated Christians.

“He had a lot of hatred in his heart for quite a while,” he told Fox News. “His family knew that he had difficulty … maybe they should have reported him a little bit more strongly, probably, but it’s a hard thing to do, I guess.”

King Charles will go ahead with a visit to Washington to see US President Donald Trump despite the heightened security concerns after the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner yesterday.

Officials from the White House and Buckingham Palace held talks overnight to discuss the security, but both sides confirmed the state visit would proceed.

The King, accompanied by Queen Camilla, is due to arrive in the US capital on Monday, US time (late today, AEST) for a four-day visit that will include meetings with Trump, a garden party, a banquet at the White House and a visit to New York to see the 9/11 memorial and speak with first responders and the families of victims of the terror attack on September 11, 2001.

Trump confirmed the royal visit when he spoke soon after a gunman was stopped by security officers in what is believed to have been an attempt to assassinate officials in the administration.