Acting attorney general says suspect in White House press dinner shooting was likely targeting Trump administration officials

Blanche said in a live interview with CNN on Sunday morning, when asked if the suspect apprehended could be charged with trying to assassinate the US president, “absolutely”.

Earlier in the day he said that the armed 31-year-old man who had rushed towards the ballroom where the event was being held but was stopped, was believed to have been targeting top officials of the Trump administration who were at the dinner.

Trump, Melania Trump and JD Vance were on the high table at the head of the large ballroom at the Washington Hilton hotel on Saturday night as the event was getting under way, which was packed with thousands of journalists and their guests.

Blanche also said officials believe that the suspect traveled by train from California to Chicago and then on to Washington, where he checked in as a guest at the hotel where one of the capital’s glitziest annual events was being held, the Washington Hilton.

Trump was rushed off the stage at the sound of gunshots. The US president could be seen dropping to the floor as Secret Service agents protected him, then got him to his feet and rushed him out. Melania Trump had been talking to the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, when muffled sounds of gunshots just outside the ballroom were heard rang out. The two women gasped and Trump turned his head to see what was happening.

JD Vance was rushed from the room in the opposite direction from the president moments later. An armed 31-year-old suspect was subdued and is now in custody facing criminal charges. Blanche was interviewed on NBC’s Meet the Press.

“We do believe based on a preliminary under standing of what happened that he was targeting members of the administration,” Blanche said, but cautioned that investigators don’t have “specifics beyond that general statement”.

Blanche said the alleged shooter was “not actively cooperating” with the authorities.

He said to NBC earlier in the day that the alleged gunman will face charges that include assault of a federal officer, discharging a firearm and attempting to kill a federal officer.

Surveillance footage shows a man rushing across the space outside the ballroom. A federal agent was shot but was wearing a bulletproof vest, and was taken to hospital but discharged on Sunday.

Trump was due to address the annual black-tie dinner honoring the White House press corps for the first time as president. But the meal was barely beginning when the event in the vast ballroom was suddenly interrupted by confusion and chaos.

The president, his wife and senior members of his administration were sitting at a high table with Trump seated next to the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, Weijia Jiang.

As shots rang out, journalists and guests ducked under tables and law enforcement officers with rifles blocked lines of sight to the president as he was rushed from the room.

Blanche said he did not know if there was any connection to the US-Israel war in Iran. The suspect is expected to appear in federal court in Washington on Monday.

CNN’s veteran reporter and anchor Wolf Blitzer reported that he saw someone with a gun at the event.

“I did see the gunman on the ground after he started shooting,” he said. “Police officers threw him to the ground.”

Jamie Raskin, a Democratic congressman from Maryland, who was attending the dinner, said he never saw a shooter, but “I think a Secret Service agent threw me to the ground and on top of some other people and people were screaming and yelling”.

“I heard some loud noises but I don’t know if that was people reacting or if that was something outside, it was hard to know, but people very quickly were saying that was a shot, that was the gunshot,” he added. “People were terrified; people seem to be relieved now.”

Guardian reporters in the room said there were initially mixed messages about whether press and guests should stay in the room. The entire room emptied as people were told the event would not resume and the presidential seal was removed from the podium.

Outside the hotel, helicopters circled overhead.

This year’s dinner was already tense, given the presence of Trump and top members of his cabinet, including Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state. Trump agreed to attend this year’s dinner after refusing to go last year’s event and those held during his first term.

Trump held a press conference at the White House, still in his tuxedo, shortly after he left the Hilton. He said that being president of the United States was a “dangerous profession”.

Law enforcement agencies have identified Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, a suburb of Los Angeles, as the suspected gunman arrested at the event.

Allen, 31, has no record of criminal charges or a civil court history in Los Angeles county, according to a records search.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting