First Thing: White House dinner suspect charged with attempted assassination

Good morning. The suspect accused of trying to storm the White House correspondents’ dinner was charged on Monday with three federal crimes, including attempting to assassinate the president – a charge that carries a potential sentence of up to life in prison. The alleged shooter, identified by law enforcement agencies as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, appeared in federal court in a blue jail jumpsuit alongside lawyers with the federal defender’s office. Jocelyn Ballantine, a federal prosecutor, said he was armed with a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, a pistol and three knives when he was tackled by law enforcement officers on Saturday night outside the Hilton hotel ballroom where the annual dinner was being held. What was his motive? Investigators have yet to release one. However, to establish the charge of attempted assassination, the affidavit quotes from a part of a manifesto Allen allegedly sent to family members that states: “I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.” Was lax security to blame? While many have praised the actions of law enforcement officers in swiftly stopping the attack, Allen’s alleged manifesto mocked an “insane” lack of security at the Washington dinner. …