First Thing: White House dinner suspect charged with attempted assassination

Alleged shooter, identified as Cole Tomas Allen, faces potential life sentence. Plus: the Americans renouncing their citizenship

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.

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.

What is the Trump administration saying about the attack? Several officials, including the president, have seized on the incident to advance their case for the completion of Trump’s $40m White House ballroom project, with the justice department pressuring a preservation group to drop a lawsuit seeking to halt the construction.

Will there be an Oval Office meeting? Sources told the Guardian that Charles will pose for the cameras at the start of his centerpiece bilateral meeting on Tuesday, but that British officials have pushed for the Oval Office meeting to be held off camera, for fear of a repeat of the scenes when Trump berated the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in front of the world’s press.

What challenges does the king face with this visit? Relations between the UK and the US are already tense following Trump’s public criticism of Britain’s refusal to back military action against Iran, but Charles is also meeting Trump under the shadow of Jeffrey Epstein. Charles’s brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office over his connection with Epstein.

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