April 26, 2026

Pooja Salhotra of the New York Times: “A California man was in custody in connection with the shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner on Saturday night at the Washington Hilton..., [Donald] Trump said during a news conference Saturday night. The man in custody has not been identified publicly by the authorities, but two law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation said that he is Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, Calif. The officials asked to remain anonymous because they had not been authorized to disclose the information. The suspect, who was apprehended by the Secret Service, was being charged with using a firearm during a crime of violence and with assault of a federal officer, said Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. She did not name the suspect, but said he would be arraigned on Monday in Federal District Court and that additional charges were expected. The suspect exchanged gunfire with authorities before being brought under control by the Secret Service. He did not reach the ballroom where President Trump and hundreds of members of the media were gathered for the annual event, said the Washington police chief, Jeffery W. Carroll, in a separate news conference Saturday night.”

Dan Diamond, et al., of the Washington Post describe the chaos that ensued after shots could be heard.  

Shawn McCreesh & Tyler Pager of the New York Times: Donald Trump “argued [that] the whole thing was just the latest example of why he needs to build his maximum-security, legally challenged ballroom at the White House. 'I didn’t want to say this,' he said, 'but this is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we’re planning at the White House. It’s actually a larger room, and it’s a much more secure. It’s got — it’s drone proof, it’s bulletproof glass.'... All week long he had been aiming screeds at the news outlets in the room, but now he was praising the reporters before him, complimenting their outfits, using a polite tone of voice and thanking them for their work. 'You’ve been very responsible in your coverage,' he said.... This was definitely not the message he had planned to deliver to the media [last] night. He said he was going to make what he called the 'most inappropriate speech ever made,' and sounded a bit disappointed that he had been robbed of that opportunity.” 

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: “The storming of a security checkpoint on Saturday evening by an armed man at the hotel hosting the White House Correspondents' Association dinner was the third time in three years that Mr. Trump had faced danger. During the 2024 campaign, he survived two assassination attempts, including a bullet grazing his ear in Butler, Pa.... The outburst of violence is sure to revive questions about the scourge of political violence afflicting the United States, and about whether there is enough security around Mr. Trump, one of the most targeted presidents in history.... There were no metal detectors set up at the hotel’s entrances, and a secure perimeter was only established closer to the ballroom deeper inside the Washington Hilton. A security video posted by Mr. Trump showed the gunman sprinting past the security checkpoint before being captured short of the ballroom....

“Asked on Saturday why he believed he was so often the target of violence, Mr. Trump said it was because of the consequential nature of his presidency. 'I studied assassinations, and I must tell you the most impactful, the people that do the most' are targeted, Mr. Trump said, adding: 'The people that do the most, the people that make the biggest impact — they’re the ones that they go after.'”

     ~~~ Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump said Saturday that he views his repeated brushes with violence as a sign of his historic significance and is determined not to let the dangers affect him.... 'I’ve studied assassinations, and I must tell you, the most impactful people, the people that do the most ... they’re the ones that they go after,'  Trump told reporters at the White House soon after a shooting suspect was apprehended. 'And I hate to say I’m honored by that, but I’ve done a lot.' Trump mentioned Abraham Lincoln, but not Ronald Reagan, who was injured in a shooting outside the same hotel in 1981.... 'I’m here to do a job. As part of the job — it is a dangerous — I can’t imagine that there’s any profession that’s more dangerous. But I love the country, and I’m very proud.'”

See the top of yesterday's page for numerous updates from a New York Times liveblog of developments. Also linked is the AP liveblog of developments. Two related videos are embedded. 

Trump Stops Jarhead & Witless on the Tarmac. Luke Broadwater & Pranav Baskar of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Saturday abruptly called off a trip by two of his top negotiators to Islamabad, Pakistan, the latest sign that Iran and the United States remain far apart on a deal to end the war. The president said he pulled his team from the flight shortly before takeoff, and he told the Iranians they could negotiate by telephone instead. 'They can call me,' Mr. Trump told reporters. 'We have all the cards. We’ve won everything.' Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, had been scheduled to travel to Pakistan on Saturday, along with top aides to Vice President JD Vance, who participated in talks in the Pakistani capital earlier this month.” This is a revision and extension of an item in yesterday's liveblog of developments in the war, linked here yesterday. ~~~

     ~~~ Susannah George, et al., of the Washington Post: “The scrapped U.S. trip cast more uncertainty over Trump’s efforts to end the war he launched alongside Israel in late February. saying he wanted 'freedom' for the Iranian people and vowing to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”  

Alan Rappeport & Ephrat Livni of the New York Times: “Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared in mid-April that the United States would not extend a waiver allowing the sale of Russian oil. Two days later, on a Friday evening, the Treasury Department quietly issued another 30-day reprieve.... The White House and Treasury Department had no comment on whether the decision ... came directly from ... [Donald] Trump.... Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, condemned the waiver, saying, 'Every dollar paid for Russian oil is money for the war.' Senate Democrats called the 180-degree reversal a 'shameful' decision. Then, on Friday, Mr. Bessent told The Associated Press that the United States did not plan to renew the waiver for sales of Russian oil another time. The current waiver ends on May 16.

“The about-face on Russian oil sanctions underscored the haphazard state of U.S. statecraft as the Trump administration confronts the fallout from the war it and Israel started with Iran. While the United States could once use its financial might to cripple the economies of adversaries, countries such as Russia and Iran have been using their leverage in energy markets to fight back.... The Trump administration rolled out a blitz of sanctions on Friday, targeting 40 shipping firms and vessels that it identified as part of Iran’s so-called shadow fleet of oil tankers as it broadened its efforts to cripple the Iranian economy. The administration also imposed sanctions on an independent Chinese refinery, Hengli Petrochemical Refinery, which is one of Iran’s largest customers for crude oil and other petroleum products.”

The Most Corrupt Administration in U.S. History, Ctd. David Fahrenthold, et al., of the New York Times: “To build his mammoth White House ballroom..., [Donald] Trump last summer chose Maryland-based Clark Construction. Since then, Mr. Trump has repeatedly sung the company’s praises, even saying he wanted it to refurbish projects all over Washington. In January, government documents show, the Trump administration secretly gave the company a no-bid contract to do another job at a sharply inflated price. The National Park Service wanted to repair two ornamental fountains in Lafayette Park, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. The Biden administration in 2022 had estimated the work would cost $3.3 million. But Mr. Trump’s government agreed to pay Clark $11.9 million to do it, and later added tasks that increased the contract to $17.4 million, the documents show.... 

“By law, federal agencies are generally supposed to seek competing bids to find the vendor that provides the best deal.... On Friday, Mr. Trump took credit for the repairs. 'The first time Lafayette Park Fountains, opposite the White House, have worked in decades,' he wrote on social media. 'My Great Honor to have funded this project (and many others!), and helped.'... The bill for the fountain repairs is being paid by the government....  Contracting experts said ... that the government had repeatedly used unusual procedures to bypass competition for the project and increase the price it expected to pay.” Thanks to RAS for this gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So Trump breaks the law by letting a no-bid contract, then inflates the price several times, breaking the law again and again. Then he lies and says he paid for it. He also implied that Clark Construction was building the ballroom for free. That isn't true, either. 

Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: “Multiple scientists who serve on an independent board established to guide the nation’s nearly $9 billion basic science funding agency were terminated from their positions Friday by ... Donald Trump. Members of the National Science Board, which helps govern the National Science Foundation, were dismissed in a message from the Presidential Personnel Office thanking them for their service.... The NSF has a long history of supporting technology and research that powers many innovations the world relies on today....  In the president’s budget request last year, there was a proposed 55 percent cut to NSF’s budget. Congress rejected those cuts. The president’s budget request for fiscal year 2027 also proposes a deep cut to NSF.... The shake up on the National Science Board is similar to changes seen on other science-related advisory boards in the federal government since Trump took office for his second term.” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) 

Justin Scheck, et al., of the New York Times: “Every year, the United States Mint sells more than $1 billion of investment-grade gold coins. Each is stamped with an icon like the bald eagle, signifying the government’s guarantee, required by law, that the gold is 100 percent American. 'To hold a coin or medal produced by the Mint is to connect to the founding principles of our nation,' the Mint declares. But a New York Times investigation has found that the government’s program of gold sales is based on a lie. The Mint is actually the last link in a chain that launders foreign gold, much of it illegally mined, for an insatiable market. The Mint buys gold that originates in a Colombian drug cartel mine. It makes Lady Liberty coins out of gold from Mexican and Peruvian pawn shops and from a Congolese mine that is part-owned by the Chinese government, records show. Some Mint gold has come from a company in Honduras that dug up an Indigenous graveyard for the ore underneath. 

“Congress in 1985 prohibited the Mint from making bullion out of foreign gold because it wanted to insulate the process from human rights abuses, primarily in apartheid South Africa. The Mint has flouted that law, across Democratic and Republican administrations, despite internal warnings.... The Mint, the biggest name in the global market for investment gold coins, is an example of how the industry’s guardrails have collapsed.... Now, even ... [Donald] Trump’s 24-karat gold coin, commemorating the United States’ 250th birthday, could come from a swirl of non-American gold from any number of sources.” MB: Well, at least that last bit is appropriate. The link is a gift link. ~~~

~~~ Federico Rios of the New York Times finds a cartel-run mine operating on a Colombian army base: a harrowing story. ~~~

~~~ Justin Scheck has more on how the Times reporters traced a source of the gold: “... the U.S. Treasury, which overseas the Mint, denied there was any systemic problem.... After we presented our findings, a Treasury spokeswoman said the department is investigating the Mint’s gold procurement and has tightened its sourcing standards to make sure the United States is the 'primary' source of the gold the mint buys.” MB: Very reassuring. 

Linda Qiu of the New York Times: “... the decline of more than three million [food stamp recipients] since Mr. Trump took office to December 2025 is the result of some of the most consequential changes and the largest funding cut to the program since its inception. Through legislation and regulatory tweaks over the past year, the administration and its allies in Congress have achieved a long-held conservative goal of shrinking the safety net, reshaping how the federal government defines need for low-income beneficiaries of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Among the alterations: who is eligible, who must work to receive benefits, how much beneficiaries will receive, what can be purchased, what grocery stores that accept SNAP must stock on shelves, how states and counties administer the program and how much localities are paid by the federal government.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: When Republicans declare they're opposed to red tape/government regulations because they're so committed to a free market economy, laugh in their faces.  

Susanne Craig & Kirsten Grind of the New York Times (April 24): “Over ... three years [beginning in 2018, Elon], Musk borrowed a total of $500 million from his company [SpaceX]. The loan terms were significantly lower than what most banks offered, with an interest rate that fluctuated from less than 1 percent to nearly 3 percent, according to internal SpaceX documents.... The documents did not say how Mr. Musk planned to use the money, which he paid back to SpaceX by the end of 2021. The loans and their exceptionally kind terms, which are not permitted at public companies, were possible only because SpaceX is privately held. They were just one way Mr. Musk has used SpaceX as a kind of piggy bank over the last two decades.... Mr. Musk not only secured loans from SpaceX to himself, but also relied on the firm to shore up at least three troubled businesses in his orbit, The Times found.... The moves benefited Mr. Musk personally and his other businesses to an unusual degree.... Some SpaceX investors — including Founders Fund, the venture capital firm co-founded by Peter Thiel — have at times been concerned that Mr. Musk prioritized his interests to the detriment of other shareholders....”

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Israel. Isabel Kershner of the New York Times: “For months, President Isaac Herzog of Israel has deliberated over the politically fraught question of whether to grant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a pardon in his long-running corruption trial. It’s a highly contentious issue that has divided Israelis and drawn pressure from ... [Donald] Trump, who has aggressively intervened on Mr. Netanyahu’s behalf. But Mr. Herzog does not plan to give Mr. Netanyahu a pardon anytime soon. Instead he will first try to initiate a mediation process to reach a plea deal, according to two senior Israeli officials with direct knowledge of Mr. Herzog’s thinking. Mr. Herzog, the officials said, believes that there are many options beyond the binary pardon-or-no-pardon choice, and that the main role of Israel’s president is to foster unity.”