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A curated guide to major news and developments over the weekend. Here’s today’s news:
WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER
The suspected gunman who fired shots on Saturday outside the White House Correspondents’ dinner was targeting President Trump and administration officials, according to a 1,000-word document the authorities have tied to 31-year-old Cole Allen. The writer alludes to allegations of sexual misconduct, saying that he is “no longer willing” to allow a “ pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” an apparent reference to Trump, though the document does not mention him by name. It goes on to say that the Secret Service are “targets only if necessary,” while hotel security, Capitol police, and the National Guard are “not targets if at all possible.” The Wall Street Journal reports; Amy Qin and Chelsia Rose Marcius report for the New York Times.
Trump lashed out at CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell in an interview yesterday for quoting from the manifesto of the suspected gunman. “I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would, because you’re horrible people. Horrible people,” Trump said. “Yeah, he did write that. I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody.” O’Donnell interjected, “Oh, do you think he was referring to you?” Trump blew past her question, stating, “I’m not a pedophile.” Eli Stokols reports for POLITICO.
Allen is set to appear in court today. He faces charges including assaulting a federal officer and discharging a firearm, according to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. The Wall Street Journal reports.
IRAN WAR – CEASEFIRE
Trump on Saturday called off U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner’s trip to Islamabad for further talks with Iran. “I’ve told my people a little while ago, they were getting ready to leave, and I said, ‘Nope you’re not making an 18-hour flight there. We have all the cards.” Trump added that the Iranians could negotiate by phone instead. Trump’s announcement came after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that he had shared with Pakistani officials in Islamabad a “workable framework to permanently end the war on Iran.” On Sunday, Araghchi returned to Islamabad for more talks with mediators, having left it on Saturday, before flying to Russia, according to Iranian state media. The New York Times reports; Luke Broadwater and Pranav Baskar report for the New York Times.
Iran gave the United States a new proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war, with nuclear negotiations postponed for a later stage, according to a U.S. official and two other sources. Araghchi made it clear to Pakistani, Egyptian, Turkish, and Qatari mediators over the weekend that there is no consensus inside the Iranian leadership about how to address U.S. demands. Trump is expected to hold a Situation Room meeting today with his top national security and foreign policy team. One source said they would discuss the stalemate in negotiations and next steps. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
IRAN WAR – LEBANON OPERATIONS
Israeli strikes yesterday killed 14 people and wounded 37 others in southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s health ministry said. The Israeli military also yesterday warned residents to leave seven towns beyond the so-called “buffer zone” it occupied before the current ceasefire was announced. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was acting according to the rules agreed upon with the United States and Lebanon, with a military spokesperson adding that Hezbollah was violating the ceasefire and Israel would act against it. Reuters reports.
IRAN WAR – OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
Israel sent the United Arab Emirates an Iron Dome air defense system with troops to operate it early in the war with Iran, two Israeli officials and one U.S. official told Axios. That was the first time Israel had sent an Iron Dome battery to another country, and the UAE was the first country outside the United States and Israel in which the system was used. Barak Ravid reports.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Israeli attacks killed at least four Palestinians in Gaza yesterday, health officials said. Reuters reports.
Loyalists of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, mainly from Fatah, won most municipal election races held on Saturday, including in the Gaza city of Deir al-Balah – the first vote there since 2006 – though turnout was low. Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ali Sawafta report for Reuters
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Russia’s biggest state-owned pollster, the Russian Public Opinion Research Center, on Friday recorded that Putin’s approval rating fell to 65.6 percent, its lowest level since before the beginning of the war and a drop of 12.2 percentage points since the start of the year. “The overall mood is that’s enough already; you’ve been fighting for long enough,” said one Russian official. Putin’s government has also faced unusually open and strident criticism from members of Russia’s financial elite over its handling of the economy in recent weeks. Catherine Bolton and Natalia Abbakumova report for the Washington Post.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Al-Qaeda affiliates and Tuareg rebels carried out coordinated attacks across Mali over the weekend, killing Defence Minister Sadio Camara in a suicide truck bombing at his residence near Bamako and targeting multiple cities, a government spokesperson said yesterday. Makuochi Okafor and Hafsa Khalil report for BBC News.
The first public trial in Syria of officials linked to the rule of former President Bashar al-Assad started yesterday in Damascus. Atef Najib, a former Syrian army brigadier general who was head of the Political Security Branch in southern Syria’s Daraa province and is also Assad’s cousin, is facing charges related to “crimes against the Syrian people,” SANA reported. Ghaith Alsayed reports for AP News.
Outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will not take his seat in parliament following the April 12 election and will instead focus on rebuilding his nationalist-populist political community, Orbán announced on Saturday. Justin Spike reports for AP News.
Centrist leader of Israel’s opposition, Yair Lapid, and right-wing former prime minister, Naftali Bennett, announced yesterday that they would merge their parties ahead of the election later this year. The new alliance, called Yachad, aims to present a unified alternative to Netanyahu. Isabel Kershner reports for the New York Times.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The United Kingdom and Spain have rejected reported U.S. plans to punish them for not fully supporting the war against Iran, which could include measures like challenging Britain’s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands or suspending Spain from NATO. Both governments dismissed the claims, with the UK reaffirming its sovereignty over the Falklands and Spain insisting it will only act within international law and official agreements, while NATO officials noted that there is no mechanism to expel members. Stephen Castle and Emma Bubola report for the New York Times.
U.S. CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC OPERATIONS
The U.S. military attacked a boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Friday, killing two people. Eric Schmitt reports for the New York Times.
The U.S. military said yesterday it attacked another boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three more people. Jin Yu Young reports for the New York Times.
The United States has agreed to modify its sanctions on Venezuela to allow it to pay for Nicolás Maduro’s defense lawyer, a court filing on Friday showed. Luc Cohen reports for Reuters.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
A federal appeals court on Friday ruled that Texas can act on a 2023 state law that empowers state and local police officers to arrest migrants who cross illegally from Mexico, finding that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the law. Amy Qin reports for the New York Times.
Immigrants can now be denied a green card for expressing political opinions, such as participating in pro-Palestinian campus protests, posting criticism of Israel on social media, and desecrating the U.S. flag, according to internal Department of Homeland Security training materials reviewed by the New York Times. The training materials cite examples of questionable speech, including phrases such as “Stop Israeli Terror in Palestine.” Hamed Aleaziz and Nicholas Nehamas report.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said yesterday he will support Kevin Warsh’s nomination to chair the Federal Reserve now that the Justice Department has dropped an investigation into current chief Jerome Powell. Jasper Goodman reports for POLITICO.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
Several members of the National Science Board were abruptly dismissed in a message from the Presidential Personnel Office on Friday, according to screenshots shared with the Washington Post. It is unclear how many members of the board were dismissed and whether they will be replaced. Carolyn Y. Johnson reports.
The Trump administration plans to add firing squads, electrocution, and gas asphyxiation as alternative methods of executing people convicted of the gravest federal crimes, the Justice Department said on Friday. The move revives older execution practices and follows a broader push to resume federal capital punishment. Jonathan Allen reports for Reuters.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
A federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that Trump had to adhere to requirements outlined in the Immigration and Nationality Act and could not categorically deny asylum claims from people crossing the border from Mexico into the United States. Mattathias Schwartz reports for the New York Times.
A federal judge in California rejected the Justice Department’s request to pause its appeal over the Pentagon’s decision to label Anthropic a supply chain risk, ruling that a separate D.C. Circuit case involving the same dispute would not necessarily simplify the California proceedings because it arises under different legal authority. Aaron Mak reports for POLITICO.
Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions.
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