The White House has squarely blamed what it called a “left-wing cult of hatred” for a shooting at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington, describing the incident as the third assassination attempt against President Donald Trump in under two years.

The attack occurred on Saturday evening, April 25, at the Washington Hilton Hotel, where Trump was attending the dinner alongside First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and several senior Cabinet officials. The suspect, identified as Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old tutor and part-time video game developer from Torrance, California, allegedly opened fire near the main security screening area outside the banquet hall. One Secret Service agent was struck in the chest but was saved by a bulletproof vest. No other injuries were reported, and Allen was quickly apprehended at the scene.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who was seated beside Trump and Melania when shots rang out, addressed reporters on Monday and described the president as “calm amid the chaos.” She argued that years of inflammatory rhetoric portraying Trump as a fascist and drawing comparisons to Adolf Hitler had directly contributed to the kind of violence witnessed over the weekend. “This hateful and constant and violent rhetoric directed at President Trump, day after day after day for 11 years, has helped to legitimize this violence and bring us to this dark moment,” she said.

Authorities say Allen had been involved in left-wing activism in Los Angeles and had been regularly visiting a firing range in the weeks before the attack. He boarded a train from Los Angeles to Chicago and then to Washington, where he checked into the hotel and allegedly sent family members a written statement in which he called himself the “Friendly Federal Assassin” and outlined grievances against the Trump administration. Federal prosecutors announced he would face three charges, including attempted assassination of the president.

Trump, who had reportedly wanted to remain at the event even after shots were fired, later described the venue as insufficiently secure and used the incident to renew his push for a dedicated White House ballroom. The dinner marked his first attendance at the correspondents’ event as a sitting president, having declined to attend during his first term.