WHCA Shooter In Court, Trump-King Charles Relationship, Lebanon Ceasefire In Limbo

I went to a doctor who gave me some really medication, okay?

I received a note, I received a number of notes after last Wednesdays at first.

But my favorite one was the person who said, "Should you take a day off, you sound like you have the plague?" The man who allegedly stormed a dinner in Washington is charged with attempting to assassinate President Trump. Prosecutors say he booked a hotel room well before the event. What else did a court appearance reveal about Cole Allen?

Hey Martinez, that is Steve Inskeep, and this is a first from NPR News. King Charles addresses Congress today, he's only the second British monarch to do that following the performance of his mom, Royals, try to stay above politics so what can he say at a time of strained relations? Also what happened to a ceasefire in Lebanon? Israel, Hitties, and Lebanon with new strikes and issued evacuation orders.

“As below, fired drones at Israeli troops. Stay with us, we've got the news you need to start your day.”

Every day NPR reports stories that keep you informed, without fear or favor.

That's the promise of a free press in a democracy. It's in the first amendment.

I'm Tom Bowman and I cover the Pentagon for NPR. Stand up for independent news coverage today by donating early for public media giving days, coming up on May 1st in 2nd. Give now at donate.npr.org. A court hearing gave evidence of the extended planning that went into an alleged assassination attempt in Washington. Prosecutors charged Cole Allen, the man tackled Saturday night on his way

into the White House Correspondence Association dinner. NPR is Jacqueline Diaz's with us, good morning. Good morning. Okay, so how did this court appearance go? Well, the whole thing was over pretty quickly. It lasted about 10 to 15 minutes and was pretty

routine, you know, as these things go. The public heard for the first time the official charges

against Allen and they include an attempt to assassinate President Trump, the transportation of a firearm across state lines with the intent to commit a felony and the discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence. All of these together could land Allen in prison for life. He did not speak much during the hearing. He was dressed in a blue prison outfit and answered the judges' questions, but otherwise stayed pretty quiet. Allen's next hearing is on Thursday

“and until then he is being held without bond. Okay, so what was his motive?”

So the court documents unsealed yesterday shed some light on that. And to take a step back in early March, President Trump announced he'd be going to the White House Correspondence Dinner and prosecutors alleged that about a month later Allen booked a room at the Washington Hilton for that weekend. Prosecutors say Allen traveled from his home in California to Chicago and then on to DC via Amtrak train and they alleged he was traveling with at least two guns.

On the night of the dinner, prosecutors say that minutes before he left his hotel room to allegedly carry out his plan, he sent an email to family and friends. And in that email, prosecutors say he lays out his reasoning for the plan to attack. The letter says that he did not want to be represented by someone who he called, quote, a pedophile rapist and trader, presumably, that is referring to President Trump. He also writes that his targets for the evening

were administration officials. He writes, prioritized from highest ranking to lowest and that's a drug flow. Yeah, Trump was read that line about it being a pedophile on CBS and took offense to it on Sunday night.

“And now did the justice department say anything about how the suspect managed to get as far as he did get?”

Well, a video released of the incident shows Allen managed to run really fast about 60 yards past secret service agents and a security checkpoint before being taken down by agents. And on that, acting attorney general Todd Blanche strongly defended the secret service during a DOJ press conference yesterday afternoon. He said the fact that Allen was stopped shows the system worked. Law enforcement did not fail. They did exactly what they are trained to do. I want to make this clear.

This man was a floor above the ballroom with hundreds of federal agents between him and the president of the United States. There does seem to be one thing that might change. As you might know, Trump has talked about rescheduling the dinner. White House press secretary Caroline Levitt said at a briefing yesterday that officials are now considering whether to leave Vice President J. Davance at home if that happens since he is first in line to the White House. Not putting the whole line of

succession in one place. Jacqueline thanks so much. Thank you. The centrist Jacqueline Diaz.

Now, strictly speaking, Charles has many titles such as this, Charles III by the grace of God

“of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of his other realms and territories.”

King had the Commonwealth defender of the faith. By whatever name, President Trump welcomed him to the White House yesterday. Trump has been looking forward to this visit and has also been criticized in the UK government for everything from foreign policy to taxes to immigration. And we are White House correspondent Daniel Kurtz-Labin is covering the visit Daniel. Good morning. Morning, Steve. Why is Charles coming now?

Well, this visit is an honor of a bigger celebration. Of course, the U.S. is 250th anniversary of its independence from Britain. But there's tension over a bunch of other topics. Primarily, the war in Iran, which the UK has continually declined to fight with the U.S. Now, they have allowed the U.S. to use at UK air bases. And they're working with France to try to open the straight-of-war moves. But Prime Minister Kierstarmer has said that this is "not our war."

And Trump doesn't like that. He, in fact, seemed to mock Starmer earlier this month for not giving him more help. I said, you have two old broken down aircraft carriers. You think you could send him over? Oh, I'll have to ask my team. I said, you're the prime minister. You know, no, no, no. I have to ask my team president. Now, Trump has also been upset about a recent plan to ban new oil and gas licenses in the north

sea. And this month, he threatened new tariffs on UK goods in reaction to a digital services tax that the UK has levied on some tech companies. Lots of tension there, but this is the British head of state. So how does this affect the visit? Well, the king is supposed to remain politically

“neutral at all times. So the two men may not debate important hot topics between the countries.”

But the visit matters because the crown is part of the UK's soft power. So even if there's no policy happening, the visit could still be a way of easing tensions. And Trump really seems to have been looking forward to this. Why? Well, some of it stems from his childhood. His mother was born in Scotland. And Trump has talked quite a bit over the years about how much she loved the royal family.

And when he met Queen Elizabeth II during his first term, he seemed almost odd by her,

which is a reaction we don't see him have towards pretty much anyone. Now, Trump also really seems to like King Charles on a personal level. He's called him a friend and a great guy in recent days. Beyond all that, of course, Trump loves ceremony and grandeur. And that just comes with the state visit. There's going to be a formal arrival on the south lawn today, including a traditional military arrivals ceremony with a 21 gun salute, a military review. And there's going

to be a banquet tonight. We should add here that the shooting at the Washington Hilton Saturday during the White House Correspondence Center, that did prompt a last-minute security review, but the royal's itinerary does appear unaffected. Daniel, I'm really interested in this detail. You mentioned the King is supposed to stay above politics, but he's going to go and do a political

“arena today. He's going to address Congress. So what to expect?”

Well, for some clues, we can look to when Trump visited the UK last year at a banquet there. Charles celebrated the nation's shared heritage as he put it and their cooperation over the years. Now, Charles's mother Elizabeth II also addressed Congress in 1991. And during that, she talked about the importance of democracy and international cooperation, including during the Gulf War. So the situation now is very different from then. Trump regularly attacks allies and he

criticizes NATO a lot, so it just emphasizes how much relations have changed between the two countries. Now, we've learned from the palace at Charles's speech, we'll focus on reconciliation, though it will at least mention some topics the two countries disagree on, like NATO, Ukraine, and the Middle East. And, if you guys Daniel, Kurt Levin will be listening for your reporting. Thanks so much. Thank you.

We're keeping an eye on the Middle East War that is ended without ending. The ceasefire in Lebanon, for example, seems only technically still in effect. Israel has carried out widespread airstrikes in Lebanon's south-enrecent days, forcing many civilians who had tried to return home to re-evacuate. His bolt-up has responded by firing several drones at his really troops occupying the south.

Let's go to Lebanon to Beirut, where we found NPR's Cat Lonstar Fycat. Hey, good morning. Okay, that doesn't really sound like much of a ceasefire if we're talking about drones civilians evacuated airstrikes.

Yeah, it's confusing. I mean, basically diplomatically, the ceasefire agreement is still holding,

meaning that none of the parties involved, Israel, Lebanon, or Hezbollah have officially declared it over. And there haven't been airstrikes here in Beirut, although Steve, as I'm sitting here talking to you, I'm hearing the buzz of Israeli surveillance drones above the city. But elsewhere in the country, the attacks have been ramping up from both sides in the past few days. Israel has been carrying

but they've been spreading to other parts of the country too. And they're deadly, you know,

“14 people were killed on Sunday alone, according to Lebanese officials.”

Meanwhile, Hezbollah has been carrying out drone strikes on Israeli troops over the weekend, one soldier was killed and several more were wounded. Okay, what do Lebanese people then say about these acts of war in the middle of a ceasefire? Yeah, we've been speaking to people in the south where

it really does not feel like a ceasefire. I was just there a few days ago, and even then there were

sporadic airstrikes. Those have intensified and Israel has issued new evacuation orders for several communities beyond the zone and occupies. That means a lot of people are re-evacuating after trying to go back to their homes even during the ceasefire, like 35-year-old Abu Dhabar. How can you call this a ceasefire? He asked us in a voice note. If this was a ceasefire, we could be at home. This is not a ceasefire. We just met him last week in his home village down

south where he had returned with his family, but he's just fled again after his village was sheld in the middle of the night. Let's just remember then, Lebanon, of course, is one theater of the larger war that pitted the US and Israel against Iran. The US and Iran are supposed to be

“having peace talks, although they seem to have stalled in some way. What are you hearing there?”

Yeah, the talks between the US and Iran really don't seem to be going anywhere right now. Iran has put forward a new proposal, the terms of which haven't been made public, and President Trump met with his national security team yesterday to discuss that proposal according to the White House. But Iran has made it clear it won't discuss anything further until the US ends its blockade on Iranian ports. The US has said its main focus is ending Iran's nuclear program, so they seem to be

kind of an impasse there. And those talks are really connected to the situation here, you know, Iran, which is Hezbollah's main banker, has said it won't engage in further talks with the US unless there's a ceasefire here. But the more it seems that those talks aren't happening, there's less pressure to keep this ceasefire holding. People must not be feeling very good about

“the situation where you are given everything you've just described, Kat. No, certainly not. I think”

people here very much feel like if talks fall apart between the US and Iran, the war will almost certainly reignite and full here. And Pierce Kat Lansdorf is in Beirut, thanks so much. Thank you.

And that's up first for this Tuesday, April 28th. I'm Steve Enscape. And I'm a Martinez. Today's

episode of Up First was edited by Ana Yukonanov, Rebecca Metzler, Ruth Sharlon, Mohammed Elbar DC, and Ali Schwitzer was produced by Zeyad Bunch, and Ben Abrams, our director is Christopher Thomas, we get engineering support from Stacey Abbott, our technical director is Car McStrain, and our supervising senior producer is Vince Pearson, joining us again tomorrow. Vince is supervising us? Of course he is.

[Music]