Good morning. A decent day ahead: sunny, warming to a high around 69. Clear overnight with a low near 46. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below. Subscribers to the email version of this newsletter will get a $9 subscription offer for Washingtonian’s print magazine this week. Sign up here to get these roundups delivered to your inbox for free on weekday mornings. Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out: WHCD shooting latest: The man likely to be accused of attacking Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner will appear in court in DC today. (NPR) Cole Tomas Allan wrote a manifesto of sorts before his alleged attack, saying he was “no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.” He did not name President Trump. (New York Post) Allan appears to have had a Bluesky account where he “reposted others who offered commentary critical of Trump as well as members of the media who attend the annual black-tie dinner.” (AP) The 31-year-old is a teacher from Torrance, California, who appears to have traveled to DC for the event. (LAT) He reportedly wasn’t on the FBI’s radar. (Ken Klippenstein) Police say Allan carried a shotgun, a handgun, and knives when he rushed a security checkpoint. (NBC News) Allan reportedly has family in Maryland. (WUSA9) So. How did someone with these apparent intentions get so close to the President of the United States at one of DC’s swankiest annual events? Trump and Vice President JD Vance were rushed from the ballroom after shots rang out, but the administration, for reasons not yet clear, did not designate Saturday’s dinner a National Special Security Event. Others in line for succession were at the event, and “A worst-case scenario might have resulted in passing the power of the presidency to the senior-most senator of the majority party, Chuck Grassley.” (Washington Post) Indeed, guests had to ditch their umbrellas and show only a ticket to enter the Washington Hilton —yes, the same hotel outside of which President Reagan was shot in 1981—and pass through a magnetometer before entering the ballroom. “It was easier to get into the dinner than many big sports events and concert venues.” (WSJ) Must-read: Do not miss Maura Judkis‘s account of what it was like to be inside. (Washington Post) The politics afterward: Trump praised the White House Correspondents’ Association’s president, Weijia Jiang of CBS News, afterward. (NYT) In an interview with “60 Minutes” during which he was read part of the gunman’s purported manifesto, he blurted, “I’m not a rapist” and “I’m not a pedophile.” (Politico) Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche cast the incident as a reason that the National Trust for Historic Preservation should drop its lawsuit opposing Trump’s planned ballroom at the White House. (AP) Of course, rumors and disinformation are everywhere. (NYT) Oh yeah, the war: Iran and the US remain in a stalemate, neither at war or at peace. Iran offered to open the Strait of Hormuz if the US ended its blockade of Iranian ports. (Axios) Trump canceled plans this weekend for Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to fly to Pakistan for talks, saying the travel was too expensive to meet with “people that nobody ever heard of.” Trump added that he’s a “very cost-conscious person.” (NYT) Pakistan is still trying to spark talks. (Reuters) HRH in DC: King Charles III will arrive in Washington today. Trump called the king “a friend of mine.” (Washington Post) Charles and Queen Camilla will have tea at the White House today and attend a party at the British Ambassador’s residence this afternoon. His Maj will deliver a joint address to Congress tomorrow and attend a state dinner tomorrow night. The royals will head to New York, then return for a visit to Arlington National Cemetery and what’s being described as “block party in Virginia”—an event I’d really like to know more about! (NYT) The District of Columbia appears to have corrected a royal boo-boo—replacing Australian flags installed near the White House with Union Jacks. (Andrew Leyden/X) Administration perambulation: FBI Director Kash Patel “is likely the next Cabinet-level official to go.” (Playbook) Congress has a rough week ahead. (Politico) Trump fired members of the National Science Board on Friday. (Washington Post) Clark Construction, which is building Trump’s ballroom, quietly received a “no-bid contract” to repair fountains in Lafayette Square. (NYT) Work started on Trump’s vision of a very blue Reflecting Pool. (Washington Post) The Best Thing I Ate Last Week, by Ann Limpert: Photograph by Vina Sananikone. I admit, I was skeptical of Bumblebirds, the fried chicken pop-up from celeb chef Carla Hall that opened on the Hill in March. Did DC really need another spot for a honey-butter-soaked chicken sandwich? But the place is a charmer, with strawberry lemonade that tastes more like summery fruit than simple syrup; pimiento cheese sided with biscuit crackers (I took it home and snacked on it for days); and giant chicken tenders with a perfect honey mustard. The sandwiches are big and messy and pretty tasty, too, with crackly-battered, freshly fried chicken. My pick: the OG Bumble, piled with ranch slaw, havarti, and plenty of pickles. (303 Pennsylvania Ave., SE.) Recently on Washingtonian dot com: • Grindr’s WHCD weekend party was a wild scene—if you could get in. Our reporter got in. • An update on four seemingly never-ending renovation projects. >> Our big package about DC-area real estate in 2026 has dropped. Some highlights: Tips for marketing your condo. Is virtual staging worth it? Staging mistakes you don’t want to make. Agents talk about how they try to sell stigmatized properties.  The $100,000 makeover that helped this McLean mansion sell. Local news links: • Virginia’s Supreme Court will hear arguments today about the redistricting plan voters approved last week. (AP) A Richmond circuit court dismissed one of the suits Republicans have brought against the measure, which is likely to increase the number of seats Democrats hold in Congress. (Democracy Docket) • Robert White, who’s running to be DC’s nonvoting representative in Congress, deleted a post on X after the WHCD shooting in which he likened the situation to the teen takeovers that have prompted DC Mayor Muriel Bowser’s emergency curfews. (WTOP) • Hundreds gathered on the Mall Saturday to honor Virginia Giuffre, who survived being trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein and died by suicide last year. (WTOP) • The future of Virginia’s legal recreational market for cannabis is up in the air as lawmakers and Governor Abigail Spanberger are at an impasse over how to proceed. (Virginia Mercury) • A bus carrying 40 people flipped on the BW Parkway early Sunday. (Fox 5) • Two buses crashed near the Pentagon on Friday, injuring 23 people. (NBC4 Washington) • A teenage girl found an off-duty DC cop’s gun at a gaming center at Tysons this month and fired it, thinking it was a prop. No one was hurt. (NBC4 Washington) • Virginia Commonwealth University will create a memorial to dozens of people whose bodies medical students disinterred, dissected, then dumped in a well in the 19th century. (AP) • Monte Coleman has died at 68. The Washington Commanders announced the Redskins great’s passing Sunday. (Washington Commanders / WTOP) • Randy Clarke is not promoting crypto or selling cars online. The WMATA honcho’s X account got hacked. (DC News Now)The post WHCD Shooting Suspect Due in Court Today, King Charles Arrives in Town, and Randy Clarke Got Hacked first appeared on Washingtonian. ...read more read less