Start your week smart: Assassination attempt on Trump, suspect killed, witnesses describe chaos, reaction and analysis
CNN
CNN’s 5 Things brings you all the news you need to start your week smart.
Let’s get right to the news. There’s a lot to catch up on, so we are devoting the weekend summary to last night’s attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. • What happened: Trump was injured Saturday evening during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in what the FBI says was an assassination attempt. The gunman and at least one audience member are dead, the Secret Service said, and two other attendees are critically injured. Trump said he was hit by a bullet in the “upper part of my right ear.” Follow live updates.• The suspect: Authorities identified the gunman as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. Crooks fired multiple shots at Trump while perched on the rooftop of a nearby building outside the rally’s security perimeter, authorities said, and was killed by Secret Service agents.• Chaotic scene: Witnesses described the moments after the shooting as “pure insanity.” Rico Elmore told CNN that he jumped over a barricade to comfort an individual who was bleeding after being shot.• Reaction: President Joe Biden spoke with Trump after the shooting and denounced the violence in remarks. Biden returned to the White House from Delaware earlier than planned so he can continue receiving briefings from law enforcement.• Analysis: The attempted assassination opens a dark new chapter in America’s cursed story of political violence. MondayThe Republican National Convention kicks off in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the GOP will officially nominate Trump as the Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election. The event is expected to draw some 50,000 people to the city, and security will be on high alert. Trump is also expected to finally announce his choice of a running mate during the convention. If you’re heading to Target, leave your checkbook at home. The retailer will stop accepting personal checks to make checkout easier for shoppers. Target will continue to accept other payment methods, including Apple Pay, SNAP/EBT, buy now/pay later services, Target Circle Cards, its store card, plus cash, credit and debit cards. TuesdaySpeaking of shopping, Amazon’s 10th Prime Day event kicks off just after midnight and runs through the following day. And if you are wondering what all the fuss is about, Amazon raked in nearly $13 billion in sales from customers globally during the event in July 2023. WednesdayThe State Opening of Parliament takes place in the UK, marking the formal start of the parliamentary year and setting out the government’s agenda for the 2024-25 session. The event includes The King’s Speech, which will be read in the House of Lords chamber by King Charles III. The speech is written by the government and contains an outline of its policies and proposed legislation for the new session. The State Opening of Parliament starts with a ceremonial search of the cellars in the Houses of Parliament, commemorating Guy Fawkes’ “gunpowder plot” of 1605.
A grand jury voted against indicting New York Attorney General Letitia James after being asked to look at the mortgage fraud case against her a second time, according to multiple people familiar with the development Thursday.
National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC, can remain there for now, after a federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily froze a judge’s ruling that would have soon required them to leave the city’s streets.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s bad week just got worse. That’s after the long-awaited release Thursday of an inspector general’s report on his sharing of highly sensitive military attack plans on the unclassified app Signal earlier this year.
President Donald Trump has hired a new architect for the White House ballroom amid disputes between the president and his architect originally contracted to complete the project, several sources have told CNN.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.
If nothing else, the controversy over the Trump administration’s second strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean has surfaced a long-overdue debate about its already legally dubious first strikes.
Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.
Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.
Young Americans are “a generation under profound strain” with little confidence in institutions and widespread economic concerns, according to a Harvard Institute of Politics survey of adults younger than 30 released Thursday.
As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.
The murder trial of Brian Walshe, who is accused of killing and dismembering his wife in 2023 continues. Follow for live updates.
The FBI arrested a person Thursday who investigators believe planted pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters the night before the 2021 US Capitol riot.
Lawyers for the New York attorney general’s office are expected to appear in federal court in Albany on Thursday to try to disqualify a US attorney from investigating the state’s civil case against President Donald Trump.