Ryan Lucas

Well, Blanche says preliminary information indicates that Allen traveled by train from Los Angeles to Chicago.

And then from there on to Washington, D.C., he had a room at the Hilton Hotel where the correspondence dinner was taking place.

He also had a shotgun, a handgun and knives on him when he tried to storm the ballroom.

Blanche also said this on NBC's Meet the Press.

And that, of course, raises the all-important question of motive.

Blanche says officials are still investigating, digging in on that to try to get an answer to the motive question asked.

But again, we're just 36 hours or so into this investigation, so it is early.

A White House official told NPR that Allen's brother got in touch with law enforcement not long before the incident on Saturday, just minutes before it happened, in fact, and allegedly told them about a piece of writing that Allen had written and sent to family members.

The official also said that Allen's sister had told law enforcement that Allen referenced a plan to, quote unquote, do something to fix the issues with today's world.

Again, that's according to a White House official speaking on condition of anonymity.

And then you also have the president sharing photos of the suspect on social media not long after this all happened on Saturday night.

This is all highly unusual, I have to say.

Traditionally, particularly once there's a suspect in custody, which was immediate in this instance, prosecutors will speak in court and court filings.

And that's pretty much it.

Yes, after the assassination attempt on President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania during the 2024 campaign, if you think back to that, the FBI did give updates on what they were finding out in their investigation.

But they were able to do that in large part because the gunman there was dead.

So they were not trying to build a case to prosecute in court.

And here, of course, prosecutors will do that with the suspected gunman here.

Well, investigators are continuing to interview witnesses and people who knew Allen.

They'll be building a profile.