Weekend roundup: Secret Service shooting; ICE arrests Hamas protester; Canada picks new PM; US budget bill; Ukraine peace talks 

Man shot near White House as Air Force intercepts another plane near Mar-a-Lago  

An armed man was shot by Secret Service agents near the White House on Sunday morning after confronting him. 

Indiana authorities notified D.C. law enforcement that a suspect was possibly suicidal and heading to Washington, D.C., said a social media post by the Secret Service.  

“As officers approached, the individual brandished a firearm, and an armed confrontation ensued, during which shots were fired by our personnel,” said Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. 

The man was later identified as Andrew Dawson, 27, who the New York Post said was armed with a gun and a knife at the time of the shooting. He was taken to a local area hospital, but his condition is unknown.  

An investigation of the incident is ongoing by the D.C. Metro police, which has jurisdiction over crimes committed in the city.  

The shooting comes as Air Force jets scrambled to intercept a civilian pilot who was flying in restricted air space over Trump’s Palm Beach mansion, Mar-a-Lago. The flight marks more than 20 such incidents since Trump’s inauguration, according to the Palm Beach Post. 

Trump was reportedly at Mar-a-Lago at the time of the White House shooting. 

Immigration agents arrest Palestinian protest organizer from Columbia University 

In coordination with the Department of State, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student for his activities in support of Hamas, said the Department of Homeland Security.  

Khalil was an organizer and spokesperson for violent pro-Hamas protesters who occupied the Columbia University campus last year, which eventually required police force to evict them.  

In a press conference at the time of the trespassing, Khalil called himself “the only negotiator” on behalf of the protesters as the university tried to end the violent standoff between the pro-Hamas group and police. 

The arrest signals possible deportation for Khalil, who has a green card and is married to a U.S. citizen.   

Trump promised from the campaign trail that he would deport any alien who provided support for antisemitic protests.  

Once inaugurated, Trump laid out a framework for the policy by an executive order. 

“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” said Trump. “I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.” 

Canada’s Trudeau steps aside as Liberal Party picks new prime minister and Trump delays tariffs one month  

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau finally fulfilled his promise to step down from the top spot in the government, as the country’s trade dispute with Trump takes a pause.  

Canada’s Liberal Party selected central banker Mark Carney as Trudeau’s replacement. In addition to jobs running the Central Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, Carney served as special envoy to the United Nations for climate action and finance, according to the Associated Press (AP). 

Carney immediately adopted a fighting stance on the U.S. and tariffs. 

“We didn’t ask for this fight, but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves,” Carney said of the impending U.S.-Canada trade war, using a hockey analogy. He once played goalie for Harvard’s hockey team. 

Last week Trump paused the tariffs on Canada and Mexico, but over the weekend warned everyone not to get too comfortable over the tariff reprieve.  

Trump said he expects the tariffs to go into effect April 2. 

“April 2nd, it becomes all reciprocal,” he said in a taped interview with Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” about tariffs, according to the AP. “What they charge us, we charge them.” 

GOP agrees on clean stop-gap budget bill that avoids government shutdown 

Top House Republicans agreed on a “clean” budget bill that would keep the government funded until the end of the federal government’s fiscal year, Sept. 30, according to Bloomberg.  

The bill would slightly lower spending to 2024 levels but keep defense spending intact.  

“All Republicans should vote (Please!) YES next week,” Trump posted on social media on Saturday according to Reuters.  

“Great things are coming for America, and I am asking you all to give us a few months to get us through to September so we can continue to put the Country’s ‘financial house’ in order.” 

Democrats in the House will likely oppose the bill, and some GOP deficit hawks are a good bet to balk as well, but Trump has some of them in his camp already.  

One of the staunchest budget hawks, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said he might vote for the budget bill, known as a continuing resolution. Roy said that the chamber has hit a wall on cutting spending and he wants to keep the government funded because Trump is breaking “the wall down” on spending cuts. 

Rubio to meet Ukraine officials in Saudi Arabia on peace talks 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio departed for talks in Saudi Arabia with top Ukrainian officials to gauge if the war-torn, former Eastern bloc country is ready for peace talks with Russia.  

The U.S.-Ukraine talks are expected to last two days.  

Rubio will be joined by Trump National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, while Ukraine is sending their own national security adviser and foreign and defense ministers, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). 

“The fact that they are coming here at senior levels is a good indication to us that they want to sit down and they’re ready to move forward,” a senior State Department official said about the Ukrainian delegation.  

AFP noted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will also be in Saudi Arabia but won’t participate in the talks directly.  

Trump and Zelenskyy had a heated disagreement in front of the press on Feb. 28 over the war between Russia and Ukraine.  

Trump has subsequently commented that dealing with the Russians is easier than dealing with the Ukrainians.  

The talks are seen as a first attempt by either side to get the peace process restarted, after Trump pulled defense and intelligence resources from Ukraine.  

Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenk said he believed Zelensky needed to secure the U.S.-Ukraine relationship “at any cost” during his trip to Saudi Arabia, reported the BBC.