Cole Tomas Allen Charged With Attempting To Assassinate President Donald Trump After White House Correspondents’ Dinner Shooting

A shooting scare at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, D.C. disrupted the event after a gunman opened fire outside the ballroom, prompting the evacuation of President Donald Trump and top administration officials from the media gala.

CBS News reported that the suspect sent a “manifesto” to his family and that he planned to target Trump administration officials “prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest,” according to a copy obtained by CBS News.

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CNN said the suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, made his first court appearance Monday and was charged with attempting to assassinate the president.

NBC News described the moment a volunteer ticket checker, Helen Mabus, recalled that “It was very quiet,” before a man “holding what she quickly realized was a rifle” tore toward a security checkpoint and “within seconds, he was shooting.”

NBC News also quoted Air Force veteran Erin Thielman saying, “I heard three or four really loud bangs, and I saw this man charging towards me,” and that he “was carrying a shotgun.”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the Secret Service’s response, telling reporters, “This man was a floor above the ballroom with hundreds of federal agents between him and the president of the United States,” and adding, “Law enforcement did not fail.”

CBS News said the suspect wrote a “manifesto” and that he was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and knives, while acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the suspect was outside the dinner.

CBS News reported that Mr. Trump and other administration officials were quickly escorted out of the event, which was canceled shortly thereafter.

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NBC News said the gunman was identified by authorities as Cole Allen, 31, a paying guest at the Hilton, and that he bypassed multiple layers of security at an event attended by President Donald Trump and “more than 2,500 journalists, politicians and other VIPs.”

NBC News described that Allen hit the ground at the top of a staircase leading down to the entrance of the ballroom and that “no one inside the ballroom was hurt,” while “The only injury was to a Secret Service agent who took a bullet to his vest and will survive.”

CNN reported that Allen was charged Monday with three counts: attempting to assassinate the president, interstate transportation of weapons and discharge of a firearm during a violent crime, and that he did not enter a plea.

CNN also said FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News that the FBI gained access to the cell phone “on the person” of the suspect and that technicians would review other evidence and devices collected during the investigation.

NBC News reported that Allen checked into the Washington Hilton hotel at 3 p.m. the day before after traveling by train from Los Angeles, where he lived, and that on the evening of the dinner he used a staircase to reach the floor where guests were screened.

As the investigation unfolded, officials and security-focused voices argued over whether the Secret Service response showed a lapse or successful execution.

NBC News quoted acting Attorney General Todd Blanche defending the actions of the Secret Service, saying, “This man was a floor above the ballroom with hundreds of federal agents between him and the president of the United States,” and “Law enforcement did not fail.”

NPR described the event’s layout and security design, saying the Washington Hilton has “a unique design that is specifically intended for presidential security” and that “the Secret Service takes over the security for the event.”

NPR said that “the gunman was actually one floor above the ballroom,” and that he “was tackled before he got there,” while also quoting Blanche again: “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.”

NBC News included a warning from retired ATF agent Jim Cavanaugh, who said, “The thing that’s concerning is let’s say this is not this feckless hapless boob who is trying to do this,” and added, “It’s half a dozen suicide fanatics from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard or ISIS-K.”

CNN reported that Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin said he “saw no indication” of a security lapse after he and Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley were briefed by Secret Service Director Sean Curran.

Politico reported that the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt accused Democrats of putting the president’s life in danger with inflammatory rhetoric and argued that “When you read that manifesto of this shooter, ask yourselves, how different is that rhetoric from this almost-assassin than what you read on social media.”

Alongside the criminal case, multiple outlets described how misinformation and conspiracy theories spread quickly after the shooting scare.

PBS News said that “Within minutes, conspiracy theories flooded the internet,” and it described a “steady stream of facts” alongside “unfounded conspiracy theories” including claims the shooting was staged.

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PBS News quoted University of Maryland professor Jen Golbeck saying a “textbook recipe” for rumors comes from “a lack of trust in institutions and an inability to sort fact from fiction,” and it quoted another researcher, Emily Vraga, saying “We just can't process that much information.”

KTVU reported that “Misinformation swirls online following White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting” and quoted Mary Shean of Walnut Creek saying, “No one knows what to trust,” and “Everything is fake news.”

France 24, citing AFP, said the staged-assassination claims were “unfounded” and that AFP’s fact-checkers identified posts from anti-Trump accounts claiming the White House staged the shooting to distract attention, including the “unpopular US-Israeli war with Iran.”

France 24 also reported that NewsGuard said those posts garnered “80 million views on Elon Musk's platform X alone within two days of the shooting.”

The Hill quoted Karoline Leavitt dismissing the theories as “crazy nonsense,” telling reporters, “It’s very important to us that we get the truth and the facts about this case and any case out there as quickly as possible, to dispel some of that crazy nonsense that you see running rampant online.”

The attempted attack quickly became a political flashpoint, with administration officials using it to argue for policy changes and with critics disputing those linkages.

Politico reported that by Monday the White House shifted to a “more combative stance,” insisting the chaos at the dinner justified Trump initiatives including “his new White House ballroom,” “the stalled fight over funding for the Department of Homeland Security,” and “the ouster of late night provocateur Jimmy Kimmel.”

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Politico quoted Leavitt at the White House briefing saying, “When you read that manifesto of this shooter, ask yourselves, how different is that rhetoric from this almost-assassin than what you read on social media and hear in various forms every single day?” and it said she accused Democrats of putting the president’s life in danger with inflammatory rhetoric.

Politico also quoted Blanche suggesting media shares blame, saying, “They’re just as guilty as a lot of people on X when you have — when you have reporters ... just being overly critical and calling the president horrible names for no reason and without evidence,” while contrasting Trump’s Saturday call for peace, “there was a record-setting group of people, and there was a tremendous amount of love and coming together.”

CBS News said Trump has declined his invitation each year as president except this one and that he “wants to reschedule the dinner within the next 30 days.”

NPR reported that Trump said in an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes, “We should do it within 30 days, and they'll have even more security, and they'll have bigger perimeter security,” and added, “It'll be fine. But tell 'em to do it again.”

CNN reported that US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said the investigation “had just begun,” telling Fox News’ Laura Ingraham that “there’s a lot more evidence that we need to get,” including “the digital presence of this particular defendant.”

NBC News reported that the White House will hold a meeting with Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security leadership “early this week” to discuss the attempted attack and review protocols for major events.