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Trump rushed off stage after shots fired at White House Correspondents’ Dinner
0:42 • Source: CNN
Trump rushed off stage after shots fired at White House Correspondents’ Dinner
0:42
• President Donald Trump said a suspect “armed with multiple weapons” charged a security checkpoint before shots were fired at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner tonight in Washington, DC. Trump was rushed off stage, and he and his Cabinet members are all safe.
• The suspect — who is in custody — will be charged with using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on federal officer using a dangerous weapon, US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said. Authorities have identified the suspect as a 31-year-old California man, law enforcement officials told CNN.
• CNN’s Wolf Blitzer was outside the ballroom at the Washington Hilton when he saw a gunman opening fire just a few feet away. He was among the dozens of attendees who took cover as law enforcement swarmed. A US Secret Service agent was shot in their protective gear and has been hospitalized, sources said.
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers took to social media to condemn the attack on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and express relief over the president’s safety.
“Political violence has no place in our democracy,” Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand wrote on X.
“As someone whose family has suffered political violence, my prayers are with the injured officer and all those affected by the trauma of these horrible incidents,” former speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi wrote on X.
Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, was attacked in the couple’s San Francisco home in late 2022, in what the prosecutors later described as “a violent plan to kidnap Nancy Pelosi, to hold her hostage, to break her kneecaps, to teach her a lesson.”
“The only thing I’m certain of is that the times in which we live are creating a stream of threats that are unprecedented against President Trump and other government officials,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said.
“Let’s all pray for calmer waters and try to be part of the solution, not the problem,” he added.
“The political violence has to stop,” Republican Rep. Warren Davidson wrote on X. “I am grateful for law enforcement and the Secret Service who acted swiftly to protect President Trump and all those in attendance at the White House Correspondents Dinner.”
“What happened at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner tonight is a horrifying reminder that political violence has taken hold in this country,” Democratic Sen. Chris Coons wrote on X.
“The fact that it unfolded at an event celebrating a free press—a core pillar of democracy—should concern every American.”
The suspected gunman who stormed a security checkout at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, forcing President Donald Trump to evacuate, has been identified as Cole Tomas Allen, three sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
The 31-year-old man from California studied engineering and is a graduate of the California Institute of Technology, also known as Caltech, according to materials shared with CNN.
The suspect is believed to have been a guest at the Washington Hilton where the event took place, and the police have “secured a room” to determine what is inside, according to Interim Chief at the Metropolitan Police Department Jeffery Carroll.
Carroll also said the suspect was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives and “exchanged fire” with law enforcement officers when he was intercepted and taken into custody.
A photo posted on Trump’s Truth Social page, which appears to capture the moments after the arrest, shows the suspect on the ground with both hands behind his back.
Authorities said the suspect had not been struck by gunfire but was taken to a hospital for evaluation and treatment. An injured Secret Service agent was also taken to a hospital, Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said.
The suspect will be arraigned in court on Monday facing two charges: using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon, US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said.
The DC police chief said the suspect appeared to be “a lone actor” while Trump noted his security team was not aware of any threats prior to Saturday’s dinner.
FBI Director Kash Patel said investigators will be looking “thoroughly” into the suspect’s background.
The suspect worked as a teacher and video game developer from Southern California, according to public records.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani spoke out against the attack at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday night, saying “political violence is absolutely unacceptable.”
“I am glad the President and guests at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner are safe,” Mamdani wrote in an X post.
The New York mayor has met several times with President Donald Trump, including at the White House earlier this year shortly after Mamdani took office.
While Secret Service officers quickly eliminated the threat posed by the suspect at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe said it’s concerning that the gunman got “pretty far beyond the perimeter” established by security.
“Despite the great result, they’d probably do well to ask themselves some questions about how they should think about this in the future,” McCabe told CNN’s Jim Sciutto.
The suspect, believed to have been a guest at the hotel, charged a security checkpoint outside the dinner and is believed to have fired a shot before he was taken into custody, police said.
McCabe added that under no circumstances should the dinner have continued, as some initially suggested.
“There is no chance. There are no circumstances under which you could advise the host of that event or the president and his team, anything other than to send everyone home. We have to freeze this place. This is a crime scene. Now we have to collect evidence.”
The man suspected of opening fire at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday night worked as a teacher and video game developer from Southern California, according to public records.
Cole Tomas Allen, 31, who lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance, has been identified by law enforcement as the armed man subdued near the dinner where President Trump and other officials had gathered, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
A LinkedIn profile matching his name and photo described him as a part-time teacher at C2 Education, a test prep and tutoring company. C2 named Allen the company’s “teacher of the month” in December 2024, according to social media posts from the company. No one answered a phone number for C2 late Saturday evening.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Allen graduated from the California Institute of Technology in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, and received a master’s degree in computer science from California State University-Dominguez Hills last year.
Allen donated $25 to Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign in October 2024, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Read more about the suspect here
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President Trump speaks after shooting incident at White House Correspondents’ Dinner
6:51 • Source: CNN
President Trump speaks after shooting incident at White House Correspondents’ Dinner
6:51
It’s just after midnight in Washington DC, only hours since President Donald Trump was rushed off the stage after a shooting incident at the White House Correspondent’s dinner.
Trump and his Cabinet members who attended were all safe. He spoke afterward at a hastily organized news conference at a White House, while the city’s mayor along with law enforcement officials also addressed the media to discuss the details of what happened.
One Secret Service agent was shot and is hospitalized. No one else was injured, according to authorites.
If you’re just joining us, here’s the latest on what we know:
About the suspect:
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Video shows Secret Service’s response to the suspected gunman at White House Correspondents’ Dinner
1:00 • Source: CNN
Video shows Secret Service’s response to the suspected gunman at White House Correspondents’ Dinner
1:00
Trump’s account of the incident:
CNN’s Zoe Sottile, Riane Lumer, Aleena Fayaz, Donald Judd, Kaanita Iyer, Julia Benbrook, Kit Maher, Alejandra Jaramillo, Elizabeth Wolfe, Kristen Holmes, Holmes Lybrand and Aditi Sangal contributed to this report.
There was a clear and expected security presence outside the Washington Hilton, ahead of the dinner. Some protestors were outside, as well. I had to hop out of my cab earlier than my exact destination to walk toward the red carpet entrance on Florida Avenue and T Street.
Passing under security tape, I walked down Florida and ran into a group of colleagues who were also heading up toward the back entrance. All in our black-tie attire, we crossed under security tape toward a group of individuals who were checking for tickets and were ushered up the hill toward the line where we waited outside to get to the red carpet. There were two parallel lines: One for those who wanted their photos taken and one for those who wanted to go through faster without a walk down the red carpet.
Once inside, you walked toward an area on the red carpet where your photograph was captured, then made your way in behind the blue WHCD banner. Shortly before guests reached the magnetometers, tickets were asked to be flashed but at no point ahead of the dinner did anyone ask for my ID or press badge. I also remember passing by the hotel guest elevators. As many have noted, there were magnetometers closer toward the entrance of the ballroom, where people checked inside my purse and the hundreds of guests walked through a metal detector.
Once cleared, there is an area where people gather and catch up with one another. Guests have to walk down a couple flights of stairs and then enter the ballroom.
The suspected gunman in the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is believed to have been a guest at the Washington Hilton, where the event took place on Saturday night.
Carroll reiterated that police believe the suspect acted alone.
Dan Scavino, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, said Saturday’s attack brings back “a lot of terrible memories” of the attempted assassination against the president during a 2024 campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
“Never thought I’d be hitting the ground again after Butler, Pennsylvania, as a result of shots being fired,” Scavino said on X.
“Brings back a lot of terrible memories—I am so thankful that everyone in attendance tonight is okay. We’re all in this together, stay strong!”
World leaders condemned violence and voiced relief that the US president and guests at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner are safe after gunfire rang out at the venue.
“We condemn the attempt of aggression against President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania,” Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez said on X.
Echoing the sentiment, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said: “Political violence has no place in any democracy and my thoughts are with all those who have been shaken by this disturbing event.”
Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed relief for Trump in their messages of support on X.
“Violence has no place in a democracy and must be unequivocally condemned,” Modi said.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the incident “a heinous attack” and said: “We are thankful that the law enforcement officer shot during the attack is safe and on the path of recovery.”
The target of Saturday’s incident at the dinner remains unclear.
Video from the Washington Hilton shows the suspected gunman lying facedown on the ground, shirtless and in handcuffs, surrounded by agents following the attack at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday night.
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WHCD suspected gunman on the ground, shirtless, surrounded by agents
0:19 • Source: CNN
WHCD suspected gunman on the ground, shirtless, surrounded by agents
0:19
CNN’s Elex Michaelson has described the “scary and surreal moment” that unfolded during the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Just hours after a gunman opened fire at the Washington Hilton, Michaelson, who joined CNN as an anchor and correspondent in 2025, told Jim Sciutto on CNN Newsroom that it was his first White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
“It felt to me sort of like living through a movie,” he said.
“It reminded me almost of a ‘West Wing’ episode when they all went into the security room and they were all dressed in tuxedos.”
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Elex Michaelson joins CNN Newsroom to describe experience as shots were fired
4:38 • Source: CNN
Elex Michaelson joins CNN Newsroom to describe experience as shots were fired
4:38
US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, an attendee at the White House Correspondents’ dinner, described the tense atmosphere in the ballroom after shots were heard.
“A whole room went silent. When I lifted my head and when I looked up, every law enforcement officer was out there, as we all had our heads down, thousands of them,” Pirro said.
Pirro thanked law enforcement for doing their work with courage and dignity, both this evening and every day.
“Thank God for our partners, the FBI, the Secret Service, the Metropolitan Police, all of them tonight, acted so quickly that they prevented what could have been a horrific event where we were all sitting there in one room,” Pirro said.
Asked who the gunman arrested at a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was targeting, Interim Chief of Police of the Metropolitan Police Department Jeffery W. Carroll said that it’s “probably part of the investigation.”
“We do know the president was inside the ballroom,” he said Saturday. “We know there was Cabinet members and many guests in there.”
The annual dinner sees a number of high-profile guests, including both politicians and journalists.
Secret Service Director Sean Curran said his agents “performed admirably” tonight, pointing to the quick apprehension of the suspect at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner as a prime example of what the agency is trained to do.
A Secret Service agent was shot in their protective gear and has been hospitalized, sources told CNN.
“I ask everybody to pray for him and all of our officers and agents that were involved,” Curran said. “I will tell you, we will continue with the mission.”
Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser said authorities have “no reason to believe at this time that anyone else was involved” in the incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner tonight.
“At this point, it does appear (the suspect) is a lone actor, a lone gunman,” added interim Washington, DC, police chief Jeffery Carroll.
Police believe the suspect fired a shot, based on “preliminary information,” Interim Chief of Police of the Metropolitan Police Department Jeffery W. Carroll said Saturday.
The armed suspect who was taken into custody at the White House Correspondents Dinner has been identified as Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old from California, three sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
Asked how Saturday’s incident impacts him as the US president, Donald Trump told reporters he is in a dangerous job but that he is no “basket case.”
“I like not to think about it. I lead a pretty normal life considering, you know, it’s a dangerous life. I think I handle it as well as it can be handled,” Trump said.
Trump also praised his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, for “doing a terrific job.”
“She’s told me numerous times ‘you are in a dangerous job,’ but that goes along with her, too. It’s dangerous for her, too,” he said.
“We sat there tonight. We heard that noise and it was either a tray or a bullet. I was hoping it was a tray, but it wasn’t. And again, we had some very brave people doing a great job. So we’re very proud of them and happy with them.”
Interim Washington, DC, police chief Jeffery Carroll told reporters the suspect in the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner had several weapons as he “charged” a Secret Service checkpoint.
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