The president of the United States has suffered an attempted attack – the third in two years – during the White House correspondents’ dinner, which was held at the Hilton Hotel in Washington, where Ronald Reagan was attacked in 1981. A man, identified as Cole Allen, has been arrested after entering the room armed with a gun and several knives.
In the videos that have been released from the moment of the attack, you can see how he points at the attendees, calling into question the safety of the American president, since the attacker had no trouble avoiding the security ring at full speed before being subdued by a dozen security members.
Although the Secret Service forces appeased him in a few seconds, Allen had time to shoot an agent who, thanks to the bulletproof vest, saved his life. Furthermore, it should be noted that the ballroom is on the lowest floor of the hotel, so if instead of being a single attacker there had been more, the consequences could have been fatal.
The target of the attack were members of the entire Administration
However, the president was not the first to be evacuated. As seen in the videos released, it was the vice president, JD Vance, who was taken out of the room first. As seen in the images, one of the security members grabs him by the back and drags him to remove him.
For his part, Secretary of State Marco Rubio hid under the table while he was told how to act, just like Trump himself. The security members surrounded him and covered all possible angles so that he could not be shot. As for the first lady, no one protects her or evacuates her, but she leaves on her own feet at the same time as Trump.
A crazy lone wolf
Meanwhile, attendees screamed and hid under tables, wondering if the president was going to return to the dinner. The Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, and Robert Kennedy Jr. were also escorted. And, as the investigators have pointed out and the acting prosecutor, Todd Blanche, has reported, “it seems that, indeed, their target was people who work in the administration.”
The attacker was arrested and Trump himself shared images of the aforementioned neutralized. Likewise, on social networks, the Washington DC Police have confirmed that two firearms and “multiple knives” have been found. The president, in a press conference after the attack, described him as a “lone wolf” and “crazy” with serious mental problems and praised the action of the secret service, which he described as “beautiful to see.”
Likewise, in another press conference, the president assured that Allen attacked out of “hatred” of Christians. Furthermore, as reported by the New York Post, he sent his family a manifesto minutes before the attack in which he accused Trump of being “a pedophile, rapist and traitor.”
The unfortunate statements of Trump’s press secretary
Trump was going to give a speech during the night and press secretary Karoline Leavitt, asked by Fox News Saturday Night about what the president was going to say, assured that “some shots were going to be fired. It will be funny and entertaining. He is ready for battle.” Some unfortunate statements considering that the attack occurred just a few minutes later, since it occurred shortly after the evening began.
The armored ballroom that Trump is building in the White House
After this incident, Trump has demanded that the court that has paralyzed his White House Ballroom approve the immediate construction of the monumental project so that this does not happen again, since, in his opinion, “it would never have happened with the top-secret military ballroom that he is now building.”
This ballroom intends to inaugurate it before its term ends in 2029 and has an estimated cost of between 170 and 350 million dollars, according to the Administration itself. With an area of 8,200 square meters, Trump conceives it as a armored reception room, but the project is paralyzed by Judge Richard Leon, who has accused the administration of “haggling” over rulings against the project.
Unanimity among world leaders against the attack
The attack against Trump has been unanimously condemned by different world leaders. The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has expressed that “violence is never the way” and has opted for “democracy, coexistence and peace” for humanity to advance.
The mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, has also shown his rejection of “political violence”, while the high representative of the EU, Kaja Kallas, has celebrated that Trump is safe and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has thanked “the rapid intervention of the police and the secret services.”
The respective leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Canada, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela, among others, have also expressed their condemnation of what happened and all have shown their rejection of the attack.
It is the third attack that Trump has suffered in two years in office. In July 2024, during a rally in Pennsylvania, he was shot by Thomas Matthew Crooks, grazing his ear. A few months later, in September the Secret Service discovered a man armed with an AK-47 rifle near Trump’s golf course.
