00:06A suspected shooter was taken into custody after breaching security at the annual White
00:11House Correspondents' Dinner on April 25, 2026.
00:21US President Donald Trump was evacuated from the dinner in Washington when it was reported
00:27an armed man charged at the security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton Hotel.
00:32The suspect was identified online as 31-year-old Cole Thomas Allen from California.
00:57Where is it at?
00:58Where is it at?
01:11Guests had just been seated for the event when Secret Service agents flooded the ballroom
01:17and ordered attendees to get down on the ground.
01:20Amongst the nearly 2,600 attendees was Australian correspondent for ABC News, John Lyons, who
01:28documented the chaos and spoke later with his on-air colleagues about the ordeal.
01:32I took my passport and everything along thinking it's going to be high security.
01:36I arrived at the Washington Hilton.
01:38I got into the gate just by showing this.
01:41Anybody could have found this.
01:43And then I got into the hotel itself.
01:46No security.
01:47Then I went through the reception.
01:49No security.
01:50Then I went down to...
01:52Then you had to go downstairs to the terrace area.
01:54No security.
01:55Walking in, security did seem perhaps not to match from my POV based on what I've seen
02:02and covered before the scale of the event.
02:05But also notably, as we walked in, it became apparent that, oh, there are actually residents
02:12in the hotel who maybe didn't go through these screenings who are here, seeing us, but also
02:18in the space.
02:19In the immediate aftermath, social media users lit up online to question the reported lax security.
02:25Why do you think this keeps happening to you?
02:29Well, you know, I've studied assassinations and I must tell you, the most impactful people,
02:39the people that do the most, you take a look at the people, Abraham Lincoln.
02:44I mean, you go through the people that have gone through this where they got them.
02:48But the people that do the most, the people that make the biggest impact, they're the
02:54ones that they go after.
02:56Users claiming the shooting was a conspiracy shared partial remarks and actions of the guests
03:01in attendance in ways that distorted intentions.
03:05A clip of press secretary Caroline Levitt before the event telling a reporter that
03:10there will be shots fired tonight in the room was widely taken out of context by supporters
03:16of the conspiracy theory.
03:18Tonight will be classic Donald J. Trump.
03:21It'll be funny.
03:22It'll be entertaining.
03:23There will be some shots fired tonight in the room.
03:26So everyone should tune in.
03:28It's going to be really great.
03:29It's going to be really great.
03:59It's going to be intéressant.
04:00It's going to be wonderful.
04:00So my story is this and I'm going to give you bats.
04:01You
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