On Saturday evening, a room full of journalists, media personalities, and senior members of Donald Trump’s administration descended into chaos as gunshots rang out at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Nobody was hurt, and the suspect was taken into custody — but it didn’t take long for a narrative of doubt to take hold online.
There is no evidence that the attack at the WHCD was staged — but the conspiracies echo an increasingly common belief held even by some former Trump loyalists that the president is faking assassination attempts. Many people online appear to earnestly believe this attack is just the latest iteration.
On X, Threads, Bluesky, and Reddit, suggestions that the shooting was planted began circulating almost immediately. Clips that otherwise would be innocuous were circulated as proof the shooting was scripted, or that officials had knowledge of it ahead of time. In one clip viewed 5.7 million times and shared by a liberal “political commentator,” a Fox News reporter calls into the network and describes how at the dinner, press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s husband leaned over to her and told her, “You need to be very safe.” The call drops as she is about to elaborate on the conversation.
Live callers losing connection happens occasionally during TV broadcasts, but here it became evidence for a conspiracy: “HOLY SH*T,” an X post of the video reads. “Fox News just cut one of their reporters off as they seemed to indicate the shooting was a pre-planned false flag.”
A pre-event interview with Leavitt similarly made the rounds after the dinner. In the interview, she promised there would be “shots fired” during Trump’s speech — a common turn of phrase on any other day, but which under these circumstances was used to stir up suspicion, as if she had prior knowledge.
At the same time, some MAGA-aligned attendees began posting on X that the event had lax security, describing having an “uneasy feeling” and that “something felt off.” The event was held at a Hilton hotel in Washington, DC, and The Washington Post reported that Secret Service was tasked with securing the ballroom the dinner was taking place in, plus the immediate perimeter of it — not the entire hotel, which was reportedly open to other guests. The suspected gunman, Cole Allen, was stopped by agents before he made it to the ballroom. Authorities said Allen had traveled from Los Angeles, had been staying at the Hilton hotel where the event was being held, and that there were “some writings” indicating Allen was targeting officials. Social media accounts including X and Bluesky profiles believed to be connected with Allen contained posts critical of Trump and reporters attending the WHCD, according to The BBC.
On Sunday, Trump sat for an interview with 60 Minutes to discuss the attack. He alternately made jokes and insulted the reporter, but one comment was clipped and circulated on X.
“[The shooter’s] speed was rather incredible, actually, it was like a blur,” Trump said. “I think the NFL should sign him up, he was fast,” Trump continued. It was a joke, but some commenters seized on it.
“Trump knew he was fast when he cast him to act this part,” one account responded.
It did not help quell conspiracies that shortly after the incident, Trump used the attempted attack as justification for building his own ballroom at the White House.
“This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House,” he wrote in a later Truth Social post. “It cannot be built fast enough!”
Previously, some former Trump supporters have voiced doubts about the 2024 Butler, Pennsylvania, assassination attempt on the president. Pundits like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and podcaster Tim Dillon have raised suspicions, and former US National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent claimed that the shooting wasn’t fully investigated. No evidence of a staged attack has come to light there, either.
Right-wing conspiracy theorists have also claimed violence against Democratic politicians and others was staged. In 2018, after pipe bombs were sent to prominent Democrats including Barack Obama and Bill and Hillary Clinton, some far-right influencers and other more mainstream pundits decried it as a “false flag” operation by leftists to make Republicans look bad ahead of the midterm elections. Alex Jones as recently as last week claimed again that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was staged.
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