Correspondents' dinner lacked highest security level despite presence of top officials

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post

April 26, 2026 at 4:59 p.m. EDT


The Trump administration provided a lower level of security for the White House correspondents’ dinner than it has for other gatherings of high-ranking officials, even though the president and many Cabinet members were in attendance, according to officials familiar with the plan.

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance were quickly evacuated to safety Saturday when a gunman charged the security perimeter and attempted to storm the ballroom at the Washington Hilton Hotel. Others in attendance included Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The concentration of high-ranking leaders in one ballroom left the nation unusually vulnerable as the would-be assassin raced past Secret Service before he was apprehended. A worst-case scenario might have resulted in passing the power of the presidency to the senior-most senator of the majority party, Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who was not at the event and is third in line to the presidency behind Vance and Johnson.

When so many officials gather in one place for official functions such as an inauguration or State of the Union address, the secretary of homeland security typically puts the Secret Service in charge of coordinating all security through a formal designation known as a “National Special Security Event.” There was no such designation on Saturday night at an event also attended by thousands of journalists and other government officials, according to local and federal officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss security details.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/04/26/white-house-correspondents-dinner-security-status/

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No paywall (gift)

When so many officials gather in one place for official functions such as an inauguration or State of the Union address, the secretary of homeland security typically puts the Secret Service in charge of coordinating all security through a formal designation known as a “National Special Security Event.” There was no such designation on Saturday night at an event also attended by thousands of journalists and other government officials, according to local and federal officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss security details.

Where was Markwayne Mullin?

[Bluestocking]

1. Their own incompetence is gonna get them all killed

Oh well that would be a bummer

[William Seger]

11. I don't know how I could survive that

... non-stop party.

[UpInArms]

2. They are too stupid

to even grasp how stupid they are.

None of them care about their actual role’s function, they don’t even think enough to understand there is protocol for a reason.

[ananda]

3. Well, I'll lift a glass to Irish_Dem.

This does sound deliberate.

[Goonch]

4. ;-{) ACTIVE SHOOTER

[DFW]

5. The last time that I was at a similar event--same place, same caliber of attendees, different occasion (Gridiron)

Security was so tight that my family and I were almost tossed by the Secret Service out of a private reception with POTUS, even though we were the ONLY ONES were on their list. Same kind of people present--Senate Majority Leader, House Speaker (Gingrich--ugh!!), the ambassadors of EVERYWHERE, and every name in the DC press who was anybody.

This was a long time ago, and security was so tight, they would probably have asked a mosquito for two forms of photo ID before letting it in.

And yet now, this man, heavily armed, makes it within one floor of the room with EVERYBODY in it. When I last posted my skepticism, I hadn´t been aware that he had checked into the hotel days before the event, which explains how come he even got into the building without being checked by the Secret Service. Even so, it´s their JOB to anticipate every eventuality. It´s especially the job of their higher-ups to do this. The only thing keeping me from thinking up conspiracy theories is that if he suddenly dashed toward the area where the VIPs were, brandishing various weapons, if someone had been coaching him, they must have known he wouldn´t get anywhere. On the other hand, if he had been secretly coached and abetted (the train from L.A. to DC is not cheap, and that hotel costs a bunch, especially if you don´t go out and order only room service), it´s a tough deal to swing on a teacher´s salary.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. This is how close he got

(from Wapo)

[DFW]

12. That does help a little, thanks!

It looks like "closer than he should have gotten, but not really close enough to do serious damage to the ones who would have caused the greatest headlines if he had."

[Karma13612]

6. He was actually there. I saw him as I watched the scene unfold live.

But, he obviously didn’t take center stage I guess since it was the FBI/Secret Service and Capital Police’s turf.

What I want to know is:

Why didn’t all the good guys with guns return fire. Why is the shooter still alive? He actually fired on them, and injured an officer, etc.

Why didn’t any one of the gazillion armed guards return fire? I am seriously not sure this adds up. I fully disagree with the policy of ‘always shoot to kill’. BUT, that is the standard protocol, is it not?

Why was it not followed??

Maybe because it was a set up.

He wants his ballroom, and thinks this will persuade everyone. The silly thing about this is that the proposed ballroom wouldn’t have been large enuf capacity for the dinner event last night. According to what I’ve read.

[DFW]

13. I haven't seen any forensic reports on anything yet.

WERE any of the shooter's guns fired? WAS the slug that hit the SS agent's vest indeed fired from the intruder's gun? If it were shown to definitely have come from the intruder's gun, I would have thought we would have heard by now. If it was from "friendly fire," they would be frantically delaying until they had made up a sufficiently plausible story. I haven't yet seen a report on what kind of weapon he had, or what caliber slug hit the SS agent's vest. I think we got faster details after the JFK assassination.

[LeftInTX]

18. At first I thought he shot the guy in the suit next to the conveyer belt, but who knows?

[Karma13612]

19. Very good point!

And as you said, they are probably going to delay long enuf to create the evidence to fit their narrative.

Also, I want to know why none of these sharp-shooter-security guys didn’t fire at the shooter.

[pat_k]

7. I don't think it was designated an NSSE under Obama or Biden, but somehow, I think...

... it is almost guaranteed that the level of security provided at events previous presidents attended was much higher than security at this event, if anecdotal reports from various people who attended are accurate. I don't have a list, but I heard/saw observations of lax security made by at least three people who had attended in other administrations.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. The difference now is due to how polarized the country has become since Obama

And having had multiple political killings the past year, notably going back to the state lawmaker in MN and her husband (and one could go back further to the attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband), then anything involving top elected officials, needs to be reevaluated.

Instead, they have created a phalanx of jack-booted thugs to go after immigrants.

[Wonder Why]

10. Makes me wonder if the SS is sick and tired of the criminal behavior obviously being committed.

[Figarosmom]

14. With all the incompetent people in charge

What else would be expected? They love to prance around talking tough while firing all the people in their departments that do the actual planning and work. All these guys are just PAPER TIGERS.

[Herself]

15. Camera Footage shows JV Vance removed from the stage BEFORE

SS was able to cover trump and remove him.

Priorities in full view.

[QueerDuck]

16. Very interesting.

[ColoringFool]

17. How CONVEEEENIENT. Nothing To See Here, Folks.

[samsingh]

20. trump's policies are gutting competent people from serving

we have kash patels left to completely screw up everything.

[maxsolomon]

21. You know, IDGAF.

I hope this is the final nail in this stupid event's coffin.

[markpkessinger]

22. This was not a government function . . .

. . . This was a private fundraising dinner, held annually, by the White House Correspondents' Association, a private, not-for-profit organization of Washington journalists. It uses the annual dinner as a fundraiser for its scholarships, which it awards to graduate journalism students. Trump, Vance, and every other government official who attended were there as invited guests and nothing more.

That why the whole notion that the incident underscores the need for a ballroom at the White House is so fucking ridiculous: as a private fundraiser hosted by a private, not-for-profit association, this event would have been held at the White House ballroom even if it had existed!

[DFW]

23. Telling quote from Blanche in the Washington Post on the subject

"Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said investigators were still examining whether the bullet that struck a Secret Service officer, who was protected by a bulletproof vest, was fired by suspect Cole Thomas Allen."

This is something else that Norm Ornstein and I were going over this morning. Were are on the same page here. IF the bullet that struck the Secret Service officer WAS from Cole Allen's gun, that is something that could have been determined by simple ballistics testing long before now. The fact that the ballistics testing either hasn't been done, or else has been done, but is being kept under wraps for "editing," is a near-definitive statement that Cole Allen's handgun did not fire the shot. Ergo, the bullet came from the service weapon of another Secret Service agent, and they definitely DID fire shots. As a matter of fact, no reports whatsoever have indicated that Cole Allen fired any shots at all from his handgun.

Determining from which weapon the projectile that hit the SS agent was fired is not Nobel Prize winning forensics. There were not a huge number of weapons fired in those few seconds, and any grade B lab--hell, any grade B patrolman--can determine whether or not a gun has been recently fired. Don't tell me that it takes the top investigative agencies of the United States more than a day to be "still examening" one slug to determine which one out of two kinds of firearm it was fired from. It doesn't. If the public doesn't know by now, that is because the story that will ultimately be given to the public will be one that is still being edited, and will have little to do with the truth. Maybe the slug is still being transformed into something that is "deformed beyond recognition," though I'm betting that the metallic composition alone would determine within minutes which kind of hand gun fired it--especially when there are only two choices. Their only path to a convincing lie now is to take Cole Allen's gun, use one of the bullets he had, fire it in their lab into a bulletproof vest, extract it, and then say, "aha! it was definitely shot from the assailant's gun!" Now THAT might take a day or two to set up, and THAT would explain why "they" are "still examening" anything at all.