On Saturday evening, a room full of reporters, media figures and senior members of Donald Trump’s administration descended into chaos, with gunfire ringing out during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. No one was hurt, and the suspect was taken into custody – but it didn’t take long for the story of suspicion to spread online.
There is no evidence that the attack on WHCD was staged – but the plots reflect an increasingly common belief even among some former Trump loyalists that the president is orchestrating assassination attempts. Many people online seem to strongly believe that this attack is just the latest iteration.
On X, Threads, Bluesky, and Reddit, suggestions that the shooting was planted began circulating almost immediately. The potentially innocuous clips have been circulated as evidence that the shooting was scripted, or that officials knew about it in advance. In one clip, viewed 5.7 million times and shared by a liberal “political commentator,” a Fox News reporter called into the network and described how press secretary Carolyn Leavitt’s husband leaned over to her during dinner and told her: “You’ve got to be very safe.” The call cuts out just as you are about to clarify the conversation.
Losing connection to live callers sometimes happens during a TV broadcast, but here it became evidence of a conspiracy: “HOLY SH*T,” reads X’s post in the video. “Fox News cut off one of its reporters because he appeared to suggest the shooting was a false flag that was pre-planned.”
Likewise, Levitt was interviewed before the event after dinner. In the interview, she promised that there would be a “shootout” during Trump’s speech – a common phrase on any other day, but under the circumstances it was used to raise suspicions, as if she had foreknowledge.
At the same time, some MAGA-aligned attendees began posting on X that the event had seen lax security, describing there being a “feeling of unease” and that “something seemed off.” The ceremony was held at the Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC The Washington Post She stated that the Secret Service was charged with securing the hall where the dinner was taking place, as well as its immediate surroundings, and not the entire hotel, which was said to have been open to other guests. Agents stopped the suspected gunman, Cole Allen, before he reached the hall. Authorities said Allen had traveled from Los Angeles and was staying at the Hilton Hotel where the event was held, and that there was “some writing” indicating that Allen was targeting officials. Social media accounts, including X and Bluesky profiles believed to be linked to Allen, contained posts critical of Trump and reporters attending the WHCD conference, according to the BBC..
On Sunday, Trump sat down for an interview 60 minutes To discuss the attack. He made jokes and insulted the reporter, but one comment was cut and circulated on X.
“[The shooter’s] “The speed was kind of amazing, in fact, it was like a blur,” Trump said. “I think the NFL should sign him, it was fast. It was a joke, but some commentators took advantage of it.”
“Trump knew he was quick when he picked him for this role,” one account responded.
It did not help quell the conspiracies that shortly after the incident, Trump used the attempted attack as justification to build his own ballroom in the White House.
“This event would never have happened with the top-secret military ballroom currently under construction at the White House,” he wrote in a subsequent Truth Social post. “It can’t be built fast enough!”
Previously, some former Trump supporters expressed doubts about the president’s 2024 Pennsylvania assassination attempt on Butler. Critics such as Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and podcaster Tim Dillon have raised doubts, and former US National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent has claimed that the shooting was not fully investigated. No evidence of a planned attack was uncovered there either.
Right-wing conspiracy theorists have also claimed that 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 mainstream critics denounced the operation as a “false flag” operation by leftists to make Republicans look bad ahead of the midterm elections. Last week, Alex Jones once again claimed that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was staged.
