MIKE DAVIS: Secure the White House and build the ballroom before someone gets killed
Democratic Convention
MIKE DAVIS: Secure the White House and build the ballroom before someone gets killed
Cole Tomas Allen allegedly fired at Secret Service agents while 3,000 people attended the event at the Washington Hilton
By Mike Davis Fox News
Published April 26, 2026 8:54pm EDT
Facebook Twitter Threads Flipboard Comments Print Email Add Fox News on Google
close
Video
Security concerns loom as Trump pushes to reschedule WH Correspondents’ Dinner within 30 days
Fox News senior White House correspondent and incoming White House Correspondents’ Association president Jacqui Heinrich discusses the group’s role in planning the annual dinner on ‘The Big Weekend Show.’
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
We all watched in horror as President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, many Cabinet secretaries, dozens of members of Congress and others scrambled for their safety at the Washington Hilton Hotel for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, an annual D.C. tradition. Deranged leftist Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old California man who donated to Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign, tried to barge in armed with multiple guns and the alleged purpose of assassinating Trump administration officials. Allen came quite close to accomplishing his alleged mission, and we must never allow another Allen to strike. Such events should occur at a secure White House ballroom, not a hotel that is open to guests and the public.
Allen appeared to have had a simple plan. He checked into the Hilton and allegedly brought along a shotgun, handguns and knives. He went to his room and waited. Then, he took a stairwell down to the floor where the dinner was underway. Authorities say he charged at a Secret Service checkpoint near the ballroom where 3,000 people were jammed in like sardines. The checkpoint was the location of magnetometers designed to screen for guns and other weapons. Allen allegedly began firing, apparently intending to shoot his way through the checkpoint so that he could enter the ballroom and cause mass casualties. The courageous Secret Service agents stopped him, and one heroic agent was shot in his vest. That agent will recover and deserves the eternal gratitude of the American people for his sacrifice.
Construction work continues on President Trump's White House Ballroom........
