White House Shooting: Did Trump Know About Attack In Advance? US President’s Reply

2 min readUpdated: Apr 26, 2026 08:47 PM IST

US President Donald Trump was part of a security scare when a shootout took place during the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday night, with Secret Service personnel whisking him and top officials of his administration away while guests dived under tables.

During a press briefing after the incident, Trump was asked by a CNN reporter whether he or his team were aware of any threats beforehand.

The US president said that neither he nor his team had any prior warning of threats before the shots were fired. “No, we’ve had no idea and there was no notification,” he said.

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When asked by the reporter if he was the target in White House correspondents dinner shooting, Trump said: “I guess, I mean these people, they are crazy. And you never know, he was very far away from me, he had to go through a lot. We had resources all over, resources sitting at tables in disguise…that was really the first line of defence.”

President Trump was rushed off the stage along with First Lady Melania. The armed man, who has been reportedly identified as Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old from California, was a guest at the Washington Hilton where the dinner was being held. He was taken into custody by security personnel and will be produced in court on Monday.

Addressing the media two hours after the shooting incident, Trump, who was still seen in his tuxedo, said: “When you’re impactful, they go after you. When you’re not impactful, they leave you alone. They seem to think he was a lone wolf.”

A video posted by Trump showed the gunman dodging the security barricades as US Secret Service agents ran towards him. Officials have said that one officer was shot in the incident, however, he was wearing a bullet-resistant vest and is recovering.

Police said that the gunman was tackled to the ground and remained unhurt, but was being evaluated at a hospital.

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