Axios: President Trump … “Terror and relief”

Posted on April 26, 2026 by michelleclarke2015
 Terror and relief
 
Photo: Nathan Howard/Getty Images

Forty minutes into last night’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, tuxedoed Cabinet members and bejeweled journalists heard gunfire. They dove under tables at the Washington Hilton as President Trump was rushed offstage.“Get down! Get down!” people yelled.

Many attendees believed someone in the massive subterranean ballroom had been shot.

Axios was hosting a Cabinet member at one of our tables. Agents appeared, and the guest and their spouse vanished as if they’d levitated.

Law enforcement stopped an assailant, armed with guns and knives, as he rushed a security checkpoint in the lobby and fired at a Secret Service officer during the salad course.

The gunman — a guest at the historic hotel, where President Ronald Reagan was shot 45 years ago — was taken into custody and faces firearms and assault charges. Officials believe he acted alone.

He was apprehended in the hotel lobby before he got to the metal detectors, a source briefed by the FBI told Axios.

During a 10:35 p.m. ET appearance in the White House briefing room, Trump said those frightening minutes brought together the press and members of both political parties. “I saw a room that was just totally unified. It was a beautiful thing to see,” Trump said.

Trump said the officer was “shot from a very close distance with a very powerful gun” in his bullet-resistant vest “and the vest did the job.”Screenshot via Truth Social

The assailant was armed with a shotgun, handgun and multiple knives, according to interim D.C. Police Chief Jeffery Carroll. Carroll said the suspect was taken to a hospital for evaluation, though he wasn’t shot.

Vice President JD Vance was hustled out first. Agents initially covered Trump before bundling him and first lady Melania Trump from the room.

The room had been buzzing with speculation about how much Trump would needle the press in his remarks. The mentalist Oz Pearlman, who was at the head table, was set to perform.

The suspect is Cole Thomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, Calif., AP reports.

Social media posts that appear to match the suspect suggest he’s a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer.

He earned a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from Caltech in 2017. He said he was involved in a Christian student fellowship and a campus group that battled with Nerf guns.Photo: Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images🥂 

Trump was attending the dinner for the first time in either of his terms. “I thought it was a tray going down. It was a pretty loud noise and it was from quite far away,” he said.Trump said he wanted to speak at the dinner after the threat was neutralized, but the Secret Service resisted.

Guests were initially asked to reseat themselves, but then were asked to leave the premises.

Behind the scenes: At first, Trump was held in a secure presidential suite at the hotel as organizers sought to resume the dinner. Waiters refolded napkins and refilled water glasses. Aides adjusted the teleprompter for the president. Then Trump returned to the White House on the advice of the Secret Service.The president said hewants the black-tie dinner to be rescheduled and held within 30 days.More photos.
    
 
 
2. 💡 Living history
 
President Trump is evacuated last night. Image from video: Bo Erickson/Reuters Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for D.C., during a late-night news conference, still in her ballgown: “Shots heard, and a whole room went silent. When I lifted my head, and when I looked up, every law enforcement officer was out there, as we all had our heads down … These are the men and women every day who do what they do silently, and they do it with courage and with dignity.” 

White House Correspondents’ Association president Weijia Jiang, CBS News’ senior White House correspondent, during the network’s special report after President Trump spoke: “What we do isn’t about a big, fancy dinner party. In some ways, what happened tonight is actually a much better reflection of what it is we do.”“I was scrolling [after the head table was evacuated], just trying to find out what people were reporting. I saw many reporters reporting live from in the room, and tweeting from in the room. … [T]hey didn’t know if there was an ongoing threat. And that’s what reporters do. And that was on full display.
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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