Progressive Violence

The suspect detained after a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ dinner is believed to have made it past the outermost layer of security at the event at which President Donald Trump was scheduled to speak because he was a guest of the hotel, officials said Saturday.

The shooting suspect was identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, two law enforcement officials told the AP. Officials told reporters after the incident that Allen was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives.

Security for the annual event is always tight when the president attends, especially given the venue’s history — 45 years ago, the Washington Hilton was the site of an attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan — and law enforcement argued that their “multi-layered protection” worked as designed.

Cole Allen, 31, from Torrance, California, attempted to assassinate President Trump and other government officials during the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday. It’s a fact. It’s in his manifesto.

President Trump was at the event with Vice President JD Vance and other top officials when Allen sprinted past security checkpoints outside the ballroom. He was caught, but not before gunfire was exchanged. He wasn’t hit during the attack but was armed with multiple guns and knives.

“I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” Allen wrote. He confessed to the police early Sunday morning that his targets were Trump officials. His written work emphasizes that and includes the president on the list, not that we couldn’t infer that from the initial confession.

“What’s happening??”

It was Elizabeth Mitchell, the Daily Signal’s White House reporter. She was seated next to me at Saturday evening’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner. There was urgency and confusion in her voice.

Our table was to the right of and somewhat back from the dais, where President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, First Lady Melania Trump, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, and White House Correspondents’ Association President Weijia Jiang of CBS News were seated, along with others.

Elizabeth was looking in that general direction. I was looking at my salad. I turned toward her as she spoke. In a split second, before I tried to see what was happening, I knew, or at least feared, that something was very, very wrong.

Forty-five years ago President Ronald Reagan was shot and nearly killed by a would-be assassin outside the Washington Hilton Hotel. Forty-five years later President Donald Trump’s life was in danger from another would-be assassin at the same hotel.

Why?

Because the Secret Service failed Trump — again.

Authorities identified 31-year-old California resident Cole Allen as the man surveillance video shows rushing past a Secret Service checkpoint while reportedly armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives and heading toward the ballroom where the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was taking place on Saturday evening. Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and several cabinet members were present. Allen was reportedly subdued by law enforcement after several shots rang out. Reports indicate the suspect was not struck by gunfire. Two sources told CBS News that the suspect admitted he was targeting members of the Trump administration.