Donald Trump has cast the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner as further proof that “they can’t stop me”, in a series of robust statements to reporters and on social media following Saturday night’s incident at the Washington Hilton.
Appearing in the White House briefing room shortly before midnight, the president praised the Secret Service agents who tackled the gunman and protected him and other senior figures. “The Secret Service was fantastic – absolutely fantastic,” Mr Trump told reporters.
“They were on this guy like lightning. One agent took a bullet right to the chest and just kept going because of that vest. Incredible people. The best in the world.”
He described the alleged attacker, 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen from California, as “a sick person, a deranged individual”. Mr Trump added: “This guy was a loser, a total loser. He thought he could come in and ruin a beautiful evening. But he didn’t get anywhere near the stage. They pinned him down so fast it was unbelievable.”
The president noted the brief moment of shared alarm inside the ballroom. “For a few seconds, everybody was scared – the press, the politicians, everybody. But then you saw the unity. Real unity. For a moment, we were all Americans together. It was actually quite something.”
Mr Trump also made light of the coincidence that had already dominated social media. His press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, had told Fox News earlier in the evening that the president’s speech would feature “some shots fired tonight”. The remark was meant as a joke about rhetorical attacks on the press. “Karoline was right,” Mr Trump said with a grin. “There were shots fired – but not the kind she was talking about. She’s terrific, by the way. And very smart.”
On Truth Social, where he has posted several times since returning to the White House, Mr Trump was characteristically more combative. In a post accompanied by the photograph of the alleged gunman lying face-down, bare-chested, with his hands secured behind his back, the president wrote:“Here is the pathetic low-life who tried to take out your favorite President at the Correspondents’ Dinner tonight. Pinned down like the dog he is by our GREAT Secret Service. They love me and I love them. This guy is a total zero – sick in the head. But remember, they’ve tried before and they will fail again. We are winning BIGLY. MAGA!”
In a follow-up post he added: “The fake news media thought this would stop me. Wrong! I’m stronger than ever. The speech I was going to give tonight would have been a classic – funny, tough, the best. We’ll do it next time. The American people are with me 100%.”
A third post, issued early on Sunday morning, struck a more reflective note while still sounding the familiar note of defiance. “Last night the radical left’s hatred almost turned deadly again,” he wrote. “But the good guys won. Thank you to the Secret Service, the police, and all the brave people who protect us. To the haters: you will never win. The movement is too strong.”
The tone – a blend of personal grievance, praise for law enforcement and unshakeable self-confidence – mirrors Mr Trump’s public comments after previous assassination attempts during the 2024 campaign. Once again he framed the violence not merely as an attack on him personally but on the political movement he leads.
By Sunday morning the president’s messages had been viewed millions of times. Supporters flooded Truth Social and other platforms with messages of relief and solidarity, many echoing his language of defiance. Critics, meanwhile, accused him of politicising the incident too quickly, though Mr Trump himself insisted he was simply stating “the facts”.
The dinner, which was abandoned minutes after the gunfire, has been postponed. Mr Trump indicated he still intends to deliver the speech he had prepared. “It’s going to be great,” he told reporters as he left the briefing room. “Maybe even better now.”
For a man who has faced the sound of gunfire in public three times in three years, Saturday night’s events appeared to reinforce rather than rattle his sense of mission. In his own words, delivered with the familiar Trump cadence: “They can’t stop me. They’ve tried. They failed. And we’re going to keep winning.”
