spoiler
A Secret Service agent hit during the apparent attempt on President Trump’s life may have been shot by one of his colleagues.
Cole Allen’s initial court appearance heard the agent fired five shots as the gunman tried to storm the White House correspondents’ dinner on Saturday.
His shots missed, but the agent himself took a bullet to his Kevlar vest.
“This heroic officer who was hit fired five times at Allen, who was not shot but fell to the ground and was promptly arrested,” said acting attorney general Todd Blanche.
Mr Blanche would not disclose details of who was responsible for hitting the agent - who survived - but said the attacker had fired at least once.
“The defendant fired out of his shotgun - we know that happened. But as far as getting into exacting ballistics, I’m not going to do that today,” he told reporters.
Allen, 31, also had knives and a pistol as he tried to make it into the dining room where the president and his top team were attending the annual fundraising dinner.
The suspect was seen sprinting through the lobby but was stopped before he could enter and US officials have painted it as a security success.
President Trump and his cabinet - including the secretary of war, secretary of state and vice president - were all bundled out as reporters ducked under tables.
Allen, from Torrance, California, has been charged with the attempted assassination of the president and two other federal charges, with prosecutors expected to file further charges as the investigation continues.
He allegedly booked a room at the hotel where the dinner was taking place after travelling cross-country by train.
Allen did not respond to the allegations at the brief hearing on Monday, but his lawyer said he had no previous arrests or convictions.
The alleged gunman has a mechanical engineering degree from the prestigious California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, according to his LinkedIn profile.
The Secret Service was heavily criticised for the attempt on Mr Trump’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024, when a gunman was able to get on a roof with a clear sight of the president.
Saturday’s incident appears to be the third attempt on his life following another in which a man hid in bushes on a Florida golf course in September 2024.
Ryan Routh was convicted and earlier this year, sentenced to life in prison over the murder plot.
Wouldn’t surprise me
Secret Service is just well-dressed cops and we all know how much they like shooting each other
Who’s worse at their job, the assassin not getting a single shot off or the secret service shooting themselves in the dick?
I’d need to see the nickname the Secret Service agent gave themselves right before doing it. The FriendlyFederalAssassin set such a high bar with his Naruto run.
Well the assassin’s job is to be lucky once. The SS’ job is to be lucky every day so they’re worse at it
All the right-wingers asking “how did he get so close???” have apparently not been paying attention to how fucking bad the secret service is at their job now lmao
It’s ok, it’s a competitive market. The SS is getting worse at their jobs, but so are the assassins, so it balances out.
A race to the bottom like everything under neoliberalism
I mean… They did their job, didn’t they? What’s that security checkpoint and buffer zone for if not to be able to stop an attacker like this? He didn’t even see Trump or even get into the room he was in.
Assassination attempts getting worse and worse with every try, from grazing his ear, to not even getting a shot off, to not even getting into the building. The next assassin will probably die in a car wreck on the way over. Sad!
It’s probably happened several times already, but nobody knows about it. We should start by looking for obituaries of people dying by forgetting how to breathe. It’s a lock if they’re wearing a propeller beanie and are carrying a squirt gun with apple cider vinegar in it.
Americans born after 1963 can’t assassinate, all they know is Doordash, write mediocre manifesto, miss target and die
replacing half the SS with AI
Did trump pick a bunch of sycophants that are just loyal to him and kicked out all the competent secret service members?
The last ten years has seen people not apply to the SS, and transfer out faster.
It’s always been an overhyped organization, but it’s definitely declined.
That said, they seem to have kept the devil alive
You mean the turbolib centrist who thought it would be like a movie scene and swore that he’d never target any bystanders including security, and who didn’t fire a single shot didn’t shoot this guy?
For as young as our mass shooters start, you’d think they would be better at it. The pigs scored more friendly fire hits than this clown. Sad!
He brought a stupid ass shotgun didn’t he
Yep, he uses the words “center mass” in his manifesto 🤢
No he brought a “deadly arsenal of weapons” (Shotgun and 1911)
“it’s crazy how little security there is!!!” from a guy who was stopped by security before he even got into the same room as his target is some good shit.
Radical centrists are on something
Several blocks were surrounded by secret service, fbi, and coast guard. People who weren’t even going to the correspondents dinner, were blocked from their destinations and had to walk, multiple blocks in some cases. This guy got in with multiple weapons. Even before talks of friendly fire, the only way I could even entertain the idea it wasn’t staged is with a hilarious level of incompetence from multiple agencies.
He just checked into the hotel the day before as a guest and just brought all his gear in
Ah, the old ‘Show up a day early’ Hack.
the ol’ Paddock
probably could’ve hidden in a drop ceiling
When I saw his radical centrism on Bluesky I stepped back from assuming it’s staged because it’s too stupid to write in a novel. He’s like a Ryan Routh where libs hyped him up for a revolutionary moment that can’t happen under liberalism so he created it himself. Incompetent pigs plus liberal main character syndrome explains this enough for me to toss it on the stupid assassination attempt pile and forget about it.
the only way I could even entertain the idea it wasn’t staged is with a hilarious level of incompetence from multiple agencies
This is kind of a weird way of phrasing “completely plausible”.
The only way I would even entertain the idea that the administration expected Iran would just roll over is if the secretary of war were day-drinking and outsourcing planning to an AI.
coast guard
HAHAHA
Allen, who was not shot but fell to the ground and was promptly arrested,"
in amerikkka, politics is a contest to see who can inflict the most humiliation upon themselves.
referees of hexbear, who wins this round?
Pretty sure someone (or multiple someones) on here called this on the day.
My bet is that it’s friendly fire and they’re going to have to drop that charge. SS agents and most feds carry 9mm +P hollow point, likely with ballistic tips. Buckshot is just a round ball of lead. Even a lay person would see the difference. Not to mention that buckshot would have gotten more than one projectile stuck in the vest, and the SS guy would be in a coma at best. 12 gauge buckshot might not go through a standard III-A soft armor vest, but it’d be like being kicked by an elephant.
Im shocked I tell you, SHOCKED!
