The US Fox News channel cut off one of its own reporters just as she seemed about to give away what people are saying is foreknowledge among Donald Trump’s inner circle about the ‘assassination attempt’ at this year’s White House Correspondents Dinner.
White House Correspondents Dinner ‘shooter’
Trump had said, for the first time ever, that he would attend. An alleged shooter then tried to rush past guards before being detained.
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But many people on social media are wondering if Trump knew about it beforehand. This is because Fox correspondent Aishah Hasnie was seated with Nicholas Riccio, the husband of Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Riccio, she said, told her “You do a good job… you need to be safe tonight” then looked around the room suggestively. But Fox stopped Hasnie even finishing the sentence:
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That was far from the only weird aspect of the event. Several journalists talked about the lack of security at the event. Bags were not even being checked, and at least two correspondents said they left almost as soon as they arrived because it “felt wrong”:
Trump looked entirely unconcerned, even smirking, as the White House Correspondents Dinner ‘attack’ happened:
Chaotic footage of President Trump being evacuated pic.twitter.com/KzageVO0h0
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 26, 2026
The lack of urgency among bodyguards to remove Trump was clear, with vice-president JD Vance rushed out relatively quickly – before anyone went to remove Trump:
Pro-Israel Trump figures seemed to know the identity of the alleged shooter before the name had been announced:
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A photo of Allen, face down and handcuffed, was given to Trump within moments so he could post it on his ‘Truth Social’ platform, as political commentator Tom Santos observed:
Active crime scene. Alleged shooter in the same building as the President and Vice President of the United States.
And someone gets to snap pictures like this of the shooter and then send them to Trump so he could use them on his socials moments later.
Totally legit. pic.twitter.com/gBNU2AhkRv
— Tom Santos (@tommysantos14) April 26, 2026
Trump later took the opportunity to say the attempted shooting justified his ridiculous new White House ballroom – and was amplified by dozens of MAGA accounts in a clearly coordinated campaign.
Build the White House Ballroom. pic.twitter.com/3CBVZtf4cK
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 26, 2026
Santos found it all a bit too much to swallow:
You want me to believe that:
– This is something like the 3rd or 4th Secret Service failure.
– Tump boycotts the correspondence dinner every year.
– He’s pitching an unnecessary ballroom no one asked for.
– And there happens to be a shooter incident at the event when a large…— Tom Santos (@tommysantos14) April 26, 2026
He’s surely not the only one.
Featured image via the Canary
By Skwawkbox
From Canary via This RSS Feed.
Here is an example of sane thinking: https://lemmy.world/comment/23434434
The user seems grounded to reality and capable of accepting being wrong in either direction.
What’s harmful is being “sure” when none of your evidence is conclusive at all. No matter what the issue is, when it’s this fresh, you are harming society if you go around stating that you know what happened. Even if it were staged, the people who planned probably wouldn’t even “know” as many things as these users claim to know.
It also makes me even less likely to believe it could be staged when they make lists of several items, some of which are flat out stupid like “Levitt said ‘shots will be fired’”. Jokes are famously made at this event. A commentator was bound to use this popular expression. Bringing that up hurts your case. Adding other things like “demented old man wasn’t reacting enough” does too. Trump changing his mind and attending like he did, also means nothing. He constantly does 180s on everything.