A Near Disaster, Immediately Repurposed
The suspect, ballroom, and late-night fallout. Plus: Science gets fired. SCOTUS on the digital dragnet. Kimmel in the crosshairs. And in News That Doesn't Suck, another barrier breaks.
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These days, the news isn’t just the event that happened. It’s also the reaction to the event that happened.
That’s especially true of the security breach at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
I’ve been to the Correspondents’ Dinner many times. The security is part of the experience: Magnetometers, bag checks, Secret Service, restricted access — the whole black-tie security ballet. So when a 31-year-old man named Cole Tomas Allen allegedly traveled from Los Angeles, checked into the Washington Hilton days before the dinner, used interior stairwells to reach secured levels, and then rushed the cordon outside the ballroom, it is reasonable to ask: How?
He didn’t make it far. But where he did get wasn’t an empty corridor. It was the pre-party area — hallways, bathrooms, the spaces where guests mill around. If it had gone differently, even that access could have put a lot of people in danger.
The reaction was revealing.
Almost immediately, many observers speculated the episode was staged, scripted, or set up. There is no evidence of that. And conspiracies at this scale would require an almost impossible number of people — law enforcement, hotel staff, witnesses, investigators, medical personnel, prosecutors — to coordinate perfectly and then stay silent forever. People talk.
On the other side, Trump supporters used the breach as an argument for President Trump’s long-sought ballroom and expanded security footprint. Trump himself said the incident demonstrates the need for the ballroom, and MAGA influencers quickly amplified that message.
This does not prove a conspiracy. It shows that our political conversation is not as organic as it looks. Talking points move fast. Influencers move them faster.
The result: A serious security breach can become, within minutes, either proof of a hidden plot or a prefab argument for a political priority.
Lost in the middle are the questions we should actually be asking: How did this happen, what security failed, what needs to be explained, and what does it say about us that after a real threat, so many people’s first reaction was not, “Is everyone okay?” but, “What’s the angle?”
In today’s newsletter: The threat is over. The spin is just getting started. Jimmy Kimmel under fire, again. Plus: Iran offered a deal. Trump passed. The Supreme Court takes on a cancer-causing weedkiller and the government’s right to your location data. The science board fired quietly on Friday. And the London Marathon just made history — twice.
Breaking News
Facing Life: The Department of Justice formally charged Cole Tomas Allen with attempting to assassinate President Trump, plus two gun crimes. He appeared calm in court today and did not enter a plea. He could face life in prison if convicted.
What Happened: Saturday’s dinner began like every year, with one difference — Trump was attending as president for the first time. Authorities say the would-be shooter had checked into the hotel a day or two before, after taking a cross-country train to DC from LA. Minutes after the dinner began, attendees in the ballroom heard muffled popping sounds from outside. Armed agents rushed in, shouting for everyone to get down. Terrified attendees ducked under tables. Security agents hustled officials away. According to authorities, Allen attempted to storm the main security checkpoint and in a shootout one Secret Service agent was struck; thanks to a bulletproof vest he’s been released from the hospital. Allen was subdued. Authorities say he was armed with a shotgun, pistol, and multiple knives. In the aftermath, the hotel’s wait staff were left to clear tables, many visibly shaken, some crying.
Security Concerns: A video shows agents quickly evacuating Vice President JD Vance, while Trump continued to sit at the head table, fully exposed. When asked why he wasn’t removed urgently, Trump said he asked his security detail to wait because he “wanted to see what was happening,” and they complied.
Motive: Authorities claim Allen sent a note to those close to him just ten minutes before he stormed security. The New York Post first obtained and published the alleged manifesto which says in part: “What my representatives do reflects on me. I am no longer willing to permit a pedofile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.” Then it says he plans to target “administration officials (not including [FBI Director Kash] Patel).” The note does not reference Trump by name. Patel is the only administration official named. In an especially strange turn, the note includes “a rant” about lax security inside the Hilton allowing the shooter too much room to move.
Trump Fumes: When 60 Minutes correspondent Norah O’Donnell read an excerpt to Trump, he became furious. “I’m not a rapist,” he said. “Oh,” the reporter responded. “Do you think he was referring to you?” He did not answer the question. “I’m not a pedofile,” Trump continued. “I got associated with stuff that has nothing to do with me. I was totally exonerated.”
The Suspect: Allen was a registered “no party preference voter,” which is California’s equivalent to a political independent. He seems to have been deeply religious. He has no prior convictions.
The Political Turn: At White House press briefing Monday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt moved from concern to blame. Leavitt said there was “no difference at all” between Democrats’ rhetoric and the suspect’s manifesto.
Dark Comedy: Both Trumps and the White House on Monday demanded ABC fire Jimmy Kimmel over jokes he made days before the dinner. On Thursday, Kimmel, pretending to be the dinner’s MC, made various jabs at Trump’s age and health, and said Melania had “a glow like an expectant widow.” Trump characterized the comment as a “really shocking … call to violence.” In the past, Trump has made various controversial comments about people’s death, including saying he was glad Robert Mueller died. Trump also previously suggested that networks should lose their broadcasting licenses if they allow talent to criticize him. On Monday the Committee for the First Amendment urged ABC not to “capitulate,” arguing that the “right to mock, to challenge, and yes, to offend those in power is foundational to democracy.”
And Now the Ballroom: The White House is also using the breach as a new argument for Trump’s long-sought White House ballroom. Congressional Republicans now say they will support measures to fund and restart construction after a federal judge ordered Trump to seek congressional approval. In the House, Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) says he plans to introduce a “Build the Ballroom Act.” Speaker Mike Johnson told Fox News it will be “the most secure compound in the world” and Democratic Senator John Fetterman says he’ll back efforts to get it built. Preservationists say they will continue their lawsuit against the project.
Security Issue: The White House on Monday confirmed it will consider changing security protocols at events involving the president. Multiple congressional committees requested briefings from the Secret Service, and some Republicans may form a subcommittee to investigate the security concerns. At the dinner guests went through several checks, including one security checkpoint with airport-style metal detectors. But they were reportedly not required to show ID, nor were tickets marked with names. Trump insists the security worked and AG Blanche called it a “massive security success story.”
Context: Former President Ronald Reagan was shot while leaving the Washington Hilton Hotel in 1981. The hotel subsequently added custom security modifications to accommodate the president, and the Secret Service historically used the annual dinner to put agents through their paces.
Conspiratorial: On Sunday, more than 350,000 posts were published on social media containing the word “staged,” over twenty times more than on the previous day. Trump on Sunday dismissed disbelievers as “more sick than they are con people.”
Lost In the Noise: Trump admitted that he was planning on giving the “most inappropriate speech ever made” at the dinner. He said he may not “be as rough as I was going to be tonight” if the dinner is rescheduled.
Iran Updates
New Offer: Iran has reportedly offered the US a deal to permanently end the war (or extend the ceasefire long-term) in return for both parties lifting their blockades of the Strait of Hormuz. Nuclear talks would come later. Iran’s version of “we’ll get to it.”
No Give: Trump on Sunday signaled he wants to continue the US blockade. He claimed Iran has “about three days” before their oil “system … explodes from within.” Trump also said Iran had given the US a proposal that “should have been better,” and then a new offer that was “better” but “not enough.”
Making Moves: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Vladimir Putin in Russia Monday to discuss the war. Putin said he received a message from Iran’s new supreme leader and pledged to “do everything in your interests … so that peace gets achieved as soon as possible.” This could mean Russia intends to increase its support for Iran; it’s already shared intelligence to help Iran target US forces. Now European nations worry it will send drones to Iran as well.
Actually, No: Trump on Saturday called off planned peace talks with Iran at the last minute. “Too much traveling,” he said. “Takes too long, too expensive. I’m a very cost-conscious person.” He said Iranian officials “can call me. We have all the cards. We’ve won everything.”
Hidden Costs: Iran’s attacks on US bases in the Gulf region have caused far more damage than publicly acknowledged, according to a new report by NBC. The damage could cost billions to repair, not including the cost of fixing or replacing damaged and destroyed equipment. “No one knows anything” about the costs of the war, one aide told NBC. “We have been asking for weeks and not getting specifics, even as the Pentagon is asking for a record-high budget.”
Here Are Your Other Headlines
Royal Flush: King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrived in Washington DC Monday, marking the start of the first British state visit to the US in almost two decades. They started with private tea between the royal couple and the Trumps. On Tuesday King Charles delivers a speech to Congress, only the second time a British Royal has done so in history. The UK government hopes Trump’s apparent fondness for King Charles will help repair the increasingly strained relationship between the two countries. Trump said it “absolutely” could help do that. He’s repeatedly clashed with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, including over Starmer’s refusal to get involved in the war with Iran.
Brain Drain: Trump on Friday fired the entire National Science Board. It’s an independent board of experts who oversee the National Science Foundation, which distributes billions of dollars annually in federal research funding. These funds have helped develop groundbreaking technologies, like those used in cellphones and MRIs. This is the latest in a series of attacks on the National Science Foundation by the Trump administration, which has already canceled hundreds of research grants, purged the agency of a third of its employees, and cut funding to historic lows. One terminated board member said he is “deeply disappointed” but not “entirely surprised. I have watched the systematic dismantling of the scientific advisory infrastructure of this government with growing alarm, and the National Science Board is simply the latest casualty.”
Keep reading for information on…
The Supreme Court considers whether law enforcement have a right to your digital location
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Why Virginia Justices could determine who ends up in control of the House
How this weekend’s London Marathon broke records nobody expected
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