Trump’s security again faces scrutiny after press dinner shooting

WASHINGTON – The shooting on the night of April 25 of a Secret Service agent at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner raises questions yet again about the protection afforded to America’s political leaders at a time of increased political violence.

Hundreds of agents from several law enforcement agencies were tasked with protecting the annual bash, which US President Donald Trump headlined in 2026.

Yet a suspect with a shotgun and other weapons managed to get just a floor above the Washington ballroom, where an extraordinary concentration of Cabinet members, high-ranking lawmakers and celebrities were dining.

In addition to Mr Trump, Vice-President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, Attorney-General Todd Blanche, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and various other government officials were in attendance, many with their own security details.

‘Not particularly secure building’, says Trump

It is too early to definitively say whether there were any law enforcement failures or miscommunications.

But coming less than two years after a pair of assassination attempts against Mr Trump during the presidential campaign in 2024, the April 25 incident suggests that even the nation’s most comprehensive personal security apparatus has points of vulnerability.

Washington’s police chief said the alleged gunman – who was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and knives – was staying at the Washington Hilton hotel where the dinner took place.

During an impromptu White House press conference after the incident, Mr Trump praised first responders, including the Secret Service.

He also mused about the dangers of being president, noting that some of his predecessors had been assassinated, but adding that the suspect had not been close to “breaching” the doors of the ballroom.

“It’s not particularly a secure building,” Mr Trump said of the hotel about a 10-minute drive from the White House. It was also the site of a 1981 assassination attempt against then President Ronald Reagan.

While the roughly 2,600 attendees were required to pass through metal detectors to enter the basement ballroom, they needed only to show a ticket to enter the hotel itself, which was also open to guests.

With the venue’s entrance surrounded by demonstrators, many protesting against the Trump administration’s war against Iran, attendees were quickly waved through.

In video footage, the gunman can be seen charging down a hallway past a security checkpoint. He then shot an agent, before being tackled and handcuffed, according to the authorities.

Inside the ballroom, attendees were still eating the spring pea and burrata salad when guests towards the back of the room reported hearing multiple gunshots.

Secret Service agents quickly rushed Mr Trump and Mr Vance off the long head table. The protective agents for many Cabinet members and lawmakers – seated on the floor with the journalists and their guests – reacted in different fashions.

Some agents clambered through the packed ballroom, standing on chairs and overturning tableware to reach protectees, while bewildered guests ducked under tables.

Security details for Cabinet members, including Mr Rubio, Mr Bessent and Mr Burgum, pushed their protectees to the ground and formed human shields.

Most protectees were eventually ushered out, though the timing of their removals varied significantly, with some being spirited out almost immediately and some staying put for minutes.

Mr Trump, who narrowly escaped death in 2024 when a would-be assassin’s bullet skimmed his ear during a campaign stop, was, for his part, eager to restart the festivities, White House officials said.

He later told journalists the Secret Service determined that continuing the event would be impossible. REUTERS