Forty-five years ago President Ronald Reagan was shot and nearly killed by a would-be assassin outside the Washington Hilton Hotel. Forty-five years later President Donald Trump’s life was in danger from another would-be assassin at the same hotel.
Why?
Because the Secret Service failed Trump — again.
Authorities identified 31-year-old California resident Cole Allen as the man surveillance video shows rushing past a Secret Service checkpoint while reportedly armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives and heading toward the ballroom where the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was taking place on Saturday evening. Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and several cabinet members were present. Allen was reportedly subdued by law enforcement after several shots rang out. Reports indicate the suspect was not struck by gunfire. Two sources told CBS News that the suspect admitted he was targeting members of the Trump administration.
The question everyone should be asking is: How did an armed suspect get that far in the first place?
It’s a question that should sound familiar. Less than two years ago, Americans watched in horror as a would-be assassin climbed onto an open rooftop overlooking Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The assailant managed to shoot Trump in the ear, while also murdering Corey Comperatore. Nearly two years later there are no satisfying answers about the security failures at that event, though Susan Crabtree of RealClearPolitics has relentlessly pursued them.
It’s the same question Americans were asking when just weeks ago a man armed with a shotgun and a fuel can trespassed onto Mar-a-Lago grounds and then refused to comply with law enforcement when ordered to drop his weapon. He was shot and killed.
And here we are at the Washington Hilton Hotel left asking the same question: How did another armed man get this close to the president at what should be a secure location?
“Noteworthy that hotel guests at the Hilton aren’t vetted — anyone could have checked in earlier this week with checked bags full of weapons,” the New York Post’s Lydia Moynihan posted on X. She added that in order to enter the hotel where the event was being held, “you only need to show an invite to a party — something that is easy to obtain and easy to forge. You only go through security to enter the actual dinner.”
NewsNation’s Katie Pavlich said on X: “There were no checkpoints at the doors at street level. This checkpoint was only one level up from the ballroom, the stairs down to the ballroom are yards away. Grateful for the rapid response, but the fact that anyone could get this far into the building was a serious problem.”
Another attendee reported that she left the dinner “after having an uneasy feeling” because “there were no security or bag checks which I thought was suspicious. Everyone was ushered in and shoved through the doors to make way for Secret Service/dogs. Tickets were barely looked at.”
How is it that there was no meaningful vetting of guests of the hotel in the days leading up to the event? How is it that a man was able to rent a room in the hotel and allegedly bring weapons with him? Why wasn’t there a hardened perimeter, blocks long, checking bags and persons before they made it near the hotel?
And why is it that the only real line of defense was apparently the final checkpoint immediately outside the event itself?
Sure, the suspect was ultimately stopped. But that isn’t proof that the system worked; in fact, it’s evidence that every decision made leading up to the moment didn’t.
What if the would-be assassin had been carrying a bomb or other explosive device? A device detonated just outside the magnetometer may not have breached the ballroom, but it could have caused mass casualties and chaos nonetheless.
Saturday’s assassination attempt is not proof that the Secret Service functioned as it should; it’s evidence that the Secret Service has failed Trump yet again.
