White House Correspondents’ Dinner response questioned as X/Twitter spots key detail

After Secret Service agents rushed to protect members of US president Donald Trump's administration in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, following gunshots at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Twitter/X users have been left questioning how said agents escorted Trump and Vice President JD Vance out of the ballroom.

The event was cancelled after the incident forced journalists to take cover under tables, with officials saying a male assailant – identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen from California, according to The New York Times – shot and injured a law enforcement officer before being detained near the hotel screening area.

Allen is now in custody, with the Department of Justice saying he faces firearms and assault charges.

However, after Getty Images photojournalist Andrew Harnik captured footage of Vance being taken out of the room first, followed by Trump moments later, social media users are wondering why the VP was rushed away before the POTUS:

With one user branding the action “weird”:

“JD Vance is physically dragged from the table & President Trump is still sitting there,” commented political commentator Rita Panahi:

YouTuber Keith Edwards also noticed:

And journalist Josina Anderson said she would “like to hear the explanation for this sequence of evacuation”:

Trump later hosted a White House press conference in which he branded the assailant – who was armed with a shotgun, handgun and multiple knives, according to the Metropolitan Police Department – a “thug” and a “lone wolf”, and said the dinner would be rescheduled.

When asked about the Secret Service’s response, Trump said: “They acted very quickly. I was very impressed by Secret Service.

“I’m the one who would complain. You don’t have to complain for me. I would be complaining – I’d up here right now saying ‘they didn’t do their job’, believe me.”

Indy100 reached out to the USSS for comment

Why not read…?

• Correspondents Dinner: Its most controversial and funny moments
• One man's unusual reaction to WHCD incident goes viral

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.