President Donald Trump explained to “The Sunday Briefing” co-host Jacqui Heinrich why the Secret Service insisted he return to the White House after a gunman identified as 31-year-old Cole Allen, a left-wing computer scientist from California, allegedly targeting his administration was thwarted Saturday night.
Trump initially announced on Truth Social that he planned to return to the stage and that the White House Correspondents’ Dinner would proceed despite the shooting. However, 19 minutes later, he made a follow-up post stating that he was returning to the White House after law enforcement agencies requested him to leave “consistent with protocol.”
Trump explained the reasoning behind this decision to Fox News’ Heinrich, who is a member of the board of the White House Correspondents’ Association, the group that hosted the event where the incident occurred, the Daily Caller reported. “I was taken by your response immediately after it happened. You said we’re going to continue the night, we’re not going to let this person derail our plans for the evening,” Heinrich, who appeared on stage with Trump during the dinner, told Trump over the phone. “Had you been told very quickly that there was no additional threat in the room? Is that why you felt comfortable proceeding if Secret Service allowed that to happen?”
“Well, I hated a guy like this, sick, bad person. I hated somebody like that changing the course of our country … where you’d have all of these people, important people, not important people, all of these people gathered, record crowd … but that all of these people would have to leave. It’s just for what? For one nut? For one guy?” Trump responded. “That is really, I mean, look … he’s a very disturbed person, so I really wanted to go and I really wanted to, but the protocol was no.” Trump said security protocols were immediately activated after he and other senior administration officials were escorted from the ballroom at the Washington Hilton following the shooting incident. Trump referenced previous threats during the 2024 campaign, including a July 13 rally in Butler where he was grazed in the right ear by gunfire. He also cited a separate incident two months later in Florida, where U.S. Secret Service agents intervened after identifying an armed suspect near a golf course where Trump was playing.
Officials said those earlier incidents contributed to the rapid response and heightened protective measures during the latest event.
“You know, once those doors were open, that room was sealed, and once the doors were open because people were pouring in and there were police and they were Secret Service and they poured in a lot of them, but once those doors are open, it breaks the seal,” the president said. “And when they explained it, you know, maybe it’s possible somebody, if it were more than one person, somebody could have come in.”
“I really wanted to do it that night, even if we stayed late into the night. But we did the right thing and we came back to the White House, we did a news conference and explained what happened and now we’re doing it a little bit more by talking to you, but we did the right thing,” Trump added.
WATCH:
🚨 TRUMP JUST OBLITERATED THE NEW VIRGINIA MAP AS ILLEGAL
Time for the courts to strike it down!
“I think the Virginia case is terrible. What they’ve done is so—it’s unconstitutional. It’s before the court!”
“If you look at the referendum, and if you look at the question, it… pic.twitter.com/7OY2r2Kuiv
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 26, 2026
According to publicly available records, Allen had an academic and professional background in engineering and computer science. He enrolled at the California Institute of Technology in 2013 and graduated in 2017 with a degree in mechanical engineering.
The school confirmed that a student by that name graduated in 2017. During his time there, Allen also reported participating in research at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he said he contributed to astrophysics-related work.
Allen later pursued additional education and professional work in the technology field. Records indicate he enrolled at California State University, Dominguez Hills, where he completed a master’s degree in computer science in 2025.
