We all watched in horror as President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, many Cabinet secretaries, dozens of members of Congress and others rushed to the Washington Hilton Hotel for safety before the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, an annual DC tradition. Deranged leftist Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old California man who donated to Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign, attempted to enter armed with multiple weapons and the alleged goal of assassinating Trump administration officials. Allen came very close to accomplishing his so-called mission, and we must never allow another Allen to strike. Such events should take place in a secure White House ballroom, not in a hotel open to guests and the public.
Allen seemed to have had a simple plan. He checked into the Hilton and reportedly brought a shotgun, handguns and knives. He went to his room and waited. He then went up a flight of stairs to the floor where the dinner was in progress. Authorities say he carried out an attack at a Secret Service checkpoint near the ballroom, where 3,000 people were packed in like sardines. The checkpoint was the location of magnetometers designed to screen for guns and other weapons. Allen reportedly began shooting, apparently intending to shoot his way through the checkpoint so he could enter the ballroom and cause mass casualties. The courageous Secret Service agents stopped him and a heroic agent was shot in the vest. That officer will recover and deserves the eternal gratitude of the American people for his sacrifice.
Construction continues on President Trump’s White House Ballroom, on the site of the former East Wing of the White House, as seen from the Washington Monument on March 8, 2026 in Washington, DC. The National Capital Planning Commission postponed a vote on final approval of the ballroom after receiving an overwhelming amount of negative public comments. (Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images)
It’s a wonder no other injuries occurred. In addition to the gunfire, people could have been injured as they tried to flee the room. Law enforcement officers were leading dignitaries away when the shooting started, and many people ducked under tables. However, with 3,000 people, it is easy to imagine how many could have fled for safety, trampling each other in the process. Perpetuating these events in hotels is unsustainable, and Trump-deranged individuals must understand this simple point before there are any fatalities.
President Trump clearly gets the point. That’s why he started building a ballroom in the White House, the safest building in the world. Many events have taken place in White House tents, leaving attendees open to sniper fire like what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania, during a Trump rally in July 2024. The proposed ballroom would have an underground bunker and bulletproof glass to complement the extensive security measures already in place at the White House. There would be no risk of another murderous hotel guest storming a checkpoint and shooting at Secret Service agents. If Allen had started his alleged rampage earlier, he could have committed mass murder by shooting visitors as they waited to pass through the magnetometer. None of this madness would have taken place in a White House ballroom.
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Alison Hoagland is a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and a Trump-crazed individual who thinks she can dictate White House construction procedures. The proposed ballroom is privately funded. Construction crews have already demolished the area where the ballroom will sit. However, Hoagland has decided to try to stop construction in court. She claims that she occasionally walks by the White House and that viewing the area harms her personally and professionally. This lawsuit should have been dismissed, but Judge Richard Leon, one of President George W. Bush’s worst appointees, shockingly allowed it to proceed and issued an injunction against further construction.
A rendering by McCrery Architects provided by the White House of the new ballroom. (White House)
Article III of the Constitution requires that a plaintiff have standing to file a lawsuit. A plaintiff must prove that she has been injured or will be injured in a concrete way, that the defendant caused or will cause the injury, and that a court can remedy the injury. Hoagland’s only alleged injury is her displeasure at having to look at a construction site when she occasionally walks past the White House. Leon, incredibly, accepted this farcical claim as enough to keep him standing. If Hoagland’s ridiculous claim is enough, we might as well move on from status, because anyone can be offended about anything. Courts would be flooded with lawsuits from gadflies eager to quibble over every perceived slight, no matter how insignificant, if Hoagland’s theory becomes the law of the land.
Trump’s Justice Department appealed Leon’s laughable order to the DC Circuit. Two left-wing judges asked Leon to clarify its scope. Justice Neomi Rao, a potential Supreme Court judge, rightly dissented and brilliantly articulated why the case should fail on standing grounds. Following Leon’s clarification, the appeals court unanimously stayed its mute injunction pending a decision on the merits. The panel will hear oral arguments in June, but Hoagland’s foolish lawsuit should stop now. To that end, the Justice Department has written to the National Trust for Historic Preservation asking it to drop the case. If not, the government will demand resignation.
President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House after an unspecified threat during the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)
Especially after the horrific events of Saturday evening, Trump-crazed leftists should drop the lawsuit. If they don’t, Leon must reject it. However, given how shameless these people are, the chances of either event happening are slim. The DC Circuit should quickly rule after oral arguments that Hoagland’s claim falls far short of what is necessary to establish Article III status. Justice Rao rightly opined that the existing law permits the construction of the ballroom. Congress should leave no doubt about it. As Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania – apparently the only remaining Democrat in Congress with any common sense and decency – urged, it’s time to build the ballroom.
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Congress could explicitly authorize construction in the short term. Congress had no qualms about moving quickly and ordering the release of the Epstein files. Shamefully, many Trump-crazed congressional Democrats will likely obstruct any effort to approve the ballroom because they have no regard for the safety of President Trump and everyone around him.
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In less than two years, Trump has faced three assassination attempts: the Butler event; the attempted murder at his Palm Beach golf club by Ryan Routh, now serving a life sentence thanks to the brilliant judge Aileen Cannon; and the near-massacre on Saturday night. Leftists have tried to jail, bankrupt, de-bank, de-platform, and kill Trump. Insane rhetoric, such as baseless and malicious accusations that Trump is a pedophile and a serious threat to democracy, has driven people crazy. These radicals have created a killing culture; no other president has been targeted in this way. It’s time to stop this madness, and a good start would be facilitating the construction of the White House Ballroom. However, given their shameful past behavior, Democrats are likely to continue their dangerous resistance. So the onus is on constitutionalist judges like Justice Rao to stop this madness. Failure to do so will ultimately lead to fatalities of future Democratic assassins in the example of Allen, Routh and Matthew Crooks, the Butler shooter.
Stop the madness once and for all. Enough is enough. Build the damn ballroom.
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