A surprising development unfolded at the recent White House Correspondents Dinner, as captured in newly released security footage. A police dog, deployed to ensure the safety of the event, appeared to have sensed something amiss with the would-be assailant, only to be led away by its handler mere moments before the shooting incident occurred.
The video, made public by the Justice Department on Thursday, reveals a handler guiding the security dog towards a stairwell. This was the very entrance that the alleged shooter, Cole Allen, would later use in an attempt to breach the event, armed with a shotgun, knives, and additional firearms. The footage shows the dog lingering at the door for several seconds before being gently pulled away by its handler. The dog briefly returns to the doorway but the handler guides it away again. Notably, the footage lacks audio.
In a dramatic turn, as soon as the dog and its handler withdraw, Allen is seen dashing through the doorway and past a metal detector, shotgun in hand. The K-9 handler is then observed touching his side, seemingly near where a weapon might be holstered, suggesting an immediate response to the threat.
This incident has sparked criticism regarding the security measures in place at the event, which hosted notable figures including President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and other high-ranking officials. Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, expressed his concerns, stating, “The dog clearly sensed something was wrong, and yet it was pulled away.” His organization, known for highlighting security lapses such as a prior incident where protesters confronted President Trump, has previously taken legal action to obtain documents related to a 2024 assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Critics of the security for the event that included President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other top officials are questioning whether the footage points to yet another safety failure.
âThe dog obviously knew something was going on and for whatever reason his handler pulled him away,â said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch. His group has slammed security lapses like protesters who accosted President Trump during a lunch outing last year. It sued for documents from the 2024 assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pa.
Allen âprobably had the shotgun at the very moment and the dog was onto him. Did the handler see that there was something there? I donât think by any stretch can this be seen as anything other than a failure by the Secret Service to secure the area around the president,” Fitton said.
“It looks like the handler pulls the dog back enough for him to open the door and run right past him,” said former Assistant FBI Director Chris Swecker.
He said the dog “was focused on that door” and that at a minimum agents, who were part of a multi-agency force, need to cover doors and stairwells leading to the dinner.
“If he’s brandishing a shotgun, you know – a peek on the other side? A little bit of curiosity might have . . . this is ordinary protection. This is not extraordinary protection. That’s what you need at this stage,” he said.
“What we do know is they didn’t look on the other side of the door, it doesn’t appear, and identify whoever was getting the dog’s attention. And then they gave them enough, plenty of opening, to just run right past him.”
The U.S. Secret Service did not respond to questions about the incident, or whether it was a Secret Service dog or an animal provided by another law enforcement agency.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, which has charged Allen with attempting to kill President Trump, said it had “nothing additional to provide at this time.”
Other video footage released by the government shows Allen, who had checked into the Washington Hilton on Friday April 24 â the day before the shooting â appearing to case the building.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles met with Secret Service Director Sean Curran on Monday, a White House official said. That same day, Curran met with Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and ranking member Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), according to a Grassley online post.
Gaps in security may have encouraged Allen to carry out the plot he wrote about in an unhinged manifesto. “What emboldened this guy was he did a walk around, and he checked in, and he said, ‘Wow, I can get through this.’ Security is about deterrence as much as anything else,” said Swecker.
