An employee of the Washington Hilton revealed on Sunday how the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooter was able to "surprise" President Donald Trump's security.

The employee, who spoke to The Mirror US anonymously, contended that the shooter, Cole Allen, slipped past security at a "cordoned-off" VIP area to evade metal detectors. Allen fired between five and eight rounds during the event, according to reports, before he was apprehended by Secret Service agents. One Secret Service agent was shot in their bulletproof vest and survived, according to reports.

"It caught everybody by surprise," the worker told the outlet. "It caught them by surprise. Especially because a lot of the Secret Service people we've known forever and they're spot on, they're very detailed."

"I don't think they factored this option because he was staying here at the hotel," they added.

"He must have come through the end closest on this," the worker continued. "But when he passed through their area, he started open firing."

Shortly before the shooting, reports indicate that Allen sent a manifesto to his relatives. The document said he was targeting Trump and several of his top officials, excluding FBI Director Kash Patel.

Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and several of the president's cabinet members were swiftly evacuated from the scene, according to reports.

US President Donald Trump on Friday quietly fired every member of the independent board that governs the National Science Foundation, a move seen as an escalation of the administration’s destructive war on science.

Members of the National Science Board (NSB) were notified in a brief email “on behalf of President Donald J. Trump” that their “position as a member of the National Science Board is terminated, effective immediately.” One fired board member, chemist Willie May, told The New York Times that he was “disappointed” but not “entirely surprised,” adding, “I have watched the systematic dismantling of the scientific advisory infrastructure of this government with growing alarm, and the National Science Board is simply the latest casualty.”

The NSB sets the policies of the US National Science Foundation (NSF), approves major funding decisions for NSF, and advises Congress and the president on “policy matters related to science and engineering.”

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, said in a statement Saturday that “this is the latest stupid move made by a president who continues to harm science and American innovation.”

“The NSB is apolitical,” said Lofgren. “It advises the president on the future of NSF. It unfortunately is no surprise a president who has attacked NSF from day one would seek to destroy the board that helps guide the foundation. Will the president fill the NSB with MAGA loyalists who won’t stand up to him as he hands over our leadership in science to our adversaries? A real bozo the clown move.”

Alondra Nelson, an academic who resigned from the NSB last May over concerns of political interference, wrote on social media that “history will not look kindly on this administration for many reasons, but the systematic silencing of independent expertise is particularly troubling.”

Since the start of his second term, Trump and his deputies have assailed science across the federal government, including by eliminating the Environmental Protection Agency’s scientific research arm and firing experts en masse.

In the coming fiscal year, Trump has proposed cutting NSF’s budget by nearly 55%. Additionally, the president’s budget would “eliminate funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research,” Scientific American reported. The White House plan, if approved by Congress, would also slash NASA’s budget by nearly 25%.

“This is how the US loses its scientific leadership—with a reckless budget line,” Leigh Stearns, a glaciologist at the University of Pennsylvania, told Scientific American.

As the old saying goes, never let a crisis go to waste.

That's exactly what President Donald Trump did on Sunday morning as he tried to use last night's shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner to sell his signature White House Ballroom project, which has been temporarily halted by a court order. During the event, alleged shooter Cole Allen fired between five and eight rounds, striking one Secret Service agent in their bulletproof vest, before he was detained.

Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and several of the president's cabinet members were swiftly whisked away from the event, which was held at the Washington Hilton.

"This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "It cannot be built fast enough! While beautiful, it has every highest level security feature there is plus, there are no rooms sitting on top for unsecured people to pour in, and is inside the gates of the most secure building in the World, The White House."

Trump's comments stunned political analysts and observers, who shared their reactions on social media.

"Children are starving, and people are going bankrupt from routine surgeries," author John Pavlovitz posted on X. "What the hell is wrong with you ghouls?"

"Trump wasted no time in turning the shooting into an advertisement for his ballroom," journalist Mark Jacob posted on Bluesky.

"The solution is impeaching and convicting Trump, not building a $400M ballroom," Morgan J. Freeman, a TV producer, posted on Bluesky.

"Wow! Trump sure made lemons ("assassination attempt") into lemonade (justification for his pet construction project)," Daniel McAdams, executive director of the Rand Paul Institute, posted on X.