Journalist dismantles Trump admin’s narrative on WHCD shooting: ‘Don’t see a muzzle flash’
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., released video Thursday of the suspected White House Correspondents’ Dinner gunman rushing a security checkpoint and insisted it showed him “shoot a U.S. Secret Service officer,” but on Friday, MS NOW’s Ken Dilanian raised serious questions about that claim.
“This suspect is in a room, and there's an officer with a canine that appears to be interested in following him, but the officer pulls the canine back,” Dilanian said, reviewing the video captured at the Washington Hilton on April 25.
“A second later, the suspect rushes out of the room, sprints through the metal detector past the first tranche of officers, and the question is whether he fired his shotgun on that video," Dilanian explained.
The suspected gunman, who has since been identified as Cole Tomas Allen and was charged with the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump, was seen in the aforementioned video rushing through a security checkpoint past several law enforcement officials. One officer in the video can clearly be seen discharging their firearm several times in the direction of Allen.
And, while Pirro insisted that the video showed Allen shooting a Secret Service officer – with one Secret Service officer hospitalized for being shot – Dilanian pointed to several inconsistencies that were visible in the video that suggested Allen may have not discharged his weapon at all.
“Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., asserts that this video shows him firing a shotgun, but you don't see a muzzle flash,” Dilanian said.
“There is some evidence of a disturbance in the ceiling that some people have interpreted as potentially the firing of a shot, but this is a big deal because it's a question of whether he shot – he hasn't been charged with actually shooting an officer. And then the question about whether the Secret Service agent who was hit in the vest was actually hit with a part of a buckshot from this man's shotgun," he added.
Questions have swirled surrounding the security lapses at the event. Remarks made moments before the incident sparked an online frenzy, while additional scrutiny followed reports that journalists were permitted to move freely through the scene within hours.
“This video is really not definitive,” Dilanian continued. “Still up in the air – we haven't seen conclusive ballistics that shows that he actually fired a shot. And the second question, whether, if he did, if any of the fragments of that buckshot struck that agent who was hit in the vest.”
"You don't see a muzzle flash"
Trump-appointed @USAttyPirro insists that Cole Tomas Allen shot a Secret Service officer, but @KDilanianMSNOW raises serious doubts as to the Trump admin's narrative around the WHCD shooting. pic.twitter.com/ECHNpCntPT
— Alexander Willis (@ReporterWillis) May 1, 2026