‘How Come They Didn’t Lift Me Up So Fast?’ Trump Whines Over Secret Service Evacuating JD Vance First During WHCD Shooting
In a moment that underscored Donald Trump’s tendency to center himself in nearly any situation, the president used a White House event Monday to complain that Secret Service agents evacuated JD Vance faster than they did him during last month’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.
Speaking during a Police Week gathering in the Rose Garden, Trump revisited the chaotic moments after gunfire broke out outside the Washington Hilton ballroom on April 25. But rather than focusing on the injured agent, the danger to attendees, or the broader security concerns, he fixated on how quickly Vance was rushed to safety.
“They had great professional people, and they came out within seconds,” Trump said, before shifting to what sounded more like frustration than a security update.
“I saw them take JD by the shoulders and lift him up like he was a little boy,” he continued. “I said, ‘How come they didn’t lift me up so fast?’ They lifted JD—he got ripped out of the chair. That was something to see, but they did the job, JD, right? I think so.”
While agents were responding to an active shooting, Trump’s takeaway appeared to be why he didn’t receive the same dramatic extraction.
Video from the incident shows agents rushing toward Vance and pulling him backward offstage, while others moved to secure Trump moments later. He was eventually escorted out as well, though footage appeared to show him briefly stumbling during the evacuation.
In a CBS News interview the next day, Trump suggested the slower response around him may have been influenced by his own actions.
“I wanted to see what was happening… I probably made them act a little more slowly,” he told Norah O’Donnell.
He also pushed back on reports that he fell during the evacuation.
“I was walking out… about halfway there, they said, ‘Please go down to the floor,’” he said.
Authorities later identified the suspected shooter as Cole Allen, a California engineer accused of opening fire near a security checkpoint outside the ballroom. One Secret Service agent was injured but survived thanks to body armor, officials said.
Allen has been charged with attempted assassination and multiple firearm-related offenses. Investigators believe he may have been motivated in part by political grievances tied to escalating tensions with Iran.
According to reports, Allen allegedly sent a manifesto before the attack that included the line:
“I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.”
When asked about the document during the CBS interview, Trump criticized the media rather than addressing its contents.
“I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would, because you’re horrible people,” he told O’Donnell, dismissing the manifesto as “crap” written by a “sick person.”
Perhaps most strikingly, the incident has already been pulled into the broader swirl of conspiracy theories. A recent YouGov survey found that nearly a quarter of Americans believe the shooting may have been staged.
