WASHINGTON — President Trump is returning Friday to the site of his most recent assassination attempt — but the Washington Hilton’s security looks remarkably similar to what it did ahead of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
The core issues that allowed alleged gunman Cole Allen to sneak guns into the Hilton ahead of the April 25 dinner remained — including the rental of rooms to guests not associated with the president’s visit and the equally significant lack of external security screening.
“Surprised? No. Shocked,” attendee Vincent Fusca said of the security situation — as he disbelievingly looked onto the hotel’s front driveway, where people with luggage and computer bags entered without inspection.
Fusca survived the July 2024 Trump assassination attempt in Butler, Pa. — pumping his fist alongside a wounded Trump as he shouted “Fight! Fight! Fight!” — and told The Post more should have been done to protect the hotel, considering the Correspondents’ Dinner failures.
He said he was “totally, totally shocked — after Butler, and then Charlie Kirk.”
At the Correspondents’ Dinner, people had to show a dinner ticket, pre-party invite or proof they were staying at the hotel in the hours closest to the dinner — a screening measure not in effect on Friday for Trump’s remarks to the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s annual “Road to Majority” conference.
The magnetometers outside the hotel’s ballroom for Trump’s remarks are in almost exactly the same place, though the stairwell down to the speech venue is closed off by waist-high fencing, requiring attendees to walk about 30 more feet to descend a different set of stairs.
Fusca said he would have felt more comfortable with a turnstile checkpoint outside the building, arguing that authorities should have caught Allen in April before he even entered the doors.
A Secret Service official told The Post that its measures were “effective” at the dinner — as Allen was taken down before entering the ballroom where Trump and more than 2,000 officials, journalists and business leaders had gathered.
“At every protective site, the U.S. Secret Service deploys a sophisticated, layered security framework that is custom-designed and continuously evolves to meet today’s heightened security environment,” the official said.
“While the existing security plan at the April 2026 White House Correspondents Dinner was effective in interdicting an identified threat, the agency continually reviews our security posture and will make adjustments, as necessary.”
