Trump says White House ballroom could have prevented last night’s dinner security scare

Rashmi Pandey — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 13:57:35 +0000

President Donald Trump has said the White House needs a large, safe and secure ballroom on the grounds of the residence, linking the demand to the security incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last night. In a Truth Social post, Trump argued that the event “would never have happened” if the ballroom currently under construction had already been completed.

Trump said the ballroom project is designed with top-level security features and claimed it would avoid the kind of vulnerabilities he described in the current setup. He also called the legal challenge to the project a “ridiculous” lawsuit and said it should be dropped immediately.

The post came after gunshots were reported near the main security screening area at the annual dinner in Washington, D.C., prompting the evacuation of Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and members of the Cabinet, according to reports.

Law enforcement later apprehended a suspect, and Trump said the person had been caught, according to live updates from the incident. Reports said there were no immediate reports of injuries.

The White House ballroom project has already faced legal scrutiny. A federal judge recently halted parts of the proposed $400 million plan pending congressional approval, though the ruling did not stop security-related construction work at the White House.

Key highlights

Trump linked the dinner security scare to the case for a White House ballroom.
He said the project is on budget and ahead of schedule.
Gunshots near the correspondents’ dinner triggered an evacuation.
The ballroom project remains under legal challenge.
The suspect was identified as 31 years old named Cole Tomas Allen, from Torrance, California.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said no others were involved.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the investigation is ongoing.

security incident | Business Upturn

Trump says White House ballroom could have prevented last night’s dinner security scare

Key highlights