About one in four Americans believe the April shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner involving President Donald Trump was staged. according to a new poll published Monday.
The survey, conducted by NewsGuard, found that 24% of Americans said the April 25 shooting at the Washington Hilton was staged, while 32% said they were unsure. 45% said they believed the attack was legitimate. The same survey found broader skepticism about Trump’s three assassination attempts, with 30% of Americans saying they believe at least one of them was staged.
The findings come after federal authorities charged Cole Tomas Allen with attempting to assassinate Trump during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Allen pleaded not guilty Monday to charges including attempted assassination of the president, assaulting a federal officer, and firearms offenses.
The NewsGuard poll found partisan and generational gaps, with about one-third of Democrats saying they believed the April shooting was staged, compared with about one in eight Republicans. Younger Americans were also more likely to doubt the official account.
The Washington Post previously reported that conspiracy theories began circulating within hours of the shooting, with some users falsely suggesting the attack had been orchestrated to help Trump justify security changes or generate political sympathy.
Federal prosecutors have described a different case. Authorities allege Allen traveled to Washington, checked into the Washington Hilton, and tried to rush a security checkpoint while armed. AP reported that prosecutors say he fired a shotgun at a Secret Service officer, striking the officer’s bullet-resistant vest, before he was subdued. Allen faces a possible life sentence if convicted on the attempted assassination charge.
The White House has rejected the conspiracy theories. White House spokesman Davis Ingle told The Washington Post that people who believe Trump staged his own assassination attempts are “complete morons.” In 2024, Trump survived a shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and later faced a separate alleged assassination plot at his Florida golf club. Both incidents became the subject of online claims that the incidents were staged.
At the Butler rally shooting, Trump was wounded in the ear during the attack, one rally attendee was killed, and the gunman, Thomas Crooks, was shot dead by Secret Service snipers. The FBI later confirmed Trump had been struck by a bullet.
Ironically, separate polling from YouGov found that most Americans also believe Trump faces a higher risk of assassination than other recent presidents. In that survey, 64% of respondents said Trump was at greater risk than past presidents, especially after the attacks in Pennsylvania and Washington.
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