Now White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is revealing what Trump wanted to do almost immediately after he was removed from danger.
According to Leavitt, Trump was determined to return to the ballroom.
Her account offers a remarkable glimpse into the moments following the attack—and into the president’s reaction while security officials were still dealing with the threat.
‘We Gotta Go Back Out There’
Leavitt discussed the incident during an appearance on Sean Hannity’s podcast.
She said Trump was not content to simply remain in a secure location while agents assessed what had happened.
“He was like a caged lion backstage, like just roaring to get out, like, ‘We gotta go back out there,'” Leavitt said.
For Leavitt, the reaction was striking.
“And I’m sitting there like, ‘I don’t know if I want to go back out there,” she said.
The contrast was stark.
The ballroom had just been thrown into chaos. A gunman had allegedly rushed toward the security checkpoint carrying a shotgun, and a Secret Service officer had been struck by gunfire.
Yet Trump was already focused on returning to the event.
Federal authorities later charged Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, with attempting to assassinate the president, along with federal firearms offenses. Prosecutors allege that Allen had spent weeks preparing for the attack.
Trump Questioned His Own Security Detail
Leavitt said Trump’s determination did not stop with asking whether he could return.
She described him pressing his protection team for an explanation.
“He really was asking hard questions of his detail, like, ‘Why can’t I go? I will wait all night. I don’t care if it’s 3 in the morning, get it started,'” she said.
According to Leavitt, preparations were actually made at one point for the dinner to continue.
Ultimately, the event did not resume that night.
The Secret Service instead escorted Trump away from the hotel and back to the White House, where he later addressed the incident. The dinner was eventually rescheduled and held at a different Washington venue in July.
A Carefully Planned Attack
The alleged gunman did not simply appear at the hotel moments before the shooting, according to court documents and federal prosecutors.
Authorities say Allen reserved a room at the Washington Hilton and traveled from California to Washington by train.
Investigators also recovered writings that prosecutors say detailed his intentions.
According to the FBI affidavit, Allen allegedly sent a pre-scheduled message titled “Apology and Explanation” to people he knew shortly before the attack. The FBI said the writings outlined his plans and grievances.
On the night of the shooting, authorities allege that Allen left his 10th-floor room carrying a shotgun, handgun and knives.
He then moved through the hotel before rushing toward the security checkpoint near the ballroom.
Fox News reported that surveillance footage showed Allen sprinting through a magnetometer while carrying a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun. He allegedly fired in the direction of the stairs leading toward the ballroom before Secret Service personnel returned fire.
A Secret Service officer was struck in his protective vest.
The officer survived.
Allen was taken into custody before reaching the ballroom where Trump and other officials had been attending the dinner.
The Third Major Attempt Since 2024
The April attack was not an isolated security scare involving Trump.
It marked the third major assassination attempt against him since 2024, according to the White House and multiple news organizations.
The first came in Butler, where Trump was wounded.
The second occurred in September 2024 at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Secret Service agents discovered Ryan Wesley Routh near the perimeter of the course while Trump was playing golf. Routh was subsequently convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
The Washington Hilton incident became the third.
Leavitt publicly described the incident as part of a broader problem involving political violence and extreme rhetoric. Reuters reported that she called for an end to political violence while confirming the attack represented the third major assassination attempt against Trump.
That characterization has become part of the political debate surrounding the incident, with officials and commentators disagreeing over how much responsibility political rhetoric should bear for acts of violence.
What is not in dispute is what happened inside the hotel.
Shots were fired.
A Secret Service officer was hit.
Trump and other officials were evacuated.
And the alleged attacker was arrested before reaching the ballroom.
Trump Later Returned
Perhaps the most notable part of Leavitt’s account is what happened after the immediate danger had passed.
Trump eventually left the hotel rather than returning to the dinner that night.
But the president did not permanently abandon the event.
When the dinner was rescheduled in July, Trump attended.
Leavitt’s new account adds another detail to the public record of that April night: while his security team was working to determine whether it was safe, Trump was reportedly pushing to get back in front of the crowd.
For a president who had already survived two assassination attempts in 2024, the April 2026 incident represented another extraordinary security challenge.
The Washington Hilton attack also demonstrated how quickly a major political gathering can become a security emergency.
Within seconds, an evening centered on journalists, politicians and political humor had transformed into an armed confrontation.
And according to Leavitt, Trump’s immediate concern was not simply getting farther away from the danger.
He wanted to know when he could go back.
