WHCD entertainer Oz Pearlman recalls ‘surreal’ moments during dinner shooting
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Mentalist Oz Pearlman described the chaotic moments during filming at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner over the weekend, describing the scene as “surreal” and filled with instant fear and confusion.
“This is despicable and dangerous and you feel the hairs on your neck stand up and if you watch the video it’s surreal that this happened 24 hours ago,” Pearlman said Sunday on “One Nation with Brian Kilmeade.”
Pearlman, who was with President Donald Trump at the time, said she initially had a hard time understanding what was happening.
He remembered that when the situation escalated, the person next to him went down first. He said he didn’t immediately think there was a shooter in the first seconds.
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Oz Pearlman attended the 2026 White House Correspondents’ Dinner held at the Washington Hilton on April 25 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Taylor Hill/WireImage)
“I’m telling you this as they walked in, they didn’t look like they were going to shoot someone or spy on someone with a gun,” he said.
“It looked to me like they were trying to stop someone, so I thought a bomb was about to go off; I’m just telling you what was on my mind.”
Pearlman dropped to the ground on all fours, bracing for what he thought would be an explosion.
At this point, Secret Service agents rushed to capture President Trump and get him out of harm’s way.
“Potentially the most surreal moments of my life are when President Trump lands about a foot away from me and we’re standing side by side, looking into each other’s eyes from a foot away,” Pearlman said. he recalled.
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President Donald Trump during the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner in Washington, DC, on Saturday, April 25. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“The thought that went through my mind at that moment was, ‘Oh no, I hope we’re not about to die,’ and the adrenaline was flowing through me because I said to myself, ‘There’s no way the Secret Service is forcing the president to do a fire drill.'”
A few minutes later, Pearlman said gunshots could be heard, but it was unclear at the time whether the gunshots came from inside or outside the room.
As the president was rushed out, Pearlman and others at the podium lowered themselves and began to crawl to safety, unsure if an active shooter was still in the area.
Backstage, he described the scene as “controlled chaos” as armed agents swarmed the area as attendees tried to determine whether anyone was injured.
“There are guns everywhere, the Secret Service is everywhere. I felt safe. I was looking around for blood and asked other people because none of us knew if the POTUS or the First Lady had been shot. Nobody really knew what happened at that point.”
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“I was worried about my wife because she was in the audience watching my show and none of the phones were working because everyone was messing up the system trying to call and text at the same time… It was crazy. It was a really crazy five minutes.”
Chaos ensued on Saturday when armed suspect Cole Thomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, Calif., allegedly ran into a Secret Service checkpoint at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner with multiple weapons.
Allen allegedly opened fire on a Secret Service officer, who was later hospitalized after being hit with his ballistic vest.
Agents reportedly responded to Allen, who was not hit. He was also hospitalized.
Senior federal law enforcement sources with knowledge of the investigation told Fox News that Allen told law enforcement after his arrest that he was targeting Trump administration officials.
