White House ballroom construction needed after Correspondents Dinner attack

We all watched in horror as President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, several Cabinet secretaries, dozens of members of Congress and others scrambled for their safety at the Washington Hilton Hotel for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, an annual D.C. tradition. Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old unstable leftist from California who donated to Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign, tried to burst in with multiple weapons and claims to assassinate Trump administration officials. Allen came close to accomplishing his claimed mission, and we must never allow another Allen to strike. Such events should be held in a secure ballroom of the White House, not in a hotel open to guests and the public.

Allen appeared to have a simple plan. It was claimed that the man who entered the Hilton brought a shotgun, pistols and knives with him. He went to his room and waited. He then went down to the stairwell leading to the floor where the meal was held. Authorities say he attacked the Secret Service checkpoint near the ballroom, where 3,000 people were packed like sardines. The checkpoint was the location of magnetometers designed to scan for guns and other weapons. Allen allegedly began shooting, apparently intending to get through the checkpoint so he could enter the ballroom and cause mass casualties. Brave Secret Service agents stopped him, and a heroic agent was shot in the vest. This agent will recover and will deserve the eternal gratitude of the American people for his sacrifice.

It’s a miracle there weren’t any other injuries. Apart from the gunshots, people trying to escape from the room may also have been injured. When the gunfire started, law enforcement moved the dignitaries away and many people hid under tables. But with 3,000 people, it’s easy to imagine how many people were running for safety and trampling each other in the process. It is untenable for these events to continue in hotels, and Trump’s deranged individuals need to grasp this simple point before deaths occur.

President Trump clearly understands this issue. For this reason, he started construction of the ballroom in the White House, the safest building in the world. Several incidents have occurred in the White House tents that left attendees vulnerable to sniper fire, similar to what occurred in Butler, Pennsylvania, during the Trump rally in July 2024. The proposed ballroom would feature an underground bunker and bulletproof glass, in addition to the elaborate security measures already in place at the White House. There would be no risk of another murderous hotel guest running toward the checkpoint and shooting at Secret Service agents. Had Allen begun his alleged rampage earlier, he might have committed mass murder by shooting participants waiting to pass through the magnetometer. None of this madness would have happened in the White House ballroom.

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Alison Hoagland is a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and a deranged Trump who thinks he can dictate the White House’s construction procedures. The proposed ballroom is privately funded. Construction crews have already demolished the area where the ballroom will sit. However, Hoagland decided to attempt to stop construction in court. He claims that he occasionally passes by the White House and that monitoring the area harms him personally and professionally. This case should have been dismissed, but Judge Richard Leon, one of President George W. Bush’s worst appointees, surprisingly allowed the case to proceed and issued an injunction against further construction.

McCrery Architects rendering of the new ballroom provided by the White House. (White House)

Article III of the Constitution The article requires that the plaintiff have the right to file a lawsuit. The plaintiff must show that he either suffered or will be materially injured, that the defendant caused or will cause the injury, and that the court can recover damages. Hoagland’s only alleged injury is his displeasure at having to look out for a construction site while occasionally walking past the White House. Incredibly, Leon accepted this ridiculous claim as enough to survive. If Hoagland’s ridiculous claim is enough, we can no longer stand still, because anyone can be offended by anything. If Hoagland’s theory becomes the law of the land, the courts will be flooded with lawsuits from gadflies who want to whine about every perceived slight, no matter how insignificant.

The Trump Justice Department appealed Leon’s ridiculous injunction to the D.C. Circuit. Two left-wing judges asked Leon to explain its scope. Justice Neomi Rao, a potential Supreme Court judge, correctly dissented and brilliantly explained why the case should fail on valid grounds. After Leon made his statement, the appellate court unanimously suspended the foolish injunction until a decision on the merits was issued. The panel will hear oral argument in June, but Hoagland’s idiotic lawsuit must stop now. To that end, the Department of Justice wrote a letter requesting that the National Trust for Historic Preservation drop the case. Otherwise, the government will seek dismissal.

President Donald Trump gestures while speaking in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House following an unspecified threat at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)

Leftists who are crazy about Trump, especially after the horrific events of Saturday night, should drop the case. If they don’t, Leon should reject it. But considering how shameless these people are, the chances of either event happening are slim. The D.C. Circuit ruled on Part III of Hoagland’s claim. It must decide quickly, after oral argument, that the clause is well below what is necessary to determine its validity. Justice Rao was of the correct opinion that the existing law permitted the construction of the ballroom. Congress should leave no room for doubt. It’s time to build the ballroom, as Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, apparently the only remaining Democrat in Congress with any sense or decency, insists.

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Congress may expressly authorize construction on short notice. Congress had no problem moving quickly to order the release of the Epstein files. Shamefully, many of the congressional Democrats who have fallen out with Trump will likely block any effort to allow the ballroom because they don’t care about the safety of President Trump or anyone in his orbit.

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In less than two years, Trump faced three assassination attempts: the Butler incident; the assassination attempt at the Palm Beach country club by Ryan Routh, who is currently serving a life sentence thanks to the brilliant Judge Aileen Cannon; and a near massacre on Saturday night. Leftists tried to imprison Trump, bankrupt him, liquidate the bank, deplatform him, and kill him. Wild rhetoric, such as false and malicious claims that Trump is a pedophile and a serious threat to democracy, has caused people to lose their minds. These radicals caused a culture of assassination; No other president has been targeted in this way. It’s time to end the madness, and streamlining the construction of the White House ballroom might be a good start. But given their shameful past behavior, Democrats are likely to continue their dangerous resistance. Therefore, the task of stopping this madness falls on constitutionalist judges like Justice Rao. Failure to do so would ultimately lead to deaths carried out by future Democratic assassins such as Allen, Routh, and Butler hitman Matthew Crooks.

Stop this madness once and for all. That’s enough. Build the damn ballroom.

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