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Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted this Sunday on his Instagram account an image taken in the Oval Office of the White House with the brief caption "Last night," just hours after being evacuated along with President Donald Trump and other senior officials during the shooting that interrupted the Annual White House Correspondents' Dinner.
The incident occurred on Saturday at 8:36 p.m. at the Washington Hilton hotel in Washington D.C., where an event was being held with over 2,000 attendees. A man identified as Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old teacher from Torrance, California, stormed in armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and knives at the hotel's security checkpoint and fired between five and eight shots.
The Secret Service neutralized and apprehended Allen in the lobby before he could enter the main hall, preventing a greater tragedy. One agent sustained a minor injury stopped by his bulletproof vest; there were no fatalities.
Among those evacuated were Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and several cabinet members, including Rubio, Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, and Kash Patel.
Trump confirmed the arrest that same night on his social network Truth Social: "The Secret Service and law enforcement did a fantastic job. They acted swiftly and bravely. The shooter has been apprehended."
In an emergency press conference held in the early morning from the White House, the president praised the Secret Service and referred to the suspect as a "sick person," adding with irony: "No one told me this job was so dangerous."
A manifesto attributed to Allen, obtained by the New York Post and confirmed by FBI sources, reveals that the attacker referred to himself as the "Friendly Federal Assassin" and targeted officials of the Trump administration, prioritizing targets from highest to lowest rank, "probably including the President," as confirmed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
The White House spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, described the act as an assassination attempt against Trump and high-ranking officials, demanding an end to "political violence." Trump, for his part, posted on Truth Social demanding to speed up the construction of a secure event hall at the White House and announced the rescheduling of the correspondents' dinner in 30 days.
The image of Rubio in the Oval Office, the quintessential symbol of the U.S. executive power, was interpreted as a gesture of institutional continuity and strength in the face of the attack. Saturday's event represents the third attack against Trump in less than a year, which has heightened concerns about the safety of the president and his cabinet.
Allen was discharged from a hospital and is now in the custody of the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington D.C., with a court hearing scheduled for this Monday.
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