Badlands Daily: 4/27/26 - WHCD Shooting, Cole Allen Profile, Security Failures Exposed

About this episode

The episode discusses the assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents' Dinner and profiles Cole Allen, highlighting security failures and his connections to far-left groups.

CannCon and Zak Paine open the week with a deep, wide-ranging breakdown of the White House Correspondents' Dinner assassination attempt. Cole Allen, a California teacher with ties to far-left groups No Kings and The Wide Awakes, rushed a magnetometer at the Washington Hilton with a pistol and shotgun and fired before being stopped by Secret Service. The guys go through his full manifesto, which reads as part dog whistle and part reconnaissance report, noting his postscript mocking the complete absence of security and how nobody considered someone checking in the night before. Multiple attendees including Carrie Lake and NRB director Bethany Miller confirm no bag checks, no ID verification, and essentially no screening to enter the hotel. CannCon and Zak also flag Allen's 2014 internship at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which puts him in the same building as several recently deceased scientists. A mysterious Twitter account posted only the name "Cole Allen" in December 2023, and the account's banner appears to contain an image predictive of the Butler shooting. Trump's cool-as-a-cucumber response and his sharp 60 Minutes rebuke round out the coverage.

People in this episode

Hosts: CannCon, Zak Paine

Topics covered

• White House Correspondents' Dinner
• security failures
• assassination attempt
• Cole Allen profile
• far-left groups
• Secret Service response
• manifesto analysis

Keywords

• assassination attempt
• Cole Allen
• White House Correspondents' Dinner
• security failures
• far-left groups
• Secret Service
• manifesto

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, No Kings, The Wide Awakes

Places: Washington Hilton

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