On the evening of April 25, a gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where President Trump, cabinet officials, and reporters were in attendance. One law enforcement officer was wounded, and the suspect, identified in online discussion as Cole Allen of Los Angeles, was arrested at the scene. Before authorities had released many details, the Blue Square Alliance Command Center identified three competing conspiracy theories spreading online, each offering a radically different explanation for who was responsible and why. We tracked over 770,000 mentions of “Cole Allen” online since April 25, demonstrating the volume of posts circulating online discussing this individual and his actions.
Theory 1: Mossad and “Jewish elites” were behind it
The suspect’s name has appeared alongside references to Israel, Mossad, the IDF, or Jews more broadly over 100,000 times since April 25. Several of these posts frame the shooting as a targeted attempt by Israel to assassinate President Trump, with conspiracy theorists suggesting it to be due to the United States attempts at peace with Iran.
One of the main theories circulating online claims Cole Allen has ties to the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). An image has spread on social media showing him wearing an IDF sweatshirt. This image, which claims to be from his now-deleted Instagram account, is unverified, and some suggest it may have been AI-generated. In an age when AI-generated images can shape narratives, it is increasingly difficult to know whether content spreading on social media is authentic. Yet, that hasn’t stopped some highly followed users from spreading the image, with some posts reaching over 1 million views.
Another significant narrative claimed that people in Israel, likely intelligence operatives, had prior knowledge of the event, citing a Google Trends screenshot suggesting his name had been searched in Israel several hours before the shooting occurred. This claim also lacked verifiable claims, with other users providing explanations for this phenomenon and debunking the narratives.
Some posts also claim ties to the Charlie Kirk shooting in September as part of a larger narrative of Israeli operatives targeting influential Republican personalities.
Theory 2: Trump staged it himself.
The second narrative claims that the Trump administration orchestrated the shooting. This theory appears to be the dominant narrative online, with our data pulling approximately 600,000 mentions of the shooting being “staged” by the current administration in some way. Two specific motives are alleged in posts that spread this narrative.
The first is that the incident provides justification for the construction of the new White House ballroom or hardened security facility. This project has previously faced public scrutiny but could now serve as an on-site security center rather than hosting events outside of the White House.
Additional alleged motives are that the shooting functions as a distraction from renewed public attention on the Jeffrey Epstein case, as well as a distraction from alleged shortcomings in negotiating a peace deal with Iran.
There is no evidence to suggest that Cole Allen operated at the behest of the current administration.
Theory 3: Democrats orchestrated the attack.
The third narrative circulating online frames the shooting as a politically motivated attack that was either directly orchestrated by Democratic leadership or enabled by Democratic rhetoric. The Command Center has found at least 85,000 posts that have advanced this framing in some way, with posts from high-follower accounts creating a much larger reach for this theory.
A main piece of evidence used to support this theory is rumors that Cole Allen previously worked on various Democrat campaign teams and has archived tweets supporting Democratic beliefs. His alleged manifesto also voices his disapproval of the current administration.
While it is possible that the suspect held Democratic-affiliated values, there is no evidence to suggest that he was acting on behalf of “Democrat elites.” Rather, he seemingly carried out his plan based on already-held beliefs.
Why this pattern matters
What happened in the hours after the Correspondents’ Dinner shooting is a pattern of alternative theories being spread online that the Blue Square Alliance’s Command Center has documented across dozens of incidents over the past few years. The most recent examples of include the car ramming attack at Temple Israel in Michigan in March 2026, Bondi Beach in December 2025, and the murder of Charlie Kirk in September 2025. Following a high-profile event, communities online compete to attach their preferred narrative to it.
Specifically, for antisemitic narratives, mass violence events represent an opportunity. The confusion and emotional intensity of the immediate aftermath create an information vacuum that conspiratorial content rushes to fill. The narratives are particularly effective because any evidence against their theories can be reinterpreted as proof of a cover-up.
