US4 min(s) read
Published 11:34 27 Apr 2026 GMT
A body language expert has questioned why JD Vance was rushed to safety before Donald Trump during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting.
On Saturday (April 25), a gunman, identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, stormed the Washington Hilton ballroom armed with a shotgun, handgun, and knives, and opened fire as more than 2,500 guests scrambled for cover.
Secret Service agents exchanged fire with the suspect before bringing him down, with one agent struck in a bulletproof vest and expected to recover. No other injuries were reported.
A clip of the shooting circulated online, showing the Vice President being the first official pulled off stage, while the president and First Lady Melania Trump were initially shielded behind armored plating before being evacuated moments later.
The footage prompted immediate questions, with many users on X wondering why Vance appeared to be prioritized.
"My issue is why is the Secret Service escorting JD Vance out first before Trump. Why was he more priority[?]" one user asked.
Another questioned: "Why was JD Vance taken out before Trump?!" while a third reacted: "This is just plain f***ing weird. While JD Vance is escorted out immediately, Trump just sits there like a bump on a log."
Dr. John Paul Garrison, a clinical and forensic psychologist who goes by the handle @Dr. G Explains, also highlighted the unusual sequence in his new YouTube video.
"For whatever reason, they actually got Vice President JD Vance out much faster than they got President Trump out," Garrison said, showing the exact moment the 41-year-old was rushed to safety.
"If you watch this right here, they were actually picking JD Vance up by his jacket right there. And as you can see, they're still trying to work to get President Trump out."
"So, it's very interesting how they ended up managing this in terms of prioritizing who got out first," he added.
Trump later offered his own explanation for why he was not immediately rushed out.
In a new interview with 60 Minutes, which aired on Sunday (April 26), the 79-year-old revealed that he slowed the Secret Service response because he wanted to understand what was happening.
"Well, what happened is - it was a little bit me," he told CBS News correspondent Norah O’Donnell. "I wanted to see what was happening, and I wasn’t making it that easy for them.
"I wanted to see what was going on. And by that time, we started to realize maybe it was a bad problem, different kind of a problem, bad one. And different than what would be normal noise from a ballroom, which you hear all the time.
"I was surrounded by great people. And I probably made them act a little bit more slowly. I said, 'Wait a minute, wait a minute. Lemme see. Wait a minute,'" he added.
The gunman is facing two counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon, while U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said there will likely be "many more charges" to come.
Investigators say the suspect also emailed a "manifesto" to family members before the attack, allegedly stating he intended to target members of the Trump administration.
During the same interview, O’Donnell read part of the alleged 1,052-word manifesto, triggering a furious response from Trump as he lashed out at the interviewer.
"Well, I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would because you’re horrible people," he said. "Horrible people. Yeah, he did write that. I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody."
O'Donnell then asked: "Do you think he was referring to you?" to which Trump replied: "I’m not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person? I got associated with all… stuff that has nothing to do with me. I was totally exonerated.
"Your friends on the other side of the plate are the ones that were involved with, let’s say, [Jeffrey] Epstein or other things. But I said to myself, ‘You know, I’ll do this interview and they’ll probably…’ I read the manifesto. You know, he’s a sick person.
"But you should be ashamed of yourself reading that because I’m not any of those things."
He later called the interviewer "a disgrace" for quoting the alleged shooter’s words and dismissed the suspect as "pretty incompetent,” adding: "He got caught pretty easily."
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