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Joy Reid floats theory WHCA Dinner shooting could have been staged, tied to Trump's ballroom push
By Alexander Hall
Published April 29, 2026
Far-left podcaster Joy Reid speculated Monday that the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner shooting over the weekend could have been staged, tying it to President Donald Trump’s desire for a White House ballroom.
"There’s just odd things that keep happening around Trump," Reid said on her podcast, "The Joy Reid Show," as she recalled the Butler, Pennsylvania assassination attempt. "And we know that Viktor Orbán allegedly, allegedly, according to (The) Washington Post’s reporting, there was a plot by the Russians to stage an assassination, fake assassination for Orban."
An assailant rushed a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton Saturday night during the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, and a Secret Service officer was shot.
The alleged gunman, Cole Allen, was apprehended and has been charged with multiple felonies. The gunfire led to Trump and Cabinet officials at the dinner being evacuated and the dinner being rescheduled.
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Former MSNBC host Joy Reid offered numerous reasons why she thinks the recent shooting seems suspicious. (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)
The Washington Post reported in March, "To aid Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a friend of Russia, in his election, operatives proposed 'the Gamechanger' — a staged assassination attempt to stir supporters."
Reid also questioned the surveillance at the dinner, noting how the event played out didn't "make sense."
"That surveillance that we have, none of it worked in that case? He just basically walks in with multiple guns and knives? It doesn't make sense," Reid said.
President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the White House Brady Briefing Room April 25, 2026. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
The podcaster noted that things seemed "too perfect" and said the president was being revictimized.
"So, all of this thrown in together, you’re like, when something seems too perfect, people, they don’t — they don’t believe in it. And Donald Trump now again gets victimized by an alleged would-be assassin in front of the perfect witnesses — the press," Reid said.
Reid noted that a former MAGA influencer suggested there appeared to have been a coordinated influencer campaign to tell people to advocate for the White House ballroom.
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As Reid spoke to a guest on the show, she also noted that, "People do not believe this assassination attempt story, and I think it's partly because Donald Trump has not earned, he's not really earned like our belief, right? But it's also because things keep happening that feel opportune, and he's like, ‘Oh, now I need the ballroom.’"
When reached for comment by Fox News Digital, White House spokesman Davis Ingle replied, "There’s a reason Joy Reid’s show got canceled. Her takes were too dumb even for MSDNC. Anyone who thinks President Trump staged his own assassination attempts to build a ballroom at the White House is a complete moron."
MSNBC — since renamed MS NOW — canceled Reid’s program, "The ReidOut," as part of a major network shakeup in February 2025.
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Reid has long been known for pushing conspiracy theories.
She famously charged in 2018 that her former blog was hacked when homophobic posts resurfaced, although she later admitted she had no proof of the claim.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/joy-reid-floats-theory-whca-dinner-shooting-could-have-been-staged-tied-trumps-ballroom-push