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| - After a gunman attempted to enter the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington, D.C., on April 25, 2026, a photo (archived) circulated online that users claimed was an authentic selfie the suspect took before the shooting.
On April 27, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Cole Tomas Allen with attempting to assassinate the president, traveling across state lines with a weapon with intent to commit a felony and firing a weapon during a crime of violence. Allen had not entered a plea at the time of this writing.
The image that circulated online appeared to be a mirror selfie of Allen. The image showed a Black man wearing a black shirt and pants and a red tie tucked into his waistband.
Politico reporter Kyle Cheney shared the image on X, writing:
JUST IN: Federal prosecutors release new images and details of Cole Allen and his alleged attempt to assassinate president Trump. Here is a mirror selfie he took about 30 minutes before charging past the magnetometers.
The image also circulated on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived) and Reddit (archived).
It came from a Department of Justice filing in the case against Allen that argued he should be detained until his trial.
The April 29 filing included two images of Allen on Page 11 of a section about how the defendant allegedly planned and prepared to carry out the attempted assassination. One image was a selfie it appeared Allen took in a mirror, and one was an "enhanced" version of that same selfie.
Given the above, we rate the claim that the image circulating online showed an authentic selfie of Allen true.
According to the DOJ filing (Page 11), Allen took the photo of himself around 8:03 p.m., less than 40 minutes before he allegedly tried to kill Trump.
At the time of this writing, a district judge in Washington, D.C., had ordered Allen be held without bond until a detention hearing April 30. The DOJ argued that due to the severity of his alleged crime he should be held until his trial.
Allen faces up to life in prison if found guilty of attempting to assassinate the president.
For further reading, Snopes has reported extensively on claims related to the White House correspondents' dinner shooting.
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