“Was he on the Feds’ radar before?
FBI Director Kash Patel faced tough questions on Fox News over whether authorities knew anything about the suspected shooter at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, DC.
The incident has raised fresh concerns over security around President Donald Trump, with the incident marking the third alleged assassination attempt involving him in less than two years.
Fox & Friends co-host Lawrence Jones, who attended the dinner, described the evening as a “security nightmare” in a post on X after security rushed Trump and members of his cabinet out of the hotel ballroom.
Patel remained inside the venue for around 90 minutes before being escorted out.
He appeared on Fox & Friends and was grilled over whether the alleged suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, had already been known to federal authorities.
Tonight was a security nightmare. We all know it. Pretending that it wasn’t only empowers bad actors. Every time they get a little closer…
— Lawrence Jones III (@LawrenceBJones3) April 26, 2026
Jones asked Patel: “Was he on the Feds’ radar before?
“Did you see the posting he was making? That he was trying to come to the hotel? And it is true that there was an alert put out with a description of him, but he wasn’t detected in the hotel?”
Patel did not directly confirm whether Allen had previously been flagged by federal agencies.
“Those are all things that the bureau and our investigation are looking at”, he said, before shifting to explain how the FBI’s Behavioural Analysis Unit handles such cases.
Patel added that investigators had already gathered “e-mails, social media postings, witness interviews, interviews with family and friends and neighbours” as part of the case being prepared for court.
However, the hosts continued to press him for clarity.
“So is any of that true, what he mentioned?” co-host Brian Kilmeade interjected, referring to Jones’ question.
Jones followed up: “Because Kash, you are talking about the behaviour analysis element of it, I’m not talking about that. I’m saying, was there a profile put out? Was he known?
“Was there chatter about him before, not during the act, before it?”
Kash Patel responded that those details would be addressed in the criminal complaint and said he could not “get ahead” of the Department of Justice.
The interview then turned to wider concerns around Trump’s security, particularly after previous attempts on his life.
Jones criticised the handling of security failures and questioned who would be held accountable, asking:
“The President of the United States is averaging an assassination attempt once a year… So who’s going to do the investigating of the procedures?
“Secret Service can’t investigate themselves because there are still people in leadership at the Secret Service that were responsible for Butler.
“How does that happen? It was a failure.”
The Butler reference was to the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Trump survived an assassination attempt during a campaign rally.
Patel agreed with that assessment.
He called the Butler shooting “a total failure” and said he had “full confidence” in Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, whose department oversees the Secret Service.
It was reported that Allen’s alleged manifesto contained anti-Trump and anti-Christian sentiments.
In one section, he allegedly wrote: “Turning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed. I’m not the person raped in a detention camp. I’m not the fisherman executed without trial.
“I’m not a schoolkid blown up or a child starved or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration.
“Turning the other cheek when someone else is oppressed is not Christian behaviour; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes.”
Authorities believe Allen was targeting multiple senior officials within the Trump administration.
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