26.04.2026 15:40
Following an armed attack at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner attended by U.S. President Donald Trump, the assailant, Cole Thomas Allen, was apprehended. Trump stated that he was the target of the attack, while it was noted that the Washington Hilton Hotel, where the incident occurred, is also remembered for the assassination attempt on U.S. President Ronald Reagan 45 years earlier. In 1981, the shooting that wounded Reagan was revealed to have been motivated by the attacker's obsession with actress Jodie Foster.
After an armed attack at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner attended by US President Donald Trump, the assailant Cole Thomas Allen was apprehended.
TRUMP: THEY TARGETED ME
Trump said "they targeted me," but according to CBS News, the attack, which targeted Trump administration officials, took place at the Washington Hilton Hotel.
45 YEARS AGO, ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON REAGAN
The hotel is known in American political history for another assassination attempt. Then-US President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded in an assassination attempt at the same Washington Hotel 45 years ago.
MOTIVATION FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT REVEALED TO BE A HOLLYWOOD STAR
On March 30, 1981, as Reagan exited the hotel, 25-year-old John Hinckley, who was said to have mental issues, attacked with the gun in the photo, wounding Reagan with a bullet that ricocheted off his limousine. The bullet landed within 2.5 centimeters of Reagan's heart, causing the US president to suffer severe internal bleeding.
LEFT PARTIALLY PARALYZED FOR LIFE
In the assassination attempt, Hinckley fired six shots. One of the other bullets hit then-White House Press Secretary James Brady in the head; though Brady survived, he remained partially paralyzed for life and suffered speech problems. Besides Brady, a police officer and a Secret Service agent protecting Reagan were also injured in the incident outside the Washington Hotel.
HE WAS OBSESSED WITH JODIE FOSTER
There are several answers to the question of why the assailant John Hinckley carried out this assassination attempt. Behind the attacker's motivation was a Hollywood star, Jodie Foster. Hinckley, who was found to be mentally unfit and was acquitted on that basis after the assassination attempt and committed to a mental hospital, was reported to be obsessed with the famous film "Taxi Driver" and its young star, Jodie Foster.
Hinckley, who wrote love letters to Foster multiple times and enrolled in a writing course at Yale University after reading in a magazine that the famous actress was attending it, was said to have targeted US President Ronald Reagan to get Foster's attention.