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  "path": "/2026/04/27/trump-explains-took-20-seconds-secret-service-get-room-28132516/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-27T07:49:49.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "News",
    "US",
    "Donald Trump",
    "supports HTML5\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvideo",
    "Gunshots rang out at the hotel",
    "White House",
    "JD Vance",
    "attempted to grab a Las Vegas police officer's pistol.",
    "ricin-laced letter was intercepted, intended for Trump.",
    "Thomas Crooks",
    "rally near Butler, Pennsylvania.",
    "On September 15, 2024,",
    "sentenced to life in prison earlier this year.",
    "armed intruder was shot dead",
    "Trump and Melania being rushed off stage",
    "Coel Tomas Allen",
    "Melania",
    "California",
    "check our news page",
    "Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source",
    "@RealDonaldTrump"
  ],
  "textContent": "To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvideo\n\nUp Next\n\nPrevious Page\n\nNext Page\n\nDonald Trump has explained why it took Secret Service personnel 20 seconds to evacuate him from a ballroom during an assassination attempt on Saturday night.\n\nGunshots rang out at the hotel where the formal White House Correspondents’ Dinner was being held, where the US President was preparing to address top US journalists on Saturday evening.\n\nDramatic footage showed Secret Service personnel surrounding Trump and the First Lady all in the same time it took for Vice President JD Vance to be yanked out off the stage.\n\nSpeaking with CBS last evening, Trump explained he held up his escape because he ‘wanted to see what was happening’.\n\nTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvideo\n\nUp Next\n\nPrevious Page\n\nNext Page\n\nAn image posted on Donald Trump’s Truth Social account showing the suspect (Picture: @RealDonaldTrump/Truth Social/AFP via Getty Images)\n\nThe Republican leader told the outlet: ‘It was a little bit me. I wanted to see what was happening, and I wasn’t making it that easy for ’em. I wanted to see what was going on.’\n\nHe explained that he was telling them to ‘wait a minute’ and ‘probably made them act a little bit more slowly’.\n\nTrump also addressed speculation that he took a tumble on the way off the stage – saying he was told to get down.\n\nHe added: ‘What happened is then I started walking with them… and they said, “Please go down. Please go down on the floor.”\n\n‘So I went down and the first lady went down also. But we were asked to go down by the agents.’\n\n##  Timeline of Trump assassination attempts and major security threats\n\n### June 18, 2016: Assassination attempt at Las Vegas rally\n\nWhile Trump was giving a presidential campaign speech at the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, a British man, Michael Steven Sandford, attempted to grab a Las Vegas police officer's pistol. \n\n### September 6, 2017: Forklift attack, North Dakota\n\nOn September 6, 2017, in North Dakota, Gregory Lee Leingang stole a forklift and attempted to drive it toward the presidential motorcade while Trump was visiting.\n\n### September 20, 2020: Ricin poisoning attempt\n\nOn September 20, 2020, Pascale Cécile Véronique Ferrier was arrested in Buffalo, New York, after a ricin-laced letter was intercepted, intended for Trump.\n\n### July 12, 2024: Murder-for-hire plot\n\nA Pakistani national, Asif Merchant, was arrested and later convicted of running a murder-for-hire plot on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to kill Trump.\n\nTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvideo\n\nUp Next\n\nPrevious Page\n\nNext Page\n\n### July 13, 2024: Assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania\n\nOn July 13, 2024, shooter Thomas Crooks fired eight shots from an AR-15–style rifle at Trump while speaking at a rally near Butler, Pennsylvania.\n\nTrump was shot and wounded in his upper right ear before dropping to the ground and being shielded by the Secret Service.\n\nCrooks also killed one member of the audience, Corey Comperatore, and critically injured two others, before being shot and killed by a member of the Secret Service.\n\n### September 15, 2025: Assassination attempt in West Palm Beach, Florida\n\nOn September 15, 2024, Ryan Routh was sighted with a rifle at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, while Trump was golfing at the club.\n\nRouth was arrested after fleeing the scene and was sentenced to life in prison earlier this year.\n\n### **February 22, 2026: Mar-a-Lago** intruder\n\nAn armed intruder was shot dead on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in February.\n\nAustin Tucker Martin was named as the gunman killed by the Secret Service at the president’s Florida retreat.\n\n### **April 25, 2026: White House Correspondents’ dinner**\n\nGunshots rang out at the Washington Hilton hotel, where the formal White House Correspondents’ Dinner was taking place on Saturday April 25, withTrump and Melania being rushed off stage.\n\nThe suspect, Coel Tomas Allen, was arrested on the scene.\n\nTrump said he was then taken ‘to a hold room for a while’ while he ‘tried to get them to continue the event if possible’.\n\nAsked what his thoughts were during the shooting, Trump replied: ‘My thought was, “You know, I’ve been through this before a couple of times.”‘\n\nBut he explained how it was the first time for his wife, Melania, saying she ‘handled it great’.\n\nThe Washington Post reported the Trump administration provided a lower level of security for the White House correspondents’ dinner than it has for other gatherings of high-ranking officials.\n\nA man with guns and knives tried to rush past the security perimeter inside the Washington hotel where the Republican president was about to address the glitzy event.\n\nThe event was attended by some of the most influential media bosses and personalities in the US (Picture: Nathan Howard/Getty Images)\n\nAuthorities are trying to determine what happened and why. A suspect was taken into custody and identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California.\n\nOfficials have said that the suspect fired a shotgun at a Secret Service agent at a security checkpoint in the Washington Hilton hotel before being tackled and arrested.\n\nThe agent who was shot escaped serious injury because the bullet struck his protective vest, Trump said.\n\nAllen legally bought a .38-caliber semiautomatic pistol in October 2023 and a 12-gauge shotgun two years later.\n\n******Get in touch with our news team by emailing us atwebnews@metro.co.uk.******\n\n**For more stories like this,** check our news page.\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "Trump explains why it took 20 seconds for Secret Service to get him out the room"
}