Gunfire at White House Correspondents’ Dinner Forces Trump Evacuation

Gunfire cut short the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25, forcing the evacuation of President Donald Trump after a man armed with multiple weapons charged a security checkpoint at the high-profile gala.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump revealed that US law enforcement agents subdued the suspect, who was later identified as Cole Allen, amid a social media frenzy of controversial claims about the incident.

Trump initially urged organizers to “LET THE SHOW GO ON,” before confirming authorities had ordered an immediate evacuation in line with protocol.

He added that the First Lady, Vice President, and Cabinet members were unharmed, and subsequently shared images and apparent security footage of the suspect after being subdued.

TRUMP token slides to record lows

The security scare capped a day that had already placed Trump at the center of a different kind of volatility in the crypto markets.

Earlier on April 25, the president hosted 297 of the largest holders of his TRUMP memecoin at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.

Marketed as an elite gathering, the event featured a keynote address from Trump, while a smaller group of 29 top holders attended a private reception and champagne toast with him.

Notably, this is the second of such events that the president has hosted for the token in the past year.

Still, this presidential access has failed to lift the TRUMP token underpinning the events as it has lost more than 97% of its value over the past year.

According to CryptoSlate data, TRUMP's token price fell as low as $2.52, down almost 20% from the 24-hour local high, and a steep drop from the highs above $75 reached during the post-inauguration surge in January 2025. That also moved the market cap down around $100 million to just $590 million.

The value erosion has been stark in aggregate value. CoinMarketCap data shows the token’s market capitalization shrinking from nearly $10 billion early last year to about $618 million as of press time.

Scrutiny builds around President Trump's crypto voyage

The event has intensified criticism of Trump’s expanding crypto footprint, with Democratic lawmakers calling for investigations.

On the other hand, ethics experts have repeatedly pointed to the unusual overlap between the presidential authority and personal financial exposure to speculative digital assets.

Meanwhile, crypto experts have also increasingly criticized the events and the token, with Simon Dedic, the founder of venture capital firm Moonrock Capital, saying: “The Trump memecoin dinner tonight is one of the most damaging thing that has happened to crypto's reputation in years. Even worse than FTX or Luna. Those at least pretended to be something legitimate before they collapsed. But this is the President of the United States openly extracting from retail, in broad daylight, and calling it a gala.”

Dedic also claimed that the President Trump-linked token has extracted more than $4.3 billion from retail investors, while 45 insider wallets gained $1.2 billion.