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Mentalist Oz Pearlman was performing for President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and press secretary Karoline Leavitt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday, April 24, when he realized something was very wrong.
“I was performing right then for the president, the press secretary and the first lady,” the magician said during a Sunday, April 26, appearance on CNN’s State of the Union. “It [was] kind of a pivotal moment in the trick where you’re just about to do the reveal … and we hear commotion.”
The mentalist initially thought someone inside the ballroom was experiencing a medical emergency, until the gravity of the situation became palpable.
“I see everyone swarming one table,” Pearlman continued. “I didn’t hear any shots or see what looked like a shooter. I thought there was about to be a bomb. I really, very much thought, ‘Oh my god, it’s about to explode,’ because of the way it was being approached.”
Shortly after the annual event meant to celebrate the first amendment began on Saturday, a gunman attempted to charge the ballroom. The 31-year-old shooter, armed with a shotgun, handgun and multiple knives, was apprehended before he could enter. One Secret Service Agent was shot, but his ballistic vest protected him and he was later released from the hospital.
No one else was harmed during the incident.
Guests take cover during the shooting at the 2026 White House Correspondents’ Dinner Getty Images
The president, first lady and members of the Trump administration were all quickly evacuated from the building. The rest of the event was canceled.
“It was incredibly surreal,” Pearlman said on Sunday of the moment Secret Service agents tackled the president in an attempt to remove him from the premises. “I kind of get down on all fours facing left, stage left. They rush across to get POTUS and the president gets taken down by Secret Service — and we don’t know what’s going on — and he came down.”
He added, “You can look at the video — I don’t know the distance, but less than afoot from me — I’ll never forget the image for my whole life because I’m on all fours, turn like this, they bring the president down directly in front of me and we just look at each other for about two seconds.”
At that moment, Pearlman told CNN he thought his life was going to come to an end.
“And my mind — obviously this is a huge adrenaline — was just like, ‘Oh no, are we about to die?’ Because I thought it was about to explode,” Pearlman said. “I thought… that really was my instinct.”
The performer continued, “Then I heard what sounded like I thought were shots and at that point my mind shifted. I also wasn’t sure if [Trump] was hurt — they pick him up, kind of, and they go out and then we’re on all fours.”
At that point, Pearlman said he “army crawled” off the stage for fear that if he stood up he would be shot.
“We didn’t want to stand up because I didn’t want to get hit,” he explained.
On Sunday, acting attorney general Todd Blanche told multiple media outlets that the ongoing investigation has already revealed that the shooter — an engineer and part-time teacher — was targeting Trump and top Trump administration officials.
While speaking to Fox News, the president himself detailed an alleged manifesto written by the suspected shooter.
Erika Kirk was in attendance as shots broke out at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. CNN reported that Kirk, 37, was seen crying as the chaos unfolded at the Washington Hilton in Washington D.C. on Saturday, April 25. CNN’s Sara Sidner said on air that she personally witnessed Kirk leaving the main ballroom, telling aides, […]
“When you read his manifesto, he hates Christians, that’s one thing for sure,” the president claimed on Sunday, going on to call the suspect a “sick guy.” (Us Weekly has not independently viewed the alleged manifesto to corroborate the president’s claims.)
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