What To Know
- Mentalist Oz Pearlman was performing a trick for White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt when gunshots disrupted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
- The gunman entered the building armed with a shotgun and knives but was apprehended by Secret Service agents.
- Pearlman described the chaos and fear that ensued during the incident.
Oz Pearlman was in the middle of performing a trick in front of President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Saturday (April 25) when the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was thrown into chaos.
The mentalist and magician, who served as host of the dinner, was finishing his performance when gunshots rang out from outside the ballroom. A gunman, later identified as 31-year-old Cole Allen, stormed the building armed with a shotgun and knives before being apprehended by members of the Secret Service.
In footage of the incident, Pearlman can be seen with a notebook in hand while talking to Leavitt. Speaking with ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl on Sunday (April 26), Pearlman revealed what trick he was performing on the pregnant press secretary.
“Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, said, ‘Challenge me, I’m having a baby next week.’ Can you guess what I’m naming my daughter? This was happening backstage… we were interrupted because the President walked in. I said, ‘Let’s save it for when we get up on the dais.’
. @OzTheMentalist reveals the trick he had just performed on Karoline Leavitt when the shooting happened last night at the White House correspondents’ dinner.
He figured out the name of @PressSec ‘s soon to be born child pic.twitter.com/ejxU1E01Jg
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) April 26, 2026
Pearlman said he was “guessing letter by letter, how many letters were in the name,” and “right at the moment when you see it happen, I wrote down the name and said ‘How did I do?,’ and then I turned around and that’s when the First Lady gasped.”
He said that after narrowing the name to one beginning with a “V,” he ultimately made a guess, and Leavitt confirmed, “That’s the name of my daughter.” Pearlman confirmed he’d been given permission to share the name, which he said he believes is “Viviane.”
Just seconds after completing the trick, chaos erupted. As gunshots rang out, Pearlman told Karl his first thought was, “Are we about to die?”
“When I dropped down, and dropped down to all fours, and I’m waiting and bracing because I think a bomb’s going to go off,” he added. “I watch the two Secret Service guys get behind the president, bring him down. And just by pure chance, he gets brought down… And I just look at him right here, and in my head, I go, ‘Oh no, are we about to die?’ That was my first thought.”
In an alleged manifesto penned by Allen, he claimed that Trump administration officials were his targets. He also wrote, “I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.”