Was Cole Tomas Allen, the man accused of shooting at attendees at the 2026 White House Correspondents' Dinner, on the payroll of the Democratic National Committee and several California Democratic politicians, including Nancy Pelosi, Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris and Adam Schiff? No, that's not true: A DNC spokesperson, a Newsom spokesperson, and a Pelosi spokesperson all told Lead Stories the claim was false. There is no evidence given by the post on social media to back the claim Allen worked for prominent Democrats. His employment history does not show that he was on the payroll of any politician or political party.
The claim appeared in an April 27, 2026, post on X account @JoshHall2024 (archived here). It opened:
🚨BREAKING:🚨WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS DINNER SHOOTER ON THE PAYROLL OF TOP CALIFORNIA DEMOCRAT POLITICIANS
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @JoshHall2024 on X.)
The caption on the post read:
🚨BREAKING:🚨WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS DINNER SHOOTER ON THE PAYROLL OF TOP CALIFORNIA DEMOCRAT POLITICIANS - The 31-year-old shooter from California who is alleged to have attempted to assassinate President Trump at The White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday night is alleged to have DEEP PERSONAL AND FINANCIAL TIES TO PROMINENT CALIFORNIA DEMOCRAT POLITICIANS including Governor Gavin Newsom, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Vice President Kamala Harris and US Senator Adam Schiff. He was reportedly a TOP STAFFER for the Newsom For Governor campaign who went on to serve in a leadership position in Newsom's administration and previously worked as a HIGH-RANKING DNC STAFFER who played a key role in the US Senate campaigns of Kamala Harris and Adam Schiff in The Golden State and was at one point an advisor to DISGRACED former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who is said to have played A CENTRAL ROLE in helping her put together the first impeachment of President Trump in 2019. In other words, there appears to be FAR MORE to this story than we are hearing in The Lamestream media and there is growing speculation within FBI circles that we could be dealing with A DEMOCRAT ASSASSINATION PLOT on President Trump. BRING THESE 4 TRAITORS IN FOR QUESTIONING NOW... WE DEMAND ANSWERS! 👊🇺🇸
Lead Stories contacted the DNC for comment via email on April 30, 2026, and spokesperson Kendall Whitmer responded "no, incorrect" when asked if Allen worked for the DNC.
A spokesperson for Governor Gavin Newsom denied any link via email on April 30, 2026, writing to Lead Stories: "There is no connection to the Governor in any capacity."
Ian Krager, spokesperson for Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi told Lead Stories via email on April 30, 2026, that the claim was "false."
The post did not offer any evidence or proof of the claim that Allen worked for the Democratic politicians. His LinkedIn profile ( archived here), details his work history and none of it is for a political campaign or candidate or in an office or administration. His jobs beginning in 2014 are below:
- Summer undergraduate research fellowship student at JPL (NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory);
- Mechanical engineering intern at Fluid Synchrony;
- Teaching assistant at Cal Tech;
- Mechanical engineer at IJK Controls;
- Self-employed Indie game developer;
- Part-time teacher at C2 Education.
Allen did make one contribution to a political candidate in 2024. According to Federal Election Commission records, Allen made a $25 donation through ActBlue with the memo "Earmarked for Harris for President," as this screenshot shows:
(Image source: FEC.gov.)
Other fact checks
A similar claim regarding Allen was also investigated by Snopes
