Monday Morning Networks Refuse to Label WHCD Shooter a Leftist

Curtis Houck
April 27th, 2026 7:15 PM

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The “Big Three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC each provided extensive coverage on their lead Monday morning news shows of Saturday’s White House Correspondents Dinner (WHCD) shooting that we learned was a third assassination attempt against President Trump in less than two years. But when it came to coverage of the suspect’s ideology and motive, they refused to engage on the former and couldn’t bring themselves to refer to him as a leftist, left-wing, liberal, Marxist, or even progressive.

ABC’s Good Morning America was true to form as by far the most ludicrous.

Longtime Justice correspondent Pierre Thomas declared off the top of his report about Cole Thomas Allen that “[l]aw enforcement sources are describing allegations that point to a suspect who is extremely intelligent and who was meticulous in planning to conduct a mass shooting that was intended to kill top administration officials, including, possibly the President.”

“Sources describe a message Cole Allen allegedly sent to his family before the attack. That message allegedly describes grievances against Trump administration officials, expressing how, if necessary, he would kill from the highest ranking to the lowest, including any Secret Service member that got in his way. allegedly ends the message with a critique of hotel security,” Thomas added.

Co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos recognized this was the “third assassination attempt against President Trump and the domestic terror threat, about as high as it’s ever been,” but refused to go any further.

Thomas kept it vague, thus playing both-sides: “George, this is perhaps the most dangerous threat environment since 9/11. And there has been a surge in politically motivated attacks, like nothing we’ve seen in decades.”

In the show’s second hour, chief investigative correspondent Aaron Katersky explicitly tried to both-sides recent political violence, leaving out the crucial fact that the suspected arsonist targeted Pennsylvania Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro’s mansion because he was a leftist upset about Israel’s war against Hamas and, in his deranged view, Shapiro was culpable because he’s Jewish:

Going over to NBC’s Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie said shortly after the teases the suspect would be arraigned later in the day and “investigators say was armed and believed to be targeting President Trump and other high-level officials who were attending the dinner.”

“Meanwhile, President Trump speaking out overnight amid new details about anti-Trump messages the suspect sent to family members,” co-host Craig Melvin added.

Senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez had the tick-tock of Saturday, but included in his report a line about “a senior administration official say[ing] Cole sent writings to family members expressing a desire to target administration officials.”

Allen’s motive fell to longtime correspondent Kelly O’Donnell, who remained vague:

National law enforcement and intelligence correspondent Tom Winter was on set with Guthrie and, while he couldn’t bring himself to call Allen a leftist, he was unequivocal in telling viewers that Allen wanted to take out the President:

Later in the block, Winter emphasized “law enforcement’s biggest concern is that the idea that you could solve your political problems or your personal problems through violence and targeted attacks could then take root in American society” and that’s borne out with three Trump assassination attempts, Charlie Kirk’s murder, the United HealthCare CEO, and, in an attempt at supposed balance, the Minnesota Democrats:

CBS Mornings was also rather cursory in its reporting.

After co-host Gayle King stated off the top that “[t]he suspect...is a teacher from...a Los Angeles suburb...with no previous criminal record,” it aired a portion of 60 Minutes when Norah O’Donnell read aloud the portion of the suspect’s alleged manifesto lashing out at Trump as “a pedophile, rapist, and traitor,” which led to an fiery response from the President.

Back live, fill-in co-host Major Garrett said it was something O’Donnell “had to ask” Trump about while, for her part, O’Donnell said it was part of “these...important questions about what happened and why it happened” and “the state of America — political violence and extremism.”

To their credit, they were the only broadcast network morning show to mention the conspiracy theories on the far left and far right questioning whether the shooting was staged:

But during its own report on the suspect, chief correspondent Matt Gutman largely hewed to one (but nonetheless important) aspect of the investigation in the path the shooter took Saturday, including walking viewers up to his hotel room and down the stairwell to the hallways outside the ballroom.

On the writings, however, he only said Allen “expressed deep anger at the administration, and said he was targeting administration officials from the highest ranking to the lowest.”

Adding he was “teacher from Southern California...awarded Teacher of the Month at a College Prep Academy in December of 2024,” Gutman summarized the manifesto as having declared he would be “targeting Trump administration officials ‘from highest ranking to lowest’” and that security was minimal.

To see the relevant transcripts from April 27, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).

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