Mia Farrow suggests Trump staged WHCD shooting to raise approval ratings

Actress Mia Farrow used the social media platform Bluesky to float the theory that the shooting at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner may have been orchestrated by President Trump to boost his poll numbers, drawing swift criticism.

“He is forcing us to wonder ’he has lost a war he is unable to end & is now so desperate to raise his approval ratings, would he …..’ ?” Ms. Farrow wrote Sunday morning, linking to an Economist article about the incident. The quotes she included in her post did not appear in the article she cited.

The suspected gunman, Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, was arraigned Monday in U.S. District Court on charges of attempting to assassinate the president, transportation of a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce with intent to commit a felony, and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, the Department of Justice announced.

According to court documents, Allen made a hotel reservation at the Washington Hilton — the dinner’s venue — on April 6, then traveled by train from California through Chicago, arriving in Washington on Friday. Shortly before 8:40 p.m. on Saturday, he rushed through a security checkpoint holding a shotgun. A Secret Service officer wearing a ballistic vest was shot in the chest; the officer is expected to recover.

According to federal campaign finance records, Allen donated $25 through ActBlue earmarked for Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign in 2024. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison on the attempted assassination charge.

Saturday’s incident is Mr. Trump’s third widely reported assassination attempt, following a July 2024 shooting at a Pennsylvania campaign rally in which a gunman grazed Trump’s ear and killed one bystander, and a September 2024 incident at his West Palm Beach golf club, where Ryan Wesley Routh was apprehended with a rifle near the course. Routh was sentenced to life in prison in February.

Mr. Trump called Allen “a sick guy” in a Fox News interview Sunday morning, saying the written manifesto showed Allen “hates Christians.” Reporting from multiple outlets indicates Allen’s manifesto was in fact written from a Christian perspective, citing scripture to justify the attack.

Ms. Farrow is not the only celebrity to suggest the attack was staged. According to Breitbart News, “Mad Men” actress January Jones also posted on social media accusing Mr. Trump of orchestrating the incident, without offering evidence.

It is not the first time Ms. Farrow has made eyebrow-raising claims online. Earlier this year, she suggested on Bluesky that Mr. Trump may have killed or freed Ghislaine Maxwell and replaced her with a lookalike.