The shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night unfolded as reporters and editors provided live, scene-based accounts, according to an Associated Press report. AP said the coverage generated a rapid stream of facts from multiple media outlets, but that unfounded conspiracy theories from both the left and the right nevertheless proliferated shortly after the first reports appeared online.
AP described the dynamic as a “textbook recipe” for rumors, with Jen Golbeck, a professor at the University of Maryland who studies conspiracy theories, pointing to two drivers: a lack of trust in institutions and difficulty sorting “fact from fiction.” Golbeck also said conspiracy theories can continue to spread even when people have access to a lot of information, because the stories can be entertaining and socially rewarding.
Golbeck said that even those who are not politically extreme can take part, because “you get to go looking for breadcrumbs,” and she characterized the activity as “a way to feel smart and accepted when you come up with a nugget to contribute and people like it.” She added that “the thing about conspiracy theories that makes people enjoy them” is tied to the process of assembling an explanation from fragments, rather than to the explanation’s accuracy.
The Associated Press report said that live reporting both limited and enabled rumor spread. It said some possible speculation pathways were shut down because multiple professional journalists reported and corroborated information in real time, but that a range of theories still made it through the information scramble.
One theory the report highlighted was an unfounded claim that the shooting was staged, with some versions tying it to distraction from issues including the Iran war. Others suggested it was connected to the timing of a White House ballroom project, pointing to remarks by Donald Trump that the ballroom was needed and to the Justice Department’s use of the project as part of pressure aimed at preservationists in a lawsuit.
AP also reported that some people speculated without credible evidence that the Israeli government or military played a role. The report noted that such claims have been used in ways that overlap with antisemitic tropes.
The AP report said some people seized on remarks made by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt during an interview with Fox News before the dinner began. AP said Leavitt told Fox News that “there will be some shots fired tonight in the room,” and that some interpreters used the metaphorical comment as evidence she had prior knowledge about the shooting.
The Associated Press report also described conspiracy narratives drawing parallels to a previous attempt on Trump’s life in July 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. It said some people cited similarities between the two incidents, including a delay before the president was removed from the scene after both shootings, and it also referenced online attention to video showing Vice President JD Vance being escorted out first as part of an argument that Trump and the Secret Service knew something was coming.
Emily Vraga, a University of Minnesota professor who studies political misinformation, told AP that the existence of more information does not necessarily reduce misinformation risk. Vraga said polarized audiences can pick and choose facts that fit what they already want to believe, and she argued that “sometimes more information is not necessarily better,” particularly when the flow is contradictory and constantly changing.
Vraga said that when people face “just this flood of information and it’s contradictory and ever-changing as new information comes in,” it can reinforce a tendency to move toward “a simplified, understandable narrative.” She added that “that narrative can include conspiracy theories” and said, “Meaning doesn’t have to be tied to reality.”