Following the arrest of Cole Tomas Allen, the suspect in the assassination attempt on U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in late April 2026, social media users began tying him to other public figures, in particular claiming that he worked as a driver for numerous celebrities.
One popular Facebook post stated: "The shooter at the White House Correspondents' Dinner has been identified as 30-year-old Cole Allen from Torrance, California. Cole is a former driver for Savannah Guthrie and his wife is currently working as her assistant."
(Facebook user Daybreak Stories)
A search of news outlets found no authentic source linking Allen to Guthrie, an NBC News anchor; however, we found evidence of the same claim being attached to numerous other celebrities, with posts using the same language and image of Allen alongside a different person. Such posts were generated by artificial intelligence, and some Facebook accounts responsible for spreading such rumors were located in Southeast Asian countries — a common location for such content to originate. As such, we rate this claim false.
Searches for evidence of Guthrie and Allen's purported connection on Google (archived), Bing (archived) and DuckDuckGo (archived) returned no authentic news coverage. If the rumor were true, it would have been widely reported in the media.
When searching for the source of this claim on Facebook, we found numerous posts with the same language and image of Allen alongside celebrities including Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Sydney Sweeney, Bad Bunny, and more. Each post had a variation of the same language:
BREAKING: The shooter at the White House Correspondents' Dinner has been identified as 30-year-old Cole Allen from Torrance, California. Cole is a former driver for Savannah Guthrie and his wife is currently working as her assistant.
BREAKING: The shooter at the White House Correspondents' Dinner has been identified as 30-year-old Cole Allen from Torrance, California. Cole is a former driver who had previously worked with Tom Cruise, and his wife is currently employed as an assistant within his broader team.
BREAKING NEWS: The suspect in the shooting at the White House press conference is believed to be Cole Allen, 30, from Torrance, California. Cole was formerly Dave Chappelle's personal driver. His unexpected appearance at the event shocked attendees and raised urgent questions about security and motives, and his wife is currently an assistant to Dave Chappelle.
BREAKING: The shooter at the White House Correspondents' Dinner has been identified as 30-year-old Cole Allen from Torrance, California. Cole is a former driver for Bad Bunny, and his wife is currently working as her assistant.
The Facebook posts used the same alleged photograph of Allen, edited into images of celebrities at events, with him sometimes in the same outfit and showing a slightly modified expression. These images showed clear signs of being manipulated or generated with artificial intelligence, such as unnaturally smooth skin.
(Facebook user Golden Screen Muse)
(Facebook user Cinema's Kindest Legend)
The Facebook posts also linked to articles on unreliable, advertisement-filled websites. While many of the Facebook pages sharing such posts purported to be located in Los Angeles, some pages had phone numbers with Vietnamese area codes, or originated in Indonesia.
In sum, the Guthrie claim mirrors language and images from numerous other Facebook posts and blogs that used Allen's name as clickbait. Such posts relied on images of Allen edited to appear alongside celebrities but with glaring issues, including that he often has the same expression or the same outfit.
Additionally, numerous reputable reports state Allen obtained an engineering degree and worked as a teacher and video game developer in California — not as a personal driver.
Snopes has covered numerous rumors about the shooting, including a rumor that Fox News cut off a reporter who was about to say that it was staged.