Fact Check

These conservative accounts posted about White House ballroom after correspondents' dinner shooting

A variety of conservative commentators posted about the need for a ballroom after the alleged assassination attempt against Trump.

by Joey Esposito, Published April 29, 2026


Image shows phone with a Truth Social post against a background of a scene from the White House Correspondents' Association dinner

Image courtesy of Chris Delmas/AFP, accessed via Getty Images


Claim:
Sixteen conservative commentators posted similar comments about the need for a White House ballroom after an alleged assassination attempt on the U.S. president at the 2026 White House Correspondents' Association dinner.
Rating:
True

About this rating

Context

There was no direct evidence that the posts in question were a coordinated effort between the specific individuals to post at a specific time. Snopes reached out to the accounts in question to ask if the posts were coordinated and will update this article if we hear back.


Rumors that some conservative commentators posted similar comments on X after the April 25, 2026, shooting at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, spread online in the days that followed the incident.

Social media users shared a purported screenshot compilation of posts by 16 popular conservative accounts that all appeared to share the same sentiment: The security breach was all the more reason for U.S. President Donald Trump's controversial White House ballroom project to move forward. 

One user on X shared the screenshot along with the comment, "Look at all these MAGA influencers tweeting in unison about Trump's ballroom last night. Not an original thought among them."

Look at all these MAGA influencers tweeting in unison about Trump's ballroom last night. Not an original thought among them.

Hope the money is good, I guess. pic.twitter.com/T5obXVuAO1

— Mike Nellis (@MikeNellis) April 26, 2026

The claim was true. All the accounts depicted in the circulated screenshot did tweet basically the same thought within a roughly 90-minute time span on April 25. 

Whether or not all of the accounts should be considered "MAGA influencers" is up for debate. Some of the accounts included in the compilation undeniably qualify, such as the Libs of TikTok account with 4.7 million followers, while others had fewer than 5,000 followers.

The screenshot of the posts appeared to originate with liberal media outlet MeidasTouch, which also called the accounts "MAGA influencers" and said they posted "in unison" following the shooting. 

The screenshot didn't include the timing of posts, but Snopes verified each comment individually and found the earliest was published on April 25 at 9:28 p.m. ET, while the latest was published at 10:55 p.m.

They're all listed below in chronological order. 

There was no direct evidence that the posts in question were a coordinated effort between the specific individuals to post at a specific time. Snopes reached out to the accounts in question to ask if the posts were coordinated and will update this article if we hear back. 

The timing of the posts aligned with a period of unconfirmed information about the shooting and the alleged perpetrator, which often exacerbates the spread of misinformation online.

According to a timeline published by The Associated Press, news of the shooting first broke at 9:04 p.m. and the shooter was announced to be in custody at 9:55 p.m.

At about 10:30 p.m. Trump addressed the incident during a news conference, available to watch on C-SPAN. At the 2:10 mark of the C-SPAN clip, Trump specifically mentions his White House ballroom project. 

Trump said: 

We looked at all of the conditions that took place tonight, and I will say, you know, it's not a particularly secure building. And I didn't want to say this, but this is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we're planning at the White House. It's actually a larger room and it's much more secure. It's got — it's drone proof. It's bulletproof glass. We need the ballroom. That's why Secret Service, that's why the military are demanding it. They've wanted the ballroom for 150 years for lots of different reasons, but today's a little bit different because today we need levels of security that probably nobody's ever seen before.

Trump didn't mention the ballroom project on social media until the following morning, but posted images of the suspect being taken into custody shortly before the news conference began. 

While it did appear many of Trump's supporters voiced their opinions on the White House ballroom project during the same roughly 90-minute period, some posts in the compilation appeared before Trump himself mentioned the ballroom or posted about it on social media.

At least one person included in the viral screenshot, Meghan McCain, author and daughter of the late Sen. John McCain, posted a response to her inclusion in the image and the accusation that it was a coordinated effort. 

On April 26, 2026, she wrote, "I honestly can't even believe I have to address this - no one has ever paid me to tweet anything, ever. And no one until today has ever called me a 'MAGA influencer'. Just absolute nonsense."

Some users shared Trump's April 26 Truth Social post alongside the screenshot of April 25 reaction posts. Seeing the screenshot in this context may have misled some leaders to believe that those who commented did so in support of Trump's post, despite it not being published until the following morning.


By Joey Esposito

Joey Esposito has written for a variety of entertainment publications. He's into music, video games ... and birds.


Source code