NEWNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
Psychologist Oz Pearlman opened up about the chaotic moments during the weekend shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, describing the scene as “surreal” and full of fear and confusion.
“This is an ugly and dangerous thing, and you feel the hairs on your neck start to stand up and, if you watch the video, it’s true that this happened 24 hours ago,” Pearlman said Sunday on “One Nation with Brian Kilmeade.”
Pearlman, who was with President Donald Trump at the time, said he initially struggled to process what was happening.
He remembered that the person next to him went down first as the situation became more tense. In those first seconds, he said, he didn’t immediately think that someone was shooting.
JASON CHAFFETZ ‘SHOCKED’ BY ACCOUNT ABOUT CHARLIE KIRK SHOOTING
Oz Pearlman attends the 2026 White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton on April 25 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Taylor Hill/WireImage)
“I am telling you this from the way they were entering, it was as if they were going to shoot someone or guard someone with a gun,” he said.
“To me, it looked like they were trying to stop someone, so I thought the bomb was about to go off – that’s all, I’m telling you what was going through my mind.”
Pearlman got down on all fours, looking for what he thought would be an explosion.
Meanwhile, Secret Service agents rush to find President Trump, trying to take him down and out of harm’s way.
“The most critical moment, probably in my life, was when President Trump came down about a foot away from me, and we were face to face, eye to eye,” Pearlman recalled.
AFTER TRUMP’S ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, ANSWERS FROM THE INTERIOR REVEALED IN NEW BOOK
President Donald Trump during the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner in Washington, DC, Saturday, April 25. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“The thought that comes to my mind at that point is, ‘Hey, I hope we don’t die,’ and the adrenaline just flows through me because I thought to myself, ‘There’s no way the Secret Service is forcing the president to go fire drill.’
Seconds later, Pearlman said gunshots could be heard, although it was not clear at the time whether they were coming from inside or outside the room.
When the president was rushed out, Pearlman and others on the stage dropped to the ground and started crawling to safety, not sure if there was still an active shooter in the area.
Backstage, he described the scene as “controlled chaos,” with armed men crowding the crowd trying to make sure no one was injured.
“There are guns everywhere, the Secret Service is everywhere. I felt safe. I wanted blood nearby and I asked other people because none of us knew if the POTUS or the first lady had been hit. No one really knows what happened at that time,” he recalled.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM
“I was worried about my wife because she was out of the audience to watch my show, and no phones were working because everyone was connecting the show at the same time trying to call, trying to send a message… It was crazy. It was crazy for five minutes.”
Chaos erupted Saturday when suspected gunman Cole Thomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, rushed into the Secret Service checkpoint at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner armed with multiple weapons.
It is said that Allen then opened fire at the Secret Service office, which was rushed to the hospital after being shot with a ballistic vest.
It is reported that the agents fired back at Allen, who was not hit. He was also taken to the hospital.
Senior law enforcement sources with knowledge of the investigation told Fox News that Allen told law enforcement after his arrest that he was targeting the Trump administration.
