Fact Check: Did man in video holding card signal WHCD shooting before shots?

WASHINGTON, DC: Gunshots inside the hotel hosting the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, attended by President Donald Trump, caused immediate confusion among attendees and observers about the suspect and what unfolded at the April 25 event.

Hours after the shooting at the Washington Hilton, authorities still did not know many key facts, including the suspect’s motive. Online users then spread rumors across platforms linked to the WHCD shooting. One recent claim on X suggests that a man seen in a video holding up a card signaled the shooting to Trump before the shots were heard, as some interpreted the gesture that way. Let's fact check the claim.

Claim: Man signaled Trump before shooting 

A post on X focused on a video clip showing a man standing next to Trump who briefly held up a card before shots were heard. In the clip, Trump’s wife Melania appears surprised, and Weijia Jiang, CBS News’ senior White House correspondent and president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, covers her mouth in shock.

The X user claimed, “Here is the clear evidence of the faked show tonight. Right before Trump is rushed off stage... a man holds up a card. It looks like he may have been signaling something to another person.” The post further stated, “One second later, Melania reacts with an exaggerated fake expression of horror on her face,” and concluded with, “Did you get it or not yet.”

Within hours of being shared, the post received over 2.1 million views, along with around 1.1K comments and numerous likes. It sparked widespread speculation about the video, with some users believing the claim and others dismissing it as false.

Fact Check: Claim about man in video signaling Trump before shooting is false

While an X post claimed that a person holding up a card was signaling the shooting to Trump, this interpretation is incorrect. The man in the video was identified as Oz Pearlman, a mentalist who was scheduled to perform at the dinner. Pearlman told CNN’s State of the Union that at that moment he was performing for the Trumps and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

 He explained that the expressions seen in the video occurred during a key point in his act. He described it as a pivotal moment in the trick, just before a reveal, when he was about to disclose a prediction. He added that commotion suddenly broke out in the room, and people initially assumed it might be a medical emergency.

In an interview with ABC’s Jonathan Karl, Pearlman said he was in the middle of guessing the name of Leavitt’s unborn child. Karl noted in a video caption that Pearlman had correctly revealed the name of the Press Secretary’s soon-to-be-born baby during his performance, just before the incident disrupted the event.