Mentalist Oz Pearlman revealed he was trying to guess the name of Karoline Leavitt’s baby girl – which is expected to arrive in May – before shots rang out at the White House Correspondents Dinner.
“Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, said ‘Challenge me, I’m having a baby next week.’ Can you guess what I’m naming my daughter?” Pearlman told ABC News journalist Jonathan Karl Sunday.
“This was happening backstage – we were interrupted because the President walked in. I said ‘Let’s save it for when we get up on the desk.’
“I was guessing letter by letter, how many letters were in the name, and then right at the moment when you see it happen, I wrote down the name and said ‘How did I do?,’ and then I turned around.”
Before revealing the name, the headline entertainer said he was guessing a name featuring six to seven letters.
“She goes ‘yes,’” he said. “And I then I said, you think of a V. And that’s when the First Lady goes, ‘How does he know this?”
“And then I write down the name, and I say, ‘what are you naming your daughter with V?’ And right, when I turn that around, you can see Weijia [Jiang, the White House Correspondents Association President] from CBS go ‘Gasp,’ and then you see the first lady go because she couldn’t believe it and [Leavitt] goes ‘That’s the name of my daughter.’”
Footage from the event showed the entertainer ripping off a piece of paper with the name “Viviane” wrote on it – just seconds before ducking for cover behind a table. Pearlman said Leavitt had given him permission to share the name.
Pearlman told Karl the first thought he had as chaos unfolded was “Are we about to die?”
“When I dropped down, and dropped down to all fours, and I’m waiting and bracing because I think a bomb’s going to go off,” he said.
“I watch the two Secret Service guys get behind the president, bring him down. And just by pure chance, he gets brought down. We’re facing up to directions right next to me.
“And I just look at him right here, and I think right that moment, I can piece it back when it happened. I go, in my head, I go, ‘Oh no, are we about to die?’ That was my first thought.”
Pearlman told USA Today he was just a “foot away” from President Trump’s face.
“It’s a photo in my mind forever,” he said, recalling the moment he’s on the ground before “army-crawling” to safety.
“I wish I had meta glasses on and I’d have that photo.”
Crazed gunman Cole Allen, 31, was armed with firearms and knives as he burst into the Washington Hilton Saturday night – and charged toward the ballroom before being apprehended.
He allegedly penned a sprawling anti-Trump manifesto, claiming “Administration officials (not including Mr. Patel): they are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest.
“Secret Service: they are targets only if necessary, and to be incapacitated non-lethally if possible (aka, I hope they’re wearing body armor because center mass with shotguns messes up people who *aren’t*
“Hotel Security: not targets if at all possible (aka unless they shoot at me).”
CalTech grad Allen – who was named “Teacher of the Month” by his employer C2 Education in December 2024 – apologized to his parents, colleagues, and students in the essay he sent to his family 10 minutes before the attack.
He is being charged with using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal official.
A Secret Service agent was shot but the bullet hit his protective vest.
Jeanine Pirro, the US Attorney for DC, said additional charges could follow.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Allen – who called himself a “friendly federal assassin” – was not cooperating with the authorities.
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