A 92-year-old Republican senator, Chuck Grassley, could have been inaugurated as president of the United States on April 26 if Cole Tomas Allen had succeeded in his goal of eliminating senior officials from the Trump Administration. The other six officials called to settle in the Oval Office in case of a permanent absence were subject to the same risk as Trump, sitting just inches from him. What do the laws establish in the event that the president dies?

First modification: 04/28/2026 - 04:30Last modification: 04/29/2026 - 02:12

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Donald Trump was once again the target of an attempt on his life on April 25, the first he faced as president, after three failed attempts during the campaign prior to the 2024 elections where he was the winner.

An armed man tried unsuccessfully to reach him at the Washington hotel where the annual dinner of the Correspondents' Association was being held, which he was attending for the first time, after delegating the event throughout his first presidency and in the first year of his second term.

He is not the sitting president who has seen his life at risk the most times (Gerald Ford survived two attacks in September 1975), but after Saturday's incident, he will surely have to address a delicate discussion more rigorously: that of the designated survivor.

The 25th Amendment to the US Constitution establishes the protocol to follow in the event of a vacancy in the Oval Office. Its ratification by Congress in 1967 made it possible to clarify the gaps left by the Presidential Succession Act, approved during the Harry S. Truman Administration in 1947.

The designated survivor, however, does not appear in either legislation, but is chosen according to a protocol that the White House has activated since the 1980s at large events attended by senior government officials. He is the official who is exempt from attending, protected in case the worst happens and all the rest of those called to replace the president are disqualified.

On Saturday during the banquet with 2,300 guests at the Washington Hilton, the established sequence could have been practically broken, in case the attacker Cole Tomas Allen had succeeded in the purpose attributed to him by the prosecutor of the District of Columbia, Jeannette Pirro, of "eliminating as many senior Cabinet officials as possible."

The reason: six of the seven first in the line of succession were inches away from Trump, running the same risk as him. The other was Chuck Grassley, a 92-year-old legislator with a largely ceremonial position as president pro tempore of the Senate, as the oldest member of this chamber.

Read alsoWhat we know about the shooting that interrupted the correspondents' dinner with Trump

All men in the crosshairs

When John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1962, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was left in charge and completed the term without having a vice president of his own, since the Presidential Succession Act did not establish the parameters for this designation.

It was not until 1965, when Johnson won election for a second term, that he added Hubert H. Humphrey as his running mate.

Two years later, Congress ratified the 25th Amendment, to fill that void and definitively establish the assumptions of presidential incapacity and line of succession. That is the current norm today.

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The vice president is still the one called to carry out the rest of the term if the president is absent, but J.D. Vance was sitting at the table near Trump and could have also been in the attacker's crosshairs if he had not been subdued.

In the absence of the vice president, the next in line is the speaker of the House of Representatives, but Mike Johnson was also at the same dinner, forming part of the same podium of honor as Trump.

If Johnson had also been incapacitated, the next on the list would be Grassley, a Republican senator from Iowa who is president pro tempore of the Upper House.

Next in line are the cabinet members whose agencies are the oldest. In the case of the current Administration, they would be the Department of State, the Treasury, the Defense and the Justice.

Again: Marco Rubio, Scott Bessent and Pete Hegseth were also at the dinner, likely to be targeted, as was Todd Blanche, but in his case doubts persist about his eligibility, because he was confirmed by the Senate as deputy secretary, behind the recently removed Pam Bondi.

The list continues with the secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor (currently vacant, following the resignation of Lori Chavez-DeRemer), Health, Housing, Transportation, Energy, Education, Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security.

The designated survivor chosen by Trump in the first two years of this term has been Doug Collins, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, who does not attend events such as the State of the Union address or others that warrant the presence of top officials.

Read alsoInternational leaders condemn attempted attack in Washington and express solidarity with Trump

“A conversation that will take place”

The institutional chaos that could have occurred if Cole Tomas Allen had completed his mission as a “friendly federal assassin” (as he called it in a manifesto he shared with members of his family), will surely force a review of procedures for the future.

On the occasion of the attack against former President Ronald Reagan in 1981 (which took place, curiously, outside the same scene of Saturday's incident, the Washington Hilton hotel), there was already a situation of uncertainty, precisely due to the lack of clarity around the designated survivor.

On that occasion, Secretary of State Alexander Haig assured that he was the one “in control here,” referring to the White House, while Vice President George W. H. Bush flew from Fort Worth, Texas, to take command.

In fact, there were two other officials ahead of him in line to take over as Bush arrived: House Speaker Tip O'Neill and Senate President Pro Tempore Strom Thurmond.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on April 27 that the issue of the designated survivor had been discussed before Saturday's event, but acknowledged that no decision had been made.

"Those conversations prior to the WHCA (White House Correspondents Association) dinner did take place, but there were several Cabinet members in the line of succession who did not attend for various personal reasons. So it was not necessary to designate a survivor, since we have several members who were not there yet," he explained.

Next time, it may be different. Leavitt assured that Trump will be present if the meeting is rescheduled, but he could not say the same about J.D. Vance.

"I can assure you that the president intends to attend the event, as he has told all of you publicly. I do not want to confirm or rule out the vice president's attendance, but that is certainly a conversation that will take place," said the White House spokeswoman.

Read alsoThe suspect in the shooting at a journalists' dinner is accused of trying to assassinate Trump

With Reuters and EFE

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