Fact Check: Did Cole Allen Appear With Usha Vance in 2017 Video?

The arrest of White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting suspect Cole Allen has sparked any number of wild claims online concerning the 31-year-old. One focuses on a video from 2017 featuring Allen alongside someone bearing a resemblance to Usha Vance, wife of Vice President JD Vance.

The Claim

A resurfaced video that originally aired on ABC7 Los Angeles (KABC) in 2017 features Allen, then a student at the California Institute of Technology, presenting an invention at the "Aging into the Future" conference, a technology expo focused on aging, elder care, and innovations that help older adults live better lives.

The segment features Allen discussing a prototype emergency brake for wheelchairs. "The wheelchair brakes tend to lock the wheels, but don't lock the chair to the ground. But with this device, that will prevent the chair from skidding at all," he tells reporter Lori Corbin in the video.

While the appearance of Allen in the segment is a talking point in itself, many viewers also pointed to the presence of a woman bearing more than a passing resemblance to Usha Vance in the video.

It's an observation that has sparked some wild theories.

This claim comes hot on the heels of speculation online suggesting that, in the chaotic aftermath of White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting incident, JD Vance was escorted out by Secret Service agents before President Donald Trump. In that instance, however, there could be more truth to the claims.

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This story was originally published April 27, 2026 at 11:52 AM.