Unlike past US Presidents over 100 years, Donald Trump had never once attended the White House Correspondents’ Dinner (WHCD). This year, he was set to take his hot-and-cold ties with the press to another level, admitting later he didn’t know if he could “ever be as rough” as he was going to be on Saturday night.
And even as the sounds of clinking cutlery and chatter filled the event’s venue in the Washington’s Hilton Hotel and a mentalist guessed US press secretary Karoline Leavitt soon-to-arrive baby’s name, Trump’s plan to “really rip it” with the media was cut short by the sound of gun shots.
Silence fell for a few seconds before secret service and law enforcement agents raced towards Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, his deputy JD Vance and others at the head table. People ducked under tables for cover but were soon evacuated as threat assessment continued. 31-year-old Cole Thomas Allen was later taken into custody over the shooting, while the event was cancelled midway.
The missed opportunity at WHCD, often called “Nerd Prom”, comes at a time New York Times found the disapproval for Trump to be at its highest during his second term in office. The publication’s polling average found that 58 percent of Americans disapprove of the president’s job performance, a number driven by the Iran war’s impact on the economy and gas prices.
Photo Credit: AFP
Trump entered the Hilton with the weight of an animus with the media seen throughout his second term. He has been known to berate individual reporters, fought organisations like the Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press in court and restrictedpress access to the Pentagon. Past presidents have generally spoken about the importance of free speech and the First Amendment, adding in some light roasts about individual journalists.
Trump has been a witness to the banter in 2011 and 2015. In 2011, he sat in the audience as then President Barack Obama made jokes about the New york real estate developer.
A probable segment that would’ve caused discomfort to Trump could have been the awards that are handed out for exemplary reporting, with the coverage of the President’s links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein having a high chance of being mentioned.
Yet, the press seemed to have decided to go easy on Trump despite his repeated attacks, replacing the usual comedians it hires to poke fun at presidents with a mentalist as featured entertainment. The move drew backlash across newsrooms, and hundreds of journalists signed an open letter asking attendees to call out Trump’s press restrictions.
Attendees take cover under tables at the venue.
Photo Credit: AFP
Both Trump’s and the media’s plans for a night that would have ended a series of boycotts of the WHCD by a sitting President were disrupted. And though the event will be held on a later date, it will probably lose its bite. Trump, in a Truth Social post, said the show must go on, but added, “I think I’m going to be probably very nice. I’ll be very boring the next time, but we’re going to have a great event.”
Most Serious Security Scare In WHCD’s History
Saturday’s active shooter engagement inside the host hotel marks the most significant security breach in the event’s 100-plus year history.
Trump was the target of an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in 2024. A gunman fired several shots, killing a rally goer and lightly wounding the president in the ear.
A few months later, another man was arrested after a Secret Service agent saw the barrel of a rifle poking from the bushes on the perimeter of the West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing a round.
The Washington Hilton where Saturday’s gala was taking place was the site where Republican President Ronald Reagan was shot by a would-be assassin in 1981.