Trump returns to White House correspondents' dinner after April attack halted gala
Trump will honor the Secret Service and Washington Hilton staff as the rescheduled gala returns with tighter security and about 700 guests, organizers said.
- On Friday, July 24, 2026, President Donald Trump addressed journalists at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C., during the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Association dinner, three months after a shooting forced cancellation of the original event.
- Organizers relocated the event from the Washington Hilton to the Waldorf Astoria following an April 25, 2026, armed breach that forced evacuation of Trump, Cabinet members and nearly 2,600 attendees from the original ballroom.
- Heightened security protocols included two ID checks, detection dogs and armed officers at a single entrance; about 700 guests attended the scaled-down event, which honored Secret Service agent Victor Gonzales and Washington Hilton staff for bravery.
- Trump delivered a rambling, hour-long address mixing criticism of what he calls the "fake news media" with humor, including jokes about a third term and donning a "Trump 2028" cap at the speech's end.
- Outgoing WHCA president Weijia Jiang framed the rescheduled dinner as defiance of political violence, stating, "We will not allow an act of violence to have the last word" amid America's 250th anniversary celebration.
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President Trump takes aim at the media at White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Four months ago Donald Trump said he was planning to let rip in his first ever speech as President to the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, an annual gala to celebrate press freedom.
Insulting Trump Bombs At Redo Of White House Correspondents' Dinner
President Donald Trump does not appear to be the entertainer he once was, reports CNN’s Brian Stelter.The president’s insult-laden speech drew mostly stunned silence from the audience as he attacked a bunch of journalists at the pared-down recap of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Friday.“Trump bombed at the ... Dinner Friday night. He knew he was bombing, too, and he even tried to meta-joke his way out of it,” reports Stelter. “But no.…
Trump gives rambling, insult-filled remarks at correspondents' dinner and even turns against his own speechwriters. 'Am I supposed to be a comedian?'
“That was going to be a doozy,” Trump said about the speech he’d been prepared to give in April, before a gunman upended the original dinner and forced its postponement.
President Donald Trump's rambling speech at the White House Correspondents Association's annual dinner on Friday was plagued with many more insults than fact-based claims.
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