The rescheduled gala will be held at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington
WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump is set to attend the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington on July 24, returning after the event was abruptly canceled earlier this year due to an assassination attempt against him.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a July 23 press briefing that the president’s attendance will honor free speech and the importance of the First Amendment.
“The president looks forward to finishing what he started before a despicable assassination attempt derailed the original event back in April,” she said.
“I encourage everyone watching tomorrow night to tune in for what promises to be a very entertaining and memorable evening.”
The rescheduled gala will be held at the Waldorf Astoria.
The previous dinner at the Washington Hilton hotel on April 25 was canceled after a shooting occurred just outside the main ballroom.
At about 8:40 p.m., as guests were having dinner, a 31-year-old man from California named Cole Tomas Allen allegedly got past a security checkpoint with a shotgun, firing and hitting a Secret Service officer in a bulletproof vest. The officer shot back, and security quickly swarmed and arrested Allen. The officer survived, and no one else was hit.
The Secret Service immediately evacuated Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and several Cabinet members from the venue.
This was Trump’s first time attending the dinner as president, and he was scheduled to give a speech around 9 p.m. ET. He was seated on stage at the front of the ballroom.
Later that night, Trump held a press conference at the White House. He said he heard a noise during the dinner and thought it was “a tray going down.”
Allen’s case is now in federal court in the District of Columbia after a federal grand jury indicted him. He is charged with attempting to assassinate Trump at the event. He also faces one count of transporting a firearm across state lines with intent to commit a felony and one count of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. If convicted, he faces life in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. He has pleaded not guilty.
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is a black-tie gala attended by media personalities, business leaders, celebrities, lawmakers, and Cabinet officials to celebrate the Fourth Estate and White House reporters.
The association said the logistical challenges in organizing a second dinner led it to scale back the event, resulting in a smaller gathering with a reduced guest list.
“It’s a much more intimate gathering,” the association’s president, Weijia Jiang, told C-SPAN on July 23.
“The Washington Hilton is a massive ballroom that holds 3,000 people. The Waldorf Astoria holds 700 people, and so that is the first main difference people will see.”
The association has hired a private security firm that has been working closely with the Secret Service, she added.
As part of the enhanced security measures, each guest will be required to present a unique QR code and a government-issued photo ID to get through the ticketing.
The guests will then go through layers of security to access the ballroom, Jiang said.
The White House Correspondents’ Association was founded in 1914 to protect press freedom and preserve journalists’ access to the White House. It held its first dinner in 1921, and the first president to attend was Calvin Coolidge in 1924.
Stacy Robinson contributed to this report.
By Emel Akan
