Trump evacuated from White House Correspondents’ Dinner after assassination attempt
The Republican was attending the annual event —which brings together Washington’s press corps and the executive branch— as president for the first time
President Donald Trump was evacuated Saturday night from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner following an assassination attempt. Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and the other Cabinet members present were escorted out amid chaos at Washington’s Hilton Hotel, where the event was being held. A man had entered the lobby and opened fire at the security checkpoint, according to the Secret Service, which later reported that the suspect was in custody.
The Secret Service confirmed that all government officials had escaped unharmed. No casualties were reported, though authorities were cautious in an official statement.
From inside the ballroom, where journalists, politicians, and celebrities were dining, five shots were heard. The area where the incident occurred was immediately cordoned off. The hotel’s exterior, where attendees were evacuated, filled with police officers. The sound of sirens and helicopters suddenly overtook the Saturday night sky above the nation’s capital. Many of those present chose to leave, though authorities asked those who remained in the hotel to stay so that the dinner could continue.
Trump had been about to deliver a speech at Washington’s traditional gathering of press and power. It was his first time attending the dinner as president.
Just under an hour after the chaotic images of his evacuation aired, the President posted the following message on Truth Social: “Quite an evening in D.C. Secret Service and Law Enforcement did a fantastic job. They acted quickly and bravely. The shooter has been apprehended, and I have recommended that we “LET THE SHOW GO ON” but, will entirely be guided by Law Enforcement. They will make a decision shortly. Regardless of that decision, the evening will be much different than planned, and we’ll just, plain, have to do it again.”
If confirmed that the man who opened fire in the hotel lobby came looking for Trump, this would be the third assassination attempt the President has survived — fter the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a sniper fired up to eight shots and one bullet grazed his right ear, and the time an armed man was discovered at a Florida golf course with plans to kill the then-Republican candidate.
About 20 minutes after the incident, Weijia Jiang, CBS News White House correspondent, announced that the event would resume “as soon as possible.” Jiang serves as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, which has roughly 800 members and considers this dinner the centerpiece of its annual calendar.
At 9:40 p.m., Jiang took the microphone to announce that the Secret Service had asked the organization to suspend the event. She also said that Trump had called a press conference “in the next thirty minutes.”
Trump himself confirmed all of this in another Truth Social post. He also said he had asked the White House Correspondents’ Association to reschedule the event sometime “in the next thirty days.” Before his evacuation, he had been prepared to return to the dinner and uphold the tradition of delivering a monologue before an audience of nearly three thousand guests at an event broadcast live on television.
The Hilton holds its own place in the history of American political violence. At the rear entrance of that imposing double-arc hotel, a plaque marks the spot where, at 2:27 p.m. on March 30, 1981, during what was described as “the 100th visit by an American president” to the venue, John Hinckley Jr. — seeking to impress actress Jodie Foster — shot Ronald Reagan with a .22-caliber revolver loaded with hollow-point bullets. The swift action of the Secret Service, who rushed him to George Washington Hospital, saved the life of the then-president, who had only been in office for a few months.
