President Trump addressed the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Friday, three months after an assassination attempt halted the original event.
Key facts
- •The rescheduled dinner was held at the Waldorf Astoria hotel with 700 guests.
- •Cole Tomas Allen is charged with attempting to assassinate the president during the April event.
- •Trump joked about running for a third term despite constitutional term limits.
- •Weijia Jiang, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, stated that the organization refuses to be intimidated by violence.
- •Trump previously boycotted the dinner for four years during his first term.
United States President Donald Trump attended the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Friday. The event was held at the Waldorf Astoria hotel, three months after an April attempt by a gunman to storm the proceedings forced the original gathering to be cancelled. During his speech, Trump joked about his presidency and mocked several political opponents.
The April Security Incident
The original dinner was held in April at the Washington Hilton before being interrupted by an armed individual identified as Cole Tomas Allen. Prosecutors allege Allen stormed a security gate with guns and knives, injuring a Secret Service officer before being stopped. He currently faces federal charges of attempting to assassinate the president. During Friday's speech, Trump praised aides Pete Hegseth, Steve Miller, and Tom Holman for their conduct during the incident.
Remarks and Political Commentary
Trump used the event to deliver remarks that included jokes about his political opponents, referring to California Governor Gavin Newsom as "newscum" and calling Senator Chuck Schumer "Palestinian" as an insult. He also questioned the intelligence of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. The president described the audience of 700 people as the "largest gathering of people with Trump derangement syndrome."
Event Context and Attendance
White House Correspondents’ Association president Weijia Jiang thanked Trump for his attendance, stating that the organization would not be intimidated by the previous act of violence. This appearance marks a shift from Trump’s first term, during which he skipped the dinner for four years. The rescheduled event was smaller than the original April gathering.
Timeline
- 2017Trump began a four-year period of declining to attend the annual dinner.
- AprilA gunman attempted to storm the original dinner at the Washington Hilton.
- FridayTrump attended the rescheduled dinner at the Waldorf Astoria.
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This article was independently rewritten by ManyPress editorial AI from reporting originally published by Al Jazeera.
