US5 min(s) read
Published 08:45 26 Apr 2026 GMT
Trump speaks out after shots are fired at White House correspondents' dinner
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Donald Trump has spoken out after a shooting brought the White House Correspondents Dinner to an abrupt halt on Saturday night, forcing the evacuation of the president, senior cabinet officials, and guests inside the Hilton hotel ballroom.
The annual event had started as planned and marked Trump’s first attendance at the dinner while serving in office, after skipping it on previous occasions. Attendees had welcomed the president warmly before chaos erupted when five gunshots rang out, triggering an emergency response and the cancellation of the evening.
Speaking to reporters after the incident, Trump described the shocking moment gunfire erupted, recalling how quickly the atmosphere changed inside the room. “It’s always shocking when something like this happens. It’s happened to me a little bit. The fact we were sitting right next to each other, and the First Lady on my right, and I heard a noise and thought it was a tray. I thought it was a tray going down - I’ve heard that many times - it was a pretty loud noise, and it was from pretty far away.
“He hadn’t breached the area at all before we got him. It was quite far away - but it was a gun. Some people really understood that pretty quickly, others didn’t. I was watching to see what was happening, but probably should’ve gone down even faster.”
Trump praises rapid security response
Trump also revealed First Lady Melania Trump reacted instantly to the sound of gunfire.
“Melania was very conscious of what happened. I think she knew immediately what had happened - she was saying ‘that’s a bad noise’. We were whisked away along with other people.”
He also praised the response from security and law enforcement.
“The performance of the secret service, the police - all of law enforcement - was really very good. It was very quick. There wasn’t much time to be thinking as it was mere seconds before we were out the door.”
A suspect was apprehended and taken into custody shortly after the shooting, but the security scare led officials to cancel the event entirely, despite efforts to continue.
“We very much wanted to continue. I don’t like to let these sick people, these thugs, these horrible, horrible people, change the fabric of our lives or change the course of what we do.
So we held out right until the end, but they didn’t want to take a chance and I understand that’s protocol. But we’ll hopefully be doing one within the next 30 days or sooner.”
The speech Trump says he had to shelve
Trump also hinted at the speech he had prepared for the dinner, joking it may now never be delivered in its original form.
“I am ready, willing and able! I was all set to really rip it and I said to my people, this would really be the most inappropriate speech to give - so I’ll have to save it. I don’t know if I can ever be as rough as I was going to be tonight. I think I’ll probably be very boring and nice next time. We’re going to have a great event.”
The president also addressed being asked about facing another assassination attempt, after a reporter raised his history with previous attempts.
“I’ve studied assassinations and I must tell you, the most impactful people - the people that do the most, the people that make the biggest impact, those are the ones they go after.
“They don’t go after the ones that don’t do much because they like it that way. When you look at the people, whether it was an attempt or successful attempt, they’re very impactful people. They’re big names.”
“I hate to say I’m honoured by that. I’ve done a lot. We’ve taken this country from being a laughing stock for years, now we’re the hottest country anywhere in the world. There’s a lot of people that are not happy about that.”
Dinner set to be rescheduled
While the White House Correspondents Dinner was scrapped following the shooting, Trump said he hopes the event can be revived soon, suggesting a replacement could take place within 30 days.
The dramatic incident stunned attendees and instantly shifted what was meant to be a celebratory evening into a major security emergency, with Secret Service agents rushing into action as shots were fired.
Though the dinner ended before Trump could deliver his planned remarks, the president insisted the event would return, promising “We’re going to have a great event.”