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President Donald Trump is addressing reporters at the White House after he and other top leaders of the United States were evacuated from an annual dinner of White House correspondents on Saturday night after a shooting incident outside the ballroom.Trump said the suspect was armed with multiple weapons before being stopped by Secret Service. One officer was shot, but he was protected by a bulletproof vest.“He was shot from very close distance with a very powerful gun, and the vest did the job,” Trump said.The shooting suspect was identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.Live video above: President Donald Trump addresses reporters at White HouseTrump was evacuated after a security incident at the White House correspondents dinner.At least six shots were fired in the lobby that leads to the dining room where the event was being held Saturday night. The president called the incident an “unexpected event.” Other top leaders of the United States were evacuated from an annual dinner of White House correspondents on Saturday night after an unspecified threat. Those in attendance included Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.The Secret Service and other authorities swarmed the banquet hall as guests ducked under tables by the hundreds. “Out of the way, sir!” someone yelled. Others yelled to duck. A first-person account claims to have been inside a bathroom right near where the shooting happened and heard several shots fired.Once evacuated from the bathroom, the witness said, they saw broken glass near the stairs, and a person lying on the floor, appearing to be unconscious, possibly dead, with lots of Secret Service around them. White House Correspondents’ Association President Weijia Jiang said everyone is safe after the shooting incident. The event will be rescheduled.Trump’s attendance at Saturday’s annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington for his first time as president is putting his administration’s often-contentious relationship with the press on full public display.Video below: President Trump evacuated after shots fired at White House correspondents’ dinnerTrump arrived Saturday night to an event where the leaders of a nation at war mingled with celebrities, journalists and even a puppet — Triumph the Insult Comic Dog — in a dinner that typically generates debate about whether the relationship between journalists and their sources should include socializing together and putting aside sometimes adversarial relationships.Trump was being watched closely at the event held by the organization of reporters who cover him and his administration. Past presidents who have attended have generally spoken about the importance of free speech and the First Amendment, adding in some light roasts about individual journalists. The Republican president did not attend during his first term or the first year of his second. He came as a guest in 2011, sitting in the audience as President Barack Obama, a Democrat, made some jokes about the New York real estate developer. Trump also attended as a private citizen in 2015.Video below: The latest from the White House correspondents dinnerTrump entered the subterranean banquet hall of the Washington Hilton to the strains of “Hail to the Chief” and greeted prominent journalists on the dais, also pausing to laud White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt with a cheerful pointing of his finger.Past dinners have also featured comedians who poke at presidents. This year, the group opted to hire mentalist Oz Pearlman as the featured entertainment.Trump’s appearance is rekindling a longer-running debate about the dinner and events like it — in particular, whether it is poor form for journalists to be seen socializing with the people they cover. The New York Times, for example, stopped attending the dinner more than a decade ago for that reason.“What was once (a fairly long time ago) a well-intended night of fundraising and camaraderie among professional adversaries is now simply a bad look,” wrote Kelly McBride, ethics expert at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank.A contentious relationshipBetween berating individual reporters, fighting organizations like the Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press in court and restricting press access to the Pentagon, the administration’s animus toward journalists has been a fixture of Trump’s second term.On the eve of the dinner, nearly 500 retired journalists signed a petition calling on the association “to forcefully demonstrate opposition to President Trump’s efforts to trample freedom of the press.”Video below: Video shows Donald Trump being whisked off stageJiang, said the organization was fighting for all different forms of the press that have a line in to the American people. “I don’t think people realize how closely we are working with the White House,” she said on CSPAN before the dinner convened. “The relationship is important. It can be complicated. It can be intense. But it is robust.”Welcoming guests, Jiang alluded to the contentious relationship in thanking Leavitt, “for everything your team does to work with us every day, whether you like it or not.”Veteran reporter Manu Raju of CNN, as he entered the Washington Hilton for the dinner, said it was not his role to express his opinion on Trump’s relationship with the press.“I’m not an activist,” he said. “My job is not to protest.”A few dozen protesters stood across the hotel in the run-up to the event. One was dressed in a prison uniform, wearing a Pete Hegseth mask and red gloves. Another carried a sign saying “Journalism is dead.”Many reporters who attend consider it a valuable opportunity to get story ideas and establish personal connections with those in government, one that may pay dividends with returned telephone calls in the future.Some news organizations invite sources as guestsJournalists often invite sources as guests to the dinner. It will be noticed Saturday whether administration officials who have also expressed hostility to the press will attend, and with whom they will be sitting. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he was invited by the New York Post; Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were NBC guests.The Associated Press invited a former Trump official whom it sued last year. Taylor Budowich, a former White House deputy chief of staff who crafted communications policy, was a named defendant last year when the AP sued the administration after it reduced its access to the president because the news outlet did not follow Trump’s lead in renaming the Gulf of Mexico.“We maintain professional relationships with people across the political spectrum because we are nonpartisan by design — focused on reporting the facts in the public’s interest,” AP spokesman Patrick Maks said.The White House correspondents will also hand out awards for exemplary reporting. That includes some stories that displeased Trump, such as one from the Journal about a birthday message Trump once sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The story led to a presidential lawsuit.The Associated Press contributed to this report
President Donald Trump is addressing reporters at the White House after he and other top leaders of the United States were evacuated from an annual dinner of White House correspondents on Saturday night after a shooting incident outside the ballroom.
Trump said the suspect was armed with multiple weapons before being stopped by Secret Service. One officer was shot, but he was protected by a bulletproof vest.
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“He was shot from very close distance with a very powerful gun, and the vest did the job,” Trump said.
The shooting suspect was identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.
Live video above: President Donald Trump addresses reporters at White House
Trump was evacuated after a security incident at the White House correspondents dinner.
At least six shots were fired in the lobby that leads to the dining room where the event was being held Saturday night.
The president called the incident an “unexpected event.”
Other top leaders of the United States were evacuated from an annual dinner of White House correspondents on Saturday night after an unspecified threat.
Those in attendance included Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The Secret Service and other authorities swarmed the banquet hall as guests ducked under tables by the hundreds. “Out of the way, sir!” someone yelled. Others yelled to duck.
A first-person account claims to have been inside a bathroom right near where the shooting happened and heard several shots fired.
Once evacuated from the bathroom, the witness said, they saw broken glass near the stairs, and a person lying on the floor, appearing to be unconscious, possibly dead, with lots of Secret Service around them.
White House Correspondents’ Association President Weijia Jiang said everyone is safe after the shooting incident. The event will be rescheduled.
Trump’s attendance at Saturday’s annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington for his first time as president is putting his administration’s often-contentious relationship with the press on full public display.
Video below: President Trump evacuated after shots fired at White House correspondents’ dinner
Trump arrived Saturday night to an event where the leaders of a nation at war mingled with celebrities, journalists and even a puppet — Triumph the Insult Comic Dog — in a dinner that typically generates debate about whether the relationship between journalists and their sources should include socializing together and putting aside sometimes adversarial relationships.
Trump was being watched closely at the event held by the organization of reporters who cover him and his administration. Past presidents who have attended have generally spoken about the importance of free speech and the First Amendment, adding in some light roasts about individual journalists.
The Republican president did not attend during his first term or the first year of his second. He came as a guest in 2011, sitting in the audience as President Barack Obama, a Democrat, made some jokes about the New York real estate developer. Trump also attended as a private citizen in 2015.
Video below: The latest from the White House correspondents dinner
Trump entered the subterranean banquet hall of the Washington Hilton to the strains of “Hail to the Chief” and greeted prominent journalists on the dais, also pausing to laud White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt with a cheerful pointing of his finger.
Past dinners have also featured comedians who poke at presidents. This year, the group opted to hire mentalist Oz Pearlman as the featured entertainment.
Trump’s appearance is rekindling a longer-running debate about the dinner and events like it — in particular, whether it is poor form for journalists to be seen socializing with the people they cover. The New York Times, for example, stopped attending the dinner more than a decade ago for that reason.
“What was once (a fairly long time ago) a well-intended night of fundraising and camaraderie among professional adversaries is now simply a bad look,” wrote Kelly McBride, ethics expert at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank.
A contentious relationship
Between berating individual reporters, fighting organizations like the Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press in court and restricting press access to the Pentagon, the administration’s animus toward journalists has been a fixture of Trump’s second term.
On the eve of the dinner, nearly 500 retired journalists signed a petition calling on the association “to forcefully demonstrate opposition to President Trump’s efforts to trample freedom of the press.”
Video below: Video shows Donald Trump being whisked off stage
Jiang, said the organization was fighting for all different forms of the press that have a line in to the American people. “I don’t think people realize how closely we are working with the White House,” she said on CSPAN before the dinner convened. “The relationship is important. It can be complicated. It can be intense. But it is robust.”
Welcoming guests, Jiang alluded to the contentious relationship in thanking Leavitt, “for everything your team does to work with us every day, whether you like it or not.”
Veteran reporter Manu Raju of CNN, as he entered the Washington Hilton for the dinner, said it was not his role to express his opinion on Trump’s relationship with the press.
“I’m not an activist,” he said. “My job is not to protest.”
A few dozen protesters stood across the hotel in the run-up to the event. One was dressed in a prison uniform, wearing a Pete Hegseth mask and red gloves. Another carried a sign saying “Journalism is dead.”
Many reporters who attend consider it a valuable opportunity to get story ideas and establish personal connections with those in government, one that may pay dividends with returned telephone calls in the future.
Some news organizations invite sources as guests
Journalists often invite sources as guests to the dinner. It will be noticed Saturday whether administration officials who have also expressed hostility to the press will attend, and with whom they will be sitting. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he was invited by the New York Post; Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were NBC guests.
The Associated Press invited a former Trump official whom it sued last year. Taylor Budowich, a former White House deputy chief of staff who crafted communications policy, was a named defendant last year when the AP sued the administration after it reduced its access to the president because the news outlet did not follow Trump’s lead in renaming the Gulf of Mexico.
“We maintain professional relationships with people across the political spectrum because we are nonpartisan by design — focused on reporting the facts in the public’s interest,” AP spokesman Patrick Maks said.
The White House correspondents will also hand out awards for exemplary reporting. That includes some stories that displeased Trump, such as one from the Journal about a birthday message Trump once sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The story led to a presidential lawsuit.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
