President Donald Trump and other high-ranking administration officials were abruptly evacuated from the room and authorities said one person was in custody following a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner Saturday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secret Service agents swarmed the ballroom at the Washington Hilton Hotel, where some reporters, administration officials and dignitaries ducked under their tables amid the confusion. The event was suspended as authorities began to investigate the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“A man charged a security checkpoint armed with multiple weapons, and he was taken down by some very brave members of Secret Service, and they acted very quickly,” Trump said at a press conference after he returned to the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The suspect is alive, was taken into custody and is being treated for injuries, Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The suspect was armed with a shotgun, handgun and multiple knives, and may have been a guest at the hotel, Jeff Carroll, interim chief of police for the Metropolitan Police Department, said at a press conference with law enforcement officials. Carroll said the suspect was not shot, and no motive had been established yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said that the suspect is being arraigned Monday in federal court on two counts \u2014 using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The suspect was identified as Cole Thomas Allen, of Torrance, a federal official familiar with the case told NBC News. Officials have said the suspect has no record and was not on the radar of law enforcement in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump praised the Secret Service’s quick action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The first lady and I were taken very quickly, rushed off the stage,” Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump said one officer was shot, but was saved by his bullet-resistant vest. He said he spoke to the officer and “he’s doing great.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump struck an optimistic tone while speaking with the press, heaping praise on the reporters who covered the event \u2014 some of whom were still wearing their black-tie attire from the dinner in the briefing room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis was an event dedicated to the freedom of speech that was supposed to bring together members of both parties with members of the press, and in a certain way, it did,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI saw a room that was just totally unified.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We have to, we have to resolve our differences. I will say you had Republicans, Democrats, independents, conservatives, liberals and progressives,” he added later, a striking change from press events where he frequently attacks the media and his political rivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president noted that he had planned a much more confrontational tone with the crowd that night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was all set to really rip it,\u201d Trump said. \u201cAnd I said to my people \u2018this would be the most inappropriate speech ever made,\u2019 I have to say. But I don\u2019t know if I could ever be as rough as I was going to be tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said that the dinner and awards ceremony would be rescheduled for another time in the next 30 days \u201cbigger and better, even nicer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be very boring the next time, but we\u2019re going to have a great event,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump recalled the moment when he was pulled from the stage along with first lady Melania Trump, saying he didn’t initially recognize the loud bangs as gunfire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I heard a noise and I thought it was a tray, I thought it was a tray going down,” Trump said. “I’ve heard that many times and it was a pretty loud noise, and it was from quite far away.” But it was a gun, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Some people really understood that pretty quickly, other people didn’t,” Trump said. “I was watching to see what was happening.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump commented that the Washington Hilton is “not a particularly secure building” and tied the incident to his planned ballroom on White House grounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“And I didn\u2019t want to say this, but this is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we\u2019re planning at the White House,” Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the attendees dispersed from the hotel ballroom, White House Correspondents\u2019 Association President Weijia Jiang said, \u201cI said earlier tonight that journalism is a public service, because when there is an emergency, we run to the crisis, not away from it. And on a night when we are thinking about the freedoms and the First Amendment, we must also think about how fragile they are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The incident comes amid an uptick in political violence in recent years. Trump himself survived two assassination attempts in 2024. Melissa Hortman, a Minnesota state representative, was shot and killed in a politically motivated attack in June. Conservative influencer Charlie Kirk was assassinated in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThankful for the swift law enforcement action to protect everyone from gunfire at the White House Correspondents Dinner,\u201d House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries posted on X. \u201cPraying for the safety of those who may remain in harm\u2019s way. The violence and chaos in America must end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
House Speaker Mike Johnson posted on X that he and his wife were at the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We’re grateful as always for the law enforcement and first responders who acted so quickly to bring the situation under control,” said Johnson, R-La. “Praying for our country tonight.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among those hustled out of the dinner were members of Trump\u2019s Cabinet: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The annual event has been held at the Washington Hilton for years. The hotel was also the site of an attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, whom John Hinckley Jr. shot and wounded in 1981.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the event kicked off, Jiang thanked Trump and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt for attending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It is meaningful that you are with us tonight,” Jiang said. “And White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, thank you for everything you and your team does to work with us every day, whether you like it or not.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Covering the White House is the “best assignment in all of journalism,” Jiang continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We have the privilege of covering the biggest story in the world every single day,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The gala is meant to celebrate the nation\u2019s most dogged White House reporting, but Trump\u2019s turn as guest of honor was expected to give him another opportunity to air his grievances with the journalists who cover him. He has clashed with reporters during his time in office, though he has taken more aggressive steps during his second term by limiting access for traditional media while boosting conservative and pro-Trump outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump feuded with The Associated Press last year over its refusal to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America in its stories. The White House then barred the AP from major presidential events, prompting a lawsuit from the news agency. In June, a U.S. appeals court ruled that Trump could ban the AP from some media events as the case proceeded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump also filed a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times over its coverage of his 2024 campaign; a federal judge tossed the lawsuit in September, but he refiled it weeks later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A judge this month tossed a $10 billion lawsuit Trump filed against The Wall Street Journal over its publication of a bawdy 50th birthday card he is alleged to have sent to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. Trump has denied writing the letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A fixture of Washington\u2019s spring social calendar, the dinner raises funds for the correspondents\u2019 association, as well as several journalism scholarships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hundreds of journalists and their guests attend each year, but the gala has drawn criticism from others. This year, a coalition of journalism groups, as well as journalists like former CBS News anchor Dan Rather and former CNN White House reporter Jim Acosta, signed a letter calling on the correspondents\u2019 association to \u201cforcefully demonstrate opposition to President Trump\u2019s efforts to trample freedom of the press.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is a long tradition of presidents attending the White House Correspondents Association Dinner,\u201d the letter said. \u201cBut these are not normal times, and this cannot be business as usual with the press standing up to applaud the man who attacks them on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Trump announced in March that he would attend the 2026 dinner, the correspondents\u2019 association said it was \u201chappy\u201d he accepted the invitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump may have attended the dinner for the first time as president, but he has been in the audience before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2011, then-President Barack Obama and comedian Seth Meyers famously ribbed a stone-faced Trump over his fixation on Obama\u2019s long-form birth certificate. Less than a month later, Trump announced that he wouldn\u2019t run in the 2012 presidential election, but the incident is seen as a marker in the political transformation that culminated in his 2016 electoral victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n