The White House Correspondents’ Association has officially rescheduled its annual dinner for July 24 after a shooting outside the doors of the originally scheduled dinner cut the event short on April 25.
Weijia Jiang, WHCA president and CBS News correspondent, announced the rescheduled date in an email to association members, telling attendees that details on the venue and tickets would follow shortly. She announced that this event would be a “more intimate gathering” and that the rescheduling decision was “not automatic” and took into consideration the opinions of all members.
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“When gunfire interrupted this year’s event, it further clarified the WHCA’s mission to advocate for the freedoms that are protected in the First Amendment,” Jiang wrote. “We will not allow an act of violence to have the last word, especially during a year when we are reflecting on the 250th anniversary of America and everything we stand for.”
Trump confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that the July 24 dinner would be held at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington, D.C. He also confirmed that he would be attending and speaking at the event.
“This announcement is a very good thing in that we cannot allow Lunatics to change our way of life, or even its scheduling,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I was asked to be there, and speak, by Weijia Jiang, President of The White House Correspondents’ Association, and have accepted. I don’t know whether or not I will give the same rather nasty statements, at least as it concerns certain people, but we will soon find out.”
The April dinner was halted before the crux of the program was set to begin, at around 8:30 p.m. Suspect Cole Allen breached a security checkpoint in the hotel, charging toward the room packed with beltway reporters, senior administration officials, and Trump himself. One Secret Service agent was shot and injured during a gunfire exchange when Allen breached the checkpoint.
The gunman opened fire outside the doors of the April dinner before being tackled to the ground by security. Allen, 31, pleaded not guilty in mid-May to four federal charges in his suspected assassination attempt of President Donald Trump.
Department of Justice prosecutors charged Allen with attempting to assassinate Trump, assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon, transporting a firearm and ammunition across state lines with intent to commit a felony, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
Jiang confirmed that the July 24 dinner would be held in Washington, D.C., but did not specify the location. The April dinner was held at the Washington Hilton, which was also the site where John Hinckley Jr. attempted to assassinate former President Ronald Reagan.
After the incident, Trump struck a defiant message, telling reporters he “can’t be concerned” about incidents like this and that he planned to continue with events similar to this in the future.
“I can’t be concerned. I can only get great people,” Trump said of his security during a post-event press conference. “They did the job, a much, in my opinion, a much better job than Butler.”
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The April dinner was the first White House Correspondents’ Association dinner that Trump had attended while acting as the sitting president. He had planned to give a much-anticipated speech that night, and vowed, once the event was canceled, to reschedule the dinner within 30 days.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to the White House for comment on whether the president plans on attending the rescheduled dinner.
