President Donald Trump delivered a rambling, hour-long speech at the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Friday night at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C., blending humor, grievances, and campaign-style quips months after an assassination attempt postponed the annual gathering.
Security was markedly tighter than in past years. Attendees scanned QR codes, showed identification, and walked past a detection dog, armed officers, and security guards at a single designated entrance. The heightened precautions directly reflected the memory of the April attack, when an armed suspect named Cole Allen stormed the event in an assassination attempt that forced a sudden evacuation.
A Toned-Down Speech That Still Took Aim at Rivals and Reporters
Taking the stage after dinner, Trump assured the audience that he had scrapped the aggressive remarks he originally prepared for the spring. The speech that I had ready just a short while. Oh, that was going to be a doozy. I was so psyched. I was going to rip people,
Trump told the room, according to Fox News. He added that a change of heart made the evening really for the better
.
Even with the softer tone, the president spoke for an hour and four minutes, weaving together recycled jokes, personal grievances, and jabs at political adversaries. He mocked late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel, targeted Democratic lawmakers including Senator Elizabeth Warren and Governor Gavin Newsom, and took a shot at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer over his stance on Israel.
Honoring the Secret Service and Press Freedom Under Tension
Outgoing WHCA President Weijia Jiang of CBS News opened the evening by addressing the shadow of the spring violence.
Secret Service Officer Victor Gonzalez, a computer scientist from Torrance, California, who helped stop the gunman in April. The room gave Gonzalez a standing ovation after the WHCA presented service awards to him and the staff of the Washington Hilton.
The program also celebrated the journalism award winners, including reporters whose investigative work has directly challenged the current administration.
Lifetime achievement awardee Susan Walsh, a retired Associated Press White House photographer, used her speech to call out the administration directly. To all the journalists out there who are working incredibly hard to report the truth, despite access issues, insults, and subpoenas, keep it up,
Walsh said.
Quips About a Third Term and Red Cap Finale
Nearing the end of his remarks, Trump turned to humor regarding his political future, invoking the constitutional limits of the 22nd Amendment while teasing a continued presence in Washington. Just like my presidency, the second time is always better. It’s always better, and the third time will be better yet. I’m only kidding,
Trump said, Fox News.
The president then capped off the evening by donning a red cap bearing the text Trump 2028
and offering a final parting quip about running again, leaving an unusual mark on a rescheduled dinner that brought the White House press corps and an adversarial administration back together under heavily guarded conditions.
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