The annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which brings together politicians and reporters, was postponed to July 24 after the attack occurred on the originally scheduled date.
The event was originally scheduled to take place on April 25th. However, the dinner party was interrupted when suspect Thomas Cole Allen stormed through the security checkpoint, apparently trying to attack people present at the venue.
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There was a gunfight, and the suspect and one security guard were seriously injured, but not seriously. Neither man was injured by the bullets, but one bullet pierced the officer’s bulletproof vest.
Government leaders in attendance, including President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, were evacuated by the Secret Service and the event was canceled.
But on Tuesday, the president of the White House Correspondents Association and President Trump both confirmed that the event would be held at a new date.
“We will not allow acts of violence to have the final say, especially in a year of reflection on America’s 250th anniversary and everything we stand for,” said Weijia Jiang, president of the association and reporter for CBS News.
President Trump echoed her announcement on social media, calling the rescheduling “a show of strength and fortitude.”
President Trump acknowledged accepting the invitation, writing, “This announcement is a very good thing in that we cannot allow Lunatics to change our way of life or even our schedule.”
He also hinted that he was considering whether to give the same speech he had planned for the April dinner, which was expected to include vitriol against journalism.
“I don’t know if I’ll make the same pretty damning statements, at least as it relates to certain people, but we’ll find out soon enough,” Trump said. “Anyway, it will be a ‘HOT’ ticket!”
Republican leaders have historically had an adversarial relationship with the news media, and their experience at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was checkered.
For example, in 2011, President Trump attended as a guest, drawing criticism from then-President Barack Obama and comedian Seth Meyers.
Speakers joked about Mr. Obama’s reality TV fame and support for the “Birthman” conspiracy, which falsely claims Mr. Obama was not born in the United States.
At the time, Trump had hinted that he might run for president, and Myers quipped, “Donald Trump said he was running for president as a Republican, which is surprising because I always thought he was joking.”
A few years later, in 2015, Trump ran for president for the first time, ultimately defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton the following year.
Until this year, it was the last time President Trump attended the 100-year-old event.
In announcing his attendance at the dinner in April, Trump revisited some of his frustrations with the press, writing, “The press is so full of fake news and has been so unusually bad about me since the beginning of my first term that I boycotted the event and never attended as an honoree.”
He added that with his presence as “one of the greatest presidents in the history of our country,” the event “will be the greatest, hottest, and most spectacular dinner ever!”
This year’s dinner was notably absent from comedian entertainment, a tradition that began in 1983, with The Mentalist’s Oz Perlman scheduled to perform instead.
Since the attempted attack in April, President Trump has cited the White House Correspondents’ Dinner as evidence of the need to build a White House ballroom to host events.
He has repeatedly argued that a ballroom needs to be added to the White House for security reasons.
Press freedom groups have also criticized the dinner, warning that it will give President Trump a platform to criticize reporters.
President Trump regularly holds media events, but his administration has also restricted access to government reporters, recently designating the Pentagon press room as a classified space, effectively banning access.
He also threatened reporters with charges of treason and repeatedly called the press “enemies of the people.”
Ahead of the April dinner, press freedom groups warned against using the opportunity to “normalize” President Trump’s attacks on reporters.
The “combined weight” of the Trump administration’s actions represent “the most systematic and comprehensive assault on press freedom by a sitting American president,” the groups wrote in the letter.
Trump said the dinner will be held at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C., which Trump once owned and developed.
