1m agoSun 26 Apr 2026 at 5:40am
📸Guests take cover inside ballroom
In case you missed it, here’s what it looked like inside the ballroom at the Washington Hilton hotel when the gunshots were heard.
(Reuters)
(Reuters)
14m agoSun 26 Apr 2026 at 5:27am
British ambassador thanks Secret Service for ‘swift’ response
Christian Turner, the British ambassador to the US, says the embassy team who attended the correspondents’ dinner is grateful for the “swift and professional response” from the Secret Service.
“We are thankful that the President and all those in attendance were unharmed and our best wishes are with the injured officer,” Turner wrote on X.
US President Donald Trump says the agent who was shot in the incident was wearing a bulletproof vest and is in “great shape”.
The agent is receiving treatment at a local hospital.
25m agoSun 26 Apr 2026 at 5:16am
What is the White House correspondents’ dinner?
Good question.
The White House correspondents’ dinner is an annual gala held in Washington, DC, typically attended by the US president, high-profile politicians and journalists to toast the press and award scholarships.
Here’s some more information from the White House Correspondents’ Association website:
“Our annual dinner is our main source of revenue to finance all of our work, including support of the journalists working to cover the president, events and programs to educate the public about the value of the First Amendment and a free press, and scholarships to help the next generation of journalists.”
This was Donald Trump’s first appearance at the dinner as president.
He attended twice as a private citizen in 2011 and 2015, but since taking office, the president had shunned convention and boycotted the charity event.
Before the shooting took place, Trump was seated about to have dinner. (Reuters)
38m agoSun 26 Apr 2026 at 5:02am
Retired FBI agent believes Secret Service handled incident ‘properly’
In the wake of the shooting, questions have arisen around the security protocols in place at the event.
At a press conference held by law enforcement shortly after the correspondents’ dinner was shut down, police were questioned about whether the Secret Service had failed.
But Daniel Brunner, a retired FBI agent, said the agency handled the situation “properly”.
He told ABC News Channel that given the event was in a hotel, agents would not have been able to lock the area down, as guests needed to be able to walk freely around the hotel.
“I’m sure they were prepared for that,” he said.
“The fact that they appear to have stopped [the suspect] at the magnetometers is exactly how this security is supposed to work.
“The Secret Service handled it properly.”
56m agoSun 26 Apr 2026 at 4:45am
📹: Journalist reports from inside ballroom
Moments after US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump were evacuated from the Hilton ballroom, an Associated Press reporter recorded a report from the room.
You can watch his firsthand account from the scene here.
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1h agoSun 26 Apr 2026 at 4:33am
Secret Service director thanks team for ‘admirable performance’
Secret Service director Sean Curran said the response to tonight’s shooting showed that the agency’s “multi-layered protection works”.
“Tonight we saw exactly what our brave men and women do each and every day to protect our protectees,” Curran said in a statement posted on X.
“It’s not easy and I will tell you that they performed admirably.”
1h agoSun 26 Apr 2026 at 4:19am
Other high-profile guests at the dinner
As well as US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania, there were a number of high-profile politicians and celebrities at tonight’s dinner.
Vice-President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were among the cabinet members in attendance, alongside Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, FBI director Kash Patel, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Kash Patel. (AP)
The event was due to be headlined by mentalist/magician Oz Pearlman in lieu of a comedian.
Also in attendance was actor Zachary Levi, who described hearing loud bangs, telling USA Today:
“The next thing we saw, everybody started to turn and drop, there was commotion,” adding that guests sheltered under tables as the Secret Service secured the safety of “anyone of import”.
The annual dinner usually attracts more high-profile celebrities and has previously been attended by the likes of George Clooney, Jon Hamm and Meryl Streep, earning it the nickname “Hollywood meets Washington”.
Pete Hegseth and his wife. (Reuters)
1h agoSun 26 Apr 2026 at 4:10am
Shooting took place at same hotel as Reagan assassination attempt
In an eerie historical parallel, tonight’s shooting happened at the very same hotel where a gunman fired six shots at former president Ronald Reagan more than four decades ago.
John Hinckley Jr fired the shots at the Washington Hilton on March 30, 1981.
One of the bullets ricocheted off the presidential limousine and hit Reagan in the chest, and three other people were hit.
This is the third major security incident involving Donald Trump in less than two years.
In July 2024, Trump was shot in the right ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and two months later, a man armed with a rifle was arrested in the bushes at Trump International Golf Club.
1h agoSun 26 Apr 2026 at 4:05am
📹: Suspect appears to rush security checkpoint
US President Donald Trump has shared security vision of the suspect appearing to rush a security checkpoint at the Hilton hotel.
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1h agoSun 26 Apr 2026 at 3:44am
Suspect was guest at Hilton, preliminary investigations suggest
Metropolitan Police Department Chief of Police Jeffery Carroll is asked how the suspect gained access to the hotel.
He says preliminary investigations suggest the man was a guest at the hotel.
“We have secured a room here in the hotel,” he says.
“And again, we’ll go through the appropriate procedures to, to determine what was inside there.”
The press conference is wrapped up shortly after.
2h agoSun 26 Apr 2026 at 3:38am
Police questioned about security measures
The ABC’s Americas editor John Lyons has said he was struck by the seemingly low security precautions in place.
“All I needed was this ticket to the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner,” he said on ABC News Channel.
“No name on it, nothing. I took my passport and everything along, thinking it’s going to be high security. I arrived at the Washington Hilton. I got into the gate just by showing this. Anybody could have found this.”
At the law enforcement press conference, Metropolitan Police Department Chief of Police Jeffery Carroll is asked whether it was a failure of the Secret Service that the security was apparently so lax at the event.
Carroll says there was a “multi-layered” approach in place.
“We had officers on the outside from the Metropolitan Police Department along with the escort, the inside portion of any presidential site is handled by the Secret Service and law enforcement partners,” he says.
He adds that the point of the security checkpoint the suspect is accused of rushing was to intercept hotel guests.
“And what we see in this case is when he reached that checkpoint, Secret Service agents and law enforcement engaged him immediately.
“They were able to bring him into custody and prevent anyone from being harmed.”
2h agoSun 26 Apr 2026 at 3:16am
‘It’s a dangerous profession’, Trump says of being president
In his remarks earlier, Donald Trump called for all Americans to commit to resolving their differences peacefully.
He is asked now whether he is concerned about political violence.
The president says he is “concerned about everything”, but not to a degree that he can’t function.
(AP)
“It’s a dangerous profession,” he acknowledges, before weighing the statistical risks to presidents, compared with professional sports such as bull riding.
“So, nobody told me this was such a dangerous profession,” he jokes.
“If Marco would have told me, maybe I wouldn’t have run. Maybe I would have said, ‘I’ll take a pass.'”
He concludes that danger is “part of the job”, but that he is “very proud” of the country.
Prompted to expand on whether shootings are part of the job, Trump says no country is immune to political violence.
2h agoSun 26 Apr 2026 at 3:13am
‘I lead a pretty normal life’
Trump is asked how this event will impact him as a leader.
“I like not to think about it,” Trump answers.
“I lead a pretty normal life considering, you know, it’s a dangerous life. I think I handle it as well as it can be handled.”
He says you read stories of this happening to other people and they “become basket cases”.
“To be honest, I’m not a basket case. Really I take it as it is. I do it for the country. I’m not doing it for any other reason.”
The first lady recognises the danger of the job, and it’s dangerous for her too, Trump says.
2h agoSun 26 Apr 2026 at 3:11am
Trump thinks shooting was not linked to Iran
Trump has said what happened won’t deter him from “winning the war in Iran” but said he didn’t think it was linked.
“I don’t know if that had anything to do with it. I really don’t think so based on what we know.”
2h agoSun 26 Apr 2026 at 3:07am
Suspected shooter a ‘whack job’, Trump says
Trump is asked by a reporter whether he believes the suspected shooter was a lone actor.
“My impression is he was a lone wolf, a whack job,” he says.
“These are crazy people and they have to be dealt with.
“I think very shortly we’re going to know a lot about him [the shooter].”
2h agoSun 26 Apr 2026 at 3:07am
Trump asked how he felt in moments before evacuation
Donald Trump moves to take questions.
He is asked what was going through his mind in the moment he was evacuated.
Trump considers that “a very good question, actually”.
He says at first, he thought the gunshot sounds had actually been made by a dropped tray.
“But it was a gun. Some people really understood that pretty quickly, other people didn’t,” he says.
“I was watching to see what was happening. Probably should have gone down even faster.
“Melania was very cognisant, I think, of what happened. I think she knew immediately.”
Trump again thanks the fast response from the Secret Service agents and law enforcement present.
“There wasn’t a lot of time to be thinking because it was a matter of seconds before we were out the door and gone into an area,” he says.
He says he hopes to reschedule the correspondents’ dinner for sometime in the next 30 days.
“I was all set to really rip it,” he says of the speech he was due to give at the event.
“And I said to my people, this would be the most inappropriate speech ever made. I don’t know if I could ever be as rough as I was going to be tonight.
“I think I’m going to be probably very nice. I’ll be very boring the next time, but we’re going to have a great event.”