Updated at\u00a022.45 EDT<\/p>\n
Key events<\/p>\n
Show key events only<\/p>\n
Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n
A formal White House \u201clid\u201d was called at 11:19 EST \u2013 a term used by the press office to inform the pool of reporters covering the president that he is not expected to make any further public appearances or remarks that day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a travel\/photo lid at 11:19 on this shocking and unexpectedly newsy day,\u201d pool reporter Jeff Mordock of the Washington Times, wrote in his final note of the evening. \u201cI hope everyone who attended tonight\u2019s WHCA dinner is safe and doing ok.\u201d<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n House Speaker Mike Johnson said on X that he and his wife were at the gala and were \u201cthankful no innocent people were harmed and everyone is now safe\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re grateful as always for the law enforcement and first responders who acted so quickly to bring the situation under control. Praying for our country tonight,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that it was a \u201cgreat relief\u201d the president, first lady and all attenders were safe \u201cfollowing a terrifying act of violence inside the venue\u201d.<\/p>\n She added: \u201cAs someone whose family has suffered political violence, my prayers are with the injured officer and all those affected by the trauma of these horrible incidents.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.48 EDT<\/p>\n Carroll, the DC police chief, said the investigation was \u201cpreliminary\u201d but that investigators believed the suspect did fire a shot. While the suspect is being evaluated in the hospital, Carroll said the suspect was not shot.<\/p>\n Carroll said it was too soon to know who the suspect was targeting or what his motive was. But he said investigators believe the suspect was registered as a guest at the Washington Hilton hotel, where the gala took place.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.38 EDT<\/p>\n US attorney for DC: suspect faces preliminary firearms and assault charges<\/p>\n Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, said the defendant has been charged with felony firearms and assault charges.<\/p>\n Pirro was a guest in the ballroom when the man charged through the checkpoint.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause that checkpoint worked, there was no who was injured,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.28 EDT<\/p>\n Washington DC mayor says the suspected shooter was taken to a hospital<\/p>\n DC Mayor Muriel Bowser is speaking in DC where she gave an update on the incident and ensuing investigation. She said the suspect was transported to a local hospital where he was being \u201cevaluated\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have no reason to believe at this time that anyone else was involved,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Jeff Carroll, the interim chief of police of the Metropolitan police department, said he appeared to have been a \u201clone\u201d gunman. He said the suspect \u201ccharged a US Secret Service checkpoint\u201d at the Washington Hilton. He said the suspect was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives.<\/p>\n There \u201cdoes not appear to be any sort of danger to the public\u201d at this point,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.22 EDT<\/p>\n Shooting suspect named as Cole Tomas Allen, according to Associated Press<\/p>\n The shooting suspect was identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, the Associated Press is reporting, citing two law enforcement officials.<\/p>\n Trump said FBI agents were searching the suspect\u2019s home in California.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.18 EDT<\/p>\n The president has finished taking questions for the evening and promised more details to come.<\/p>\n During his remarks, he said the rescheduled gala would be \u201cbetter\u201d and \u201csafer\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI see so many tuxedos and beautiful dresses,\u201d Trump told the hastily assembled press corps. \u201cIt was a little different evening than we thought. But we\u2019re going to do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.10 EDT<\/p>\n Trump tells a packed briefing room the shooter was ‘fast’<\/p>\n Joseph Gedeon<\/p>\n The White House press briefing room remains packed to the brim, with Trump, flanked by cabinet officials, vice-president JD Vance, first lady Melania and others.<\/p>\n Trump said Secret Service did a better job today than the assassination attempt in Butler.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was fast,\u201d Trump said of the shooter.<\/p>\n He also told reporters \u201cI guess\u201d he was the target at the event and said the attacker was a \u201cwack job\u201d.<\/p>\n He called it \u201ccrazy\u201d and said \u201cI want to live because I want to make this country great.\u201d<\/p>\n In the briefing room, Trump was flanked from left to right by Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, Karoline Leavitt, Melania, JD Vance, Todd Blanche, Trump in center, then Kash Patel and Markwayne Mullin on the right.<\/p>\n Many of the reporters were also wearing gowns and tuxedos, having come directly from the dinner or a party happening nearby.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.39 EDT<\/p>\n Asked if he was concerned about rising political violence in the US, Trump said he had to be.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a dangerous profession,\u201d Trump said of being an American politician. The job of president was statistically more dangerous than being a race car driver or a bullfighter, he said. \u201cIf Marco would have told me, maybe I wouldn\u2019t have run,\u201d he said, referencing his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who was one his rivals for the 2016 Republican nomination.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.01 EDT<\/p>\n In comments after police arrested a suspected shooter at the White House Correspondent\u2019s Dinner, Donald Trump<\/a> described the Washington Hilton as \u201cnot a particularly secure building\u201d and argued the merits of the construction of a ballroom at the White House. \u201cThis is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we\u2019re planning at the White House. It\u2019s actually a larger room, and it\u2019s much more secure. \u2026 They\u2019ve wanted the ballroom for 150 years for lots of different reasons. But today\u2019s a little bit different, because today we need levels of security that probably nobody\u2019s ever seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump said he had studied assassinations, and said he presumed he was the target of the gunman. \u201cThe people who make the biggest impact, those are the ones they go after,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always shocking when something like this happens. Happened to me a little bit,\u201d Trump said, obliquely referencing two previous incidents where a gunman either shot at him or had allegedly been planning to do so. \u201cIt was very quick. There wasn\u2019t a lot of time to be thinking \u2026 I don\u2019t like to let these sick people, these thugs, these horrible, horrible people change the fabric of our lives, change the course of what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump lauded the Secret Service and law enforcement, noting that a Secret Service agent had been shot. \u201cIt was, in one way, very beautiful, a very beautiful thing to see a man charge 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump said his speech would have excoriated the press before the shooting, but would be less critical now. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about free speech in our constitution. That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. Not just White House correspondents, it was really based on free speech in our constitution. But I said, very importantly, that we\u2019ll do it again within the next 30 days, it will make it bigger and better, and even nicer.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a022.59 EDT<\/p>\n Joseph Gedeon<\/p>\n At the White House press briefing room, Donald Trump<\/a> said that one police officer was shot following the gunshots going off at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner in Washington Saturday night.<\/p>\n He explained that in the moment they were \u201cquite far away\u201d.<\/p>\n Trump said that there will be another dinner \u201cwithin the next 30 days and we\u2019ll make it better and even nicer\u201d.<\/p>\n Acting attorney general Todd Blanche says that an investigation is under way, and FBI director Kash Patel says they will be interviewing people who were in the room.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a022.56 EDT<\/p>\n \u201cThey seem to think he was a lone wolf,\u201d Trump said. He said agents were searching the suspect\u2019s apartment in California.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.40 EDT<\/p>\n Asked if he believed he was the target, Trump said: \u201cI guess.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re impactful they go after you,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n He said earlier: \u201cThe room was very, very secure. He charged from 50 yards away so he was very far away from the room.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a022.53 EDT<\/p>\n Trump says he first thought the noise was ‘a tray going down’<\/p>\n The first question goes to Weijia Jiang, the president of the WHCA. Calling on her, Trump vowed the dinner would be postponed.<\/p>\n She noted that Trump had survived an assassination attempt, most notably at an open-air campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought it was a tray going down \u2026 It was a pretty loud noise and it was from quite far away,\u201d Trump said. \u201cHe hadn\u2019t reached the area.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump said he was \u201call set to let it rip\u201d in his remarks about the press.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if I can ever be as rough as I was going to be tonight,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a022.53 EDT<\/p>\n Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, was also at the dinner and stood beside the president during the briefing.<\/p>\n \u201cYou saw the very worst by the actions of that coward that the president just talked about, but you also saw the very best because you saw law enforcement do exactly what they\u2019re supposed to do,\u201d Blanche said.<\/p>\n Kash Patel, the FBI director, is also in the briefing room and vowed accountability.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.03 EDT<\/p>\n Trump heaped praise on the law enforcement response and said he would have preferred to return to the ballroom to give his speech.<\/p>\n \u201cI fought like hell to stay,\u201d Trump told the briefing room.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Trump says incident points to need for White House ballroom<\/p>\n Trump said the incident underscored the need for his mammoth ballroom at the White House. He also made an appeal for peace and even complimented the press\u2019s \u201cresponsible\u201d coverage of the event.<\/p>\n![\"George](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/George-Chidi.jpg\")
George Chidi<\/p>\n