Hours after a shooting that sent Secret Service agents rushing President Trump from the stage at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner on Saturday evening, Mr. Trump held a news conference.<\/p>\n
Still wearing his tuxedo, he gave the first question to Weijia Jiang, the president of the association and a White House correspondent for CBS News, and praised her, something he does not usually<\/a> do with reporters.<\/p>\n \u201cMadam chairman,\u201d he said, \u201cI just want to say you did a fantastic job. What a beautiful evening.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms. Jiang, who played a key role in planning the dinner, had been seated next to Mr. Trump on the stage when shots rang out and delivered a calm announcement to the stunned guests after the shooting suspect was in custody. At the news conference, dressed in her evening gown<\/a>, she thanked Mr. Trump for his comments before posing her question.<\/p>\n \u201cCan you describe what was going through your mind?\u201d she asked the president. Mr. Trump spoke of how the Secret Service had rushed him from his seat between Ms. Jiang and Melania Trump, the first lady.<\/p>\n Ms. Jiang later recounted her own experience. Speaking to CBS<\/a>, she said the dinner had been a moment for administration officials and the news media to mark the importance of the First Amendment. She described how she and Mr. Trump had hit the ground. They were so close that they were touching, she said, before agents evacuated him.<\/p>\n \u201cI had no idea what was going on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Afterward, Ms. Jiang retook the stage<\/a>. With some emotion in her voice, she said that the evening would continue, prompting loud applause. But eventually, an announcement was made that the authorities preferred that the crowd depart.<\/p>\n This was the first time that Mr. Trump, as president, had attended the black-tie dinner, which takes place annually on the last Saturday in April. He had boycotted the event in his first term and did not attend last year.<\/p>\n Ms. Jiang, the first nonwhite woman<\/a> to lead the correspondents\u2019 association, has sparred with Mr. Trump in the past. In 2020, he abruptly ended a news conference<\/a> after she pressed him on why he suggested that she \u201cask China\u201d about coronavirus death rates.<\/p>\n \u201cSir, why are you saying that to me, specifically?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n