President Donald Trump will address the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Friday night, nearly three months after a gunman’s alleged assassination attempt cut short the original April event. The dinner, originally scheduled for April 25 at the Washington Hilton, will now take place Friday at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C., marking Trump’s first attendance at the annual event as a sitting president.
The April dinner was disrupted when Cole Tomas Allen, 31, allegedly stormed a security checkpoint with guns and knives, attempting to assassinate Trump and other administration officials. According to the Department of Justice, Allen was charged with attempting to assassinate the president. Trump was swiftly evacuated, and the event was cancelled before dinner was served.
The rescheduled dinner will be significantly smaller and more secure than the original gathering. Whereas the April event welcomed 2,600 guests, the July dinner is capped at around 680 people, according to CBS News’ Weijia Jiang, the outgoing president of the White House Correspondents’ Association. The smaller guest list reflects both the Waldorf Astoria’s ballroom size—less than half that of the Washington Hilton—and financial constraints after Jiang fundraised to cover the cost of organizing a second event on short notice.
Security measures have been substantially enhanced to prevent a repeat of the April breach. The Secret Service and a private security firm hired by the White House Correspondents’ Association have worked together to close the loopholes that allowed Allen to reach the security perimeter. All ticketed guests will go through airport-style magnetometer screening, and there will be only one access point to the ballroom via a private entrance separate from the main hotel, according to Secret Service Communications Director Anthony Guglielmi. Each pre-vetted guest has been issued a unique QR code that must be presented alongside valid government identification.
Guests will see visible police presence around the hotel, and enhanced traffic closures have been implemented due to proximity to major thoroughfares. Behind-the-scenes security measures remain undisclosed, but WHCA President Weijia Jiang expressed confidence in the steps taken. The dinner will also honor a Secret Service member injured during the April shooting, as well as Washington Hilton staff members affected by the incident.
Trump will deliver the speech he never gave at the April event. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told People magazine that Trump looks forward to “finishing what he started,” adding that “everyone should tune in for a speech to remember.” However, the exact content of his remarks remains uncertain. Jiang acknowledged that Trump often gauges the room and adjusts his delivery on the fly, making it difficult to predict whether he will follow his original plan to address the media or take a different approach.
The dinner will also feature mentalist Oz Pearlman, who only managed to perform one private trick for White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt before gunshots erupted at the April event. Award winners and scholarship recipients will receive the recognition they were denied in April, including two pioneering female photojournalists receiving lifetime achievement honors. The WHCA emphasized that this year’s dinner remains fundamentally a celebration of journalism and the First Amendment, not a vigil for the violence that interrupted the original gathering.
Trump’s attendance at the rescheduled dinner marks a historic moment. He boycotted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner throughout his entire first term, making this his first appearance as a sitting president. When Trump announced in March 2026 that he would attend the April dinner, the Correspondents’ Association said it was “happy” he accepted the invitation. The dinner has traditionally served as a venue where presidents and the press corps can share a meal and acknowledge the necessity of their working relationship, even amid tension.
Sources
- People Magazine — exclusive interview with WHCA President Weijia Jiang on security measures, guest count, programming, and Trump’s anticipated speech
- U.S. Department of Justice — charges filed against Cole Tomas Allen for attempting to assassinate the president
- Secret Service Communications Director Anthony Guglielmi — details on security screening procedures and visible police presence
- NBC News, ABC News, Fox News, The Guardian, AP News — confirmation of rescheduled dinner date, location, and Trump’s attendance
- White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt — statement on Trump’s speech and expectations for Friday’s event
