1 hour ago
3
President Trump played comedian-in-chief Friday night at the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where he had the entire room roaring as he quipped about a third term, Nicki Minaj twerking and trying to pair dress shoes with bulletproof vests in an entertaining and unifying speech.
“As I said three months ago, the show must go on,” Trump said at the pared-down, more intimate dinner, three months after the initial night of celebration was cut short by the attempted assassination of the president.
“Won’t soon be forgotten,” the president said of the April dinner, “and I think a lot was learned from that evening.”
“But just like my presidency, the second time is always better. It’s always better, and the third time will be better yet,” he joked to a chorus of laughter.
Trump praised the heroics of law enforcement and the Secret Service, and commended administration officials for looking out for the press when shots rang out outside the Washington Hilton ballroom — before ribbing a Grammy-nominated supporter who was also in the crowd that night.
“After hearing the gunshots, many people yelled, ‘Get down! Get down!’ which caused Nicki Minaj to start twerking,” he quipped. “Do you believe?”
Later, Trump joked about trying to pair nice dress shoes with a bulletproof vest — and how he didn’t want to wear the protective gear because it made him look heavier.
“Everyone’s looking really good tonight, and I know it was not easy finding shoes to go along with your bulletproof vest, which many people didn’t want to wear because they’d rather die than look 20 pounds heavier,” he jested.
Numerous journalism awards and scholarships were handed out prior to the president’s remarks.
When a team of reporters from the Wall Street Journal was honored for a report on Trump’s ties to notorious sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein, the president was seen laughing and throwing his hands up in the air before graciously shaking hands with all the journalists.
“This has not been an easy evening, all those awards,” Trump complained, before joking, “Do I have a say?”
Trump’s appearance at the annual dinner marks the first time he’s attended as commander-in-chief. The president skipped four straight correspondents’ dinners during his first term, and balked at participating in the first year of his second stint in the White House.
The dinner was held at the posh Waldorf Astoria in downtown Washington, which was previously the Trump International Hotel, marking the first time in more than five decades that the gathering of press and political figures hasn’t been held at the Washington Hilton.
Trump had vowed to hold a redo of the April 25 dinner, which was canceled after a deranged gunman ran through a security checkpoint and allegedly shot a Secret Service agent before being taken down just steps away from the Hilton ballroom.
The alleged gunman, Cole Thomas Allen, has been charged with attempting to assassinate the president and is awaiting trial.
The shooting prompted organizers and the Secret Service to heighten security for the rescheduled dinner.
Attendees were subject to three security checkpoints, which included multiple ID checks and Secret Service magnetometers, before entering the Waldorf’s ballroom – which has less than a quarter of the Washington Hilton’s capacity, making it easier to vet attendees.
The event did not feature the sprawling cocktail receptions that previous dinners have had.
Traditional printed passes were also replaced with digital ones and an outside security firm was brought in to screen guests as well.
Unlike April’s dinner, Vice President JD Vance and first lady Melania Trump did not attend.
Notable Trump administration officials in attendance included War Secretary Pete Hegseth, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, United Nations Ambassador Mike Waltz and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Mentalist Oz Pearlman, who was in the middle of a trick when shots were fired outside the ballroom in April, returned Friday night and was once again at the head table with the president.
“Let’s try this again,” Weijia Jiang, who was serving as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association at the time of the shooting, said in her opening remarks.
“Many of you were also with us in April,” she continued. “You came as guests, but within moments, you went to work.”
Jiang, a reporter with CBS News, decried the assassination attempt as “an attack on democracy itself.”
“Tonight, our message is this: We are back. We will not be intimidated. We refuse to let an act of violence have the final word,” she declared.
Ahead of the dinner, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt teased that Trump’s speech would be “a combination of unifying yet vicious, and serious yet hilarious, all at the same time.”
“One thing I can assure you,” Leavitt told reporters, “it will be entertaining.”
English (US)