All posts tagged "white house correspondents dinner"

Secret Service agent hospitalized after being shot in protective vest at WHCD: report

A law enforcement agent was reportedly hospitalized after being shot by a gunman who stormed the entrance to the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday night.

CNN's John Berman reported that the shooter injured a law enforcement agent. Fox News host Sean Hannity also reported that a Secret Service agent was shot while the shooter stormed the entrance.

The shooter has since reportedly been identified as a 30-year-old man from Los Angeles, according to CNN law enforcement analyst John Miller. Law enforcement said they have him in custody.

Sean Hannity recounts how WHCD shooter 'charged' security checkpoint

The shooter who attacked the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday charged a security checkpoint set up near the entrance of the main ballroom, a conservative pundit recounted.

"The shooter charged the magnetometer closest to the front door," conservative pundit Sean Hannity told Fox News shortly after the chaos, which cut the dinner short and led to the evacuation of everyone at the head table, including Trump.

"How did he get up to that point?" Hannity asked. "What we can tell you, was that this was multiple shots at the closest magnetometer closest to the door."

"Everyone is okay," Hannity added. The shooter was in custody, despite earlier reports that he had been killed at the scene.

BREAKING: A shooter CHARGED the magnetometer closed to the front door at the White House Correspondents Dinner and SHOT AT a uniformed Secret Service agent

Secret Service returned fire.

Conflicting reports as to the condition of the shooter. pic.twitter.com/As7bbM8zqB
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) April 26, 2026

'Difficult to fathom': CNN anchor in disbelief that WHCD was set to resume after gunfire

The White House Correspondents' Dinner was initially set to resume after gunfire forced Trump and his party to evacuate, leaving a CNN anchor taken aback.

CNN reporter Brianna Keilar called it "difficult to fathom" that the event would carry on "because I just can't describe even the scene and just how scared everyone had been."

C-SPAN reported that President Donald Trump was initially expected to return to the dinner. Keilar said it seemed like the dinner would restart "momentarily" even though there was "a lot of commotion here right now."

However, the president later confirmed the event would not go on as he had hoped.

"Law Enforcement has requested that we leave the premises, consistent with protocol, which we will do, immediately," Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after expressing hope the event would still go on. "I will be giving a press conference in 30 minutes from the White House Press Briefing Room."

Trump said first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and all Cabinet members were in "perfect condition" and declared they would reschedule it within 30 days.

Wolf Blitzer details 'very scary' moment he was thrown to the ground as gunfire rang out

CNN journalist Wolf Blitzer described the "very scary" scene that unfolded in front of him at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

"All of a sudden, I start hearing gunshots in the hall right near me," Blitzer said. He was returning to his seat after using the bathroom, and shooting broke out before the dinner got underway. "The next thing I knew, a police officer threw me to the ground and was on top of me."

Blitzer described the scene as "so worrisome, and the noise was so loud," and said the gunman "had a major weapon." Reports later indicated that was a shotgun.

Initial reports claimed the gunman died at the scene, however Axios has since reported the gunman was taken into custody.

Blitzer later described hearing about six shots.

'Get down!' Harrowing footage shows moment Trump evacuated amid reports of gunfire at WHCD

Footage from the White House Correspondents' Dinner shows clashing and officers yelling "get down!" before President Trump was evacuated.

Host Oz Pearlman is shown holding up a card to Melania Trump when the sound of plates breaking begins. Faces turn serious at Trump's head table, and although music continues, security officers rush in and tell people to get down. Security officers in tuxedos also rush in to whisk the president away quickly.

The guests at the head table quickly start to leave. Although people look around, nothing is shown as the source of the chaos. Most of the guests stay seated, however, they don't seem to know what's going on.

Chaotic footage of President Trump being evacuated pic.twitter.com/KzageVO0h0
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 26, 2026

'Chaos in the ballroom': Journalists detail evacuation at WH Correspondents' Dinner

Journalists covering the White House Correspondents' Dinner described the chaotic scene that led to the evacuation of President Donald Trump and a shooter reportedly dead.

"I did not hear any shots. You just hear yelling like a commotion, someone coming through the room," a journalist told C-SPAN commentators during live coverage of the dinner. "I instinctively got under the table. Other people got under the table."

CNN journalist Brian Stelter told viewers that Oz Pearlman was talking to President Donald Trump at his table, "and all of a sudden all hell broke loose."

CNN's Kaitlan Collins reported that the dinner was in a "total state of chaos in the ballroom" and that there was "a shooter outside" before it was verified.

"We are now basically locked inside the ballroom," Collins added. "I've never seen anything like this in my life."

Other journalists told C-SPAN commentators that they were "not sure what happened," but suddenly they saw "Secret Service running on tables."

Trump's table evacuated at White House Correspondents Dinner after loud sounds reported

Security at the White House Correspondents' Dinner evacuated the head table where President Donald Trump was supposed to sit after reports of loud sounds.

C-SPAN hosts suddenly cut away from their normal coverage of the dinner. Security officers with guns were shown scanning the area around the table. No reason was given right away for the evacuation.

People started screaming "USA! USA!" with others chanting. People started walking out "relatively calmly," C-SPAN commentators noted.

Protesters had also crashed the dinner before it got underway.

'Who invited him?' C-SPAN host bewildered as embattled Kash Patel shows up at WHCD

A C-SPAN host was surprised to see FBI Director Kash Patel show up at the White House Correspondents' Dinner and wondered who could have possibly invited him.

"It looks like Kash Patel is in the ballroom. We do not know who invited him," C-SPAN host Peter Sein said. "You have to be a media organization and a member of the White House Correspondents' Association to have a table."

While "celebrities and administration officials" are usually invited by media organizations, Pash showed up as rumors swirl that he's the next on the White House chopping block and could be fired soon. Sein sounded perplexed to see the embattled Trump official dressed up and mingling like a normal guest.

HOST: Looks like Kash Patel is in the ballroom. Don’t know who invited him. pic.twitter.com/eel9uonjCJ
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 25, 2026

Protesters crash White House Correspondents' Dinner shouting 'arrest Pete Hegseth!'

A couple of protesters made a scene before the start of the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday to demand Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's arrest for what they called "war crimes."

"Arrest Pete Hegseth for war crimes! Arrest Pete Hegseth for war crimes," one of the protesters yelled from the red carpet as Trump officials were showing up.

The two protesters showed up before the dinner was underway. One wore a Hegseth mask and held up his handcuffed arms while dancing around. The other yelled that Hegseth needs to be arrested "for threatening genocide, for kidnapping Nicolas Maduro, for overseeing target strikes," referring to "illegitimate" military action in Iran and Venezuela.

The protesters were forcibly removed by security, according to reports.

Protesters crash the White House Correspondents Dinner to call out Pete Hegseth and say he should be arrested for war crimes pic.twitter.com/7EISTZSIoY
— Eric Michael Garcia (@EricMGarcia) April 25, 2026

'Irony': Ex-Trump aide to sit with AP journalists who sued him for correspondents' dinner

A former Trump aide planning to attend a major press event will have to sit with a group of journalists who sued him.

Taylor Budowich, one of Trump's former chiefs of staff, will have to rub shoulders with reporters from the Associated Press, who sued him last year for kicking them out of the press pool. Budowich confirmed that "as a fan of irony, I will be with the Associated Press" at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday, he told Axios reporter Mike Allen on Friday.

Journalist Jeremy Barr posted on X that Budowich's name may be off the lawsuit now. Still, "unless he’s joking, that’s quite something," Barr wrote. The AP named Budowich as the name target in its lawsuit. Budowich booted them because of the legacy media outlet's refusal to adopt Trump's "Gulf of America" renaming.

In a statement, the AP downplayed the potential awkwardness.

"We maintain professional relationships with people across the political spectrum because we are nonpartisan by design," the statement read, adding that the AP is "focused on reporting the facts in the public’s interest.”

The AP was able to re-enter the press pool after the a judge handed down an injunction in April 2025 on the administration's decision. A partial stay in appeals court upheld the Trump administration's decision to keep them out of private spaces like the Oval Office and Air Force One, the AP reported.