Scaled-down gala draws 700 to the Waldorf Astoria amid heightened security
“Good evening, everybody. Let’s try this again,” Weijia Jiang, the CBS senior White House correspondent and president of the White House Correspondents’ Association for the 2025–2026 term, said as she opened the dinner Friday. She thanked President Donald Trump for his support in rescheduling the dinner and commended her colleagues who jumped into action during the April event. “You came as guests, but within moments, you went to work,” she said.
The rescheduled dinner brought together journalists, media executives and politicians at the Waldorf Astoria on Pennsylvania Avenue, in a more intimate setting than the original April 25 gala at the Washington Hilton, which was cut short when a gunman charged toward the ballroom and fired shots. Trump, first lady Melania Trump and administration officials were swept away by the Secret Service.
The suspect, Cole Allen, was charged with attempting to assassinate Trump, two firearm offenses and assault. At a press conference immediately after the shooting, Trump encouraged the WHCA to reschedule the dinner.
Nearly 700 people were expected at Friday’s affair, compared with the 2,600 who typically attended the event at the Hilton. The WHCA said it coordinated with the U.S. Secret Service and a private security firm, putting in place more visible security measures around the venue. Attendees were told to bring government-issued photo IDs and to expect metal detectors at the event.
“It was important that this rescheduled dinner did not feel like a candlelight vigil,” Jiang said before the event. “This is our show of resilience.”
Trump was set to give remarks later in the evening. Historically, presidents used the event to crack good-natured jokes about the press corps and themselves. Trump said in June, when he announced he planned to attend, that his speech from April had contained “rather nasty statements” and he was not sure if he would use that same address this time.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier Friday, “We look forward to a great and fun evening celebrating 250 years of American greatness and a free press.”
High-profile attendees included Leavitt, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Vice President JD Vance and first lady Melania Trump, who attended in April, were not at the rescheduled dinner.
Trump’s appearance came a day after his Justice Department agreed to withdraw subpoenas related to several New York Times reporters’ articles on a jet gifted to the U.S. by the Qatari government that was being used as Air Force One. A federal judge grilled prosecutors Thursday over whether they had followed proper procedures in the criminal investigation, which involved subpoenas for three reporters to testify before a federal grand jury and requests for phone records tied to relatives of the reporters.
The subpoenas raised concerns among newsroom lawyers and journalists that the Trump administration was escalating its antagonism toward the established media. Top administration officials, including Trump himself, have sued newsrooms and individual reporters for defamation, and Trump regularly refers to legacy outlets’ stories as “fake news.” The Justice Department has said journalists are not the targets of criminal investigations into leaks and that it values “the important role that the press plays in this country.”
Friday’s event was billed as a celebration of journalism and the First Amendment. Mentalist Oz Pearlman was scheduled to perform. April’s event was Trump’s first time attending the WHCA dinner as president, and his first since 2015.