Donald and Melania Trump appeared in good spirits as they settled in on the high table at the White House correspondents’ dinner in Washington DC on Saturday night, despite the event already being steeped in controversy over the US president being invited when he frequently makes aggressive verbal and legal attacks on the media that covers him.
There was tense anticipation about what kind of speech he would make – but just about half an hour after arriving, Trump was diving for the floor as something far more dramatic erupted.
Video captures the moment when shots can be heard ringing out at the Washington Hilton, where the glittering annual White House press journalists’ dinner is held in the hotel’s vast basement-level ballroom.
Trump was seated next to Weijia Jiang, the CBS News TV journalist and president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, the organizer of the event, while on his right, Melania Trump was chatting and laughing with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Leavitt is about to take maternity leave, having joked to journalists just last Thursday that her second baby is due “any minute”.
Around 8.35pm local time, a series of loud bangs were heard, coming from just outside the ballroom.
The smiles instantly turned to shock and fear. Melania Trump turned from Leavitt to look out across the ballroom and, as seen on video clips, appears to say “oh my God” as Leavitt appears to say “what’s happened?”.
Pandemonium erupted. The place was packed with journalists and their guests in evening wear who had just begun eating from the appetizer plates of spring peas with blobs of soft burrata Italian cheese, as waitstaff scuttled around tables and in and out with food and wine. Now, dishes could be heard clattering in the background and guests ducked under their tables.
Trump later said he thought the shots was the noise of trays being dropped. But it was clear in split seconds that it was not, as several US Secret Service agents rushed to the stage. Some security officers appeared to shout “get down!” and “stay down!” as Trump got on the ground and agents in tactical gear rushed to the stage, rifles drawn.
Trump could then be seen being picked up and hurried from the stage, shielded by a phalanx of Secret Service agents trying to block sight lines on the president in case the shooter breached the ballroom.
The uniformed officers pointed their rifles out into the ballroom.
JD Vance was rushed off the stage in the opposite direction from the president and the thousands of attendees that had been seated moments before at the tables below the dais could be seen crouching under the tables, awaiting further instruction from police. Spilled wine was sloshed across tablecloths. Witnesses later reported an eerie silence briefly descending, punctuated by the occasional whimper or sob from frightened attendees.
The chaos and danger had burst forth in the form of a 31-year-old suspect who had checked in to the hotel a few days earlier as an ordinary guest, acting attorney general Todd Blanche said on Sunday.
As the correspondents’ dinner was getting under way he rushed across the expanse of one of the approach lounges to the ballroom where, minutes earlier, journalists had posed for pictures and waited for their tickets to be checked and to pass through metal detectors to take their place at the dinner.
The man can be seen on footage, sprinting right past one person who appears to be a plain clothes federal agent, who then quickly draws his gun. The man is running towards the ballroom and, witnesses say, fired shots as security personnel snapped into action, many aiming their service weapons and moving towards the suspect. He had with him a rifle, a handgun and several knives.
One officer, believed to be a Secret Service agent, was shot in the chest but the bullet was halted by his ballistics vest. The alleged gunman was wrestled to the floor and held, in the process of which some of his clothes were ripped off.
Pictures later showed him face to the carpeted floor, shirtless and apparently with his hands cuffed behind him. The exact sequence of events in that vestibule had not become public by Sunday afternoon. Writings that the suspect sent to family members online shortly before the incident implied that he had not expected to survive his attack. And yet he was not shot and will appear in federal court in the capital on Monday to face criminal charges.
Less than an hour after the chaos, Trump took to his social media website Truth Social and provided updates, even though many details of what had occurred were very unclear. It was also announced that there would be a hasty press conference at the White House.
“Quite an evening in D.C. Secret Service and Law Enforcement did a fantastic job. They acted quickly and bravely,” he said. “The shooter has been apprehended.”
Trump claimed he recommended that they “LET THE SHOW GO ON” and carry on with the dinner but that he deferred to law enforcement who ordered everyone to be evacuated and abruptly cancelled the event.
Trump insisted that “regardless of that decision, the evening will be much different than planned, and we’ll just, plain, have to do it again. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
Trump later posted that law enforcement requested that he leave the hotel, in keeping with safety protocol. He also said “the First Lady, plus the Vice President, and all Cabinet members, are in perfect condition” and announced a press conference in half an hour. Trump also said he spoke with event organizers and that it would be rescheduled in a month.
Then as Washington and those who had watched the chaos unfold on television and the internet were still trying to take stock of what had happened, journalists streamed from the event to the White House to cram into the press briefing room in the West Wing to witness the president’s hastily called press conference.
In the front row was Jiang in her spangled dress, surrounded by media colleagues in their tuxedos, gowns and fancy shoes, as Trump came out to the familiar podium, also in his evening suit. He made a half-serious, half-jocular address, peppered with his usual self-promotions and a reference to his determination to build a ballroom at the White House. He also talked about being president as “a dangerous profession”. This was, of course, the third time that someone has been caught trying to shoot Trump. In the first attempt, during the 2024 election campaign in Pennsylvania, the bullet grazed Trump’s ear and shots killed one spectator and injured others.
Then in very uncharacteristic style, Trump issued warm words to the press. He said he was impressed with the coverage of the night’s events so far, then he complemented Jiang on her handling of the evening, and gave her the first question.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed reporting