The White House Correspondents’ Association will hold a rescheduled annual dinner on Friday, July 24, in Washington, after a shooting interrupted the original April event. President Donald Trump said he has accepted an invitation to attend and deliver remarks.
In an email to members shared with The Washington Post, WHCA President Weijia Jiang, a CBS News senior White House correspondent, said the board decided to move forward after member input to ensure a violent act does not silence advocacy for press freedom.
“When gunfire interrupted this year’s event, it further clarified the WHCA’s mission to advocate for the freedoms that are protected in the First Amendment,” Jiang wrote. “We will not allow an act of violence to have the last word, especially during a year when we are reflecting on the 250th anniversary of America and everything we stand for.”
The decision was “not automatic” but followed “thoughtful consideration,” she added. The association has raised funds so original ticket holders can attend the second, more intimate gathering at no extra cost.
He confirmed Jiang asked him to speak and that he accepted. “I don’t know whether or not I will give the same rather nasty statements, at least as it concerns certain people, but we will soon find out,” Trump said. “In any event, it will be a ‘HOT’ ticket!”
The event will take place at the Waldorf Astoria Washington, D.C., in the Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue — a property Trump’s company operated as the Trump International Hotel from 2016 to 2022 before selling the lease. Trump highlighted the location in his post, calling it “a Building and Ballroom that I built.”
The suspect in the April shooting, Cole Tomas Allen, has been federally indicted on four felonies, including attempted assassination of the president.