President Trump complained about what he called the press’s unfair coverage, reiterated his pledge to keep Iran from building a nuclear weapon and joked about the prospects of a third term in his speech at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner Friday.
In a wide-ranging address that ran more than an hour at the Waldorf Astoria ballroom, Trump also emphasized the need to build the new White House ballroom, spoke of his popularity on TikTok and defended his record in making America great again. He took jabs at many of his usual targets in politics and the media but also paid tribute to a press with which he has had a complicated and sometimes combative relationship.
Trump told attendees that they were “the largest group of Trump Derangement Syndrome people ever put together at one time” and referred to some as “fake news,” while also calling himself a champion of press freedom and noting his willingness to answer the phone when journalists call. His remarks elicited occasional laughs, but he spoke to a mostly silent ballroom for much of the time as he shifted to tried-and-true lines such as referring to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) as “Pocahontas” and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, as “Newscum.” He blamed his speechwriter for lines that fell flat.
Trump said he opted against giving the speech he had planned to give in April. “It was going to be a doozy,” he said. “But we’ll do a little ripping, if you don’t mind.”
Reporters and media executives gathered alongside administration officials including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick for the do-over event, this time in a more intimate setting—and with notable extra security. Nearly 700 people were expected to attend Friday’s affair, compared with the 2,600 who typically participated in the event at the Washington Hilton.
They dined on peach and burrata salad, as well as filet and lobster, before a stage whose backdrop featured the text of the First Amendment.
Trump addressed the crowd three months after the original gala dinner at the Washington Hilton was cut short by an assassination attempt. The White House Correspondents’ Association said it coordinated with the U.S. Secret Service and with a private security firm for the rescheduled event and had more visible security measures around the venue.
TRUMP at WHCA Dinner: “You people have no idea how lucky you are. When I'm gone, you're all going to be broke. Your business model is going to be finished. No. It's true.”
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 25, 2026
“When I'm not around, you're going to be broke. There's not going to be anybody to report on. Nobody gives… pic.twitter.com/3UfuDKMN9r
The dinner, billed as a celebration of the First Amendment, was held a day after Trump’s Justice Department agreed to withdraw subpoenas related to several New York Times reporters’ recent articles on a jet gifted to the U.S. by the Qatari government that was being used as Air Force One.
Historically, presidents used the dinner to crack good-natured jokes about the press corps and about themselves. “Good evening, everybody. Let’s try this again,” the evening’s host, Weijia Jiang, said to open the dinner Friday. Jiang, the senior White House correspondent at CBS who just completed her term as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, thanked Trump for his support in rescheduling the dinner and commended her colleagues for jumping into action during the April event. “You came as guests, but within moments, you went to work.”