Trump defends free speech, jokes about third term at correspondents' dinner rescheduled after shooting
President Donald Trump, 80, spoke on July 24 at the Waldorf Astoria, three months after a gunman interrupted the original event. He gave reporters his phone number and joked about a third term, mixing praise for the Secret Service with attacks on journalists and political rivals.
The rescheduled dinner
On July 24, 2026, President Donald Trump attended the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner for the first time as president, after the original April 25 event was halted by gunfire. The venue was moved from the Washington Hilton to the Waldorf Astoria, the former Trump International Hotel, a building Trump said he once built. Security was heavy, with police, National Guard, and Secret Service director Sean Curran visible. The association’s president, CBS correspondent Weijia Jiang, told the audience that the attempted assassination of a president is an attack on democracy and ‘we will not be intimidated.’ Trump echoed the phrase ‘the show must continue.’
The April shooting and the security response
Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old Californian, allegedly tried to enter the Hilton ballroom with a firearm and fired shots, forcing a chaotic evacuation. He has pleaded not guilty to charges including attempted assassination of the president. In his speech, Trump called the incident ‘a massive assassination attempt at the Washington Hilton’ and ‘an assault on our democracy.’ He praised the Secret Service and singled out agent Victor Gonzales, who was wounded during the response. The president used the moment to argue for new White House construction: an underground complex and a protected ballroom, which he said he was building for the future, not for himself.
A complicated relationship with the press
Despite years of calling journalists ‘the enemy of the people,’ Trump gave a surprisingly intimate portrait of his dealings with the media. After returning to the White House, he said he asked aides repeatedly if any reporter had called, and when none had, he started handing out his phone number. ‘It was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done,’ he joked, ‘The phone rings every 3.7 minutes.’ He claimed he sometimes answers and can correct false stories, adding: ‘When you don’t talk to the press you always get a bad story. When you talk to them, at least you have a chance.’ His wife Melania, he said, finds the habit ‘an infernal way to live.’ The president also admitted missing the attention, and told reporters in the room: ‘When I’m gone, you’ll all be bankrupt.’
Insults and political attacks
Much of the hour-long speech echoed a campaign rally. Trump labeled the dinner guests as the biggest gathering of people with ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome.’ He attacked late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel as ‘talentless, angry, sick people,’ and boasted he had gotten some comedians fired. Senator Adam Schiff was called ‘watermelon head’ with a ‘big, fat, ugly head on a pencil neck.’ He criticized California Governor Gavin Newsom and former Vice President Kamala Harris over wildfire policies and social programs, and mocked Representative Ilhan Omar and her brother. The room’s laughter, according to several reports, diminished as the insults piled up.
Teasing a third term
Trump revived the idea of a constitutionally prohibited third term, but insisted he was joking. ‘Just like my presidency, the second time is always better. And the third time is even better,’ he said, then added ‘I’m just kidding.’ He later mentioned running for a fourth term. The line drew mixed reactions, and his insistence that it was only a joke did little to silence critics.
