A new date after the April attack

The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) announced on Tuesday that its annual dinner will be rescheduled for 24 July. The original event on 25 April was suspended when a gunman attempted to access the venue, resulting in an exchange of fire with Secret Service agents. President Donald Trump, Vice-President JD Vance, and other officials were rushed off stage by agents. The suspect, 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of California, was subdued at the scene. He faces four criminal charges, including attempted assassination of the president and assault on a federal agent with a lethal weapon, and has pleaded not guilty. One Secret Service agent was injured by shotgun fire, according to the Department of Justice.

Trump confirms attendance

President Trump said he would attend the rescheduled dinner and has accepted an invitation to speak. He wrote on social media that the rescheduling is a "sign of Strength and Fortitude" and that "we cannot allow Lunatics to change our way of life, or even its scheduling." Trump added that he was unsure whether he would deliver "the same rather nasty statements" he had planned for April. The president had initially called for the event to be rescheduled within 30 days, a deadline that has now passed.

A more intimate gathering with tighter security

Weijia Jiang, WHCA president and a CBS News correspondent, wrote in a letter to members that the July event will be a "more intimate gathering" and will "feature significantly enhanced safety measures and new access procedures." Jiang said the rescheduling "was not automatic" but was "a choice made by the WHCA board after thoughtful consideration and input from our members." The association spent several weeks raising funds so that members who purchased tickets for the April dinner would not have to pay again. Financial support is also being offered to scholarship winners who wish to travel back to Washington DC.

“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.”

Venue uncertainty

The location for the July dinner has not been confirmed by the WHCA. The April event was held at the Washington Hilton, but security concerns about the building's layout have been raised. Trump claimed the venue would be the Waldorf Astoria in Washington DC, a building his Trump Organization converted from an old post office into a luxury hotel and operated as the Trump International Hotel. Two people with knowledge of the planning told The New York Times that the Waldorf Astoria was being considered. Jiang said details about the location, tickets, and programming "will follow soon."

A statement on press freedom

Jiang framed the rescheduled dinner as a statement that "violence has no place in American life and a free press will not be intimidated into silence." She said the April shooting "further clarified the WHCA's mission to advocate for the freedoms that are protected in the First Amendment." The dinner, which honours journalists and press freedom, had been underway with hundreds of guests — including members of Congress, Trump's cabinet, and journalists — when the gunman stormed through a security checkpoint. Guests inside the ballroom were eating a course of burrata and spring peas when the commotion occurred, and law enforcement agents sprinted to the dais to evacuate the president.