President Donald Trump delivered a mix of humor and pointed criticism at the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) dinner, a rescheduled event that originally was cut short by a shooting three months earlier. The evening celebrated press freedom while the president alternated between conciliatory remarks and familiar jabs at the media.
The dinner, held on Saturday night, brought together reporters from outlets Trump has frequently clashed with and even taken legal action against, including the New York Times, CNN, and the Wall Street Journal. Several of those organizations received awards during the ceremony, with Trump standing to shake hands with the winners.
A Night Marked by Violence and Resilience
The original WHCA dinner in April was disrupted when a gunman was tackled by Secret Service agents just short of a staircase leading to the ballroom where the event was getting underway. The suspect, identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, has been charged with attempting to assassinate the president of the United States.
The outgoing WHCA head addressed the incident directly, declaring she would "refuse to let an act of violence have the final word." WHCA President Weijia Jiang of CBS News announced that the dinner would return to the Washington Hilton — the site of the April shooting — next year.
Officer Victor Gonzalez of the US Secret Service, who was shot during the incident, was presented with an award by Trump in recognition of his actions on the night of the shooting.
Trump Strikes a Conciliatory — and Combative — Tone
Ahead of the event, many in the White House press corps speculated that Trump, who routinely criticizes reporters seated just meters away, would deliver a stern rebuke of the media. Instead, the president was largely cordial, telling attendees that "the second time is always better" and praising journalists, saying he respects "most of them."
"As I said three months ago, the show must go on," Trump said. He also called on Americans to respect freedom of speech, striking a unifying note.
"We settle our differences not with bullets, but with open and vigorous debate," the president said. "And no deranged loser with a gun will ever change that. We can't let that ever happen."
However, the tone shifted as Trump turned to familiar criticisms. He accused many journalists in the room of having "Trump Derangement Syndrome" and joked that the dinner was "really the largest group of 'Trump derangement syndrome' people ever put together at one time."