The White House Correspondents Association has decided that now is the time to link arms with President Donald Trump. After Trump claimed Monday night on Truth Social that the group had “asked me, very nicely, to be the Honoree” at the annual White House Correspondent’s Dinner, its president, CBS News White House correspondent Weijia Jiang, confirmed in a press release that he had accepted its invitation.*
The White House Correspondent’s Dinner — an annual event in which D.C.’s top journalists rub elbows with the people they cover and an odd array of celebrities — is, at its best, an unseemly affair excused by the conceit, as Jiang put it in her press release, that it is “a dinner that celebrates the First Amendment.” Under past administrations, there was a benefit to have the president attend the event and give a speech in which he would inevitably pay tribute to the freedom of the press.
But as a matter of principle, you can either have a dinner that celebrates the First Amendment or you can have a dinner that features Donald Trump. You can’t have both because the president holds the freedom of the press in contempt and is using the administration to hammer reporters into compliance with his whims — and everyone knows it.
The White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) decided to fold to the free press-hostile Trump Regime.
Matt Gertz said it best in his MMFA piece: “you can either have a dinner that celebrates the First Amendment or you can have a dinner that features Donald Trump.”
President Donald Trump has accused news outlets of deliberately producing fraudulent reporting -- often claiming they’re doing so to undermine his Iran war — on at least a dozen occasions in the weeks since the White House Correspondents’ Association invited him to attend its annual dinner. Trump blames “Anti-America” journalists who he claims are “rooting for Iran to win” for this reporting, and he has repeatedly described their behavior as “almost treasonous.”
When WHCA president and CBS News White House correspondent Weijia Jiang confirmed on March 2 that Trump had accepted the group’s invitation to participate in its annual soiree, she described the event as a traditional “evening with the president, a dinner that celebrates the First Amendment,” and added that the journalists of the WHCA “look forward to hosting him.”
But it is impossible to celebrate the First Amendment with the current president. When Trump enters the ballroom at D.C.’s Washington Hilton Hotel on Saturday night, he will come not as a defender of the free press, but amid the most hostile campaign against it by a president and administration in recent history..
Indeed, in a development that should surprise no one, Trump has spent the seven weeks since the announcement of his attendance at the dinner honoring the First Amendment by demeaning reporters and threatening their employers, many of which he is currently suing.
He urged Brendan Carr, his hand-picked chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, to review “the licenses of some of these Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic ‘News’ Organizations” over their reporting.
He described New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman as a “Maggot” and “SLEAZEBAG” who “insists on writing false stories about me,” called ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl a “third rate ‘anchor’” who produces “Fictitious quotes,” and insinuated that he might sue both of them.
He gave a speech in which he claimed to be “extremely proud” of having “exposed” the press “for being fake news,” adding: “And we are gonna hopefully change that because I think you really need great news to be great, and they are not great, and they're not leading us to greatness, but we are gonna lead us to greatness.”
But the bulk of Trump’s rancor has focused on news outlets that he alleges have been deliberately lying in order to downplay the success of the Iran campaign, which is currently mired in its seventh week with the regime intact and in control of both its nuclear stockpile and the vital Strait of Hormuz.
How in the world can the WHCA credibly celebrate the 1st Amendment when it invites a serial enemy of the free press to its dinner?
The Turning Point USA CEO, who accused the press of trying to "dehumanize" her, seemed unclear on the mission of the media.
Ron Dicker at HuffPost:
Erika Kirk on Wednesday accused the press of breaking the cardinal rule of journalism during last weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Kirk was addressing the alleged assassination attempt of President Donald Trump on “The Charlie Kirk Show,” which still carries the name of her conservative activist husband who was assassinated in 2025.
At Saturday night’s dinner, the suspect sprinted through a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton and shot a Secret Service agent in his bulletproof vest. That set off what Kirk called “utter chaos” inside the ballroom as Trump and other dignitaries were whisked away by armed officers.
An understandably shaken Kirk was shown on camera crying and saying she just wanted to leave.
“Everyone is asking why I even went to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” she said on the Real America’s Voice show Wednesday. “And it was because many of the journalists in that room have attempted to dehumanize me, and I wanted to meet some of them face-to-face, quite frankly. Why have a conversation about me when you can have a conversation with me?”
Kirk, dressed in almost all black, including a baseball cap, did not mention names of those she spoke with. She eventually pivoted to criticizing the press for its reaction to the shooting.
[...]
For many journalists, documenting an event suddenly unfolding around them would be a duty, not a violation. Even the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association and lead organizer of the dinner, Weijia Jiang, who sat next to Trump on the dais when shots rang out, shared her account of what happened. Cellphone footage from attendees helped her tell the story.
See Also:
The Left Hook (Wajahat Ali): The Hypocritical Cosplay of Erika Kirk and an Increasingly Weird and Unhinged MAGA Movement
Erika Kirk, just like her late husband Charlie, is a demented weirdo.
From the 04.29.2026 edition of Real America's Voice/Salem Radio Network's The Charlie Kirk Show:
Acting attorney general says suspect was believed to have been targeting top Trump administration officials
David Smith, Rachel Leingang, and Kira Lerner at The Guardian:
The gunman who tried to breach the ballroom at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington DC on Saturday night is believed to have been targeting members of the Trump administration, the acting US attorney general, Todd Blanche, said on Sunday morning.
Blanche also said officials believe that the suspect traveled by train from California to Chicago and then on to Washington, where he checked in as a guest at the hotel where one of the capital’s glitziest annual events was being held, the Washington Hilton.
Donald Trump was rushed off the stage at the sound of gunshots. The US president could be seen dropping to the floor as Secret Service agents protected him, then got him to his feet and rushed him out. The first lady, Melania Trump, had been talking to the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, when muffled sounds of gunshots just outside the ballroom were heard rang out. The two women gasped and Trump turned his head to see what was happening.
JD Vance was rushed from the room in the opposite direction from the president moments later. An armed 31-year-old suspect was subdued and is now in custody facing criminal charges. Blanche was interviewed on NBC’s Meet the Press.
He said the alleged gunman will face charges that include assault of a federal officer, discharging a firearm and attempting to kill a federal officer.
Surveillance footage shows a man rushing across the space outside the ballroom. A federal agent was shot but was wearing a bulletproof vest, and was taken to hospital but discharged on Sunday.
Trump was due to address the annual black-tie dinner honoring the White House press corps for the first time as president. But the meal was barely beginning when the event in the vast ballroom was suddenly interrupted by confusion and chaos.
The president, his wife and senior members of his administration were sitting at a high table with Trump seated next to the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, Weijia Jiang.
[...]
Trump held a press conference at the White House, still in his tuxedo, shortly after he left the Hilton. He said that being president of the United States was a “dangerous profession”.
Law enforcement agencies have identified Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, a suburb of Los Angeles, as the suspected gunman arrested at the event.
Allen, 31, has no record of criminal charges or a civil court history in Los Angeles county, according to a records search.
Last night, at 8:34PM ET/7:34PM CT, Cole Tomas Allen attempted to assassinate not just Donald Trump but also other cabinet officials that were at the White House Correspondents Dinner at the Washington Hilton in DC. The shooting led to the WHCD being halted.
See Also:
AP, via HuffPost: Gunman At Trump Dinner Was Believed To Have Been Targeting Administration Officials, Blanche Says
Trump, who was swiftly evacuated from April gala after incident, confirmed his attendance at summer event
Jeremy Barr at The Guardian:
The White House correspondents’ dinner will be rescheduled for 24 July after the Washington event was abruptly cancelled this spring following a shooting.
Donald Trump, who was swiftly evacuated from the gala after the incident on 25 April, has pledged to attend a rescheduled event.
Confirming his attendance and plan to speak at July’s event, the president said: “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. In any event, it will be a ‘HOT’ ticket!”
It’s not clear yet whether the dinner will be held at the Washington Hilton hotel, where it initially took place, considering security concerns about the layout of the building. Trump claimed the venue will be the Waldorf Astoria, which his Trump Organization used to own.
In an email to White House reporters, Weijia Jiang, president of the organizing White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), said details about the location, tickets and the programming “will follow soon” – and that the event “will feature significantly enhanced safety measures and new access procedures”.
Jiang said the dinner will be a more “intimate gathering”, suggesting it will not resemble the mass gathering of thousands of tuxedoed journalists and politicians that typically takes place every year.
The rescheduled 2026 White House Correspondents Dinner will be held on July 24 at a venue to be determined, as a result of the April 25th shooting incident that led to the curtailing and postponement of the event.
President presses case for controversial $400m project following White House correspondents’ dinner shooting
Edward Helmore at The Guardian:
The shooting at the Washington Hilton hotel gives new urgency to the project to construct a 1,000-seat ballroom at the White House, Donald Trump claimed after the incident on Saturday night.
The US president pressed the case for his controversial ballroom initiative at the press conference he held at the White House on Saturday and a social media post on Sunday, after an armed attacker was arrested as he rushed towards the Hilton’s ballroom, where Trump was attending the White House Correspondents Association’s annual dinner.
The $400m construction project to build a giant event space began at the White House with the east wing being knocked down last October without Trump waiting for full legal permission to proceed. Legal challenges followed along with controversy over funding for the enormous ballroom, which is planned to be larger than the core White House itself.
“What happened last night is exactly the reason that our great Military, Secret Service, Law Enforcement and, for different reasons, every President for the last 150 years, have been DEMANDING that a large, safe, and secure Ballroom be built ON THE GROUNDS OF THE WHITE HOUSE,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday morning.
He said that the shooting incident, which caused Trump and senior administration to be hustled out of the Hilton hotel complex, and hundreds of guests to duck for cover, “would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House”.
Trump pointed to existing security at the White House – “the most secure building in the world” – and “every highest level security feature there is” planned for the ballroom. “Plus, there are no rooms sitting on top for unsecured people to pour in,” he added, referring to the event taking place in a mainstream hotel.
Trump’s comments were the second time in just over 12 hours that he mentioned the White House ballroom project in reference to the shooting incident.
“I didn’t want to say this,” Trump said at a press briefing late Saturday after returning to the White House from the press dinner, “but this is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we’re planning at the White House. It’s actually a larger room, and it’s a much more secure. It’s got – it’s drone-proof, it’s bulletproof glass.”
Trump has survived two previous assassination attempts, both during his 2024 election campaign. After the latest incident, Trump said in the White House briefing room that the scare would not impact the conduct of his life.
[...]
Trump had been expected to roast the attending press corps during an after-dinner speech with what he said would have been the “most inappropriate speech ever made”. Even his being invited to the dinner was controversial after several years of calling the US media “the enemy of the people”. He has been repeatedly suing various media outlets, threatening broadcasters over their licenses and stepping up his attacks on some individual journalists when they ask him awkward questions.
On Saturday night he suddenly now thanked the gathered journalists at the White House press briefing room, most still in the eveningwear they had donned for the dinner event. He praised “very responsible” coverage of the drama that had unfolded and said that when the press dinner is reorganized he is likely to give a different speech than the one he had planned for Saturday night.
Donald Trump and his MAGA media allies are using the WHCD shooting as a tacky excuse to push for the White House Ballroom.
See Also:
CNBC: Trump presses his case for White House ballroom following press dinner shooting
The U.S. could be prepared to start rolling out distribution of a Pfizer booster shot for COVID-19 beginning the week of Sept. 20 — but Moderna may take bit longer, Chief Medical Adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday.
“Looks like Pfizer has their data in, likely would meet the deadline,” the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said on “Face the Nation” on CBS.
“We hope that Moderna would also be able to do it, so we could do it simultaneously. But if not, we’ll do it sequentially,” Fauci added. “So bottom line is very likely at least part of the plan will be implemented, but, ultimately, the entire plan ... It looks good.”
The CDC has said Johnson & Johnson vaccine recipients will also likely need a booster, but “the data needed to make this decision aren’t available yet.”
A booster after full vaccination would increase immunity and help stem breakthrough and delta variant COVID-19 cases, Fauci noted. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the Biden administration is likely to recommend a booster at least six months after a full vaccination.
Yesterday on CBS’s Face The Nation, Dr. Anthony Fauci predicted that Pfizer will likely debut its COVID booster shot around September 20th, with Moderna shortly afterwards.
From the 09.05.2021 edition of CBS’s Face The Nation:
