BREAKING - Shots Fired at White House Correspondents’ Dinner - President Trump and First Lady Safe, Shooter Neutralized
Agents draw their guns after loud bangs were heard during the White House Correspondents' dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC, on April 25, 2026. President Trump is attending the annual gala of the political press for the first time while in office. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images)
Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
President Donald Trump was swiftly escorted off the stage by Secret Service after possible shots were fired at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, DC, on Saturday.
Vice President JD Vance and members of Trump’s Cabinet who were also in attendance were also rushed out.
A source told CNN that Trump is safe, while two sources said Vance is safely out of the dinner. According to an administration official, Cabinet members are OK as well.
Several US Secret Service agents yelled, “shots fired” during the event, which is being held at the Washington Hilton, according to pool reports.
Secret Service later said in a post on X that one person is in custody.
Trump is in a secure location and has told officials that he intends to return to the dinner, according to a senior administration official.
Trump took to the Truth Social to share that a “shooter has been apprehended” and applaud Secret Service and law enforcement officers for acting “quickly and bravely.”
In a subsequent post a few minutes later, the president said he is returning to the White House after law enforcement officials requested that he leave the location. Trump added that he will give a press conference momentarily.
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer was “a few feet away from (a gunman) as he was shooting,” he said on air.
“All the sudden a guy with a weapon, it was a very, very serious weapon, it starts shooting, and I happened to have been a few feet away from him as he was shooting,” Blitzer said.
President Trump is attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday for the first time as commander in chief after boycotting the annual event last year and each year during his first term.
The dinner will take place Saturday, April 25, at the Washington Hilton.
"The White House Correspondents Association has asked me, very nicely, to be the Honoree at this year’s Dinner, a long and storied tradition since it began in 1924, under then President Calvin Coolidge," Trump posted on his Truth Social last month, adding that it would be his "Honor to accept their invitation."
TRUMP'S RETURN TO THE WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS' DINNER MARKS A POLITICAL JOURNEY COMING FULL CIRCLE
President Donald Trump interacting with the media. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
The White House Correspondents’ Association’s president, Weijia Jiang, said the organization was "happy" with the president’s decision to attend.
"For more than 100 years, the journalists of the White House Correspondents’ Association have enjoyed an evening with the president," Jiang said in a statement last month. "We’re happy the president has accepted our invitation and look forward to hosting him."
DAN RATHER AMONG 200 JOURNALISTS DEMANDING TRUMP BE CALLED OUT AT WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS' DINNER
The president had skipped the event in years past, saying that decision was due to the press being "extraordinarily bad" to him.
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Despite the annual invitation and Trump’s acceptance, hundreds of journalists are going after the president, having signed an open letter urging the White House Correspondents’ Association to call out the president and "forcefully demonstrate opposition" to his "efforts to trample freedom of the press."
"The dinner has long served as a symbol of the vital and irreplaceable role of a free press in American democracy and a celebration of the First Amendment and the journalists who uphold it," he open letter states.
"President Trump's systematic, sustained, and unprecedented attacks on the free press... render his presence at such an event a profound contradiction of its purpose.
President Donald Trump takes questions from reporters during a press briefing at the White House one year into his second term in office in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2026. (Jessica Koscielniak/Reuters)
"The collective weight of the administration’s actions — retaliatory access bans, coercive regulatory investigations, frivolous lawsuits against the press, defunding of public broadcasting, dismantling of international broadcasting, physical restrictions on journalists, personal verbal attacks on reporters, assaults on the media in official White House press releases and social media posts, the arrest of journalists, and the pardoning of those who committed violence against the press — represent the most systematic and comprehensive assault on freedom of the press by a sitting American president."
TRUMP ACCEPTS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS' ASSOCIATION DINNER INVITATION FOR THE FIRST TIME AS PRESIDENT
Notable signatories on the letter are former CBS News anchor Dan Rather, former ABC News White House correspondent Sam Donaldson, former NBC News anchor Ann Curry and PBS NewsHour correspondent Stephanie Sy.
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A spokesperson for the White House simply pointed to Trump's Truth Social post announcing he was attending the dinner when previously asked about the open letter.
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Trump did attend the event as a private citizen in 2011 during the Obama administration. President Barack Obama made a joke about Trump during that event saying, "Say what you will about Mr. Trump. He certainly would bring some change to the White House. Let’s see what we’ve got up there."
President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media aboard Air Force One March 15, 2026. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
Obama then featured an image of the White House with a neon sign that said "Trump White House Hotel Casino Golf Course" with gold columns and a chandelier.
During his second term, Trump has actually taken to remodeling the White House with a new ballroom under construction and his addition of gold molding to the Oval Office.
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JUST IN— 40 MINUTES AGO: Special Counsel Jack Smith has publicly released every piece of material in his possession linked to Donald Trump
WASHINGTON — Former Special Counsel Jack Smith has publicly disclosed a comprehensive collection of materials from his investigations into President Donald Trump, according to announcements circulating approximately 40 minutes ago.
The release reportedly includes every piece of evidence and documentation in Smith’s possession related to the probes into Trump’s handling of classified documents and alleged efforts to challenge the 2020 election results. Officials indicated the files are being uploaded to a designated public repository, framed as a deliberate step toward greater institutional openness and accountability in the wake of the high-profile cases.
The move comes amid ongoing debates over the scope and conclusions of Smith’s work, which previously resulted in indictments that were later impacted by Trump’s 2024 electoral victory and subsequent legal developments, including presidential immunity rulings. Supporters of the disclosure describe it as a bold affirmation of public interest in the rule of law, while skeptics question the timing and potential for selective presentation of evidence.
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House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and President Trump have not issued immediate public statements on the release, though the development is already generating intense discussion in Washington. Critics of Smith have long accused his team of overreach, while defenders argue the materials demonstrate the thoroughness of the original investigations.
Legal experts note that any full release of special counsel files must navigate complex restrictions involving grand jury secrecy, classified information, and ongoing related matters. The Justice Department has not yet confirmed additional context or safeguards applied to the uploaded materials.
The announcement adds another layer to the polarized national conversation surrounding the former special counsel’s tenure and the broader scrutiny of federal investigations into the president.
