White House Correspondents' Dinner Returns Thursday, July 24, Three Months After Shooting Cut It Short

The White House Correspondents' Dinner is scheduled to return Friday, July 24, at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C., roughly three months after the April 25 event was cut short by gunfire at the Washington Hilton.

A Secret Service officer was shot once in a bullet-resistant vest that night, according to Us Weekly. President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who was pregnant at the time, were among those evacuated from the ballroom as guests scrambled for cover.

Suspect Cole Allen (identified in some reports as Cole Tomas Allen) is charged with attempting to assassinate the president, discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, transporting a firearm across state lines, and assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon, according to Fox News affiliate WFMD. He pleaded not guilty in May.

White House Correspondents' Association President Weijia Jiang announced the rescheduled date in a letter to AP and other member outlets on Tuesday, June 2, according to Us Weekly. Jiang said the new dinner will be a more "intimate gathering" with "significantly enhanced safety measures and new access procedures."

"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," Jiang said.

Trump confirmed his attendance in a Truth Social post, calling the rescheduling "a sign of Strength and Fortitude." He wrote that the announcement is "a very good thing in that we cannot allow Lunatics to change our way of life, or even its scheduling."

Trump said Jiang personally invited him to speak, and he accepted. He also took a shot at his own past remarks, writing, "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."

The venue itself carries some irony. The Waldorf Astoria occupies the Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue, where the Trump Organization once ran Trump International Hotel Washington D.C. before selling the lease rights in 2022, according to WFMD. Trump noted in his post that it's "a Building and Ballroom that I built," calling the dinner "a 'HOT' ticket."

Karoline Leavitt, still on maternity leave, posted her own six-word reaction on X: "Looking forward to a great night!" She had previously blamed what WFMD described her calling a "left-wing cult of hatred" in the aftermath of the shooting, though no source here confirms that claim was ever substantiated by an investigation or charge tying the shooting to a broader political movement. Allen faces individual criminal charges; nothing in the record establishes organizational or political motive beyond the charges themselves.

Jiang's letter also thanked the Secret Service, law enforcement, and hotel staff for their response the night of the shooting, saying, "Our thoughts remain with the officer who was injured and with everyone who experienced that evening."

Jiang's position, in her letter, is that canceling permanently would let "an act of violence have the last word." That stance reflects an organization representing reporters who cover the White House daily and don't want to be seen backing down from intimidation. A counter-argument, which reasonable people might raise, is that resuming business-as-usual so quickly risks minimizing the seriousness of a shooting that wounded a federal officer and nearly reached the sitting president.

The dinner is scheduled for Friday, July 24, at the Waldorf Astoria. Trump is set to speak. Allen's case continues moving through federal court following his not-guilty plea in May. No trial date beyond his June 29 court appearance has been reported in these sources.