Shots Fired, Trump Evacuated from White House Correspondents’ Dinner
This is a developing story.
The Secret Service evacuated President Donald Trump from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday night after shots were heard in the Washington, DC Hilton’s ballroom. Other cabinet members in attendance were also evacuated.
The Secret Service announced in a statement that it had one person in custody.
Trump, who was attending the event for the first time as president tonight, posted on Truth Social that he had "recommended that we 'LET THE SHOW GO ON'" but was complying with law enforcement's requests.
Weijia Jiang, president of the White House Correspondents' Association, announced that attendees must leave the premises, per law enforcement instructions, and that there would be a White House press conference shortly after 10pm. She also said that the president expressed the wish to reschedule the dinner in the next 30 days.
Trump posted on Truth Social shortly after Jiang's announcement confirming it. He also posted pictures of the shooter.
In his remarks at the White House, Trump described the night's events "unexpected" and struck a conciliatory tone toward the press.
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"There was a tremendous amount of love and coming together," he said. He also expressed disappointment that the event was truncated.
"I fought like hell to stay," he said, adding that the event would be rescheduled. "We're not gonna let anybody take over our society, we're not cancel things out, because we can't do that."
Trump said that law enforcement had made the preliminary determination that the assailant was a "lone wolf."
