JUST IN: New Date Set for White House Correspondents’ Dinner

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

A new date has been set for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which was cancelled after a gunman attempted to breach the event and fired several shots at a security checkpoint.

The annual confab of politicos and journalists erupted in chaos on April 25 when a gunman fired several shots. Secret Service whisked President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and Vice President JD Vance out of the room, and all Cabinet members were safely evacuated as well.

A California man, 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, was quickly apprehended by Secret Service and arrested. Allen has been charged with three federal crimes: an attempt to carry out a political assassination, transporting a firearm across state lines, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, and is facing a potential maximum sentence of life in prison.

Shortly before the shooting, Allen allegedly sent a manifesto he had written to family members in which he mocked the WHCD event security as exhibiting a “level of incompetence” that he called “insane,” as well as a detailed discussion of why he considered Trump and other high-ranking administration officials to be valid “targets,” referring to the president as “a pedophile, rapist, and traitor.”

There was initially some discussion about resuming the dinner that evening, but White House Correspondents’ Association President Weijia Jiang soon announced that the decision had been made to cancel and reschedule for a later date.

Semafor media editor Maxwell Tani reported Tuesday that Jiang had emailed WHCA members to announce a new date for the rescheduled dinner of June 24.

The text of the email read as follows:

Dear colleagues,

The White House Correspondents’ Dinner has served as a celebration of a free press and the vital role of journalism in our democracy for over a century. When gunfire interrupted this year’s event, it further clarified the WHCA’s mission to advocate for the freedoms that are protected in the First Amendment. 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.

I am proud to announce that we will host another dinner to be held in Washington, D.C.
on Friday, July 24th.

Rescheduling was not automatic. It was a choice that the WHCA board made after thoughtful consideration and input from our members. I want to thank board members for the time and care they brought to this decision, particularly on the security front. The event will feature significantly enhanced safety measures and new access procedures. We will share additional details directly with attendees.

Our thoughts remain with the officer who was injured and with everyone who experienced that evening. We are indebted to the US Secret Service, law enforcement and the hotel staff whose swift response protected our guests and our staff.

In the weeks since the last dinner, we have raised funds to ensure WHCA members who purchased tickets will not have to pay if they attend the second event, which will be a more intimate gathering. We will also offer financial support to our scholarship winners for travel back to Washington. They, along with our journalism award winners, deserve to be recognized for their hard work and dedication to reporting.

This dinner will not only be an opportunity to carry out our program. It will be a statement that violence has no place in American life and a free press will not be intimidated into silence. As you have all demonstrated, courage and community can and should rise above.

Details on the venue, tickets, and programming will follow shortly.

This is a breaking news story and has been updated with additional information.

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