Topline
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner will take place Friday after it was previously cut short in April following an attempted attack, and will feature a scaled-down guest list and elevated security measures, though journalists have expressed concerns about socializing with the White House as it continues to levy attacks on the press.
First Lady Melania Trump and President Donald Trump attend the White House Correspondents Association Dinner on April 25.
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Key Facts
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner, presented by the White House Correspondents Association, will take place at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington, D.C.—the site of Trump’s former Washington hotel—after the April event took place at the significantly larger ballroom at the Washington Hilton.
While an estimated 2,600 people attended the original dinner in April, only approximately 700 are expected to attend Friday, according to Politico, which noted many reporters are bowing out of the events either due to conflicts or because of the trauma of the first event and the Trump administration’s attacks on the media.
There will also be beefed-up security measures, the Secret Service has said, including airport-style security, fewer access points and new electronic ticketing.
The dinner comes one day after the Justice Department withdrew its subpoenas of journalists from The New York Times about their sourcing for a story on President Donald Trump’s new plane from Qatar, a move that had been widely viewed as an attempt to intimidate the press and an incursion on journalists’ rights to protect their sources.
One of the subpoenaed journalists, Tyler Pager, is set to be given an award at Friday’s ceremony, along with other reporters who have drawn the president’s ire.
Trump is also slated to speak at Friday’s event, after the president did not get a chance to make a speech in April before the dinner was cut short.
What Time Does The Dinner Start?
The dinner will start at 8 p.m. EDT on Friday, with a livestream of the event and red carpet arrivals beginning earlier at 6 p.m.
Surprising Fact
Friday’s dinner will be the first time the dinner hasn’t been held at the Hilton since 1972, the Associated Press notes.
What Security Measures Will Be In Place?
Secret Service officials told reporters ahead of Friday’s event that it will feature heightened security as compared with April’s dinner. There will be fewer access points for event attendees, CNN reports, and Politico reports people attending the event will each receive a unique QR code to grant access, rather than printed tickets. According to Fox News, streets around the Waldorf Astoria will also be restricted Friday, and people will enter the event through an entrance that’s separate from the main hotel entrance and lobby. Though it’s ramping up security measures this time around, Secret Service officials defended the original event’s security to reporters, saying the fact the suspect was intercepted before he could enter the ballroom was proof the security measures worked. “The system worked,” Secret Service Director Sean Curran said at a press conference Wednesday.
Ceremony Will Honor Some Journalists Trump Has Attacked
Pager is one of several reporters who will receive awards Friday, as he was chosen to win an award from the Center for Integrity in News Reporting, which is awarded for “fair, impartial, objective news reporting” by a member of the WHCA “that has the courage to not fear and the discipline to not favor.” Among the other journalists set to be honored Friday include CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, whom Trump called a “corrupt reporter” in June, and journalists from The Wall Street Journal who reported on Trump’s alleged “birthday book” letter to Jeffrey Epstein. The president sued the Journal over the reporting, alleging it’s defamatory, though the case was later dismissed. Two Associated Press journalists will also receive an award for excellence in presidential news coverage under deadline pressure, after the Trump administration revoked the outlet’s press access over its refusal to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” Beyond journalists, the event is also set to honor Secret Service Police Officer Victor Gonzales, the law enforcement officer shot by the gunman during the April event, with the President’s Award for Exceptional Service to the WHCA.
What Will Trump Say In His Speech?
It remains to be seen what exactly Trump will say Friday, but White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Politico the president’s speech will be largely similar to the one he had planned to deliver in April, though he’ll also address the events of the last dinner. “The President’s speech will be a combination of unifying yet vicious, and serious yet hilarious, all at the same time, if you can imagine that,” Leavitt said in a statement quoted by Fox News. “One thing I can assure you, it will be entertaining.”
Who Will Attend Friday’s Dinner?
First Lady Melania Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance will not attend Friday’s dinner due to scheduling conflicts, the White House told CNN, after previously attending the event in April. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will also be absent. The event is expected to include a number of Trump administration officials besides the president, however, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, CNN reports.
Key Background
Trump has long had a contentious relationship with the media, and his appearance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April and on Friday comes after the president has snubbed the event in the past. Alleged gunman Cole Allen disrupted the initial correspondents’ dinner in April as he stormed the Hilton and tried to breach event security in what’s believed to be an assassination attempt. Allen was apprehended before ever entering the ballroom or posing a threat to the president, but the disruption from the gunshots from both law enforcement and the suspect abruptly ended the event, with attendees being briefly locked down in the ballroom amid the chaos. Allen has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, which include attempted assassination, transporting firearms interstate, assaulting law enforcement and discharge of a firearm during an act of violence.
Further Reading
Trump Says He’ll Speak At Rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner After Shooting Incident (Forbes)
Secret Service Reports 40% Jump In Threat Cases This Year (Forbes)
Suspect Reportedly Mocked Security Measures Before White House Correspondents’ Dinner Shooting (Forbes)