The White House Correspondents' Dinner, interrupted by an armed attack in April, will be held again on Friday, July 24. US President Donald Trump will attend the event at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington DC.
Assassination attempt and postponed dinner
The original dinner, held at the Washington Hilton on April 25, was cut short when an attacker named Cole Tomas Allen entered the venue with guns and knives. Allen bypassed a security checkpoint, shot a Secret Service agent, and allegedly attempted to assassinate President Trump, who was in the ballroom. Trump was quickly evacuated from the scene, the attacker was apprehended, and the wounded agent survived.
Immediately after the attack, Trump announced that the dinner would be postponed, and the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) announced the new date as July 24 in early June. WHCA President and CBS correspondent Weijia Jiang said they "will not let violence have the last word." Trump said Americans "cannot let lunatics change our way of life."
Security measures heightened
This time, the event will be held at the Waldorf Astoria, formerly known as the Trump International Hotel. According to the New York Post, the ballroom has a capacity of about 1,000 people; the Hilton in April had hosted 2,500. Reducing the number of attendees aims to ease the security burden.
Access to the event will be through a single entrance, where a private security company and the Secret Service will conduct searches with magnetometers. All other entrances will be closed. Guests have been asked to allow extra time for security screening.
Debates on journalistic ethics
The black-tie gala organized by the WHCA is a fundraiser that collects $480 per ticket. Proceeds go to journalism awards and scholarships. However, the dinner has long been criticized for showing journalists cozying up to the political elites they cover. Nicholas Lemann, former dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, described the event as "Washington journalism like a Rotary Club meeting." Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute said this dinner with the president is "an outdated tradition that harms all journalism."
Trump's strained relationship with the press
Trump's relationship with the press has been tense even before the dinner. In June, he walked out of a contentious interview with an NBC reporter, and in early July, the Justice Department subpoenaed New York Times journalists over reports about the new, Qatar-funded Air Force One. Organizations such as the Society of Professional Journalists, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, and the National Association of Black Journalists sent an open letter to the WHCA, urging it to stand up to Trump's "systematic attacks" on press freedom.
The dinner will feature a performance by mentalist Oz Pearlman and a speech by Trump. However, it is unclear how long the truce between the two sides will last.
