Two months after a gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, the rescheduled dinner will take place Friday night. President Donald Trump is slated to attend the event, which will take place with enhanced security at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in the nation's capital.
“The president looks forward to finishing what he started before a despicable assassination attempt derailed the original event back in April,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday.
Leavitt said the rescheduled dinner will celebrate free speech and the First Amendment and “promises to be a very entertaining and memorable evening.”
Friday’s dinner is intended to finish the April 25 program that was interrupted when a gunman, according to federal prosecutors, tried to breach the security perimeter outside the dinner ballroom in an attempt to assassinate the president and senior members of his administration.
The White House Correspondents’ Association, which hosts the annual event, said the dinner will include a salute to the First Amendment and 250 years of American history, awards to honor groundbreaking reporting, remarks from the president and a performance by mentalist Oz Pearlman.
In June, when the WHCA announced it would reschedule the dinner, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he hadn’t decided if he would give his originally intended speech, in which he was widely expected to attack the press.
“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,” he wrote. “In any event, it will be a ‘HOT’ ticket!”
The Washington Hilton has historically held the correspondents’ dinner, but the rescheduled event will be held at the Waldorf Astoria instead. The hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue was once called the Trump International Hotel and was previously owned by Trump.
Security has been customized for the new venue.
The Secret Service told Spectrum News that "guests will see a visible police presence around the Waldorf Astoria hotel and there will be enhanced traffic closures due to proximity to major thoroughfares."
According to Secret Service Communications Director Anthony Guglielmi, “all ticketed guests will go through airport-style magnetometer screening to enter the event" and “roads immediately around the hotel will be closed Friday evening.”
“We are confident that our robust security plan will ensure the safety of our protectees and attendees, just as our plan did in April,” he said.
During April’s dinner at the Hilton, the shooting suspect attempted to breach the Secret Service security checkpoint before firing one shot, then tripping and falling before he was detained.
“Our agency grows and adapts from every event we secure, and we have engaged with WHCA to ensure attendees are given timely information in the unlikely event of an emergency during the event,” Guglielmi said, adding that ticketed guests who attend the dinner will be screened by event staff prior to Secret Service screening.
The WHCA said this week it will present special awards to Secret Service Police Officer Victor Gonzales and the staff of the Washington Hilton for their help in April.
“Officer Gonzales played a significant role when he ran toward danger so that thousands of others could make it home safely,” WHCA President Weijia Jiang said in a statement. “His courage stemmed from a dedication to service, which we are looking forward to honoring this week.”
Jiang also praised the Hilton staff for remaining on duty after the shooting to help dinner guests find their way.
On April 25, Secret Service agents stopped Cole Allen after he attempted to breach the hotel’s security barriers, surveillance video shows. Allen is alleged to have fired a single shot from a shotgun that hit Gonzales, who was wearing a protective vest and experienced minor injuries.
Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, is currently in federal custody in Washington, D.C., awaiting trial. He is charged with attempting to assassinate the president, discharging a firearm during a violent crime, transporting a firearm over state lines and using a deadly weapon to assault a federal officer, according to the Justice Department.