The White House Correspondents’ Association announced Tuesday that the annual White House correspondents’ dinner, abruptly canceled in April after a shooting, will be rescheduled for July 24, with President Donald Trump confirming his attendance and plans to speak at the event.
The WHCA decided to revive the dinner, traditionally a black-tie gathering of thousands of journalists, politicians and celebrities, after “thoughtful consideration and input from our members,” Weijia Jiang, the WHCA president and a CBS News correspondent, wrote in an email to White House reporters. Jiang said the event will feature “significantly enhanced safety measures and new access procedures” and will be a more “intimate gathering” than the typical scale of past dinners.
Trump, who was attending the dinner for the first time as president when gunfire erupted on April 25, pledged to attend the summer date. “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,” Trump said. “In any event, it will be a ‘HOT’ ticket!” He added: “This announcement is a very good thing in that we cannot allow Lunatics to change our way of life, or even its scheduling.”
It remains unclear whether the dinner will be held at the Washington Hilton hotel, the site of the April incident, due to security concerns about the building’s layout. Trump claimed the venue will be the Waldorf Astoria, a hotel his Trump Organization previously owned. Jiang said details about the location, tickets and programming “will follow soon.”
Jiang framed the rescheduling as a broader statement about press freedom. “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,” she wrote. “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.” She added that the dinner “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.”
Trump had called for the dinner to be rescheduled within 30 days of the incident, a deadline that has since passed.
The suspected shooter, Cole Tomas Allen, last month pleaded not guilty to charges including the attempted assassination of the president, assault on a federal officer and firearms offenses.