President Donald Trump praised first lady Melania Trump’s reaction to a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
“I want to thank the first lady, that was a rather traumatic experience for her,” Trump, 79, told reporters from the White House on Saturday, April 25. “We’re not going to let anybody take over our society, we’re not going to cancel things out … we can’t do that. We wanted to stay tonight, I fought like hell to say, but it was protocol … there was a lot of action going on.”
Donald, Melania, 56, and pregnant White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt were among the Trump administration officials evacuated from the ballroom of the Washington Hilton hotel in Washington, D.C. when gunfire was exchanged.
While speaking to reporters on Saturday night, Trump reflected on how he and Melania both reacted to the sound of gunfire ringing out.
“It was totally shocking when something like this happens. It happened to me a little bit, and that never changes,” the president said. “The fact, we were sitting right next to each other, first lady on my right, and I heard a noise … I thought it was a tray going down and it was a pretty loud noise and it was from quite far away. [The suspect] hadn’t reached the area at all. They really got him … but it was a gun.”
Trump went on, “Some people really understood that very quickly, other people didn’t … I was watching what happened. Melania was very cognizant of what happened. I think she knew immediately what happened. She was saying, ‘That’s a bad noise.’ And we were whisked away. It was very quick … it was a matter of seconds that we were out the door.”
Per multiple media outlets, a 30-year-old man from California was “apprehended” during the shooting and has been charged with two counts of using a firearm and one count of assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon. (Per the Secret Service, the suspect’s current condition and motives are unknown. He was reportedly a guest at the Washington Hilton, where the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was being held.)
A Secret Service agent was shot during the violent exchange and has been hospitalized. Trump confirmed to reporters during his news conference that he’d spoken to the injured agent by phone.
“The [bulletproof] vest did its job. I just spoke to the officer and he’s doing great,” the politician revealed.
Later in the news conference, Trump said he was “honored” to be a target because it means his presidency has been consequential.
“When you look at our great presidents, [this] doesn’t happen to people who don’t do anything,” he told reporters.
Trump initially wanted to return to the Washington Hilton to deliver his planned speech. However, White House Correspondents’ Association President Weijia Jiang ultimately confirmed that the dinner would be rescheduled sometime in the next 30 days at the alleged behest of the president.
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“Law enforcement has requested that we leave the premises. … [The president] wanted to emphasize that nobody was hurt. The cabinet and the first lady, everybody’s safe,” she explained. “I said earlier tonight that journalism is a public service because when there is an emergency we run toward the crisis, not away from it.”
Jiang went on, “I saw all of you reporting and that’s what we do. Thank God everybody is safe and thank you for coming together tonight.”
Trump made his first appearance of his two presidencies at Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, after skipping the event during his first term and in 2025.
