UFC president and CEO Dana White called the shooting at this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner “f***ing awesome,” after he and others were evacuated from the gala.
“It started getting noisy. Tables getting flipped over, guys running in with guns,” White, 56, said while walking out of the hotel. “They were screaming ‘Get down!’ but I didn’t get down. It was f***ing awesome. I literally took every minute of it in. It was a pretty crazy unique experience.”
White — along with many others, including President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, first lady Melania Trump and other high level government officials — were evacuated from the Washington Hilton ballroom during the Saturday, April 25, dinner, after shots rang out near the venue’s “main magnetometer,” per the Secret Service.
“We were sitting right in front of where the president was,” White continued. “Guys came in looking for shooters. They came towards our table. I thought the shooter was over by us or something. It was a unique experience.”
Moments before the shooting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that there would be “shots fired” during President Trump’s speech at the dinner, seemingly referring to the contents of his prepared remarks.
“[Trump] is ready to rumble,” Leavitt, 28, said on the red carpet. “I will tell you, this speech tonight will be classic Donald J. Trump.”
She continued, “[The speech] will be funny. It will be entertaining. There will be some shots fired tonight in the room.”
Trump did not have the chance to give his speech after the evacuation (despite the president’s wishes), but told reporters at the White House that he was “honored” to be a target of the attack.
“When you look at our great presidents, [this] doesn’t happen to people who don’t do anything,” Trump, 79, told reporters later on Saturday.
He continued, “I was totally shocked when something like this happens. It happened to me a little bit, and that never changes. The fact, we were sitting right next to each other, first lady [Melania Trump] 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. He really got him … but it was a gun.”
Officials confirmed that a 31-year-old man was apprehended in connection to the shooting and has since been charged with two counts of using a firearm and one count of assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon.
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Trump confirmed via Truth Social that he, Melania and other cabinet members — including Leavitt — were all safe after being evacuated.
One Secret Service agent was shot, but was wearing protective gear and taken to a hospital for treatment. Trump said the agent was “saved” due to the gear.
The rest of the event was canceled, per White House Correspondents’ President Weijia Jiang, but will be rescheduled sometime in the next 30 days.
