Planned coverage of the 2026 White House Correspondents Dinner—the first to be attended by Donald Trump in two terms in office—has now pretty definitively gone out the window, as the event’s opening moments were interrupted by a sudden evacuation of the entire dais by Secret Service. Watching on C-SPAN, footage showed Trump and his wife Melania being entertained by a magic trick from mentalist Oz Pearlman—the featured entertainer for the evening—when loud noises were heard. Within a few seconds, Trump and the entire dais (including Vice President JD Vance, as well as several members of the Trump cabinet in the audience) had been ushered off the stage and away from their tables, as rifle-toting police took the stage.
Details about what actually happened at the Washington Hilton are still unclear, although C-SPAN reports that one of their correspondents had been told by police that the site was a “crime scene.” (TMZ has a report that shots were fired outside the ballroom, and that a shooter was killed; CNN, meanwhile, is reporting that a shooter is in custody. So, chaos.) White House Correspondents Association president Weijia Jiang took the stage a few minutes ago to announce that the event will continue, and that further details will be revealed. Many of the journalists at the event eventually evacuated at police direction, after being kept in the room for several minutes after the event occurred, but some remain in the ballroom. Trump is reported to be safe, and, in fact, the White House has issued a statement that he wants to return and still speak at the event, while saying that the decision will ultimately be left to law enforcement. Reports state that no one inside the ballroom was injured during the event.
Update, 9:45 p.m., 4/25/2026: The White House Correspondents Dinner has now been canceled, at least for the evening, with Trump stating that he intends to reconvene the event some time in the next 30 days. According to a Truth Social post, Trump is expected to give a briefing from the White House in response to the night’s events at roughly 10:15 p.m., Eastern.
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