Informing attendees at the event that it would be rescheduled, a visibly emotional Jiang said that. “I said earlier tonight that journalism is a public service, because when there is an emergency, we run to the crisis, not away from it. And on a night when we are thinking about the freedoms and the First Amendment, we must also think about how fragile they are.”
The incident comes amid an uptick in political violence in recent years. Trump himself survived two assassination attempts in 2024. Melissa Hortman, a Minnesota state representative, was shot and killed in a politically motivated attack in June. Conservative influencer Charlie Kirk was assassinated in September.
Among those hustled out of the dinner were members of Trump’s Cabinet: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“Thankful for the swift law enforcement action to protect everyone from gunfire at the White House Correspondents Dinner,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffriesposted on X. “Praying for the safety of those who may remain in harm’s way. The violence and chaos in America must end.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson posted on X that he and his wife were at the event.
“We’re grateful as always for the law enforcement and first responders who acted so quickly to bring the situation under control,” said Johnson, R-La. “Praying for our country tonight.”
The annual event has been held at the Washington Hilton for years. The hotel was also the site of an attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, whom John Hinckley Jr. shot and wounded in 1981.
As the event kicked off, Jiang thanked Trump and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt for attending.
“It is meaningful that you are with us tonight,” Jiang said. “And White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, thank you for everything you and your team does to work with us every day, whether you like it or not.”
Covering the White House is the “best assignment in all of journalism,” Jiang continued.
“We have the privilege of covering the biggest story in the world every single day,” she said.
The gala is meant to celebrate the nation’s most dogged White House reporting, but Trump’s turn as guest of honor was expected to give him another opportunity to air his grievances with the journalists who cover him. He has clashed with reporters during his time in office, though he has taken more aggressive steps during his second term by limiting access for traditional media while boosting conservative and pro-Trump outlets.
Trump feuded with The Associated Press last year over its refusal to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America in its stories. The White House then barred the AP from major presidential events, prompting a lawsuit from the news agency. In June, a U.S. appeals court ruled that Trump could ban the AP from some media events as the case proceeded.
Trump also filed a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times over its coverage of his 2024 campaign; a federal judge tossed the lawsuit in September, but he refiled it weeks later.
A judge this month tossed a $10 billion lawsuit Trump filed against The Wall Street Journal over its publication of a bawdy 50th birthday card he is alleged to have sent to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. Trump has denied writing the letter.
A fixture of Washington’s spring social calendar, the dinner raises funds for the correspondents’ association, as well as several journalism scholarships.
Hundreds of journalists and their guests attend each year, but the gala has drawn criticism from others. This year, a coalition of journalism groups, as well as journalists like former CBS News anchor Dan Rather and former CNN White House reporter Jim Acosta, signed a letter calling on the correspondents’ association to “forcefully demonstrate opposition to President Trump’s efforts to trample freedom of the press.”
“There is a long tradition of presidents attending the White House Correspondents Association Dinner,” the letter said. “But these are not normal times, and this cannot be business as usual with the press standing up to applaud the man who attacks them on a daily basis.”
NBC News Top Stories wp:paragraph
هلدینگ کاسپین استانبول | خرید ملک در ترکیه | صرافی معتبر ایرانی در ترکیه | خرید و فروش طلا در ترکیه | مهاجرت به ترکیه | واردات و صادرات در ترکیه | نیازمندیهای ترکیه | اخبار ترکیه | اخبار جهانی | توریست ایران | خدمات توریستی در ایران | تورهای گردشگری ایران | هلدینگ اول | خدمات کاریابی و فریلنسری و شغل | مرجع اطلاعات ایران (همه چیز در ایران) | کیف پول و خدمات مالی و پرداخت یار | اخبار ایران | تابلو زنده قیمت ارز در ترکیه و استانبول | صرافی آنلاین ترکیه | قیمت طلا و نقره در ترکیه | سرمایه گذاری در ترکیه | جواهرات در ترکیه | نرخ لحظه ای ارزها در استانبول | قیمت دلار امروز در ترکیه | قیمت دلار استانبول امروز | قیمت لحظه ای دلار | اخبار روز ترکیه استانبول | اپلیکیشن ISTEX | اپلیکیشن قیمت لحظه ای دلار و یورو و لیر و ارزها در ترکیه
About the Author
