Trump expected to attend White House Correspondents' Dinner redo after April attack
President Trump is expected to attend the redo of the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Friday night after an armed assailant upended April's dinner.
Updated on: July 24, 2026 / 12:57 PM EDT / CBS News
Three months after the suspect was stopped outside the Washington Hilton's ballroom, Mr. Trump is speaking at the White House Correspondents' Association's do-over of the dinner at a different Washington hotel. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president "looks forward to finishing what he started before a despicable assassination attempt derailed the original event back in April," and promised the evening will be "very entertaining and memorable."
Secret Service officials have warned that nationwide threats have reached an unprecedented level, with agents opening roughly 10,000 protective intelligence cases since January — a nearly 40% increase from the same period last year. The Secret Service has been preparing for the makeup dinner, and Secret Service Director Sean Curran told reporters in a briefing Wednesday that every venue is reevaluated before every presidential visit.
"We will always evaluate every site, and right now we have an advance team there, and they will take back, and they will set up a plan to set that site up for success, just like we did at the White House Correspondents' Dinner at the Hilton," Curran said. "That is a success."
On Friday night, the White House Correspondents' Association will present an award for exceptional service to the Secret Service officer who was struck in his protective vest at the April dinner, along with the entire Washington Hilton staff.