Trump says he will attend rescheduled correspondents’ dinner

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will attend the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in July, reviving an annual gathering that was cut short in April after an armed man rushed a security checkpoint outside the event.

The dinner is now set for July 24, association president Weijia Jiang said. Trump said in a Truth Social post that it will be held at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington, D.C.

“I was asked to be there, and speak, by Weijia Jiang, President of The White House Correspondents’ Association, and have accepted,” Trump wrote. “I don’t know whether or not I will give the same rather nasty statements, at least as it concerns certain people, but we will soon find out.”

Jiang, a CBS News reporter, said the association’s board decided to reschedule the dinner “after thoughtful consideration and input from our members.” She said the organization would not let the April attack define the event.

“We will not allow an act of violence to have the last word, especially during a year when we are reflecting on America 250 and everything we stand for,” Jiang said.

The original dinner, scheduled for April 25, was disrupted when a suspect rushed a security checkpoint leading to the venue while armed with guns and knives, officials said. Al Jazeera reported there was an exchange of gunfire and that the suspect and a security officer were injured, though not severely. Neither suffered penetrating bullet wounds, and one round lodged in the officer’s bulletproof vest, the outlet reported.

NBC News identified the suspect as Cole Tomas Allen and reported that he has pleaded not guilty to four counts, including attempting to assassinate Trump. Al Jazeera identified him as Thomas Cole Allen. Government leaders at the event, including Trump and first lady Melania Trump, were evacuated by the Secret Service, and the dinner was canceled, Al Jazeera reported.

“Our thoughts remain with the officer who was injured and with everyone who experienced that evening,” Jiang wrote in a note to the White House press pool. “We are indebted to the US Secret Service, law enforcement and the hotel staff whose swift response protected our guests and our staff.”

Jiang said the association has raised enough money to allow members who bought tickets for the April dinner to attend the rescheduled program at no additional cost. The group also plans to provide financial support for scholarship winners to travel to what she described as “a more intimate gathering.”

“This dinner will not only be an opportunity to carry out our program,” Jiang said. “It will be a statement that violence has no place in American life and a free press will not be intimidated into silence. As you have all demonstrated, courage and community can and should rise above.”

Trump called the decision to reschedule “a sign of Strength and Fortitude” and wrote that “we cannot allow Lunatics to change our way of life, or even its scheduling.” He added that the event would be a “HOT” ticket.

The dinner, a long-running annual gathering of politicians, journalists and guests, has been a fraught venue for Trump. Al Jazeera reported that he attended in 2011, when then-President Barack Obama and comedian Seth Meyers joked about him, his reality television career and his promotion of the false “birther” conspiracy about Obama. The outlet reported that this year’s dinner did not include a comedian, a break from a tradition that began in 1983, and that mentalist Oz Pearlman had been slated to perform.

Press freedom advocates have warned that the dinner could give Trump a platform to attack the news media, Al Jazeera reported. The outlet said groups urged organizers before the April event not to “normalise” Trump’s attacks on reporters and described the Trump administration’s actions as “the most systematic and comprehensive assault on freedom of the press by a sitting American president.”