President Donald Trump called on Americans to “recommit” to resolve their differences peacefully after a shooter disrupted the White House Correspondents Dinner Saturday evening.
The Secret Service took a gunman into custody after he ran past a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton. The gunman shot a Secret Service agent, but did not wound him, before law enforcement subdued him and took him into custody.
“As you know, this is not the first time in the past couple of years that our republic has been attacked by a would-be assassin who sought to kill,” the president said in a press conference after announcing that law enforcement had apprehended the shooter.
“In Butler, Pennsylvania, less than two years ago—you all know that story—and in Palm Beach, Florida, a few months after that,” he faced assassination attempts, Trump noted. “In light of this evening’s events, I ask that all Americans recommit with their hearts and resolving our differences peacefully.”
Trump said “the most impactful people” face assassination threats. He cited President Abraham Lincoln.
“Nobody told me this was such a dangerous profession,” he said, joking that if Marco Rubio “would have told me, maybe I wouldn’t have run.”
Yet Trump insisted that the work is worth the danger.
“I’m here to do a job. It’s part of the job, it is a dangerous—I can’t imagine that there’s any profession that’s more dangerous,” he said. “We’ve got, I think, the most successful, the hottest country anywhere in the world.”
“We’re going to do great things. With that comes risk,” he noted. “No question about it.”
A reporter asked him if facing political violence is “the cost of doing business,” and Trump said, “Yeah, it is.”
Trump explained the confusion at the White House Correspondents Dinner.
“A man charged a security checkpoint armed with multiple weapons, and he was taken down by some very brave members of Secret Service,” the president explained. He later noted that the assailant “charged from 50 yards away.”
Trump also released footage of the incident.
The shooter hit one officer, whose bulletproof vest saved his life.
“The vest did the job,” Trump said. “We told him we love him and respect him.”
The president mentioned that the ballroom he intends to build at the White House would be more secure. “We need the ballroom, that’s why Secret Service, the military, are demanding it,” he said.
The assailant has been captured, and Trump described him as a “lone wolf wack-job.”
The president promised that they would reschedule the White House Correspondents Dinner “within the next 30 days, and we’ll make it bigger and better and even nicer.” He said he “fought like hell to stay,” but law enforcement recommended against it.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche predicted that the Justice Department would bring many criminal charges against the attacker.
FBI Director Kash Patel praised law enforcement, saying, “You saw the very best of America tonight.”
The first few weeks of 2026 saw at least 10 incidents involving serious threats against Trump or members of his administration.
