WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump is set to attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Friday night, months after the event was derailed by a would-be assassin in April.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump will deliver a “vicious” but “unifying” speech. The president noted in April that he was “all set to really rip it” in his speech before the dinner was cut short.
“The president’s speech will be a combination of unifying yet vicious, and serious yet hilarious, all at the same time, if you can imagine that,” Leavitt told NBC News. “One thing I can assure you, it will be entertaining.”
During the April dinner at the Washington Hilton, the gunman, whom authorities have identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, attempted to sprint past magnetometers reportedly carrying a shotgun, a handgun, and several knives in an alleged effort to reach the ballroom. The suspect was ultimately apprehended after an exchange of gunfire with the Secret Service, with one agent being struck in a bulletproof vest.
Allen allegedly wrote a manifesto in which he detailed an intention to target officials in the Trump administration. He also allegedly attended a No King’s protest, was a shooting range regular, and was part of a group called the Wide Awakes.
Friday’s affair is not being held at the Hilton, where the correspondents’ dinner has taken place for over 50 years. Instead, it will be at the Waldorf Astoria.
White House Correspondents’ Association President Weijia Jiang told C-SPAN the program is essentially the same as April, though the Waldorf is a smaller venue and there are “enhanced security measures.”
“Honestly, the program is very much the same as April. What will be different is the size. It’s a much more intimate gathering,” Jinag said. “The Washington Hilton is a massive ballroom that holds 3000 people. The Waldorf Astoria holds 700 people… so that is the first main difference people will see.”
“There are enhanced security measures. We have a private security firm that has worked closely with Secret Service. There are new measures that every single dinner guest has to take,” she said.
Jiang said that guests will have unique QR codes and photo ID to gain entry through ticketing.
“As you both know, you didn’t have to register to come to the dinner. You didn’t have to provide your name or anything,” she said of April’s event.
“And now every guest has to register, and they’ll get a unique QR code and have to present that with a government-issued photo ID just to get through the ticketing, and then they’ll have to go through layers of security to enter the ballroom,” she added.
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