Donald Trump to Attend Rescheduled White House Correspondents Dinner After Assassination Attempt — 'We Cannot Allow Lunatics to Change Our Way of Life'
Donald Trump has declared he will be attending the rescheduled White House Correspondents Dinner, despite assassination attempt.
June 3 2026, Published 8:42 a.m. ET
Donald Trump has confirmed he will attend the rescheduled White House Correspondents Dinner, insisting “lunatics” won’t stop him living his life.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the president, 79, delivered the powerful message on Truth Social where he told of the new date for the event, which was abruptly canceled in April after gunman Cole Allen, 31, stormed past a Secret Service checkpoint wielding a shotgun, handgun and multiple knives.
Increased Level Of Security
The rescheduled event will feature increased security after April's incident.
The dinner, which will feature ramped up security, has since been rescheduled for July 24, according to the White House Correspondents' Association, which organizes the annual do.
Trump said: "In a sign of strength and fortitude, it was just announced that the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which violently ended rather abruptly on April 25th, will be rescheduled to July 24th.
"This announcement is a very good thing in that we cannot allow Lunatics to change our way of life, or even its scheduling.
"I was asked to be there, and speak, by Weijia Jiang, President of The White House Correspondents’ Association, and have accepted."
'It Will Be A Hot Ticket'
The president insisted the rescheduled event will not be one to miss.
Trump revealed that the event will be hosted at his former Washington, DC, hotel, now the Waldorf Astoria.
"In any event, it will be a 'HOT' ticket! Interestingly, the location will be The Waldorf Astoria, on Pennsylvania Avenue, a Building and Ballroom that I built."
He noted that he may have to redo his speech, floating: "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."
Allen is currently serving pretrial detention in Washington; he faces life in prison on charges of attempted assassination of a US President, among others.
Diving For Cover
Cole Allen is accused of attempting to assassinate President Trump during April's event.
The attack was the third alleged assassination attempt on Trump in three years, the first took place at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in July 2024, the second followed three months later at a golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Cole allegedly shot a Secret Service agent while sprinting through a magnetometer and was immediately apprehended.
Secret Service opened fire on Cole, startling the dinner attendees in an adjacent room, prompting many to dive for cover under their tables.
Later that evening, Trump gave a press conference from the White House Press Briefing room _ still wearing his tuxedo — where he said he would like to see the dinner rescheduled within 30 days.
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The July event is likely to be a 'more intimate gathering.'
The WHCA said in its email that the rescheduled dinner will feature enhanced security and screening processes after many were left wondering how Allen was able to infiltrate the venue heavily armed.
"The event will feature significantly enhanced safety measures and new access procedures," Jiang said in her email to WHCA members.
The re-run will also "be a more intimate gathering," presumably with less guests, according to the dispatch.
The dinner has been held annually for over a century and is meant as a celebration of the First Amendment and U.S. citizens' freedom of speech rights.
