Trump Slams Press, Honors Wounded Officer at WHCD
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- Donald Trump spoke at the rescheduled WHCA dinner at the Waldorf Astoria after the April event at the Washington Hilton was cancelled by a shooting, mixing jokes ("the second time is always better") with barbs at "fake news" and reporters he has "sparred with and even sued."
- Trump honored Secret Service officer Victor Gonzalez, who was shot at the April 28 dinner, declaring "we settle our differences not with bullets, but with open and vigorous debate" and refusing to let "a deranged loser with a gun" change America.
- The April shooting suspect, 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, has been charged with attempting to assassinate the president after being tackled by agents just short of the staircase leading to the ballroom.
- WHCA President Weijia Jiang of CBS News said the dinner would return to the Washington Hilton next year, adding she would "refuse to let an act of violence have the final word."
- Trump joked about running for a third (and "fourth") term despite the 22nd Amendment's two-term limit, and stood to shake hands with a Wall Street Journal team honored for coverage of his links to Jeffrey Epstein.
- The rescheduled gala drew roughly 700 guests under tightened security — down from more than 2,000 in April — with city blocks cordoned off, national guard deployed, and guests screened twice via QR codes and wristbands.
Why it matters: Trump's speech landed amid heightened White House-press friction — he threatened broadcast licences last week over networks that skipped his primetime address, and Friday he aimed personal barbs at reporters seated metres away, including the WSJ team he has sued. The rescheduled dinner, scaled from 2,000+ to ~700 guests under heavy security, was deliberately framed by both Trump and WHCA as a refusal to cede ground to political violence.
