Triumphant Trump returns to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner - AOL
The second time is the charm. And in the words of Donald Trump, the second time “will be even better”.
The tuxedos had returned. So had the sequins, the gossip and the sense that Washington was, as usual, taking itself a little too seriously.
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner – featuring the US president himself – was back for its second go.
“The president looks forward to finishing what he started,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday, confirming Mr Trump’s attendance. “I encourage everyone watching tomorrow night to tune in for what promises to be a very entertaining and memorable evening.”
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, who recently returned from maternity leave, joined the president at the head table - Jonathan Ernst
Three months ago, on April 24, an armed would-be assassin had crashed through two checkpoints with one man in his sights: Mr Trump.
What was meant to be a night of glamour, back-slapping and jokes – with Mr Trump attending the dinner for the first time in almost a decade – had descended into panic after shots rang out just as the starters were served.
Within hours of the annual party at Washington’s Hilton Hotel kicking off, journalists and the who’s who of DC were scrambling under the table as Secret Service agents crashed through the plates of burrata and bottles of champagne to secure Mr Trump and bundle him away to safety.
Cole Thomas Allen, 31, was later detained and charged with attempting to kill the US president. He has pleaded not guilty. Nobody was injured in the ambush, save one Secret Service agent who was shot during an exchange of gunfire while wearing a ballistic vest.
Donald Trump and wife Melania, the first lady, were evacuated shortly after this photo was taken at the April 25 dinner - Jonathan Ernst
Victor Gonzales, the agent who was shot as the suspect was pushed to the ground and handcuffed, returned to the second dinner and was honoured for his bravery.
On Friday night, the excitement was tinged with a slight air of anxiety. Secret Service agents dressed in khakis eyeballed the queue of journalists as they filed into the ballroom at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, the new, apparently safer and more secure venue for the annual soiree.
Roads around the hotel had been closed off, and America’s capital city was awash with whispers about the heightened security. On their way in, trepidatious guests shuffled past a pair of armed officers, their assault rifles resting in their forearms, and through huge metal detectors, known as “mags” in White House parlance.
Women emptied the contents of their clutch bags onto plastic tables, men swanned around in their tuxedos. The crowd was noticeably smaller – the guest list chopped, others choosing not to come because of prior commitments (the party was now taking place in the middle of July, after all), or avoiding it out of fear.
The guest list for the event in the Presidential Ballroom was much tighter this time following the security scare in April - Eric Lee
Some people feel the dinner should not have been rescheduled at all. Many mused it was never a good look in the first place: journalists in formal wear cosying up to their sources, or the subjects of their reporting. Others suggested it might be inviting trouble – encouraging Washington’s media class to mingle with the city’s elite in one of its most exclusive hotels.
But the apprehension was quickly dispelled by the white-glove service and towers of macarons that decorated the tables. The champagne was flowing, the jewels glittering.
And any latent anxiety dissipated when Mr Trump walked onstage.
Donald Trump shook hands with some journalists including Weijia Jiang, the CBS News senior White House correspondent - Jonathan Ernst
“I hope that everyone finally got to enjoy their entire very delicious beef tenderloins, very special beef, and I want you all to know that Bobby Kennedy, who’s right here, personally ran over the cow in his car,” he joked, gesturing to his health secretary.
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At another point, he quipped: “After the gunshots, many people yelled ‘get down, get down,’ which caused Nicki Minaj to start twerking – can you believe it? She’s the only one who really understood what that meant”.
Those who had made the journey remarked at how pleasant the tighter guest list was. Tables had been shrunk, with many losing their seats.
Seb Gorka, the president’s counter-terrorism chief, was one of those who seemed to go without. He was seen standing for the entire duration of the dinner, much to the confusion of the journalists in the room.
Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, took part in an act with ‘Oz the Mentalist’ Pearlman - MANDEL NGAN
Perhaps the most awkward moment of the night came when the Wall Street Journal was rewarded for its past reporting on Mr Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
The emphasis here really was on the word “past,” as Wolf Blitzer, the CNN host who was presenting the award, appeared at great pains to point out. Mr Trump has long insisted that he ended his friendship with Epstein long before any criminal activity was suspected.
Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary, chatted with members of the press and other guests - Jonathan Ernst
Linda McMahon, the US education secretary, smirked. Mr Gorka covered his mouth while Mr Trump appeared to take it in good faith. He laughed and shrugged before graciously shaking the hands of each of the reporters behind the story, which ultimately led to the release of the Epstein files.
“Do I get any say in these awards?” he asked, to peals of laughter. “This night had been very hard for me,” he added with a good-natured smile.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the secretary of health, was also among the guests - MANDEL NGAN
Of course, the evening was not without some Trump classics. The president took aim at reporters for dealing in 90 per cent “fake news”, praised his ballroom and joked about addressing a room full of people suffering from “Trump derangement syndrome”.
He lambasted “Fake Tapper”: see Jake Tapper, the CNN journalist who last year published a book about Joe Biden’s cognitive decline and his administration’s alleged attempt to cover it up. The glamorous Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich, the incoming president of the White House Correspondents’ Association who is an outlier in her network for giving the president a hard time, was labelled both equally “beautiful” and “nasty”.
Donald Trump praised Jacqui Heinrich, the incoming White House Correspondents’ Association president, for her looks but called her ‘nasty’ - Rod Lamkey
Later he skewered Gavin Newsom, the Californian governor who is one of his favourite targets. “I was disappointed that Gavin Newsom didn’t show up. He didn’t show up. He should be here.
“But I heard that he recently said that we will lose our country if we don’t fight fire with fire. And to be fair, there’s only one thing we know about Gavin, and that’s that he definitely doesn’t want to fight fire with water.”
It had the air of something more exclusive than your bog-standard journalism awards do.
Karoline Leavitt had promised the second attempt at the event would be memorable and entertaining - MANDEL NGAN
In amongst the back-slapping and humble bragging was genuine repartee. For a man whose political career has been so defined by his love-hate relationship with the press, there was no love lost on Friday night.
Much like Mr Trump’s second term, the president had grabbed this second dinner with both hands and made it his own.
The evening was complete with a joke about running for a third time. “Just like my presidency, the second time is always better. And the third time will be better yet,” he said.