‘I Fought Like Hell To Stay’: Trump Addresses Assassination Attempt At White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner

President Donald Trump addressed reporters Saturday night at the White House after being evacuated from the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner following multiple gunshots.

U.S. Secret Service (USSS) agents hustled Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and other senior administration officials from the Washington Hilton hotel’s ballroom after the shots were fired during the annual event. Trump told reporters the suspect was stopped by USSS personnel.

“To see a man charge at a security checkpoint armed with multiple weapons— and he was taken down by some very brave members of Secret Service, and they acted very quickly,” Trump stated at the impromptu press conference, referring to the suspect being held in custody. The president was joined by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel, adding that he’d ordered the incident’s video and photos to be released. He also praised law enforcement effusively during a seven-minute opening statement.

WATCH:

The suspect was charged with a federal firearms violation and with assaulting a federal law enforcement agent, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro told reporters in a separate press conference at the Washington Hilton. The hotel, a major event space of the capital city, was notably where President Ronald Reagan was shot, albeit outdoors, in a March 30, 1981 assassination attempt.