Donald Trump joked around with the room of journalists who he again accused of producing “fake news” as he hurled insults at his political enemies in a speech at the White House correspondents’ dinner.
A day after the Trump administration abandoned, for now, an extraordinary bid to subpoena reporters over their coverage, the US president attended the rescheduled White House correspondents’ dinner – an annual celebration of press freedom – in Washington on Friday evening.
It came three months after the original event was scrapped in April when a man fired a shotgun at a security checkpoint outside the ballroom.
The president’s hour-long speech was mostly lighthearted and sarcastic, with occasional swipes at the news media, a profession he eventually said he respected, praising journalists for doing an “amazing job”.
Later in the speech, Trump, who has regularly attacked the press over its coverage of his presidency, insisted his war on Iran was going “extremely well”. He told a room full of journalists: “Don’t believe the fake news.”
Trump and his officials joined hundreds of reporters at the Waldorf Astoria, a smaller venue than the vast Washington Hilton ballroom that was evacuated when shots were fired in April, in a suspected targeting of the president and his administration.
The speech included a handful of scripted jokes, one at the expense of Robert F Kennedy Jr, his health secretary who he quipped had personally run over the cow that became the evening’s “very delicious beef tenderloin”. Kennedy has championed the health benefits of beef tallow and animal protein.
Trump also mocked the weight of Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, and Jerry Nadler, the New York congressman, imagining the two wrestling over a piece of cheesecake. He ridiculed the appearance of his critics, including Bruce Springsteen who he said “looks like hell” and took aim at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who had been honored earlier for her White House coverage, saying she does not smile enough. Trump said he “hated” Adam Schiff, a Democratic California senator, and one of his most prominent congressional critics, while mocking the size of his head and neck.
At one point, after a joke about term limits fell flat, Trump broke the fourth wall, asking the audience whether anyone understood “this whole freakin stupid speech that they wrote”.
Trump ended his remarks with a joke that landed awkwardly, declaring that he planned to run and win a fourth election – a reference both to his false claim he won the 2020 election and to his repeated suggestion that he could seek a third term, despite the constitution’s two-term limit.
“I won three times, now I’m going to do it again,” the president said, sarcastically, placing a red “Trump 2028” hat on his head.
Oz Pearlam, a world renowned mentalist, dazzled as the entertainment for the night, in place of a comedian who typically fills the role at the gala.
Before Trump spoke on Friday, a series of journalists who published revealing stories on the president and his administration – including the team behind the Wall Street Journal story alleging he had sent a “bawdy” letter to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 – received awards on stage. Trump has sued the Journal over its reporting.
Weija Jiang, outgoing president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, had sought to underline the importance of duty – both for those in the White House, and the people who cover them.
“No matter how complicated or tense the relationship is between the press and the presidency, what we share is far more important than anything else and that is our duty: to serve the American people,” Jiang told the dinner.
Beginning his remarks, Trump claimed the speech he had originally prepared was “gonna be a doozy”, suggesting he would pare back his attacks at the rescheduled event: “Just like my presidency, the second time is always better – and the third time will be better yet … I’m only kidding.”
The usually celebratory dinner was dedicated in part to Victor Gonzales, a Secret Service officer who was shot and wounded at the original correspondents’ dinner in April while helping stop the gunman, and hotel staff who helped guests during the attack.
The man charged for the shooting, Cole Allen, has pleaded not guilty to attempting to assassinate the president.
An advance team spent weeks putting together a security plan for the new venue, and Sean Curran, the US Secret Service director, told reporters this week that agents were braced for trouble even at the black-tie dinner.
While it is customary for presidents to address the annual White House correspondents’ dinner, Friday’s speech is the first Trump has made at the event in either of his two terms. He boycotted the dinner throughout his first term, and has long attacked the press corps, including many of the journalists in the room.
“It matters that you came here tonight,” Jonathan Karl, chief Washington correspondent at ABC News, told the president on stage.
Trump has sued multiple news organizations over their coverage of him, and routinely dismisses unfavorable stories as “fake news”.
Trump’s administration has gone further still, barring the Associated Press from the White House press pool and limiting other journalists’ access to the Pentagon.
Missing from the guest list this time: Melania Trump, the US first lady; JD Vance, the vice-president; and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state. All had been present in April.
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