President Donald Trump attended the annual White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) Dinner Friday night for the first time in either of his two presidential terms.
The event was rescheduled from its original April 25 date after a crazed gunman allegedly tried to assassinate the 47th president, bull rushing security with several weapons and firing a shot before he was taken into custody.
Here are five top highlights from the dinner:
TRUMP HEADS BACK TO CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER MONTHS AFTER GUNFIRE FORCED EVACUATION
Trump and the press typically find themselves at odds, and while Friday night had its share of uncomfortable moments, both sides were able to find some common ground — especially after sharing a scary moment at the originally scheduled dinner in April.
Before presenting one of the many awards of the night, ABC’s Jon Karl thanked the president for his attendance.
“Mr. President, I want to say it matters that you came here tonight,” said Karl. “For more than 100 years, presidents have chosen to sit in a room of reporters who asked tough and often uncomfortable questions, and who report without fear or favor. It’s important. Thank you for being here.”
TRUMP PRAISES PRESS AFTER WHCD SHOOTING, SAYS UNITY AT DINNER WAS ‘BEAUTIFUL’
WHCA outgoing President and the dinner’s emcee Weijia Jiang also had kind words for the president, just before she introduced him to speak and after discussing the importance of the First Amendment.
“President Trump, I’ve covered you for a long time, and so have many reporters in this room. When we ask questions, you push back, you give us answers and we push back,” she said. “You have always been a deal guy. Well, that’s the deal. And the First Amendment is a done deal. And that’s what we toast tonight. The freedoms that brought us back together even after they were threatened.”
“So let’s raise a glass to what makes ours a beautiful country.”
Later in the night, Trump concluded his speech with a warm message for the press delivered in his own style.
“I just want to say, this room — I have tremendous respect for the people in this room,” Trump said.
“Sometimes I don’t feel you treat me fair, maybe you do, I don’t know,” he continued. “I don’t feel that. But sometimes you treat me fairly, and I have a lot of respect for your profession. It’s amazing. And I just want to thank you for having me, and it’s been fun.”
Trump made a series of jokes throughout his speech, some targeting the press, and others targeting people he appointed to positions of power.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was on the receiving end of a quip from the 47th president after Trump told attendees he hoped they enjoyed their beef tenderloin dinner.
“I want you all to know that Bobby Kennedy, who’s right here, personally ran over the cow with his car,” he jabbed. “And he cut it up and he brought it here for you to eat tonight.”
Kennedy is well known for his eccentric history with animals, including once saying he captured a raccoon and cut its genitals off, viral videos of him catching dangerous snakes and once using a chainsaw to remove the head of a dead whale that washed up on Cape Cod.
“Bobby also suggested an appetizer featuring his favorite cut of male raccoon roadkill. But we drew the line at that,” the president went on. “We said, ‘No, we’re not doing that.'”
Kennedy is also known for pushing a more red-meat centric diet and has embraced the push for restaurants to use beef tallow to fry their food instead of seed oils.
Trump also joked about the shooting at the first WHCA dinner earlier this year, which pro-MAGA rapper Nikki Minaj attended.
“But after hearing the gunshots, many people yelled, ‘get down, get down!’ Which caused Nicki Minaj to start twerking, do you believe? Get down! She’s the only one that really understood what that meant,” Trump joked, earning laughter from the tough crowd.
Throughout his speech, he repeatedly used one of his famous phrases — referring to the press as “fake news,” but took some direct shots at certain outlets and figures.
He unexpectedly flipped the script in a misdirection from what seemed like an update on the Iran war.
“A once feared and powerful regime that relentlessly attacked America has finally been toppled,” he said. “Their former leaders have been removed and they’re now being run by a gay dictator facing internal divisions. But I, for one, wish Bari Weiss all the best at CBS News.”
Trump’s nemesis, Kaitlan Collins of CNN, was also on the receiving end of a brutal blow.
“I thought Kaitlan Collins had really made it big with a major new sponsorship, but then I informed her that it wasn’t her on the Bud Light can, it was Dylan Mulvaney,” he said, referencing the beer brand’s failed marketing campaign featuring a transgender influencer.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who is currently in the confirmation process to take on the job full-time, became part of mentalist Oz Pearlman’s routine to close out the night.
In a convoluted bit, Oz asked Blanche to make up an amount of money he had in his wallet. Blanche said $130, but Oz guessed the correct amount — $85. Then, Oz asked a man sitting next to Blanche to choose a single bill from Blanche’s wallet, and then had Blanche sign it. Blanche signed it, and was instructed to sit on it.
For the remainder of the act, Oz asked members of the crowd to stand — including Fox News’ Kevin Corke — and dream up a person dead or alive who they wished they could interview. He guessed several of interview subjects’ names correctly, and even enlisted the help of a member of the crowd, who also made correct guesses.
After that, he enlisted audience members, once of which was former National Security Administrator and current U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Watlz, to chose important dates and random numbers. When multiplied, those numbers equaled 53,670,682.
Oz then turned back to Blanche and asked him to stand up and look at the serial number of the bill he was sitting on. Audience members were stunned to find out it was No. 53670682.
Trump explained that he was tired of asking his communications team, Karoline Leavitt and Steven Cheung, if he had received any calls from the press. So instead he started to give journalists his direct line, which has turned out to be a disaster.
“That was the stupidest thing I ever did,” the president said. “I’m getting a call every 3.7 minutes.”
“Every once in a while, it’ll be one of the people in this room that I like and I’ll pick it up,” he said, referencing taking phone calls from Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich and joking that she only wants to discuss “horrible” subjects.
But he said that other callers are from outlets that he has never heard of or are just starting out.
“You know, I pick up every once in a while, ‘hello, I’m from Reno, Nevada. We’re a startup paper. We’re calling us the Reno Express,'” Trump continued. “I’ll say, ‘Do you believe it, I’m the president of the United States.'”
“‘Mr. President, could I have your views on Iran?’ And I just hang up,” Trump continued. “No, I get the craziest calls. I mean, some of them. My wife said, I can’t believe you do this. This is a hell of a way to live.”
Trump had never attended the WHCA Dinner in either of his two presidencies, a total of five years, breaking with long-held tradition for a night of comradery with the press and government officials. His attendance Friday night was a major storyline — especially after the event in April was foiled by a lone gunman.
The president laid his plans for next year towards the conclusion of his hour-and-four-minute remarks.
“It’s an honor to do it,” Trump said of his attendance. “I’ve been to it numerous times, but as president, I haven’t been here, and I’m glad.”
Trump expects to attend again in 2027, but joked that his decision could depend on how the press behaves.
“They said, ‘Would you do it next year?’ I said, ‘I will be back next year,'” Trump said. “Now if you get really, really nasty, maybe not. I don’t know. But we’re going to be back next year.”
Trump attended the WHCA Dinner in 2011 and 2015, when he was a successful businessman, real estate tycoon and reality television personality.
