President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were urgently evacuated by the Secret Service on Saturday night from the White House Correspondents' Dinner after what appeared to be gunshots were heard near the ballroom of the Washington Hilton in Washington D.C.
The incident abruptly interrupted the event, which Trump was attending for the first time as a sitting president, breaking the boycott he maintained throughout his first term and in 2025.
According to BBC journalist Bernd Debusmann Jr., who was on the scene, approximately five shots were heard before Secret Service agents evacuated the president, shouting "shots" and "stay down," with their weapons drawn.
After Trump's departure, agents from the Countermeasures Assault Team took position on stage with long guns aimed toward the back of the room.
Other high-ranking officials were also evacuated by their respective security teams: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel, and advisor Stephen Miller.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was seen being escorted out of the venue, apparently limping, according to the press pool from the Secret Service.
The BBC presenter Sumi Somaskanda, who was sitting across from Kash Patel, described the FBI director's reaction: "I was sitting directly in front of him, and when the shots were reported, he quickly shielded his girlfriend with his body and threw himself to the ground."
Just before being escorted off the stage, Melania Trump displayed a look of concern on her face as she appeared to react to something in the crowd, according to a live broadcast from C-SPAN.
The nearly 2,600 attendees at the event took refuge under the tables amid a scene of great confusion, as waiters fled towards the front of the dining room.
Members of the press pool accompanying Trump reported hearing Secret Service agents confirm that an alleged shooter had been apprehended.
Trump himself confirmed it shortly after on his platform Truth Social: "I have recommended that the show go on, but I will completely defer to law enforcement. Regardless of that decision, the evening will be very different from what was planned, and we will simply have to reschedule it."
The BBC's Washington correspondent, Daniel Bush, described the incident as "the first security breach at the dinner in recent memory, if it has ever happened," and noted that it was also "the first time Trump attended the event as an incumbent president."
This incident adds to a series of threats against Trump during his second term. In February of this year, the Secret Service shot and killed an armed man who stormed into Mar-a-Lago carrying a firearm and a fuel canister.
Trump had accepted the invitation from the Correspondents' Association in March 2026, justifying his previous refusals by citing the media coverage he considered "extraordinarily harsh." His last attendance at the event was in 2011 as a private citizen.
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