Secret Service agents quickly escorted Trump offstage as eyewitnesses reported hearing gunshots
President Donald Trump was evacuated from the stage at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday, April 25 amid eyewitness reports of gunshots.
The dramatic moment was captured on video, with Secret Service agents rushing the stage to escort the president offstage.
First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt were also seen on camera being removed from the ballroom at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., as was Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Eyewitnesses reported hearing gunshots and smelling gun powder, but details of the incident remain unclear.
Shortly after the incident, Trump, 79, wrote on Truth Social that "the shooter has been apprehended."
"Quite an evening in D.C. Secret Service and Law Enforcement did a fantastic job," the president said. "They acted quickly and bravely. The shooter has been apprehended, and I have recommended that we 'LET THE SHOW GO ON' but, will entirely be guided by Law Enforcement. They will make a decision shortly. Regardless of that decision, the evening will be much different than planned, and we’ll just, plain, have to do it again. President DONALD J. TRUMP."
Credit: Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty
In a follow-up post on Truth Social, Trump added: "Law Enforcement has requested that we leave the premises, consistent with protocol, which we will do, immediately. I will be giving a press conference in 30 minutes from the White House Press Briefing Room. The First Lady, plus the Vice President, and all Cabinet members, are in perfect condition. We will be speaking to you in a half an hour. I have spoken with all the representatives in charge of the event, and we will be rescheduling within 30 days."
Credit: Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty
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At the same hotel in 1981, newly inaugurated President Ronald Reagan was leaving a speech and walking to his motorcade on March 30, 1981, when John Warnock Hinckley Jr. fired six bullets out of a revolver.
Trump himself, of course, survived an assassination attempt on July 13, 2024, after being rushed off the stage at a Pennsylvania rally. Trump was mid-speech when he was grazed by a bullet. 20-year-old shooting suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks was shot and killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper.
