US President Donald Trump will attend the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on July 24, he said in a social media post on Tuesday, after the annual event was postponed following a shooting.
The black-tie gathering of journalists and politicians in Washington was postponed after a suspect stormed a security checkpoint and fired a shotgun outside the event on April 25, with Trump present.
Trump and first lady Melania Trump were safely rushed out of the dinner.
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In a letter to association members on Tuesday, WHCA president and CBS News senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang said the decision to reschedule was not “automatic”, and the event will feature “significantly enhanced safety measures and new access procedures”.
Trump – who has a history of maligning the media – posted that Jiang asked him to attend and speak, and that he accepted. He added: “I don’t know whether or not I will give the same rather nasty statements, at least as it concerns certain people, but we will soon find out.”
Trump said the event would take place at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington. The Trump Organisation developed the hotel, once a federal office building, and sold it in 2022.