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United States President Donald Trump will participate this Friday in the new edition of the White House Correspondents' Dinner, which will be held after the April gala was abruptly interrupted by a failed assassination attempt against the president.
The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA), which brings together the journalists in charge of covering the Presidency and organizes this gala in Washington every year, has assured that it will strengthen security measures for the event.
As a result of the attack, the new Correspondents' Dinner will change venues and will take place at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Washington, which once belonged to the Trump family, instead of the Washington Hilton Hotel, the traditional venue for the celebration.
"The President looks forward to concluding what he started before a despicable assassination attempt thwarted the original event last April, as we all know, and I encourage everyone watching us tomorrow night to tune in to what promises to be a very entertaining and memorable evening," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on Thursday.
On April 26, the dinner was suspended after Cole Allen, a 31-year-old man, tried to break into the room where the gala was taking place, attended by some 2,000 people, including the President, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and dozens of officials.
His action triggered a shootout with security agents that left no casualties, but forced the evacuation of the President, who later appeared at an emergency press conference at the White House and asked for the event to be held again as soon as possible.
Allen, who left written evidence that his target was members of the Trump Administration, is charged with the attempted assassination of the President, a crime that can be punished with life imprisonment, in addition to two charges related to the use of weapons and another for assault on an officer.
The incident raised serious security concerns surrounding the gala, as the hotel allowed access to guests not associated with the event and the suspect had booked a room to stay inside the building and thus bypass security checkpoints.
The White House Correspondents' Association, founded in 1914, held its first annual dinner in 1921, and since the participation of President Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) in 1924, all U.S. presidents have attended this event at least once. EFE
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