Donald Trump said Saturday night that when a gunman charged a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, his first instinct was to mistake the sound for a falling tray.
"I heard a noise, and sort of thought it was a tray," Trump said during an impromptu news conference in the White House briefing room. "I thought it was a tray going down many times." He added that he watched to assess the situation but acknowledged he probably should have ducked faster.
The president was seated at the high table inside the Washington DC Hilton ballroom when the incident occurred. He was in conversation with his wife Melania and Weijia Jiang, president of the correspondents' association and a CBS News journalist, when Secret Service agents rushed to shield him and escorted him out of the ballroom.
Melania Trump recognized the threat immediately. "I think she knew it right away," Trump said. "She was saying 'it's a bad noise.'" He described his wife as "very cognizant" of what was happening.
The gunman, whom Trump characterized as "a sick person" and "a lone wolf wack job," fired on a Secret Service agent whose bulletproof vest stopped the shot. The suspect was apprehended in the lobby outside the ballroom before reaching the doors.
Trump said the gunman was from California and appeared to be working alone, though he noted it was too early to determine if the attack had political motivations or connections to the U.S. conflict with Iran. "He was running full blast, and they got him before he got any further," Trump said. "I was very far away."
The president, still in his black tie dinner jacket, was flanked by Vice President JD Vance, FBI Director Kash Patel, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, and longtime aide Dan Scavino were also present.
Trump praised Secret Service performance, saying the agency handled the situation better than at the Butler, Pennsylvania rally where he faced another assassination attempt during the 2024 campaign. He said agents were expected to visit the gunman's apartment as the investigation moved forward.
Comparing himself to Abraham Lincoln, Trump suggested that prominent figures draw such threats. "The people that make the biggest impact, they're the ones that they go after," he said.
In a lighter moment, Trump joked that if Secretary of State Rubio, his 2016 campaign rival, had warned him about the dangers of the presidency, "maybe I wouldn't have run. I'll take a pass." But he quickly added, "It's a dangerous profession but I don't view it that way. I'm here to do a job."
Author James Rodriguez: "Trump's casual tone about a live shooting at a major state dinner raises questions about how close the threat really came, but the bulletproof vest that saved the agent tells you everything you need to know about what the Secret Service was genuinely worried about that night."
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