White House Correspondents’ Association dinner do-over features enhanced security measures, smaller crowd

Published July 24, 2026 7:02pm ET | Updated July 24, 2026 7:02pm ET



The White House Correspondents’ Association will hold its rescheduled annual dinner Friday night under significantly tighter security, moving the event from the cavernous Washington Hilton ballroom to the Waldorf Astoria Washington, D.C., where a sharply reduced crowd is expected to gather following April’s shooting.

About 2,600 people attended the original April dinner, which was cut short after alleged gunman Cole Allen charged a security checkpoint and was stopped before reaching the ballroom. Now, only about 700 people are expected Friday, after the shooter made President Donald Trump and other key officials a top target of his violent entry into the last event, according to the Justice Department.

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