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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that President Donald Trump will deliver an "entertaining" speech Friday night at the White House Correspondents' Dinner after gunfire abruptly ended the original event in April.
"The President’s speech will be a combination of unifying yet vicious, and serious yet hilarious, all at the same time, if you can imagine that," Leavitt said on Friday about the president’s upcoming address at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C.
"One thing I can assure you, it will be entertaining," she added.
The annual dinner has historically been held at the Washington Hilton. Chaos, however, broke out at this year’s banquet when an armed suspect, Cole Allen, stormed the event in what authorities say was an attempt to assassinate the president.
TRUMP HEADS BACK TO CORRESPODENTS' DINNER MONTHS AFTER GUNFIRE FORCED EVACUATION
President Donald Trump speaks at Wheeler High School on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in Marietta, Ga. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)
The incident prompted Secret Service agents to rush the president and first lady from the room as guests scrambled for cover, abruptly ending the dinner.
While first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not be in attendance Friday due to prior commitments, many Cabinet officials will be present.
WHITE HOUSE REVEALS WHO'S JOINING TRUMP AT CORRESPONDENTS' DINNER – AND WHO CAN'T ATTEND
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Thursday, July 23, 2026, in Washington. (Alex Brandon/AP)
FBI Director Kash Patel, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick are among those attending.
"In a sign of Strength and Fortitude, it was just announced that The White House Correspondents’ Dinner , which violently ended rather abruptly on April 25th, will be rescheduled to July 24th. This announcement is a very good thing in that we cannot allow Lunatics to change our way of life, or even its scheduling," Trump had written on Truth Social in June.
Armed Secret Service agents stand on stage during a shooting incident at the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton on April 25, 2026, in Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump and other government officials were evacuated from the hotel after gunshots. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
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"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 added.
Fox News' Jacqui Heinrich contributed to this report.
Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.
