When guests arrive for the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Friday at Washington’s Waldorf Astoria hotel, security will be much tighter, the guest list smaller, the partying pared down.
President Donald Trump is expected to speak at 8:55 p.m. EDT. Watch it live in the player above.
That much, the correspondents’ association can control.
WATCH: Liz Landers and Lisa Desjardins describe chaos at Correspondents’ Dinner shooting
What remains out of its control — and perhaps the biggest question — is what the dinner’s most prominent guest, President Donald Trump, will bring to the table.
Call it White House Dinner 2.0, or Take Two, or, in Trump’s own words, a “HOT ticket.”
The big unknown is whether Trump will bring the fighting words (“rather nasty,” he said) against the press he’d planned to deliver in April — before the event descended into chaos when a gunman stormed a security checkpoint, forcing an evacuation of the room.
“The president looks forward to finishing what he started,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday, confirming Trump’s attendance. “I encourage everyone watching tomorrow night to tune in for what promises to be a very entertaining and memorable evening.”
Trump has been coy about what he might say
As for Trump himself, he indicated last month he wasn’t sure. “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,” the Republican president wrote on his Truth Social platform. “In any event, it will be a ‘HOT’ ticket!”
Besides the pared-down approach, there is another change at Friday’s dinner: two additional awards. One will be presented to Victor Gonzales, the Secret Service agent who was staffing a security checkpoint in April and was struck in his protective vest.
“Officer Gonzales … ran toward danger so that thousands of others could make it home safely,” Weijia Jiang, WHCA president, said in a statement. “His courage stemmed from a dedication to service, which we are looking forward to honoring this week.”
A second award will be presented to the staff of the Washington Hilton hotel, site of the first dinner.
Jiang and her fellow board members worked hard to bring about a WHCA dinner 2.0, not wanting to let a violent act remain the final image. Announcing the rescheduling, she emphasized the dinner’s stated purpose: “a celebration of a free press and the vital role of journalism in our democracy for over a century.”
“We will not allow an act of violence to have the last word, especially during a year when we are reflecting on the 250th anniversary of America and everything we stand for,” Jiang said.
There’s still lots of criticism of the event
But it’s also clear that some people feel the dinner should not be rescheduled at all.
Many never felt the dinner was a good look in the first place, with the sight of journalists in formal wear cozying up to their…
Read More: WATCH LIVE: Trump speaks at White House Correspondents’ Dinner after attack
