dinner

Married At First Sight Australia fans were left in disbelief as the final dinner party descended into chaos and tears

Viewers confessed they found themselves shouting at their television screens during the final Married At First Sight Australia dinner party.

Fans branded it ‘unhinged’ as proceedings spiralled into mayhem and waterworks. Just a handful of episodes remain of the current reality series from Down Under, with Final Vows anticipated to broadcast next week.

While Australian audiences have already seen it through to the end, UK-based fans are almost completely up to speed. Once again, more than a dozen strangers exchanged vows upon meeting for the very first time as part of an unconventional social dating experiment.

Throughout recent weeks, audiences have been captivated by numerous dramatic developments and its climax is scheduled to reach British screens this week. One couple even chose to call it quits just days ahead of the finale.

Recent days have witnessed the surviving couples undertake a final challenge devised by the experts. This was succeeded by a catastrophic breakdown as multiple participants fled from the cameras, threatening to abandon the programme, reports OK!.

This evening’s episode (May 7) resumes just in time for the final dinner party. Scott, still shaken after his bride abandoned him, reveals that he suspects Gia has travelled back home. He says: “Gia sent me a voicemail. She’s upset and her daughter’s crying. She sent me pictures. I think she’s trying to make me feel bad?” Despite Gia’s earlier insistence that she’d quit the experiment and jetted off, Filip drops a bombshell – he’d actually spotted her in their apartment block. Unsurprisingly, she’s not about to miss out on Dinner Party drama.

Elsewhere, Alissa and David are battling to repair their relationship following their explosive row over the final challenge. David confronted Alissa about her conduct, which saw him storm off and Alissa hurl her wedding ring in his direction.

David offers an apology for removing his ring and expresses his desire to listen to Alissa’s perspective. However, Alissa refuses to say sorry for her antics during the lunch with the alternate matches, insisting she was simply enjoying herself. In a dramatic gesture, David drops to one knee and tries to slip the ring back onto her finger.

He declares: “I love you” and Alissa pauses before responding: “Thank you.”

The experts observe the exchange, with Mel Schilling appearing distinctly unimpressed by Alissa’s reply. She remarks: “That shows absolutely lack of flexibility and saying this is who I am, take me or leave me. She’s giving him nothing.” Alessandra adds: “I can’t believe that was her response to saying he loves her.”

Shortly after Gia makes her entrance, Bec wastes no time exposing her fabrications. Gia’s knee-jerk reaction is, predictably, to announce she wants out. Once more, Bec appears oblivious to the presence of cameras and microphones as her covert scheme unfolds before the audience. She instructs Gia: “They all know you weren’t in Melbourne. You know what you need to do.” Gia responds: “Out victim him. So, what am I saying?”

Bec advises: “I’m looking at this strategically. It’s not just about your relationship, it’s about all of Australia. This is your moment. And if you can cry, that would be great.”

During the confrontation, Gia delivers a rehearsed statement as directed by Bec. She declares: “Dear Scott (cue tears), this hurts in a way I didn’t think it could.”

Upon completion, Stella disapprovingly shakes her head, while Bec applauds in isolation and gestures for Gia to cease the waterworks. Scott then presents his own statement, which resonates far more with the majority of the group, including the words: “You are not the one for me. We are a different calibre of people.”

Gia attempts one final manoeuvre, suddenly levelling accusations at Scott, who has already departed, of pressuring her into a ‘showmance’. She further alleges he never paid her compliments, criticised her drinking habits and exploited her physically. Claims that devoted viewers have never witnessed on screen.

Audiences at home were swift to voice their reactions. One viewer questioned: “Is this more dramatic than the I’m A Celeb reunion?” Another remarked: “Gia for once was put in her place. So whatever else she says now will be met with pure disgust. No less than she deserves..” One person asked: “How many of us are arguing out loud with our TVs?” Another confessed: “‘To bare my soul, not for the cameras but for you’ – the worst performance I’ve ever seen, Gia. And loving this letter show down.”

Others remarked on David and Alissa’s predicament, with one stating: “So, David taking off his ring was unforgivable, but it was absolutely fine for Alissa to lob hers at him.”

And another: “Alissa pretending she didn’t do or say anything wrong at that dinner is unbelievable. And David is just being FAR too graceful. Bless his heart.”

Married At First Sight Australia continues Monday at 7.30PM on E4 and streaming on Channel 4.

WASHINGTON — A federal magistrate judge on Monday pressed a jail official to explain why a man charged with trying to storm the White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner and attempting to kill President Trump was placed on restrictive suicide watch after his arrest.

Officials at the city jail in Washington removed Cole Tomas Allen from its designated “suicide status” over the weekend after his attorneys complained that he had been unnecessarily confined in a padded room with constant lighting, repeatedly strip-searched and placed in restraints outside his cell.

But the relaxed conditions didn’t satisfy U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui’s concerns that Allen may have received disparate, punitive treatment in violation of his due process rights. Faruqui noted that the D.C. jail routinely houses convicted killers and others charged with violent crimes without placing them on 24-hour lockdown.

“It could drive a person crazy to be in that situation,” he said.

Faruqui apologized to Allen over his confinement conditions. In response to a news report on that apology, U.S. Atty. Jeanine Pirro criticized him in a social media post that said Faruqui “believes a defendant armed to the teeth and attempting to assassinate the president is entitled to preferential treatment in his confinement compared to every other defendant.”

Allen’s lawyers said he wasn’t showing any suicidal risk factors after his arrest. But a jail psychiatrist evaluated him and initially concluded that he posed a suicide risk, according to Tony Towns, acting general counsel for the city’s corrections department.

“Every case is different, your honor,” Towns said.

Allen was moved into protective custody after the jail lifted the suicide prevention measures. His attorneys didn’t object to his new confinement status. They had asked the magistrate to cancel Monday’s hearing, but Faruqui forged ahead with it due to his “grave concerns” about Allen’s treatment in jail.

Allen was injured but was not shot during the April 25 attack at the Washington Hilton, which disrupted one of the highest-profile annual events in the nation’s capital.

Allen was armed with guns and knives when he ran through a security checkpoint and pointed his weapon at a Secret Service agent, who fired back five times, authorities said. Pirro has said that Allen fired a shot that struck the agent’s bullet-resistant vest.

Allen later told FBI agents that he didn’t expect to survive the attack, which could help explain why he was deemed to be a possible suicide risk, said Justice Department prosecutor Jocelyn Ballantine.

Allen, 31, of Torrance, is charged with attempted assassination of the president and two additional firearms counts. He faces up to life in prison if convicted of the assassination count alone.

Defense attorney Eugene Ohm said Allen was prohibited from having anything in his cell. He asked for a Bible and a visit from a chaplain but hasn’t received either, according to Ohm.

Kunzelman writes for the Associated Press.

April 29 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump hosted King Charles III and Queen Camilla at a state dinner at the White House on Tuesday, where both leaders praised the U.S.-British relationship and pledged to strengthen the alliance.

In the East Room of the White House, Trump described the king’s state visit to the White House as “historic,” occurring as they prepare to celebrate the United States’ 250th year of independence.

“It is only natural that Americans begin this by paying tribute to the transcendent bond we share with the nation that Thomas Jefferson himself called our mother country,” Trump said.

“Tonight, on the eve of our 250th year of cherished independence, we turn to the sovereign embodiment of our British heritage and say, sincerely, thank you to our friends, the United Kingdom, for the richest inheritance that any nation has ever given to another.”

He complimented the “fantastic speech” Charles had given only a few hours earlier before a joint meeting of Congress, joking that the king was able to garner a standing ovation from the Democrats.

“I’ve never been able to do that,” Trump said. “They like him more than they’ve ever liked any Republican or Democrat, actually.”

Charles echoed Trump in his own speech that followed, stating that he was glad for the opportunity to renew the “bonds of history and friendship” between their two nations and people.

“Ours is an unbreakable bond of history and heritage, culture and commerce, industry and invention, and we are determined to face the future together,” Charles said.

“Tonight, we are here to renew an indispensable alliance, which has long been a cornerstone of prosperity and security for both British and American citizens.”

Referring to the demolished East Wing where construction is underway on Trump’s $400 million ballroom, Charles joked that he couldn’t help but notice the “readjustments” to the White House followed the president’s visit to Windsor Castle in September.

In the same vein, he jokingly apologized for the British “attempt at real estate redevelopment of the White House in 1814,” when British forces set fire to the building during the War of 1812.

At the end of his speech, Charles presented Trump with the bell from the HMS Trump, a British submarine that the king said played a “critical role” during the Pacific War.

“May it stand as a testimony to our nation’s shared history and shining future,” he said. “And should you ever need to get a hold of us — well, just give us a ring.”

The pair spoke for about 25 minutes before more than 125 attendees, according to the guest list. They included six conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices, several members of Trump’s Cabinet and business leaders Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Tim Cook of Apple and Robert Kraft of the Kraft Group.

A statement from the first lady said the decor of the dinner was intended to reflect “a shared appreciation for gardens,” with guests greeted by cherry blossoms as they entered the Grand Foyer, towering trees and blooming garden boxes.

Tables were clothed in green pleated linens and set with more than 250 pieces of vermeil from the White House collection, the Office of the First Lady said.

The three-course meal included garden vegetable veloute, handcrafted spring herbed ravioli with ricotta cheese and morels, a Dover sole meuniere, potato pave, spring ramps, snow peas and parsley oil.

For dessert, the attendees were served a beehive-shaped chocolate gateau with a vanilla bean cremeux custard inside an almond joconde, all with a creme fraiche ice cream.

The Federal Communications Commission is considering an early review of the Walt Disney Co.’s broadcast TV licenses amid criticism of ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s provocative jokes ahead of the White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner.

The order could come as soon as Tuesday, according to Semafor, which first reported that the review is expected. The licenses for ABC’s stations — which include KABC in Los Angeles — were not scheduled for renewal until 2028.

Disney has not commented on the possibility of a review.

The move was likely in the works before the latest kerfuffle over Kimmel, who is under fire for a comedic bit that satirized the annual Washington gala that Trump attended for the first time. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who has targeted the political content on the ABC daytime talk show “The View,” told The Times on Saturday that an action related to ABC programming was coming this week.

Carr has suggested “The View” should not be exempt from the FCC’s equal time rule that requires broadcasters to bring on a politician’s rival to provide balanced coverage and multiple viewpoints.

Carr, who was at the Saturday dinner, made the remark just hours before the event was shut down after a Torrance man breached security at the Washington Hilton while armed with a shotgun, handgun and several knives. The suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, was arrested and faces three criminal charges, including attempting to assassinate President Trump.

Right-wing commentators have gone into heavy rotation with the claim that a routine by Kimmel inspired Allen to act.

During the bit that aired Thursday, a tuxedo-clad Kimmel called First Lady Melania Trump “beautiful,” saying she had “the glow of an expectant widow.” The comic explained Monday that the gag was a reference to the age difference between Trump and his wife.

“It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am,” Kimmel said. “It was not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination. And they know that.”

Since becoming FCC chairman last year, Carr has repeatedly threatened to use the levers of power he has to punish TV and radio stations that irritate Trump. His behavior has alarmed free speech advocates, including the FCC’s lone Democratic appointee Anna Gomez, who noted that early station renewal reviews are exceedingly rare and largely futile.

“This is unprecedented, unlawful, and going nowhere,” Gomez said in a statement. “It is a political stunt and it won’t stick. Companies should challenge it head-on. The 1st Amendment is on their side.”

Other White House administrations have threatened to pull TV station licenses in response to negative news coverage. At the height of the Watergate scandal in the 1970s, Richard Nixon’s allies unsuccessfully attempted to challenge the TV licenses for three stations owned at the time by the Washington Post.

RKO General, a unit of the General Tire and Rubber Co., was the last company to lose broadcast TV station licenses in 1987, including Los Angeles outlet KHJ. The case was related to corporate malfeasance and not broadcast content on the stations.

The process to revoke the RKO licenses took seven years from the moment the FCC voted in favor of the move.

April 27 (UPI) — White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt condemned negative comments and rhetoric about President Donald Trump in a press briefing Monday.

Leavitt addressed the press, likely for the last time before she begins her maternity leave, in the wake of a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday. Leavitt blamed the incident on “violent rhetoric” from Democratic lawmakers, television personalities, the media and others on social media.

“This hateful and constant and violent rhetoric directed at President Trump day after day after day for 11 years has helped to legitimize this violence and bring us to this dark moment,” Leavitt said. “Those who constantly falsely label and slander the president as a fascist, as a threat to democracy, and compare him to Hitler to score political points are fueling this kind of violence.”

Leavitt said one member of the U.S. Secret Service was shot in the chest but survived because they were wearing a bulletproof vest.

The Department of Justice will address the arraignment of the alleged gunman, 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, on Monday, Leavitt added. She also acknowledged that the White House Correspondents’ Dinner may be rescheduled.

“When you read the manifesto of this shooter, ask yourselves how different is the rhetoric from this almost-assassin from what you read on social media and hear in various forums every single day,” Leavitt said. “Much of the manifesto of the would-be assassin is indistinguishable from the words that we hear daily from so many.”

In response to the shooting, Leavitt said that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles will be meeting with Department of Homeland Security leadership to discuss the security of the president.

Asked why she felt it was important to delay her maternity leave after Saturday’s shooting, Leavitt said she is “honored to speak on behalf of President Trump.”

A high-profile shooting incident that targeted United States President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner has raised security concerns about the country’s role as cohost of the FIFA World Cup 2026.

US authorities said on Sunday that the gunman accused of trying to storm the dinner was targeting Trump and members of his administration.

The suspect — who was armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives — rushed a US Secret Service checkpoint at the Washington Hilton hotel and managed to shoot a law enforcement officer, although the suspect himself was not struck by gunfire.

The incident is seen as a major breach of security by football fans around the globe, millions of whom will follow their teams at the World Cup tournament, which the US will cohost June 11-19 with Canada and Mexico.

Here’s what fans and experts are saying about the incident and how it could affect their safety at the World Cup:

Will the Trump shooting impact World Cup security?

With the US hosting the majority – 78 of 104 – fixtures, it is expected to see an influx of five to 10 million football fans from around the world, many of whom have expressed concerns for their teams’, as well as their own, safety following the targeting of Trump.

“Their [US] own security service allowed a single person with a shotgun into the most secure building in the world, and missed every shot at him. How are the players going to be safe?” a fan wrote in a social media post.

Others questioned how fans and other members of the public will be safe during the tournament if the country’s president has come under attack.

This is not the first time Trump has been involved in an attempted assassination; he was injured in a shooting at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in July 2024, and in September 2025, a suspect was convicted of plotting to kill Trump while he was playing golf in Florida a year earlier.

However, security analyst Massimiliano Montanari believes the shooting in the US capital will have “no impact” on security preparations for the World Cup.

“It’s undeniable that this shooting creates additional concerns, but with or without this shooting, the US Secret Service is keeping the highest level of attention on the president,” Montanari told Al Jazeera.

“The world is in a moment of immense pressure; several international turmoils are happening at this time, and the shooting will not change the perception of fans coming to the US,” he added.

“The US has very strong security and counterterrorism experience; I’m sure all necessary measures are in place.”

FIFA did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on World Cup security in the aftermath of the shooting in Washington.

How will Trump’s presence affect security and fan experience at the World Cup?

Fans critical of the US and its lax gun laws, which lead to hundreds of mass shootings across the country each year, say the latest security breach highlights the country’s failure to control gun violence.

Comments on social media ranged from fans questioning the US as a host to calling for the matches in the country to be cancelled altogether due to security risks.

Mass shootings are a common occurrence in the US. In 2026, the country has seen more than 126 incidents which have resulted in more than 3,100 deaths and 5,300 injuries so far, according to Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit research group.

Some critics also wondered if Trump’s likely presence at World Cup games will endanger fans and negatively impact their experience at the tournament.

“I presume Donald Trump will attend the World Cup at some point as the President of the host nation,” Kate Wilton, a social media user, noted in a post on X. “If he’s an assassination risk, surely him attending is a security risk to all those attending?”

US President Trump shares a close relationship with FIFA President Gianni Infantino and was present at the World Cup draw on December 5, 2025.

Later that month, Trump’s attendance at the US Open men’s tennis final delayed the start of the match, as hordes of tennis fans struggled to get through security checkpoints.

What does ICE presence at World Cup mean for fans?

The White House shooting also invoked a broader conversation regarding national security in the US, which has seen immigration-related crackdowns across various states.

The Trump administration’s push for mass deportation, as well as its efforts to tighten legal immigration pathways, have spurred concerns about whether the World Cup’s international audience might be targeted by US immigration authorities.

In February, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acting Director Todd Lyons confirmed to a committee in the House of Representatives that his agency would be on the ground for World Cup events. When questioned about visitor concerns, he declined to commit to pausing ICE operations at the matches.

“Fans should be treated as guests and clients of the event, not as a potential threat or as criminals,” Montanari, who heads the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), said of the border patrol agents’ presence.

He emphasised that any security officials on the ground must be deployed as discreetly as possible.

“Major global sporting events like the World Cup must remain sporting events and not security events,” he explained, adding that the elements of safety, security and service must work cohesively.

Montanari emphasised that at the previous World Cup in Qatar, where he is currently based, fans were not discriminated against for their nationalities or backgrounds, something that upcoming iterations of the event must emulate.

“I think at any World Cup, the key success factor will be the level of international or regional cooperation; no country can deliver a safe major sporting event without that.

“Securing an event is not just about securing venues, but protecting the overall community, and this involves strong partnership with the government, the business community, and civil society — a holistic effort everyone has to put together.

Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Amnesty International, along with more than 120 civil society groups, issued a “travel advisory” for foreigners attending the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the US due to the “deteriorating human rights situation in the US and the absence of meaningful action and concrete guarantees from FIFA, host cities, or the US government”.

The US Senate has taken the first steps towards reopening the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – which has been partially shut down since mid-February after Democrats demanded immigration-enforcement policy changes following fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents. The Senate approved a budget framework that would fund immigration enforcement agencies, despite opposition from the Democrats.

April 27 (UPI) — Cole Allen was due to be arraigned in federal court in Washington, D.C. on Monday, accused of carrying out a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday, at which President Donald Trump, the First Lady and many of his cabinet were present.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, told a news conference that a suspect would be formally charged with an initial two counts — using a firearm during a crime of violence and assaulting a federal officer using a dangerous weapon.

“The defendant will be arraigned on Monday in federal district court. But make no mistake, there will be many more charges based upon the information that we are learning in this very fluid situation,” said Pirro.

“It is clear, based upon what we know so far, that this individual was intent on doing as much harm and as much damage as he could,” added Pirro, who said she was present when the shooting started at the event at the Washington Hilton hotel on Saturday night.

Beyond that, Pirro said investigators were working to discover the suspect’s possible motivation for the alleged attack and would not be drawn on whether he was specifically targeting Trump, or whether he was cooperating with law enforcement.

“At this point, what we know is the individual charged the checkpoint with a firearm in his hand. We know he was running in the direction of the ballroom that the president was in as well as other cabinet members. So what his specific motivation was, we can’t say at this point. However, as we continue to investigate that, we’ll continue to work towards that,” she said.

Monday’s hearing is expected to be short — only for the judge to make Allen aware of his legal rights and for Pirro’s office to apply to remand Allen in custody.

The suspect has yet to be officially named by authorities but NPR said two people familiar with the investigation, who were not authorized to speak publicly, identified him as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, Calif.

Authorities believe the suspect acted alone in the incident in which a Secret Service Uniformed Division officer was allegedly shot and no one else has been arrested.

The Secret Service officer, who was wearing a bullet proof vest, was treated in the hospital and released.

Trump said Sunday that a suspect arrested in connection with the shooting had written an anti-administration “manifesto” that allegedly stated he was targeting members of the Trump administration.

He said that, based on the contents of the document, the suspect was “a sick guy” and anti-Christian.

“When you read his manifesto, he hates Christians. That’s one thing for sure. He hates Christians, a hatred. And I think his sister or his brother actually was complaining about it. You know, they were even complaining to law enforcement. So he was, he was a very troubled guy,” said Trump.

The suspect reportedly sent the manifesto to members of his family minutes before that incident occurred, along with an apology, who then raised the alarm

The New London Police Department in Connecticut confirmed being contacted about two hours after the alleged attack at around 10:49 p.m. EDT on Saturday “by an individual who expressed concern about the incident that occurred at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner earlier in the evening.”

Allen was a mechanical engineering graduate from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and also had a master’s degree in computer science from California State University Dominguez Hills in Carson City, according to the Los Angeles Times.

His LinkedIn profile states that he was a member of Caltech’s Christian fellowship, as well as the Nerf club.

More recently, he was working developing video games and as a part-time private tutor teaching math and biology.

Allen’s voting registration record denotes “no party preference” and the only known record of any political donation in the past 10 years dates from 2024 when he gave $25, via an online fundraising platform, to former Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign in the Nov. 2024 election.

WASHINGTON — A night devoted to celebrating the 1st Amendment and journalism turned into a breaking story of its own.

The attendees at the White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner Saturday took cover under the tables in the Washington Hilton ballroom when they heard gunshots outside, which led to the evacuation of President Trump and many of his Cabinet officials at the gala.

But instinct kicked in swiftly, and many of the journalists in the crowd of 2,600 people were using their phones to capture video. Uploading pictures to social media was a challenge as the internet coverage in the ballroom was poor, but they would eventually provide a detailed chronicle of the night.

“I reached for my phone as soon as I could and started shooting video to capture as much of the moment as I could,” said Sara Cook, a CBS News producer and press association board member seated on the dais near the president, First Lady Melania Trump and Vice President JD Vance, who were hustled out while a SWAT team swarmed the stage.

“I could hear Secret Service officers saying, ‘Where is it coming from?’” Cook said. “They seemed to be quite confused onstage about exactly what was happening, where the threat was coming from and if there still was a threat.”

Authorities identified the suspect as Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old teacher from Torrance. He was apprehended after rushing a security checkpoint one floor above the ballroom. Law enforcement officials said Allen was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives.

After guests were told the evening program would not proceed, many of the TV anchors and correspondents in the crowd headed to their Washington studios. Many didn’t wait. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, who was returning from a restroom on the floor where the incident occurred, delivered an eyewitness account from the Hilton lobby using a Webex app on a smartphone.

There was at least one fog-of-war moment as well. CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins reported on air that the armed suspect was killed by the Secret Service, attributing it to security for Education Secretary Linda McMahon. She had to correct the report after Fox News said Allen was alive and detained by agents.

“CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Doukopil and CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss walked several blocks from the Hilton to waiting vehicles that took them to the network’s offices and studios on M Street. (Weiss granted a reporter’s request to go behind the scenes to observe the news-gathering operation.)

Matt Gutman, Nancy Cordes, Tony Dokoupil and Bari Weiss at the CBS News Washington bureau on April 25, 2026.

When Doukopil and Weiss arrived at the bureau, CBS News national correspondent Matt Gutman and Nancy Cordes, chief White House correspondent, were already on the air with a special report, showing video shot by its journalists in the ballroom.

Doukopil joined his colleagues, all still dressed in formal wear, and took over the coverage. The newsroom soon filled with executives and producers arriving from the Hilton, several dressed in long gowns and carrying their high-heeled shoes.

CBS News President Tom Cibrowski stood over a large multiview screen, monitoring his network’s broadcast alongside the competition.

When Cibrowski was on the floor of the ballroom when the commotion began, he texted his family to let them know he was OK. He then called David Reiter, the executive producer of special events for CBS News, to alert him that they would be breaking into regular programming on the network, a rarity lately with so many 24-hour news sources available.

Reiter left his seat at a Broadway show and headed to the CBS News studios on the west side of Manhattan to get the feed on the air.

Weiss walked over to the Washington set and consulted with Doukopil, Cordes and Gutman during a break, providing a bipartisan list of government officials and activists who were subjected to politically motivated violence in recent years. She settled in at a workspace to turn out a memo to staff, acknowledging the rapid work of getting its images from inside the ballroom on the air.

“This is what we do,” wrote Weiss, a digital entrepreneur who has dealt with criticism over her lack of experience in TV news since taking on her high-profile role in October. “Most importantly, we are thankful that everyone is safe.”

Later, she led a lengthy meeting to plan further coverage, which included Norah O’Donnell interviewing Trump for Sunday’s edition of “60 Minutes.”

After Doukopil finished his special report, he was off to prepare a segment to air on “CBS Sunday Morning.”

“It’s very strange to go from drinking wine to drinking coffee,” Dokoupil said as he departed the set.

Every journalist in the ballroom left with a story.

Tom Llamas, anchor of “NBC Nightly News,” was seated next to Secretary of State Marco Rubio when Secret Service agents pulled Rubio and his wife away as White House officials were evacuated. Llamas had to alert the agents that another, less high-profile Cabinet member, Energy Secretary Christopher Wright, and his wife were at the table as well.

Llamas made his way from the hotel to the NBC News bureau with “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker and veteran Washington correspondent Andrea Mitchell. The anchor took over the network’s special report and felt compelled to explain his attire.

“NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Llamas reports on the shooting at the dinner on April 25, 2026.

“It is unusual to come on the air in a tuxedo, but this is a very unusual night,” he told viewers.

Llamas praised the performance of his peers who have seen the image of their profession take a beating in recent years.

“There was a while there, we did not know what was going on,” he said. “For all the crap that is written about our industry, I saw people jump into action immediately, and it was incredible. I was proud of all my colleagues.”

The canceled dinner created a predicament for MS NOW and NBC News, which both planned lavish after-parties late Saturday evening. Many of the big-name on-air talent stars and executives expected to attend were working on the story.

After a half-hour of deliberations, both networks decided their parties would go on. But planned stunts for the MS NOW soiree at DuPont Underground — such as a performance by a university drum line — were scrapped.

NBC’s event at the home of the French ambassador was billed as “The After Party.” A text message told attendees to expect a more subdued affair described as “a gathering for people who wanted to convene, eat and drink and be with community.”

Privately, one network executive explained why the festivities moved forward. “Nobody died,” he said.

WASHINGTON — President Trump was preparing to take the stage at the White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner Saturday night, eager — by his own account — to “let it rip” before a room of Washington’s elite and reporters he has spent years calling the enemy of the people.

Then shots were heard. Secret Service agents rushed him off the stage. And within hours, the president was at the White House calling for unity, offering overtures to a press corps that he had long clashed with.

“I just want to say you did a fantastic job, what a beautiful evening and we are going to reschedule,” Trump told Weijia Jiang, the president of the White House Correspondents’ Assn., at a news briefing after the shooting at the dinner.

His magnanimity did not last long. On Sunday night, sitting down for an interview with Norah O’Donnell of CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Trump reacted with fury to her reading of the suspected shooter’s manifesto, calling her a “disgrace.”

The manifesto characterized his targets as rapists and pedophiles.

“You’re horrible people. Horrible people,” Trump said. “He did write that. I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody.

“I’m not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person? I got associated with all — stuff that has nothing to do with me,” he added. “You should be ashamed of yourself reading that because I’m not any of those things.”

It marked a return to the familiar dynamic between the president and the press after a night of shared crisis and purpose — raising doubts about how long the goodwill would last.

Just hours before, at the briefing, Trump expressed dismay at the violent outburst at the Washington Hilton, where the black-tie event has been held for more than 50 years.

“I will tell you, I fought like hell to stay, but it was protocol,” the president said. On Sunday he repeated his desire to reschedule the event, telling Fox News that he is committed to attending it in the near future, even proposing to do it within 30 days.

Trump appeared to be enjoying himself moments before Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old tutor from Torrance, allegedly ran past a security checkpoint at the hotel and fired off two shots. Oz Pearlman, a mentalist and the entertainer for the night, seemed to be doing a trick for the president and the first lady when the shots were fired, videos show.

Trump was preparing to deliver remarks at the end of the night. His team was excited about it, and the president had been making tweaks to his speech on Air Force One up until Saturday morning.

“It will be funny. It will be entertaining,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a red carpet event ahead of the dinner.

The speech was going to mark Trump’s first at the White House correspondents’ dinner. He told Fox News on Sunday that he was “really going to let it rip,” and that he had considered the moment an “important event” until it came to a halt.

Trump said he would like to reschedule the event within the next month, adding that he will make an “entirely different speech” — one that he said will be focused on “love.”

It is unclear how long Trump’s media-friendly tone will last, but some Republicans continued to blame reporters for the violent act. Kari Lake, the senior advisor to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, said some reporters attending the event “have spent a decade spreading absolute lies” about Trump.

Trump, for his part, used the security breach at the event to make the case for his White House ballroom project, claiming that the Washington Hilton is “not a particularly secure building” and is a prime example of why legal challenges holding up its construction need to be dismissed.

“We need the ballroom,” Trump told reporters. “Today, we need levels of security that probably nobody’s ever seen before.”

However, the annual dinner’s venue is picked not by the White House, but by the White House Correspondents’ Assn., an independent organization of journalists who cover the president.

Trump has vowed to return to the event in the near future, and has called for it to take place within the next month to show that “bad people” cannot “change the course of the country.” But the ballroom project could not be ready that quickly.

It remains under construction and “ahead of schedule,” Trump has said. Earlier this month, a federal appeals court allowed construction on the project to continue through early June, as legal challenges remain ongoing.

The construction of the $400-million ballroom on the White House grounds has come under searing scrutiny. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued last year to stop the project, has argued that Trump lacked authority to make architectural changes to the White House grounds.

Carol Quillen, president and chief executive of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has argued the White House is “the most evocative building in our country” and any changes should go through a review process, including a public comment period. Trump on Sunday described the lawsuit as one brought by a “woman walking a dog.”

The attempted attack, which marks the third time in less than two years that Trump has faced the threat of a gunman, has reignited questions about the tense political environment besetting the United States.

Trump, for his part, called his job a “dangerous profession” and said he believed he has become the target of attacks because of his presidency’s own consequence.

“The people that do the most, the people that make the biggest impact, they are the people that they go after,” Trump told reporters at the White House after being rushed out of the hotel.

In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, he added: “If you’re a consequential president, you’re in much more danger than if you’re not a consequential president.”

As an example, Trump pointed to his war in Iran, a conflict that recent polling shows has contributed to his approval rating falling to around 40%. The president said the war “should’ve been done by previous presidents … but nobody did anything about it.”

At Saturday night’s dinner, people infiltrated the hotel to protest the Iran war and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Two demonstrators, wearing suits, crashed a red carpet photo shoot in the hotel lobby and called for Hegseth to be arrested for war crimes, underscoring how the foreign conflict is fueling the political rhetoric at home.

In the hours after the shooting, Trump remained defiant. In an interview, he said he was determined to show a unified front and not let “one nut” derail his agenda or events.

“I hate it when a sick, bad person,” he told Fox News on Sunday. “I hate someone like that changing the course of our country.”

WASHINGTON — Directly outside the Washington Hilton ballroom, as the yearly White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner got underway Saturday, a Times reporter had just entered the men’s room when he heard a handful of loud pops ring out.

“Shooter!” someone shouted. “Get down! Shots fired!”

Inside the ballroom, thousands of journalists and politicians began to duck for cover as the event devolved from a celebration of free speech to a scene of fear.

The Times had six reporters at the dinner, seated at a table near the right side of the stage.

The Times reporter in the restroom, Gavin Quinton, heard the gunfire around 8:30 p.m. He had left The Times’ table minutes earlier, moving past the TV cameras and up toward the raised terrace near the ballroom’s security entrance. He crossed paths with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer.

Outside the restroom, Cole Tomas Allen, 31, had broken into a sprint through the metal detectors, security footage would later show, getting within feet of the ballroom entrance.

Five or six shots fired by Secret Service agents missed Allen before agents brought him down near a staircase leading to the main floor, where Trump sat prominently in view.

A federal agent was hit in the chest in the exchange of gunfire but was wearing a bullet-proof vest and not seriously injured.

Inside the restroom, Quinton crouched near a corner. Others rushed into the room, including three hotel security guards who flung themselves in so quickly their backs slammed against the tiled wall. Within moments, a Secret Service agent positioned himself at the bathroom entrance, his pistol drawn.

“Head count?” he asked.

“A dozen — no, 15!” someone shouted back.

People stayed locked in bathroom stalls. Some tried to overcome the poor cellphone service to call loved ones. Confused, the mix of tuxedo-clad attendees, uniformed hotel guards and waitstaff tried to piece together what had happened.

“He had a gun,” one of the hotel guards said.

Another witness told Quinton that he initially thought Blitzer had been the shooter’s target.

“I look around and I hear shots as I’m opening the door. And I turn and I see him,” the man said of the gunman. “I look again and I’m like, ‘Oh, they just shot someone.’ ”

Blitzer, who was tackled to the floor by officers during the incident, would later say that “the first thing that went through my mind was whether he was going to shoot me.”

As the group speculated over whether the shooter had died in the volley, one man wondered aloud whether the event would continue. Initially thinking the gunman must have been killed, Quinton replied no.

“Why not?” the man asked. “It’s a bad guy who’s dead. It was a good f— ending. Seriously.”

The Washington Hilton has hosted the annual correspondents’ dinner for decades. The event, referred to locally as “Nerd Prom,” now comes with a slate of pre-parties and after-parties.

This was the president’s first appearance at the dinner since 2015; he had skipped it during his entire first term.

Questions now surround the security protocols. Guests faced little screening to enter the hotel on Saturday — a quick flash of a paper ticket — before heading down escalators to the only area with magnetometers, where bags were also searched.

Trump had entered the ballroom at 8:15 p.m. as the Marine band played “Hail to the Chief.”

Twenty minutes later, videos show, Secret Service officers with ballistic vests and long guns barked instructions to clear a path as they rushed into the ballroom and onto the stage.

One agent pulled Vice President JD Vance away. Another escorted Trump, who appeared to trip, but later explained he had been urged to drop to the floor.

Other officials — Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel, Homeland Security advisor Stephen Miller — were quickly whisked away too.

At The Times’ table in the ballroom, nothing appeared amiss at first.

Waiters had just begun to clear plates of spring pea and burrata salad. The reporters did not hear the gunshots, but watched as the room fell silent and others began to drop from their seats and duck under the floor-length white tablecloths.

One reporter lost a shoe in the process and then feared a gunman would spot it. She dragged it under the table.

They stayed in place for several minutes, texting loved ones and waiting for an all-clear, but none came.

From under the tablecloth, reporters heard someone yell out, “God bless America! USA!” They feared that was the shooter.

It turned out to be Dan Scavino, White House deputy chief of staff. The chant did not catch on.

Eventually, others could be heard speaking loudly and dishes clanking. Guests began to peek out from under their tables and warily stand up. Uneasy laughter flickered about the ballroom.

Cellphone service inside the ballroom was spotty. There was confusion at first about whether a shooting had occurred or whether plates dropping to the floor had been mistaken for gunshots.

“I thought it was a tray going down,” Trump said later.

Just before 9 p.m., Weijia Jiang, a senior White House correspondent for CBS News who is president of the White House Correspondents’ Assn., told guests the program would “resume momentarily.”

A half hour later, Jiang returned to the stage and announced that law enforcement had requested guests leave the premises. She said Trump had told her no one was hurt and that he, the first lady and members of the Cabinet were safe.

In closing remarks, Jiang said journalism is a public service “because when there is an emergency, we run to the crisis — not away from it.”

“And on a night when we are thinking about the freedoms of the 1st Amendment, we must also think about how fragile they are,” she said. “I saw all of you reporting, and that’s what we do.”

Law enforcement and media leaders offered conflicting guidance. Quinton was among the first to evacuate the building, though the vast majority of guests waited inside for longer.

On his way out, he noticed a metal detector had already partially been dismantled when the shooter ran through.

Quinton passed the grounded shooter, restrained on his stomach, near the staircase just 20 or so feet from the bathroom entrance. He lifted his phone and recorded a brief, shaky video of the scene before security forced him out of the hotel and onto the street.

The entire spectrum of emotion was on display when security finally ordered everyone to evacuate. Women in gowns ran in fear. One man sobbed into the sleeves of his evening jacket.

Photos on social media showed others stopping to take selfies. Some drank wine straight form the bottle.

Quinton spotted the presidential motorcade outside of the hotel lobby at about 8:45 p.m. Around the same time, an ambulance arrived as about 100 event attendees were escorted out of the secured event perimeter.

More law enforcement was inside the hotel as guests exited the building, including agents from the Secret Service, ATF, FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. National Guard soldiers replaced celebrities and politicians at the red carpet entrance.

Outside, Metropolitan police ushered people north on Columbia Road NW. Hungry guests in tuxedos filed into a nearby 7-Eleven. The dinner’s main course — prime beef and Maine lobster — had not been served.

At the White House afterward, Trump said the event would be rescheduled.

“We’re not going to let anybody take over our society,” he told reporters who had rushed to the news conference still dressed in gowns and black tie. “We’re not going to cancel things out because we can’t do that.”

Meanwhile, the night’s after-parties continued, though organizers attempted a more somber tone. MS NOW, for instance, told those who had RSVP’d that their “Democracy After Hours” party would be a “space for friends and colleagues to be together.”

Independent journalist Tara Palmeri posted a photo on the social media site X of a full party with blue mood lighting.

“People were still partying, still hitting WHCD afterparties last night,” she wrote. “Epstein corruption, an escalating Iran conflict, and an active shooter— and Washington just… kept going. The cognitive dissonance is the system.”

On Sunday morning, the Washington Hilton appeared back to normal, except for the presence of journalists using the hotel as a backdrop for their live shots.

WASHINGTON — An attack on the White House correspondents’ dinner by a gunman who came within feet of the ballroom where President Trump sat raised immediate questions about the night’s security protocol — and the future of large, high-profile events in a country with easy access to firearms and increasingly high political tensions.

The man breached metal detectors in front of the Washington Hilton ballroom and sprinted dozens of feet ahead before exchanging fire with federal agents. Shots were fired in an anteroom that had not an hour before seen thousands of guests, including senior government officials, streaming through.

A manifesto allegedly written by the suspect described his targets as members of the Trump administration, ranking from the highest to the lowest — but said he was willing to “go through” any guest standing in his way in order to kill the president’s aides.

The attempted attack on a room full of dignitaries underscored domestic unrest in Trump’s second term and deepened questions about how to effectively create security in a modern era of lone actors, online radicalization and mass shootings. It was the third known time an attempted assassin has come close to Trump since his 2024 presidential campaign began.

Acting Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche on Sunday called the U.S. Secret Service response a “massive security success story.” But within hours of the incident, bipartisan leaders of the House Oversight Committee demanded a hearing on the agency’s security plans for the dinner.

In the manifesto sent to his family, the alleged gunman, Cole Tomas Allen, of Torrance, marveled at a lack of security.

“No damn security. Not in transport. Not in the hotel. Not in the event,” he wrote. “I walk in with multiple weapons and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat.”

The Hilton, in a ritzy Washington neighborhood, has long hosted the White House correspondents’ dinner. It is the same hotel where President Reagan and three others were shot in 1981.

The shooting caused terror among guests, some of whom noted they had expected more security to enter the event and Trump was whisked offstage within the first minute of shots being fired. While the event has traditionally hosted sitting presidents in the past, Trump’s decision this year to appear for the first time since taking office made the event particularly high profile.

His presence, alongside Vice President JD Vance and much of the Cabinet and line of succession, brought with it added security protocols and personnel — raising questions over whether the storied dinner and its guests of congressional members, diplomats and mid-level officials would have been even more susceptible to attack without Trump in attendance.

Trump on Sunday said it is “tough” to secure a hotel in the middle of a city with “buildings all around and hotel rooms on top,” but praised the Secret Service and law enforcement officers. One officer was shot, not fatally.

Talking to reporters after the incident Saturday night, Trump swiftly likened it to the attempt on his life by a gunman in Butler, Pa., during the 2024 presidential campaign, and suggested that it justified his controversial plans to construct a fortified ballroom on the White House grounds. He called the hotel “not a particularly secure building,” though he later said the room was “very, very secure.”

Plans to reschedule the dinner are under review. White House Correspondents’ Assn. President Wiejia Jiang of CBS News said the organization’s board would meet to assess what had happened.

Blanche said Sunday an investigation into what had happened was ongoing. He had attended a reception before the dinner on the first floor of the hotel hosted by CBS News, one of many that did not require any security check by law enforcement authorities.

“The first takeaway, or the takeaway that should be obvious, is that the system worked. And that we stopped the suspect, and we stopped him as soon as he tried to do what he was trying to do,” Blanche said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

But the attack raises a question about whether presidential security protocols are effective for modern tactics, or whether the country is “in a new domain” in which those procedures no longer meet the nature of the possible threats, said Neil Shortland, director of the Center for Terrorism and Security Studies at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Federal investigators should examine what the security policies were, what type of attacks they were designed to prevent, and whether that protocol was out of date, Shortland said.

“Did you follow the policy is a great question,” he said. “Was the policy correct in this modern day and for this modern situation is a separate question.”

The country is facing “the most complex threat environment in our nation’s history,” particularly from lone actors who are often radicalized online, Sam Vinograd, a former official at the Department of Homeland Security, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

“It can be true that law enforcement and intelligence professionals prepared exhaustively for last night,” she said Sunday. “But it can also be true that in this moment, in this security environment, the paradigms of the past may not be sufficient to meet the moment.”

That raises the “need to rethink what it is going to take to actually secure these mass gatherings,” she said.

Trump appeared to voice the same idea Saturday evening, telling reporters, “Today, we need levels of security that probably nobody’s ever seen before.” He went on to say that “this is why we have to have” the East Wing ballroom, which he described as drone-proof and having bulletproof glass.

Kris Brown, president of the gun control organization Brady — which is named after Reagan’s press secretary, James Brady, who was shot in the 1981 attack — said lawmakers should instead consider passing legislation to help prevent gun violence.

“Not every public event can take place in the ballroom, in that kind of protection — nor can we afford to live in a society where our solution to gun violence is to barricade our public officials, our children, away in fortresses,” Brown said.

About 2,000 journalists, dignitaries and other guests attended the event, rushing through rain to enter using multiple hotel entrances. They were asked to show their tickets as they walked past security guards, but there was no check-in procedure or ID check. A Times reporter was waved toward the entrance without showing a ticket as she tried to get it out of her purse.

Inside, guests milled about on multiple levels where pre-dinner receptions were occurring. Hotel guests mingled with the crowd, granted full access to the hotel’s amenities, including its boutiques and restaurants.

Two protesters briefly took over a small red carpet where guests were lined up to take professional photos; Times reporters saw a third woman dressed in a formal gown and shouting protest slogans being escorted out by security guards after apparently having entered the event.

Guests were required to flash their tickets to go down an escalator to the ballroom level, then present the ticket before walking through metal detectors and having bags searched ahead of the ballroom entrance.

Allen, who had reserved a room as a hotel guest, said in his manifesto obtained by the New York Post that security was far less stringent than he had expected. Two U.S. officials told The Times that the contents of the manifesto are authentic.

“I expected security cameras at every bend, bugged hotel rooms, armed agents every 10 feet, metal detectors out the wazoo. What I got (who knows, maybe they’re pranking me!) is nothing,” he wrote.

He noted that security guards appeared to be focused on protesters and arrivals outside, writing, “apparently no one thought about what happens if someone checks in the day before.”

It is possible that steps to further restrict access to the ballroom level, keep guests away from the event location and check attendees’ identities outside could have provided additional security, said Erin Kearns, director of law enforcement partnerships at the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology and Education Center.

“The lesson that can be taken away is just thinking about how to harden and strengthen security at future events when you have so many high-profile people,” she said.

The hotel was a “soft target” with a makeshift perimeter, and there were “almost zero intervention points” where the shooter could have been apprehended before arriving, Shortland said. That was partly because he traveled by train, which does not have security screenings.

Authorities should also examine whether Allen was known to authorities and, if so, whether intelligence operatives could have pieced together his train travel and arrival in the president’s orbit, Shortland said.

The attempted shooting added to a growing list of instances of political violence in the United States. Last year, one Minnesota state legislator and her spouse were killed by a gunman while another lawmaker and his wife survived; the conservative activist Charlie Kirk — whose wife, Erika, was in attendance Saturday — was shot and killed at a speaking event; an arsonist attacked the residence of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Some of that violence has been directed toward Trump, something he frequently talks about. He was injured in the Butler incident, but has used his survival to argue that God saved him so he could become president. Two months later, a Secret Service agent shot at a gunman pointing a rifle on Trump’s golf course as the president golfed.

On Feb. 22, an armed man was shot and killed after entering the secure perimeter around Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, when the president was in Washington.

“It’s always shocking when something like this happens. It’s happened to me a little bit,” Trump said Saturday.

April 25 (UPI) — President Donald Trump said Sunday a suspect arrested in connection with a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington, D.C., had written an anti-administration “manifesto.”

Other reports indicated the suspect, identified as Cole Thomas Allen, 31, of Torrence, Calif., had sent a communication to family members minutes before the late Saturday incident at the Washington Hilton Hotel

In the note, he reportedly said he was targeting members of the Trump administration in his attack.

Trump told Fox News Allen’s “manifesto” indicated he “is a sick guy.

“When you read his manifesto, he hates Christians. That’s one thing for sure. He hates Christians, a hatred. And I think his sister or his brother actually was complaining about it. You know, they were even complaining to law enforcement. So he was, he was a very troubled guy.”

Security camera footage supplied by the White House showed a man charging through a security checkpoint outside the hotel ballroom where the correspondents’ dinner was being held.

The Washington Metropolitan Police Department said one person was in custody in connection with the incident and it is believed he acted alone. Two firearms and multiple knives were recovered at the scene and a Secret Service Uniformed Division officer was injured and hospitalized with “non-life threatening injuries,” they added.

The White House told Fox Sunday Allen’s family members had notified the New London, Conn., police department on Saturday when they received the communication. Administration officials also claimed Cole Allen’s sister, Avriana Allen, told the Secret Service her brother had been making “radical” statements and was in possession of weapons.

Meanwhile, NBC News reported the communication shows Allen apologized to his parents, colleagues, students, bystanders and others for what he was about to do.

“I don’t expect forgiveness,” Allen reportedly wrote. “Again, my sincere apologies.”

He also reportedly criticized the president without specifically mentioning him and noted that security precautions at the hotel were not as stringent as he had expected them to be.

Administration officials “are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest,” he wrote, according to NBC News, adding, “I experience rage thinking about everything this administration has done.”

The New York Times reported federal authorities in Los Angeles served a search warrant on Allen’s house in Torrance but refused to comment on Trump’s assertion that Allen had penned a “manifesto” before correspondents’ dinner attack.

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said a preliminary investigation had determined the suspect “traveled by train from Los Angeles to Chicago, and then Chicago to Washington, D.C., where he checked into the hotel where the correspondent’s dinner was at in the last day or two.”

On NBC’s Meet the Press, Blanche said authorities believe that the two firearms the suspect carried during the attack had been purchased “within the past couple of years,” adding, “We believe that he was targeting administration officials in this attack, attempted attack. But that’s, again, quite preliminary as law enforcement continues to go through all the evidence.”

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro told reporters Allen is expected to be arraigned Monday. He is facing two preliminary charges including using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon.

Media analyses of Allen’s social media accounts portray him as self-described independent computer game developer, including a game called “Bohrdom” that was released in 2018. He reportedly earned an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at the California Institute of Technology.

At a press briefing after returning to the White House following the incident, Trump said he believed that this was a “lone wolf” attack as he praised the response of Secret Service and law enforcement after recognizing the threat.

Trump said there was no indication of a motive, political or otherwise, but that “we’ll find out very quickly” about this “very sick person.”

Allen has been taken to the hospital, as has the Secret Service agent who was injured, The Washington Post reported.

Dinner was being served at the annual gathering of the Washington press organization when shots could be heard from the ballroom, causing many in the room to freeze.

President Trump, Melania Trump and other members of the administration on the dais and in the ballroom were evacuated within minutes of shots being heard over C-SPAN and other networks broadcasts.

As the officials were cleared from the room, Secret Service agents swarmed it and ordered other guests to stay in their seats.

Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he wanted to return to the dinner and for the “SHOW TO GO ON,” but security insisted that they leave the hotel and return to the White House.

Most of the other guests remained in the ballroom after organizers made an announcement that the show would continue shortly.

There was also speculation whether Trump would return to the dinner after the announcement the show would continue and the Presidential Seal was not immediately removed from the podium on the dais.

“Law Enforcement has requested that we leave the premises, consistent with protocol, which we will do immediately,” Trump posted about an hour after the incident.

“The First Lady, plus the Vice President, and all Cabinet members, are in perfect condition,” Trump posted. “I have spoken with all the representatives in charge of the event, and we will be rescheduling within 30 days.”

An announcement in the ballroom mirrored Trump’s announcement about rescheduling the dinner for next month.

C-SPAN reported that waiters started to clear the salad portion of dinner as guests started to open wine while waiting for more information about the situation before the announcement that the dinner is going to be rescheduled.

Trump says the shooter has been apprehended and that First Lady Melania Trump and Vice President JD Vance are ‘in perfect condition’.

April 25 (UPI) — President Donald Trump returned to the White House after a shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington, D.C.

There was a shooting incident near the main security screening area at the Washington Hilton, with one person in custody as law enforcement assesses the situation, Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the U.S. Secret Service, said in a statement.

All protectees, Guglielmi said, are safe, including the president, first lady and members of the Cabinet who were at the dinner.

Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he wanted to return to the dinner and for the “SHOW TO GO ON,” but security insisted that they leave the hotel and return to the White House.

“Law Enforcement has requested that we leave the premises, consistent with protocol, which we will do immediately,” Trump posted about an hour after the incident.

“The First Lady, plus the Vice President, and all Cabinet members, are in perfect condition,” Trump posted. “I have spoken with all the representatives in charge of the event, and we will be rescheduling within 30 days.”

An announcement in the ballroom mirrored Trump’s announcement about rescheduling the dinner for next month.

The FBI confirmed that the suspect is in custody in a statement.

The suspect has been taken to the hospital, as has a Secret Service agent who was injured, The Washington Post reported.

Trump also said he would give an update from the press briefing room at the White House later this evening.

Dinner was being served at the annual gathering of the Washington press organization when shots could be heard from the ballroom before Trump was evacuated by security, according to video of the event.

President Trump, Melania Trump and other members of the administration on the dais and in the ballroom were evacuated within minutes of shots being heard over C-SPAN and other networks broadcasts.

As the officials were cleared from the room, Secret Service agents swarmed it and ordered other guests to stay in their seats.

Most of the other guests remained in the ballroom after organizers made an announcement that the show would continue shortly.

There was also speculation whether Trump would return to the dinner after the announcement the show would continue and the Presidential Seal was not immediately removed from the podium on the dais.

C-SPAN reported that waiters started to clear the salad portion of dinner as guests started to open wine while waiting for more information about the situation before the announcement that the dinner is going to be rescheduled.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

WASHINGTON — President Trump was evacuated from the White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner on Saturday evening after an incident led to a security response and reports that gunshots were fired.

A Times reporter attending the dinner was forced to shelter in a restroom. He said he heard about four to five gunshots around 8:30 p.m. Eastern time. He said security told him that the person may have had a firearm. It was unclear whether the person was dead or wounded.

Guests at the White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner mingle while awaiting updates about a shooting during the event at the Washington Hilton Hotel on Saturday.

(Andrea Castillo / Los Angeles Times)

A presidential motorcade was spotted outside the Washington Hilton hotel at about 8:45 p.m., though Trump’s location is yet unknown.

At about the same time, an ambulance arrived on scene as about 100 event attendees were escorted out of the secured event. The bulk of the attendees are still inside the hotel.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

BREAKINGBREAKING,

The US president was escorted out from the event at a Washington DC hotel by his secret service agents.

United States President Donald Trump has been evacuated from the White House correspondents’ dinner at a hotel in Washington, DC, by his secret service agents.

The evacuation on Saturday evening came after loud sounds were heard inside the banquet hall of the Washington Hilton, where the event was taking place.

Footage from the scene showed Trump and attendees taking cover after the loud noise, after which the US president was led away. Heavily armed agents then take over the head table.

More soon…

Washington, DC – Donald Trump — whose political career has been built, in part, on deriding the United States press — is set to attend his first White House Correspondents’ Dinner as president.

Saturday’s event continues a decades-long tradition, dating back to 1921. Still, the black-tie gala held in Washington, DC, remains a divisive event.

For years, detractors have argued its chummy approach to the presidency risks blurring the independence of the press corps.

Trump himself is one of the dinner’s critics. Until this year, Trump had refused to attend, appearing poised to defy a tradition of sitting presidents dining at least once with the press corps during the annual event.

Since he launched his first presidential campaign, Trump has taken a bellicose approach towards the media, issuing both personal attacks on journalists and lawsuits against news organisations for coverage he deems unfair.

His presence at Saturday’s dinner has only heightened questions about the event’s role in the modern era.

Trump has previously declined five previous invitations to attend, across his first and second terms. His inaugural visit on Saturday has been accompanied by changes to the dinner’s format: Most notably, the longstanding practice of having a comedian perform has been nixed.

Journalist organisations and rights groups, meanwhile, have called on the event’s host, the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), to send a “forthright message” to the president about protecting the freedom of the press.

“We also urge the WHCA to reaffirm, without equivocation, that freedom of the press is not a partisan issue,” a coalition of groups, including the Society of Professional Journalists, wrote in an open letter.

A return for Trump?

Saturday is set to be the first time Trump attends the correspondents’ dinner as president, but it is not his first time attending the event.

He was present as a private citizen at the 2011 dinner, years before launching his first successful presidential campaign.

At the time, Trump had begun his foray into national politics, pushing the so-called “birtherism” theory: the racist claim that then-President Barack Obama was born in Kenya and had faked his US birth certificate.

It is tradition for the sitting president to speak at the event, and Obama seized the moment to lob barbs at Trump’s conspiracy theories and his nascent political career.

In one instance, Obama poked fun at Trump’s work hosting the reality television show The Apprentice.

Referring to Trump’s “firing” of actor Gary Busey, Obama mockingly praised his decision-making. “These are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night,” he quipped. “Well played, sir.”

Obama also envisioned what a future Trump presidency would look like, displaying a mock-up of a “Trump White House Resort and Casino”.

Comedian Seth Meyers, who hosted the night’s event, also took aim at Trump’s birtherism claims and political ambitions.

“Donald Trump has been saying that he will run for president as a Republican,” he quipped at one point, “which is surprising since I just assumed he was running as a joke.”

Trump sat stone-faced in the audience, with several confidants later crediting the night as a major motivator for his 2016 presidential bid.

The White House Correspondents’ Association was launched in 1914, as a response to threats by then-President Woodrow Wilson to do away with presidential news conferences. The organisation has worked to expand White House access for reporters.

Comedians became mainstays of the annual dinner in the early 1980s, with both presidents and journalists often the subject of their pointed jokes.

Defenders of the event have argued that the presence of comedians helps to celebrate free speech and ground the black-tie proceedings, underscoring that no attendee is above ridicule.

But since President Trump first declined to attend the event after taking office in 2017, that norm has shifted.

Michelle Wolf’s no-holds-barred performance in 2018 is often seen as a breaking point.

In her jokes, she seized upon Trump’s past statements appearing to praise sexual assault, and she charged that Trump did not have a “big enough spine to attend” the event. She also mocked the mainstream media’s coverage of the president.

While praised by fellow comedians and some members of the press, her performance divided the White House press corps. Trump and his top officials took particular issue with the material, with the president decrying Wolf as “filthy”.

The following year, the association instead invited historian Ron Chernow to speak at the event. The dinner did not have another comedian until 2022, during the administration of US President Joe Biden.

Last year, during Trump’s first term back in office, the association abruptly cancelled a planned performance by comedian Amber Ruffin, with the board’s then-President Eugene Daniels saying it wanted to avoid “politics of division”.

This year, a mentalist, Oz Pearlman, is set to perform instead of a comedian.

Calls for press freedom

The Society of Professional Journalists, Freedom of the Press Foundation, and The National Association of Black Journalists are among the organisations and hundreds of individual journalists urging their colleagues to use the event to make a statement.

In an open letter, it said the actions by the Trump administration “represent the most systematic and comprehensive assault on freedom of the press by a sitting American president”.

The organisation pointed to a series of hostile actions the Trump administration has taken against journalists.

They include limiting the White House and Pentagon press pools, threats by the Federal Communications Commission against broadcasters, immigration enforcement actions against non-citizen journalists, and an FBI raid of a Washington Post reporter’s home.

The letter also pointed to the White House’s launching of a “hall of shame” page on its website, which highlights news organisations accused of biased coverage, as well as Trump’s repeated verbal attacks on reporters.

But the Trump administration has rejected allegations that it treats journalists unfairly or that it has prevented public access to information.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, for example, has regularly touted Trump as the “most transparent” president in US history, pointing to his regular media events.

During his second term, Trump has also taken spur-of-the-moment phone interviews from reporters, even amid the US-Israeli war in Iran.

In their letter, the journalists and professional organisations note that some attendees on Saturday plan to wear pocket handkerchiefs or lapel pins with the words “First Amendment”.

The pins reference the section of the US Constitution that protects freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

But the journalists called on the White House Correspondents’ Association to go further and make it clear that it will not “normalise” Trump’s behaviour — “but instead fight back against any officeholder who has waged systematic war against the journalists whose work the dinner celebrates”.

VICTORIA Beckham has kicked off her early birthday celebrations with a lavish “girls” dinner in Miami after finally breaking her silence on her bitter feud with Brooklyn.

After her eldest son launched a scathing attack on the family with a bombshell Instagram statement back in January, the singer recently addressed the fallout for the first time.

Since speaking out on the “rift” between her family the fashion designer has been spotted letting loose at her early birthday celebrations.

Stunning Victoria took to her Instagram to show fans the incredible navy blue dress she decided to wear to the dinner.

Posing in the mirror of a huge dressing room, Victoria explained her dress of choice.

She said: “So I’m here in Miami and tonight I’m going out with my girlfriends for my birthday and I’ve got this amazing navy blue jersey dress which I love.

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“I love the waist detail here, which really brings the waist in making it look super super toned. It’s got a slit up the side as well… It is the perfect party dress for a night out with my girlfriends.”

Victoria, who turns 52 today, looked sizzling in the tight fitting dress as she showed off her toned physique.

The Spice Girls star had her hair styled in natural waves and her makeup was flawless, complete with a very subtle smoky eye.

She accessorised the chic outfit with some blue open toed stilettos, chunky diamond bracelets and an emerald ring.

Victoria and her closet gal pals sat down for a very bougie meal at Italian restaurant Casadonna.

For starters they had focaccia bread, followed by a choice of grilled octopus or a baby gem lettuce caesar salad.

And for their third and final course the girls had the option to pick between filet mignon, branzino or beef ragu bolognase.

Victoria’s daughter Harper, 14, was also present at the girls dinner as she was seen giving her mum a big hug.

The singer-turned-fashion-designer captioned the snap: “I love you so much @harperbeckham.”

Victoria appeared over the moon as Harper surprised her with a huge birthday cake, which was complete with regal white icing and a singular gold candle.

Earlier this week Victoria broke her silence on her long-running feud with her son, amateur chef Brooklyn, 26.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal magazine, Victoria did not refer to Brooklyn by name when asked about the rift but discussed how she had only ever tried to “protect and love our children”.

The Spice Girls star said: “I think that we’ve always—we love our children so much.

“We’ve always tried to be the best parents that we can be. And you know, we’ve been in the public eye for more than 30 years right now, and all we’ve ever tried to do is protect our children and love our children.

“And you know, that’s all I really want to say about it.”

EMMA Watson has sparked mystery as she went to extreme lengths to avoid being pictured with a married star after a lavish dinner date in Hollywood.

The Harry Potter star recently confirmed her secret relationship with billionaire entrepreneur Gonzalo Hevia Baillares.

Just last month they were spotted passionately snogging at the airport after having jetted off on a romantic break.

But now, Emma was seen going to extreme lengths to avoid being papped with Jay Shetty, 38, according to The Mail‘s source.

Emma reportedly had dinner with the former monk and now lifestyle guru at a lavish LA restaurant last week.

The 35-year-old made her swift departure using a different exit to podcast host Jay, the source said.

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Taking their seemingly well-thought-out exit a step further, The Mail’s eagle-eyed onlooker told how the pair even “swapped cars,” in a bid to baffle the paps.

Outside the trendy spot, Jay, the British author of Think Like A Monk, was also seen looking after Emma’s dog, Sofia, in a display of manly chivalry.

In September last year, Emma, who is a PHD student at Oxford, appeared on Jay’s podcast, On Purpose With Jay Shetty.

The pair got into a deep conversation on Emma’s love life and she told how marriage is “a miracle,” and while she hopes it may one day happen to her, she doesn’t feel “entitled to it.”

Since the podcast aired, it seems Jay and Emma have struck up a close friendship – so why make a great escape?

It’s not the first time they have been spotted out on the town together, according to The Mail.

Little Women star Emma and celebrity life coach Jay were also seen arriving at Beyoncé and Jay Z‘s Oscar party.

Jay and his wife influencer Radhi Devlukia married in a traditional Hindu ceremony back in 2016.

Celebrating his wedding anniversary back in 2020, he said: “Your laugh is infectious, your dances are hilarious and your heart is so so deep.

“You’re my spiritual inspiration and guide in SO many ways! Thank you for being my wife and loving me!”

Meanwhile, actress Emma is thought to be loved up with her boyfriend Gonzalo.

They didn’t appear to care who saw them last month as she embraced the businessman as they walked through Mexico City airport.

Gonzalo, who is one of Mexico’s most eligible bachelors, is said to be taking his relationship with Emma very seriously – having already introduced her to his parents, a source told The Daily Mail.

On March 29, Taix as we know it closes forever. The iconic French restaurant originally opened downtown in 1927 and relocated to its current chalet on Sunset Boulevard in 1962. It’s a grim reminder of L.A.’s insatiable appetite to destroy its own heritage and especially devastating to a certain milieu of writers and artists, myself very much included. Since it announced its closure, I’ve been visiting as often as I can to say farewell, not only to the charmingly shabby faux-1920s interiors, but to the many lives I’ve lived at its tables. First as a young guitarist when a bandmate worked the bar’s soundboard, next with the Chinatown artist scene, then with Semiotext(e)’s avant-garde lit circle, later through firecracker romances and heartbreaks during the art party Social Club, recently floating through the louche carnival of Gay Guy Night and now with the circus of beatniks from my reading series Casual Encountersz.

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It’s difficult to explain why this cavernous and windowless restaurant means so much, so I’ve tried to list everything I love about Taix.

I love that they don’t play music. I love the 1960s bathrooms. I love the bottomless tureens of soup. I love the complimentary crudité from the pre-pandemic era. I love the cold pats of butter. I love that you can always get a table, no matter how many people roll in. I love the free refills on Diet Cokes. I love the 80-year-old couples on dates. I love how the dim lighting makes everyone seem chic. I love the frayed carpeting. I love the fake votive candles. I love the icy martinis. I love the corner booth beside the fireplace. I love the smoked mirrors and tin-plate ceilings in the elegant back dining rooms. I love the small fortune I’ve spent there picking up the check for many strippers, poets and bohemians. I love its rundown glamour, which miraculously evokes Old Hollywood, Belle Époque and trashy Americana all at once. I unironically love the food, which isn’t spectacular, but is very comforting. I love how a waitress once ran off with a friend of mine and slept on my couch for a week. I love how my wife generally hates eating at restaurants but loves eating at Taix. I love how every L.A. artist I know has their own singular version of this list.

The only thing I don’t love about Taix is that its owners are tearing it down to erect soulless condos. I know the city needs housing, but not like this. I hope we’ll all find a new place to call home again soon.

Taix shaped me as a writer and artist, along with so many others, which is why before the new owners demolish this cultural institution, I asked other creatives what the Echo Park landmark means to them.

Chris Kraus.

(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)

Chris Kraus, writer, artist and co-editor of the independent press Semiotext(e): When I moved to L.A. in 1995, Taix was the go-to place, with its deep banquettes, cuisine bonne-femme and its nightly prix-fixe specials. Mostly it was police officers and their wives who went there. Sylvère Lotringer and I went often, for him it was a little reprieve from the non-Frenchness of L.A. He could order in French and exchange pleasantries with an elderly French waiter who seemed to live there. Years later, when Sylvère moved to Ensenada and was less active with Semiotext(e), Taix was the site of our “Annual General Meetings” — Hedi El Kholti, Sylvère and I would have dinner together and Hedi would catch Sylvère up on all the forthcoming publications and projects. Taix was a place to run into people unexpectedly. About a decade ago, when the bar was refreshed, it changed again and I kind of lost track of it.

Rachel Kushner, novelist: I dined at Taix probably once per week for 23 years. It hurts so much that it is closing. I simply stopped going, so that I could begin to grieve, and also to avoid every last random tourist standing by the host station, on their phone, and the glum possibility of being seated in the second dining room, a.k.a “the Morgue” as my friend Benjamin Weissman put it. I want to protect my memories of the special occasions I enjoyed in this perennial special occasion establishment … I want to remember Bernard, a cheerful Basque from Biarritz who worked there 60 years, got progressively trashed over the course of his shift, went to Bakersfield on Sundays to party with his sheep-herding countrymen, came back Wednesdays sunburned and happy. The old valets who were let go during the pandemic. I used to give them a Christmas bonus every year, as a thanks for letting me park my classic out front. Look, I was born in Taix. I mean, in a way. I nursed my newborn in Taix. He grew up there. People who criticize the food are losers, and will never understand. The steak frites are great. The panna cotta, discontinued after the pandemic, was my favorite. The Louis Martini Cabernet was reliable. (Bernard told me the wine cellar downstairs took up the entire footprint of the main restaurant. Don’t know if that’s true.) Meanwhile, I can’t put my arm around a memory. All the smart girls know why. It doesn’t mean I didn’t try.

Cord Jefferson, writer and director: When I started going to Taix, in 2004, you could still gamble at the bar. They sold keno slips and lottery tickets, and whenever Powerball got over $100 million, I’d buy a ticket with my pint. Where else can you do all that while simultaneously watching a game and eating a tourte de volaille? Taix was where I watched the heroic Zinedine Zidane headbutt the gutless Marco Materazzi in the saddest World Cup final ever. When France lost that afternoon, my favorite server, Phillipe, cried. Phillipe’s teeth were often as wine-stained as his customers’. He’d bum me cigarettes in the parking lot and speak abusively about the ways the neighborhood was changing. I’m happy Phillipe is not around to see the digital renderings of what they plan to erect once they demolish the Taix chateau: another condo building with all the charm of a college dorm. It’s a damn shame what’s happening to Taix. I wish I had more money so I could buy it and keep it around, but I never won the Powerball.

John Tottenham, novelist and poet: It’s a shame that Taix is closing, not only because other plans will now have to be made for my funeral reception, but because it was the last civilized watering hole in the neighborhood. There isn’t anywhere else that one can walk into and immediately satisfy the social instinct among a convivial and refreshingly diverse clientele in what is becoming an increasingly homogenized locality. It has been the nexus of my social life for over 20 years, and is simply irreplaceable.

Jade Chang.

(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)

Jade Chang, novelist: I’d only known Taix as a raucous bardo of a French restaurant, then there was a memorial service for Alex Maslansky, my beloved friend Max’s brother, owner of Echo Park’s best bookstore, Stories. Alex was a beautiful and beleaguered soul, born worried, born romantic, difficult and hopeful and apparently a shockingly good poker player. The room was packed with music people and book people, sober friends and poker friends, packed with the gorgeous girls who’d always loved him, our collective sorrow potent and sweet enough to pull the walls in around us tight as we said goodbye and goodbye.

Alexis Okeowo, New Yorker staff writer: I was a late discoverer of Taix, stumbling upon it when I moved to a bungalow just above Sunset during the pandemic from New York. I seemed to only see writer friends there. I met up with a journalist for drinks and then ran into a new writer friend at the bar. I later had a big, spontaneous dinner with TV writer friends and then a birthday celebration in the dining rooms that ended in two friends escorting me home, sick and happy off a mostly-martini meal and the selfies I took in the bathroom with the iconic pink and gold wallpaper. Every time, there was talk about ideas and gossip and so, so much laughter.

Alberto Cuadros, writer/curator and co-founder of the Social Club: About 10 years ago, Max Martin and I started Social Club as a weekly social salon at Taix. We thought of it as a kind of Beuysian social sculpture, it was a weekly ritual, and over time it became something of an institution in the L.A. art world. Everyone knew where to go in L.A. on a Wednesday if they wanted to meet interesting people or find friends. I even met my wife there who was visiting from Montreal.

Siena Foster-Soltis, playwright: Taix felt like one of the few remnants of the L.A. I grew up in and love so dearly.

Ruby Zuckerman.

(Ariana Drehsler/For The Times)

Ruby Zuckerman, writer and co-founder of the reading series This Friday: Taix is the only restaurant in L.A. that doesn’t lose its mind if new friends drop in halfway through dinner or if you stay at your table for hours after you stopped ordering. That kind of flexibility leads to spontaneous nights where what started off as an intimate hang expands into an all-out party. As a writer, that flexibility has allowed me to meet editors, collaborators and readers, drawn together by pure fun rather than networking. One of my favorite nights involved getting in a physical altercation with novelist John Tottenham after he stole my phone to send prank texts to my boyfriend. I’ll miss taking selfies in the bathroom.

Blaine O’Neill, DJ and events organizer: I always say Taix is the “People’s Country Club.” It is exceptional because of the staff who understand the importance of hospitality, and the scale of the space is humane. You’re able to evade feeling pinched by the noose of transactional cosmopolitanism.

Tif Sigfrids, gallerist and publisher Umm…: Taix was a cultural nexus. A space with broad range. It went from being the dark bar I read books and day-drank at in my 20s to the place where I rented a private room to host my son’s first birthday party. It’s where I watched Barack Obama get elected twice, the Lakers win back-to-back championships, and where I indulged in countless night caps and an unreasonable amount of all-you-can-eat split pea soup. You never knew what kind of hot jock, wasted poet or other type of intrigue you might run into there. You can’t make a place like Taix up. It’s a place that just miraculously happens.

Kate Wolf, writer and editor: Though I have been going to Taix for nearly 20 years, embarrassingly, it was only in the last year that I realized the building wasn’t from the 1920s. Those smoke-stained mirrors, that tin ceiling, the drapery and light fixtures are in fact set-dressed — ersatz! Which of course only makes me love the place more. Taix’s history, and its spot in the city’s cultural firmament, cannot be denied. But what really makes it so special are the people who work there and the clientele, not its past. This point is perhaps my only hope in losing what is my favorite restaurant in Los Angeles. That by some divine grace, we will all find each other again in another spot, designed to a different decade than the horror-filled present, and fill it with the same warmth, the same bottomless soup bowl, the same cheer.

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Hedi El Kholti, the co-editor of Semiotext(e).   (Ariana Drehsler/For The Times)

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Writers Lily Lady and Siena Soltis-Foster.  (Ariana Drehsler/For The Times)

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Poet Meat Stevens (Steven Lesser).   (Ariana Drehsler/For The Times)

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Sammy Loren, writer and curator of Casual Encountersz.  (Ariana Drehsler/For The Times)

Hedi El Kholti, artist and co-editor Semiotext(e): Taix is where we would end up after every reading since 2004 when I started working at Semiotext(e). I have memories of being there with Kevin Killian, Dodie Bellamy, Gary Indiana, Michael Silverblatt, Colm Tóibín, Rachel Kushner and Constance Debré among others … Taix has that particular anachronistic vibe that made L.A. so charming when I moved here in 1992, one of these places that time forgot. It was odd when it became really hip in the last 10 years. It made me think of what Warhol wrote about Schrafft’s restaurant when it had been redesigned to keep up with the fashion of the moment and had consequently lost its appeal. “If they could have kept their same look and style, and held on through the lean years when they weren’t in style, today they’d be the best thing around.”

Loren is the founding editor of the art and literary conceptual “tabloid” On the Rag and curator of the reading series Casual Encountersz.

It’s like that time Pinocchio became a real boy: News that was labeled “fake” last week is real today, per the Kennedy Center, and Bill Maher will indeed be the 27th person to receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

The White House strongly dissed the Atlantic’s reporting (followed by unreporting) last week that Maher was the next in line for the 2026 prize that Conan O’Brien got last year and Kevin Hart picked up the year before that. The Twain honor has been bestowed on comics almost annually since 1998 by the Kennedy Center, a “tired, broken, and dilapidated” building that President Trump slapped his own name on in December and plans to close for two years’ worth of renovations starting July 4 — hence the response from White House flacks.

“Literally FAKE NEWS,” said Steven Cheung, White House director of communications, on his official X account reacting Friday to the Atlantic story. Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, said in a statement to the publication, “This is fake news. Bill Maher will NOT be getting this award.”

But People reported Thursday that although the Atlantic’s news was deemed “fake” at the time, according to word from a White House official, the situation had “evolved” in the six days since then.

You say tomato, I say to-mah-to? At any rate, Bill’s getting the Twain, given previously to comedic luminaries including Richard Pryor, Whoopi Goldberg, George Carlin, Lily Tomlin, Steve Martin, Lorne Michaels, Tina Fey and Dave Chappelle.

Maher had no response on social media, perhaps reserving his reaction for the upcoming “Real Time With Bill Maher” episode due out Friday on HBO or his next “Club Random” podcast. But he did issue a dryly amusing statement Thursday in a Kennedy Center news release, saying, “Thank you to the Mark Twain people: I just had the award explained to me, and apparently it’s like an Emmy, except I win.”

(Maher’s show has been nominated for Emmy Awards 22 times, from 2004 through 2024, including 13 nods for variety series and the rest for writing, directing and personal performance. It has won exactly zero of those times. Even Susan Lucci only had to wait through 18 Daytime Emmy nominations before she finally won on the 19th — and proceeded to lose out on two more.)

The comic’s statement continued: “I’d just like to say that it is indeed humbling to get anything named for a man who’s been thrown out of as many school libraries as Mark Twain.”

“For nearly three decades, the Mark Twain Prize has celebrated some of the greatest minds in comedy,” Roma Daravi, vice president of public relations for the Kennedy Center, said in a statement of her own. “For even longer, Bill has been influencing American discourse — one politically incorrect joke at a time.”

Maher, a self-described liberal who has no love for the Republican Party, found himself in strange-new-respect territory among conservatives in recent years after he started slamming far-left ideology as ruthlessly as he slammed the far right. Then last spring he accepted an invitation for dinner with Trump at the White House, and many heads exploded.

“OK, as you know, 12 days ago, I had dinner with President Trump, a dinner that was set up by my friend Kid Rock because we share a belief that there’s got to be something better than hurling insults from 3,000 miles away,” said Maher, who lives on the West Coast, on the April 11, 2025, episode of “Real Time.”

“And let me first say that to all the people who treated this like it was some kind of summit meeting, you’re ridiculous. Like I was going to sign a treaty or something. I have — I have no power. I’m a f— comedian, and he’s the most powerful leader in the world. I’m not the leader of anything except maybe a contingent of centrist-minded people who think there’s got to be a better way of running this country than hating each other every minute.”

Maher said he brought with him to the dinner a list of almost five dozen epithets the president had hurled his way over the years, intending to ask Trump to sign it for him. Which the president did. And after sharing some anecdotes from the visit, including some snappy retorts, Maher told his audience that Trump was “much more self-aware than he lets on in public.”

“I never felt I had to walk on eggshells around him. And honestly, I voted for Clinton and Obama, but I would never feel comfortable talking to them the way I was able to talk with Donald Trump. That’s just how it went down. Make of it what you will.”

The Mark Twain Prize will be given to Maher at a gala set for June 28, with Netflix streaming the event at a later date, yet to be determined.