US President Donald Trump has called a shooter who tried to rush the White House Correspondents’ gala, ‘a sick person.’ Trump says the man was heavily armed, but was apprehended by the Secret Service.
Published On 26 Apr 202626 Apr 2026
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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.
US President Donald Trump was rushed out of the White House Correspondents’ dinner by security after loud bangs.
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BREAKINGBREAKING,
The US president was escorted out from the event at a Washington DC hotel by his secret service agents.
Published On 26 Apr 202626 Apr 2026
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.
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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.
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.
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”.
ORLANDO, Fla. — White men have been discriminated against through diversity, equity and inclusion programs, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday after signing legislation which prohibits counties and cities from funding or promoting DEI initiatives.
The Republican governor defined DEI at a news conference as “an ideological construct that is designed to promote a particular political agenda, particularly to the detriment of disfavored groups.”
“The disfavored groups, No. 1, obviously, would be white males, and I think they’ve been discriminated against,” DeSantis said in Jacksonville. “And it’s like a lot of people are, ‘Oh that’s fine. That’s fine.’ No, it’s not fine. It’s wrong.”
While the governor is entitled to his opinion, his views differ from “everyone else’s,” said Evelyn Foxx, president of the NAACP branch in Gainesville.
“If you talked to 100 white men, they wouldn’t feel the same way” as DeSantis, Foxx said when asked Wednesday about his comments. “The governor is out of touch with people, and that is the bottom line.”
Supporters say the purpose of DEI is to remedy the effects of long-term discrimination against certain groups. A nationwide push by conservatives to limit diversity programs has led many companies, schools and governments to pull back on those initiatives, particularly during the current Trump administration, and DEI has been a frequent target for the governor.
DeSantis also said Wednesday that Asian Americans had faced discrimination in university admissions and that people should be judged on their merits. During his two terms in office, DeSantis’ administration has championed legislation which prohibits public colleges and universities from spending money on DEI programs and promoted the “Stop WOKE Act,” which restricts how race and sex are taught in schools.
Democratic lawmakers have warned that the legislation was overbroad and potentially unconstitutional.
Under the legislation, residents can sue local governments for violations. If local officials are found to have funded DEI initiatives in violation of the law, they can be removed from office.
“When people know there is accountability, they are much more apt to toe the line,” DeSantis said.
Schneider writes for the Associated Press.
Reporting from Washington — President Trump and his aides frequently complain about back-biting leaks from within the White House. But on Thursday, the infighting was out in the open, live on television.
The incoming communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, in a morning phone call broadcast on CNN, compared the West Wing to a fish that “stinks from the head down,” implying that White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus is responsible for at least some of the leaks.
“There are people inside this administration who think it’s their job to save America from this president,” Scaramucci said.
Another Trump advisor, Kellyanne Conway, used a prison analogy for the broader backstabbing, telling Fox News that her White House colleagues were using “the press to shiv each other.”
Later, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to come to Priebus’ defense and say whether Trump has full confidence in his chief of staff.
While the discord might suggest a new level of chaos in a White House known for it, the style is all Trump. As a businessman, he has a history of fostering rivalries among his employees.
“He always did sort of like competition, backstabbing, infighting kind of stuff,” said Barbara Res, who spent nearly two decades as a top executive in Trump’s real estate business. “He set people up to do that.
“He’d pick the winner and blame the loser,” she added.
As president, he hasn’t changed. As Sanders told reporters: “The president likes that kind of competition and encourages it.”
Trump led the charge this week, using his Twitter account and an interview with the Wall Street Journal to ridicule his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, one of Trump’s first and most prominent campaign supporters. By Thursday, both Priebus and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson were seeing their fates publicly deliberated as well, less than a week after Press Secretary Sean Spicer was forced out after months of speculation and presidential slights.
The Priebus intrigue was amplified by Scaramucci on Twitter and in the CNN interview. He blamed Priebus for leaking Scaramucci’s personal financial disclosure forms — forms that are publicly available — and suggested that Trump encouraged his attack on Priebus in a phone conversation the two men had just had before Scaramucci dialed in to CNN.
Later Thursday, New Yorker magazine writer Ryan Lizza reported that Scaramucci, in a profanity-laden phone call to him Wednesday night, referred to Priebus as a “paranoid schizophrenic” who had blocked him from the White House for six months. He accused White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon of seeking to “build [his] own brand off the … strength of the president,” and he claimed to have evidence from the FBI about who in the White House had been leaking information fueling derogatory stories about Trump.
Infuriated that someone had told Lizza about a dinner that night at the White House, Scaramucci demanded to know the reporter’s source and said he would “eliminate everyone in the comms team and we’ll start over,” unless Lizza told him.
Priebus has declined to engage publicly. But hours after Scaramucci first aired his side in the two men’s strife, Sanders called it “healthy competition.”
The result of all the drama is a White House that increasingly resembles the set from the president’s former way of life, as the star of a reality TV show. His aides’ cable television appearances recall the “confessionals” familiar to fans of the genre, in which contestants look directly at the camera to confide their anger or enmity toward others on the show.
“The primary attribute for a successful tenure in the Trump White House is masochism,” tweeted Rick Wilson, a longtime Republican operative and Trump critic.
The repeated evidence of dysfunction and the high level of insecurity among Trump’s core aides help explain the White House’s inability to focus on its agenda.
Trump’s critics suggested the public staff blow-up was a deliberate distraction from several controversies — the struggle in Congress to pass a healthcare bill, ongoing investigations into potential collusion between his campaign and Russia, and the blowback from Republicans and others to Trump’s surprise Twitter announcement on Wednesday that transgender people will be barred from military service.
But those issues also were being heavily covered on cable news. The stories that were overshadowed were those the White House was trying to promote this week: a deal the administration helped strike with Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn to build a production facility in Wisconsin, creating thousands of new jobs, and nascent efforts to craft a tax overhaul plan.
“Right now, the president is operating the White House by himself,” relying on only a few aides, including Scaramucci, said Barry Bennett, a former Trump campaign advisor who maintains contacts in the White House.
It’s Scaramucci’s “natural inclination to go after Reince, and he’s not getting any kind of halt sign,” Bennett added. “One of them is not going to make it.”
The tension between Scaramucci and Priebus was widely known for months behind the scenes, as Scaramucci came to believe Priebus sabotaged his early attempts to join the Trump administration. Priebus, in turn, was miffed as Scaramucci recently edged aside Sean Spicer, his closest ally in the White House, as press secretary.
Trump has given Priebus little comfort. During Wednesday’s White House announcement about the planned Foxconn facility in Wisconsin on Wednesday — a deal that Priebus, a Wisconsin native, helped secure — Trump failed to recognize him even as the president praised the state’s governor, congressional delegation and other members of his Cabinet who came to the East Room event.
Scaramucci joins a cadre seen by some West Wing officials as “enablers” who encourage Trump’s most defiant and often self-defeating impulses, a group that notably includes Bannon.
In many ways Trump is his own chief of staff, and he’s not a very good one.
— David B. Cohen, political science professor, University of Akron
In recent months, on foreign policy in particular, Bannon has taken a step back as a faction of so-called “realists” — or, as Bannon likes to call them, “globalists” — including Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, daughter Ivanka Trump and economics advisor Gary Cohn have held sway.
But Trump’s surprise announcement on Twitter on Wednesday morning of a ban on transgender troops, which blindsided Pentagon leadership, showed that the “realists” only have so much power to rein in the president.
Sanders defended Trump’s controversial speech at the Boy Scouts national jamboree on Monday night, a campaign-style event that prompted an apology from the organization’s chief executive on Thursday for the partisan tenor of the president’s address.
“I saw nothing but roughly 40,000 to 45,000 Boy Scouts cheering the president on,” Sanders said Thursday.
David B. Cohen, a political science professor at the University of Akron who has studied the role of the White House chief of staff, said many administration problems stem from Priebus’ lack of power to help set Trump’s agenda and manage the staff members competing for his attention.
“In many ways Trump is his own chief of staff, and he’s not a very good one,” Cohen said.
The fact that Scaramucci was hired last week over Priebus’ objections and reports directly to Trump, Cohen said, “shows that Priebus has been effectively neutered in the West Wing.”
Scaramucci seems eager to fill any void. But as other Trump aides have learned, the glow of the president’s affection is seldom permanent.
One Republican in regular contact with the White House, who asked for anonymity to preserve his access, said of Scaramucci, “What got him there was … being an effective counterpuncher. But at a certain point, you become at risk of becoming the punching bag.”
Sessions, who gave up a secure Senate seat to become Trump’s attorney general, learned that lesson over the last week as Trump began openly expressing his frustrations, objecting to Sessions’ recusal from the Russia investigation, which the president believes led to the appointment of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.
Sessions said again on Fox News on Thursday that he intends to stay in the job if Trump does not fire him. Trump’s humiliation of Sessions lately has aroused more open complaints from congressional Republicans than any presidential action to date.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina warned that “there will be holy hell to pay” if Trump fires Sessions. Any attempt to get rid of Mueller, Graham added, could be “the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency.”
brian.bennett@latimes.com | @byBrianBennett
noah.bierman@latimes.com | @noahbierman
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SUNDAY may be a day of rest in Europe, but that’s not the case for Puerto Rico.
The shops were shut, but the city of Ponce was very much awake.
As I wandered the streets, locals cruised past in their vintage cars, music blasted from lively bars and groups of youngsters burst into spontaneous dance on the streets.
In the main square, families strolled past colourful murals and beautiful yet crumbling Art Deco buildings, while old men put the world to rights over a leisurely game of dominoes in the main square.
Ponce (pronounced Pon-say) was the last stop on my Tropical Isles cruise onboard the recently refurbished Marella Discovery.
It’s a new port for Marella so, like Christopher Columbus — who discovered the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico back in 1493 — I was excited to be one of the first people to explore.
Week-long sailings start and finish in La Romana, in the Dominican Republic, calling at the nearby nature reserve of Isla Catalina, the Puerto Rican capital of San Juan and the US Virgin Islands of St Thomas and St Croix.
Now I’ve been lucky enough to visit the Caribbean a few times before, but I was still surprised by how green these islands were.
And while this itinerary gave me plenty of opportunity to sunbathe on white-sand beaches and sample local rum (I recommend Ron del Barrilito), I was still able to go hiking in the rainforest and kayak through beautiful coves.
Staying active is something I would definitely recommend on a Marella cruise — not just because you’ll miss out on amazing experiences if you don’t, but because you’ll need to burn off all the extra calories you’re bound to consume on board.
With nine restaurants and seven bars spread over 11 decks, you certainly won’t go hungry or thirsty — especially as Marella cruises are all-inclusive as standard.
This means your flights, cabin, transfers to and from the ship, drinks, food and entertainment are all included in the price.
Even your bags go straight from your home airport to your cabin door so you don’t have to worry about collecting them from a carousel or lugging them around.
Compared to other cruise ships, Marella Discovery is quite small, accommodating up to 1,800 passengers.
It’s really set up for British tourists, though, with Yorkshire Tea on tap and dishes such as steak and ale pie readily available in the excellent Islands buffet.
Entertainment-wise, passengers can find their way out of an escape room, play a round of mini-golf or enjoy a musical afternoon tea. Plus there are West End-style shows, quizzes and gameshows galore.
For better-quality booze and speciality coffees, you can upgrade to a Premium All Inclusive package, while speciality restaurants, including the Surf & Turf Steakhouse and Sushi Bar, come at an extra charge.
But be sure to leave room for some traditional Caribbean delicacies when you leave the ship. At Café Manolin, in San Juan, I joined locals queuing to tuck into giant plates of mofongo, a much-loved Puerto Rican dish of fried green plantain stuffed with meat or veggies.
Coffee is also big business here — and almost as popular as rapper Bad Bunny, who hails from the island.
Many coffee plantations welcome visitors to sample their wares but I got my caffeine fix at Hacienda Jacana, in the mountainous region of Adjuntas, where owner Jonathan and his ex-cop father proudly showed off their farm while explaining details of the coffee-making process.
I was buzzing after a few cups of their delicious Latitude 18° coffee — but it couldn’t possibly compare to the buzz I got in St Thomas after snorkelling with a group of green turtles in the crystal-clear water of Magens Bay.
Granted, I had to keep reminding myself that I wouldn’t die if I tried to breathe normally underwater, but I forgot all about breathing when a metre-long turtle paddled right past my face. Just wow.
As an animal lover, and a keen traveller missing my two dogs back home, I was also thrilled to stumble across the Ruff Night — Hair Of The Dog Bar in St Croix (pronounced Croy), just steps from where Marella Discovery docked in Frederiksted.
The lively bar, in the courtyard of the Victoria House Inn, is run by volunteers from the Ruff Start STX animal charity who love nothing more than mixing super-strong cocktails and bringing in puppies for punters to cuddle.
And if that’s not reason enough to visit, all money raised from the bar goes directly to local dogs in need, so go armed with plenty of cash in your pocket!
I’d certainly worked up a thirst after a morning kayaking in the nearby Salt River Bay, and I enjoyed getting back to nature there almost as much as I did at El Yunque National Forest — the jewel in the crown of Puerto Rico.
The 28,000-acre site is the only tropical rainforest in the US and it has more than 100 miles of walking trails just waiting to be explored. With enormous trees providing canopies of greenery and exotic birds and frogs creating a cacophony of noise, it was just how I imagined a rainforest to be.
While mosquitoes are rife here after dark, I managed to avoid being savaged by the pesky wee beasties during the daytime.
One thing was for sure, though — I had definitely been bitten by the Caribbean cruise bug.
SAILING THERE: A seven-night Tropical Isles round-trip on board Marella Discovery is from £1,573pp, departing from La Romana, Dominican Republic.
Price is based on two adults sharing a Deck 2/3 inside cabin on an all-inclusive basis and includes flights from Gatwick on November 24, 20kg of luggage per person, transfers, tips and service charges.
See tui.co.uk/cruise or call 0203 451 2688.
April 17 (UPI) — All above-ground construction of the White House ballroom must be stopped amid litigation, a federal judge ordered Thursday, reprimanding the Trump administration for trying to justify continued work on the building as necessary for national and presidential security concerns.
“National security is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity,” U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said.
The ruling comes almost three weeks after Leon issued a preliminary injunction against the $400 million project, finding that construction at the White House requires congressional approval. While ordering the construction halt amid appeal, Leon carved out an exception for the government to continue underground work deemed necessary for the White House’s safety and security.
That prompted litigation over the scope of the carve-out and the Trump administration argue that construction of the ballroom above ground was needed as security elements ran through the entire facility.
“Defendants argue that the entire ballroom construction project, from tip to tail, falls within the safety-and-security exception and therefore may proceed unabated. That is neither a reasonable nor a correct reading of my order!” Leon said Thursday.
“It is, to say the least, incredible, if not disingenuous, that defendants now argue that my order does not stop ballroom construction because of the safety-and-security exception!”
The federal government has filed an appeal against the Thursday ruling.
“We are pleased the court upheld the preliminary injunction and halted above-ground construction of the White House ballroom until Congress approves the project,” Carol Quillen, CEO and president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which filed the initial lawsuit, said in a statement.
Trump has said building a White House ballroom has been his dream since before he was president, and has said its price tag, which has ballooned from an initial $200 million, is to be covered by private donors.
In December, as construction was underway following the October demolition of the East Wing, the National Trust for Historic Preservation sued to stop the project, arguing U.S. law mandates the project be authorized by Congress, resulting in the March 31 injunction and the Trump administration filing an appeal.
After the Thursday ruling, Trump chastised Leon in a series of posts on his Truth Social platform, calling him an “out of control Trump hating” judge whose ruling “severely jeopardizes the lives and welfare of the people who work, and will be working, at the White House.”
“The underground doesn’t work, isn’t necessary and would indeed be useless without the above-ground section,” he said in a Truth Social post.
“This highly political Judge, and his illegal overreach, is out of control, and costing our Nation greatly,” he said in another statement.
“This is a mockery of our Court System! The Ballroom is deeply important to our National Security, and no judge can be allowed to stop this Historic and Militarily Imperative Project.”
WASHINGTON — An effort to ramp up U.S. weapons production and build more ships, planes and drones will require a massive upfront investment, President Trump’s budget director told a House committee Wednesday.
The testimony from Russell Vought jump-starts the White House’s push to increase defense spending to nearly $1.5 trillion in the next budget year, up from nearly $1 trillion this year, while cutting health research, heating assistance and scores of other domestic programs by about 10% overall. Such cuts do not cover mandatory spending, which includes such programs as Social Security and Medicare.
The debate over Trump’s proposal underscored the sharp divide that will shape some of the most significant policy debates going into a midterm election that will give voters the ultimate say on the direction of the country.
“For the industrial base to double or triple and build more facilities, not just add shifts, it requires multiyear agreements to purchase into the future,” Vought told lawmakers. “That cost has to be booked in this first year.”
The White House is calling for about $1.1 trillion for defense through the regular appropriations process, which typically requires support from both parties for approval. An additional $350 billion would come through a separate bill that Republicans can accomplish on their own, through party-line majority votes.
Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the ranking Democratic member of the committee, said he believes in a strong national defense. But he said the idea of increasing defense by more than 40% while cutting programs that people need shows that the Republican administration’s priorities are “out of whack.”
The committee chairman, Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), predicted the hearing would be more “amped up” than usual, and that proved to be true, beginning with his opening statement focused on criticizing Democrat Joe Biden’s presidency. Arrington said he did not know of any president in his lifetime who “inherited such a complete and utter mess as President Trump did in January of last year.”
Since then, Arrington said, Trump has secured the border, cut taxes and constrained nondefense spending.
It was the beginning of several back-and-forths at the hearing.
“You know how bad this economy is when we hear Joe Biden being invoked, we hear trans people being invoked. I was waiting for Jimmy Carter to be blamed next,” Boyle said in response to Arrington’s opening remarks.
Boyle said consumer confidence is plummeting under Trump and noted a gas station he passed in Philadelphia recently was selling gas at $4.11 a gallon versus less than $3 a gallon some six weeks ago because of Trump’s “war of choice in Iran.”
Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) called the proposed defense spending increase shocking.
“We’ve never in the history of this country seen spending like this, paid for by slashing healthcare, education and housing,” Balint said. “Mr. Vought, yes or no, is $350 billion for the war in Iran lowering costs for Americans?”
“It is certainly not defunding child care. We fully fund child care in this budget,” Vought said, not directly answering the question.
Balint went on to incorporate Trump’s “America first” mantra in her questioning.
She said that $350 billion could pay for an enhanced health insurance tax credit for 10 years and that her constituents are asking how the country can continue to spend money on wars and not find a solution to helping people afford healthcare.
Vought said the president has made clear he was not going to let Iran have nuclear weapons, missiles and a navy that affect U.S. national security.
“He is doing what is necessary to keep us safe, while at the same time trying to pursue diplomacy so that we can get out of wars and lower those costs over time,” Vought said.
Vought said it was unclear how much the administration would seek to fund the war during the current budget year, which ends Sept. 30. That money would be part of an emergency supplemental spending bill and would be on top of the funds the White House is seeking to boost defense spending next year.
“Would it be more than $50 billion?” asked Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas).
“We’re still working on it,” Vought said. “I don’t have a ballpark for you.”
Freking writes for the Associated Press.
WASHINGTON — President Trump railed against a federal judge’s decision on Thursday that continues to block above-ground construction of a $400-million White House ballroom, allowing only below-ground work on a bunker and other “national security facilities” at the site.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon’s latest ruling comes in response to an appeals court’s instruction to clarify an earlier decision on the 90,000-square-foot ballroom planned for the site where the East Wing of the White House once stood.
Trump on social media called Leon, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, a “Trump Hating” judge who “has gone out of his way to undermine National Security, and to make sure that this Great Gift to America gets delayed, or doesn’t get built.”
The administration filed a notice that it will ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review Leon’s latest decision, too.
Carol Quillen, president and chief executive of National Trust for Historic Preservation, whose group sued to challenge the project, said in a statement that the group is pleased with the court’s ruling.
Leon said that below-ground work on security measures is exempt from his order suspending above-ground construction. Government lawyers have argued that the project includes critical security features to guard against a range of possible threats, such as drones, ballistic missiles and biohazards.
Leon’s latest ruling comes several days after a three-judge panel from the D.C. appeals court instructed him to reconsider the possible national security implications of stopping construction.
In his previous order, Leon barred above-ground work on the ballroom from proceeding without congressional approval. The judge also ruled on March 31 that any construction work that’s necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House is exempt from the scope of the injunction. Leon said he reviewed material that the government privately submitted to him before concluding that halting construction wouldn’t jeopardize national security.
Leon had suspended his March 31 order for two weeks. He stayed his latest decision for another week, which gives the administration more time to seek Supreme Court review.
Leon said he is ordering a stop only to the above-ground construction of the planned ballroom, apart from any work needed to cover or secure that part of the project. Otherwise, the Trump administration is free to proceed with the construction of any excavations, bunkers, military installations, and medical facilities below the ballroom.
“Defendants argue that the entire ballroom construction project, from tip to tail, falls within the safety-and-security exception and therefore may proceed unabated,” the judge wrote. “That is neither a reasonable nor a correct reading of my Order!”
On Saturday, the appeals court panel said it didn’t have enough information to decide how much of the project can be suspended without jeopardizing the safety of the president, his family or the White House staff.
Leon said he recognizes the safety implications of the case, but stressed that “national security is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity.” He also said he has “no desire or intention to be dragooned into the role of construction manager.”
On April 2, two days after Leon’s previous ruling, Trump’s ballroom won final approval from the 12-member National Capital Planning Commission, which is charged with approving construction on federal property in the Washington region.
The preservation group sued in December, a week after the White House finished demolishing the East Wing to make way for a ballroom that Trump said would fit 999 people. Trump says the project is funded by private donations, although public money is paying for the bunker construction and security upgrades.
Kunzelman writes for the Associated Press.
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WASHINGTON — First lady Melania Trump is denying ties to Jeffrey Epstein and knowledge of his crimes, saying Thursday that the “stories are completely false” and calling online accusations that she was somehow involved “smears about me.”
“The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today. The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility and respect. I do not object to their ignorance, but rather I reject their mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation,” she said.
Reading an extraordinary statement at the White House, she denied any association with Epstein and said, “My attorneys and I have fought these unfounded and baseless lies with success.”
The first lady also called on Congress to hold a public hearing centered on survivors of Epstein’s crimes, with a chance to testify before lawmakers and have their stories entered into the congressional record.
“Each and every woman should have her day to tell her story in public if she wishes,” she said. “Then, and only then, we will have the truth.”
Her out-of-the-blue message came just as her husband, President Donald Trump, and his administration had finally appeared successful in moving beyond the Epstein controversy, which had sent shockwaves through the nation’s politics for months.
The case had begun to be overshadowed by the war in Iran and other major issues — but the first lady’s comments might push it back into the political spotlight.
The first lady said she was not friends with Epstein or Maxwell but was in overlapping social circles in New York and Florida. She described an email reply she sent to Maxwell as “casual correspondence” without elaborating.
“My polite reply to her email doesn’t amount to anything more than a trifle,” she said.
Binkley writes for the Associated Press.
Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna reports that the White House has confirmed the US has agreed to suspend all bombing and military attacks on Iran for two weeks, provided the Strait of Hormuz re-opens for safe passage. Trump’s announcement came close to an hour before an original threatened deadline, signalling a breakthrough towards diplomacy.
Published On 8 Apr 20268 Apr 2026
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The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival posted set times for Weekend 1 of the 2026 edition and a former headliner has been added to the lineup.
Jack White, who was the musical guest on “Saturday Night Live” with host Jack Black over the weekend, will be the opening performer in the Mojave Tent on Saturday playing from 3 to 3:45 p.m.
White is the latest festival alum added to the bill for a surprise slot in recent years, joining the likes of Weezer and Ed Sheeran in 2025, Blink-182 in 2023 and Arcade Fire in 2022.
White last headlined the festival as a solo act in 2015. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last year as a member of the White Stripes, which played Coachella in 2003.
The sold-out festival is topped by Sabrina Carpenter on Friday, Justin Bieber on Saturday and Karol G on Sunday. Carpenter has the earliest headlining spot of the three, with a set scheduled for 9:05 to 10:35 p.m. Following Carpenter on opening night is electronic artist Anyma, who is debuting a production called “Æden” at midnight on the Coachella stage.
Nine Inch Noize, the collaboration between Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and German producer Boys Noize, will be in the Sahara Tent on Saturday night from 8 to 8:45 p.m.
Coachella hasn’t announced Weekend 2 set times yet.
Earlier on Monday, Coachella posted more information about the mysterious Radiohead activation on the poster dubbed “the Bunker.”
A post on Coachella’s Instagram called it the debut of “Radiohead Motion Picture House Kid A Mnesia,” with a 75-minute-long large format film from band frontman Thom Yorke and band artist Stanley Donwood of “sketches, paintings, collages, audio recordings and handwritten notes” captured during the recording of “Kid A” and “Amnesiac.”
It’s free to see, but there’s a reservation system for a time slot. People who can’t make a reservation will be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis.
On the Coachella website, it describes the Bunker as being located near the Sahara Tent.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Secret Service said Sunday it was investigating reports of overnight gunfire near Lafayette Park, which is across the street from the White House.
No injuries were reported and no suspect was found after a search of the park and the surrounding area after midnight, the agency said in an online post.
President Trump was spending the weekend at the White House, which had no immediate comment on the incident. White House operations remained as normal but security in the area was increased, according to the Secret Service.
The park has been fenced off for weeks of renovations.
The Secret Service said it was working with the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Park Police.
Almost a year ago to the day, Jack Black hosted “Saturday Night Live” for the first time in 20 years, fresh off the success of “A Minecraft Movie.” Now, the star of another freshly minted videogame-to-movie hit, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” has returned after crushing it last time with a high-energy performance.
Having reached the Five-Timers Club, as addressed in an obligatory monologue sketch featuring Jonah Hill, Tina Fey, Candice Bergen and others, Black was a returning hero. He’s frequently cited as one of the favorite hosts among the cast. And while this time may not have reached the frenetic highs of last year’s manic and musical outing, it had some memorable moments.
Most notable was a video for a country-style song about gaining wisdom and then completely forgetting what that wisdom was. Black sang in that sketch along with musical guest Jack White. Black also appeared as a frustrated office worker trying to get a coworker (Ashley Padilla) to stop talking to him and others annoyed by the woman.
Black paired up with Marcello Hernández to play martial arts instructors who teach unorthodox self-defense methods. It played to Black’s physical comedy chops, but something felt off about the execution, especially because of the hard-to-understand dialogue. Black played the last Spartan to be considered for inclusion in the group of 300 Greek fighters against Persia (spoiler: he doesn’t make it in). He played an intrusive Airbnb host with Melissa McCarthy, who was also on board for the Five-Timers sketch.
And, finally, he played one of a set of awkward husbands who come to life singing “Carry On Wayward Son” together.
While the monologue was a blast of fresh chaos (or at least the sense of chaos) with Black jamming out with White, the rest of the show didn’t have the same kind of verve, falling back on familiar sketch formulas. That said, Black committed throughout and sang well when he had the opportunity.
Musical guest Jack White appeared in a few sketches and performed “Derecho Demonico” and “G.O.D. And The Broken Ribs.”
Breaking a streak of cold opens featuring President Trump and/or members of his cabinet, this week’s opening sketch featured instead a March Madness NCAA post-game roundup featuring Ernie Johnson (James Austin Johnson), Kenny Smith (Kam Patterson), Charles Barkley (Kenan Thompson) and coach Bruce Pearl (Jeremy Culhane). The joke here was that Barkley, already known for being outspoken, has been getting kudos for speaking out in favor of immigrants on a CBS broadcast. On the show, he jokes that it’s “the first time I went viral without a prescription for Valtrex.” Emboldened, this version of Barkley keeps saying he’s going to be careful with his words, before weighing in on the Iran war, the Artemis II space mission (“A waste of money. They just flying around the moon.”) and the firing of former U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi. Bondi (Padilla) appeared to refute the comments, referring to “The final four… years of this country.” Barkley said he was going to choose his words carefully one more time before delivering, “Live from New York… It’s Saturday Night!”
For his induction to the Five-Timers Club, Black was joined by a jacket-clad Hill who revealed that there’s something wrong with the lounge where the Five Timers hang out. The room, indeed, appeared spooky and abandoned with cobwebs and Fey wearing a robe made out of Paddington, which she said she got after hosting “SNL UK” last month. Fey revealed the lounge has fallen apart after literally being run into the ground by too many Five-Timers Club sketches. The suave Hernández character Domingo appeared briefly but was conked on the noggin by White, who also achieved Five-Timers status, but as a musical guest. He left early to move his hearse: apparently musical Five Timers only get their parking validated for 15 minutes. Black chose to rock out to revive the lounge, launching into a version of White’s “Seven Nation Army” with the guitarist accompanying him. After a brief musical rockening, Black told the audience, “Stick around, we’ll be White Black!”
Beyond his spot-on Trump impression, Johnson has proven to be adept at musical impressions, and here he does a nice job launching into a country song, “Words to Live By,” about a man who hears his father’s dying words … and then forgets what the wisdom was that was imparted. Black takes over as a man who climbed a mountain in Tibet and spent 20 hours with a guru, only to forget what he learned while walking down the mountain and getting a text from his wife. That would have been plenty, but a third section features Andrew Dismukes as an annoyed father refusing to listen to his 6-year-old son’s words. “You don’t even know how to wipe your own butt,” he sings, “you maybe only know the names of like 30 weird Pokemon guys.” The three singers at least remember the name of the “Men in Black” device that erases your memory: The Neuralyzer.
What looked at first to be a repeat of a recent sketch about wine-drinking wives chatting in the kitchen and playing truth or dare instead pivoted to a scene about husbands stuck together in a den with nothing to talk about. That might have been premise enough for a piece about men having trouble making friends, but instead, a mumbled lyric for the Kansas song “Carry On Wayward Son” turned into a full-blown sing-along that peaks when the men jam out with ribbon sticks and strip their outerwear to reveal colorful jumpsuits. When you have a guest who can sing as well as Black, you’ve got to lean into that talent.
Patterson had some funny moments as the new Black version of Professor Snape slated to appear in the new “Harry Potter” series, but Sarah Sherman was tough to ignore as Kristi Noem’s husband Bryon, currently embroiled in a scandal over online chats. Sherman as Bryon Noem wore two giant balloons under a shirt, challenging “Update” co-host Michael Che and others to make fun of his kink. “I dare you to find one thing that’s funny about this whole situation,” Bryon said. The segment got more and more absurd as Bryon challenged the cue-card master Wally Ferensten, Lorne Michaels (shown having already left, leaving a spinning desk chair), Kristi Noem (Padilla) and even the dog she shot, shown in heaven with a halo. It was as distasteful a segment as you’d expect from “Update,” yet also somehow straddled the line between wallowing in the scandal and mining some genuine laughs out of it.
Before the start, Yorkshire confirmed that Joe Root will play three Championship matches and fellow England batter Harry Brook two games as their preparations for the Test summer.
Glamorgan gave debuts to ex-Somerset batter Sean Dickson and New South Wales paceman Ryan Hadley, while Yorkshire’s new faces are Western Australia batter Sam Whiteman, born in Doncaster, and Dutch all-rounder Van Beek. Australian paceman Jhye Richardson was not pressed into early service.
Intermittent rain, combined with a chilly wind, meant that play did not begin in grey, windy and inhospitable weather until 16:15 BST.
Asa Tribe and Eddie Byrom, a rare bespectacled pair of batters, formed a new opening partnership for Glamorgan and Byrom hit his first ball back in the team to the square-leg boundary.
But Ben Coad beat him several times before forcing him to edge to slip where Finlay Bean clung on well.
In the next over, England contender Tribe feathered White through to Bairstow for 11, and the same combination accounted for Dickson without scoring as Bairstow took a good grab in front of slip.
The chaos continued as new captain Kiran Carlson flicked White to leg slip where Dom Bess clung on to take a catch above his head.
Despite some tentative shots early on, Ingram and England Lions all-rounder Kellaway settled in to stop the slide against the change seamers, with Ingram slapping Van Beek over point for the first Glamorgan six of the season.
The half-century partnership marked the first stage in Glamorgan’s recovery before Bairstow’s early exit for treatment, with Bean taking the keeper’s gloves.
Glamorgan survived a second blast from White and a token over of spin from Bess to reach the close with some batting resources intact, although Yorkshire will be more content with their work.
AWARD-winner Olivia Dean is on cloud nine posing in a fluffy white coat.
The So Easy (To Fall In Love) singer was also pictured in a red mini-dress for Elle magazine.
The London-born star, 27, said: “My heart is extremely full.”
But she knows to keep up her guard too, adding: “People can get lost within this industry.
“You have to be quite mentally strong.”
So far in 2026 Olivia has scooped four Brits, three Mobos and a Grammy.
Last week she won Best Female Act, Album Of The Year for The Art Of Loving and Song Of The Year for Man I Need at the Mobos, cementing her reign at the top.
At February’s Brits her album The Art of Loving was named Album of the Year.
Screaming in joy as she received the award on stage, she said: “Making this album has changed my life.
“I feel so proud to have made it and to have worked with everyone that I did on it. Max Bastian, Zack, thank you for believing in me…”
Breaking down in tears again, she added: “This album is just about love and loving each other in a world that feels loveless right now.
“So… I don’t know. Thank you, bye!”
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s White House ballroom won final approval from a key agency on Thursday, days after a federal judge ordered a halt to construction unless Congress allows what would be the biggest structural change to the American landmark in more than 70 years.
The National Capital Planning Commission, the agency tasked with approving construction on federal property in the Washington region, went ahead with the vote because U.S. District Judge Richard Leon’s ruling on Tuesday affects construction activities, not the planning process, commission spokesperson Stephen Staudigl said.
But despite the agency’s approval, the judge’s ruling and the legal fight over the ballroom could stall progress on a legacy project that Trump is racing to see completed before the end of his term in early 2029. It’s among a series of changes the Republican president is planning for the nation’s capital to leave his lasting imprint while he’s still in office.
The vote by the 12-person commission, including three members appointed by Trump, had initially been scheduled for March but was pushed to Thursday because so many people signed up to comment on it at the commission’s meeting. The comments were overwhelmingly opposed to the ballroom.
Before voting Thursday, the commission considered some design changes to the 90,000-square-foot ballroom addition that Trump announced aboard Air Force One on Sunday as he flew back to Washington from a weekend at his Florida home.
He removed a large staircase on the south side of the building and added an uncovered porch to the west side. Architects and other critics of the project had panned the staircase as too large and basically useless since there was no way to enter the ballroom at the top.
Trump gave no reason for the changes, but a White House official said the president had considered comments from the National Capital Planning Commission and another oversight entity, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which approved the project earlier this year, as well as members of the public.
The official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the ballroom design and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that additional “refinements” had been made to the building’s exterior and that lead architect Shalom Baranes would present them on Thursday.
The ballroom, now estimated to cost $400 million, has expanded in scope and price tag since Trump first announced the project last summer, citing a need for space other than a tent on the lawn to host important guests. Trump demolished the East Wing in October with little warning, and site preparation and underground work have been underway since then. Officials said above-ground construction would not start until April, at the earliest.
The National Capital Planning Commission is chaired by Will Scharf, a top White House aide who has spoken in support of the ballroom addition. The president appoints three of the members, and Trump named two other White House officials along with Scharf.
Trump went ahead with the project before seeking input from the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts, which he reconstituted with allies and supporters.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a private nonprofit organization, sued after Trump demolished the East Wing last fall to build the ballroom addition — a space nearly twice as big as the mansion itself. Trump says it will be paid for with donations from wealthy people and corporations, including him, though public dollars are paying for underground bunkers and security upgrades on the White House grounds.
The trust sought a temporary halt to construction until Trump presented the project to both commissions and Congress for approval. Leon, the judge, agreed but said that his order would take effect in two weeks and that construction related to security would be allowed.
That work continued Wednesday as new photos by the Associated Press show the site of the former East Wing bustling with activity as cranes stretched toward the sky.
The judge, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, wrote in his ruling: “The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!” He concluded that the National Trust for Historic Preservation was likely to succeed on the merits of its claims because “no statute comes close to giving the President the authority he claims to have.”
Trump disputed that Congress must also approve his project.
“We built many things at the White House over the years. They don’t get congressional approval,” he told reporters in the Oval Office after the ruling.
Representatives for the House and Senate committees with jurisdiction over the project did not return telephone messages seeking comment. Congress is on spring break.
Superville writes for the Associated Press.
