The future of the White House Correspondents' Dinner is in doubt

commentary Saturday's shooting has prompted board members to consider how to fix the annual event White House columnist Published May 1, 2026 9:10AM (EDT) President Donald Trump used the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner to call for funding for his White House ballroom project (Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images) The fallout from Saturday’s shooting at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner threatens to cut deep and last a long time, affecting the president, reporters and the future of the event itself. At a hastily assembled post-shooting press briefing at the White House, Donald Trump told us it was an honor to be targeted for assassination because it “only happens to the best.” Some Washington reporters left the event shaken, while some were convinced they were heroes for surviving. Others left determined to still have some fun. The White House Correspondents’ Association faces the possibility that we have seen the last dinner under the current format. The dinner was interrupted when a 31-year-old California man armed with a shotgun, a handgun and a knife opened fire after sprinting past the security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton. The president, Vice President JD Vance, First Lady Melania Trump, and