Donald Trump was evacuated from the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday night after gunshots were reported outside the Washington Hilton, prompting a swift response from the US Secret Service.
Agents immediately moved Trump out of the ballroom as a precaution. Several top officials, including JD Vance, Cabinet members and lawmakers, were present at the event. Authorities later confirmed that a 31-year-old man from California had been taken into custody.
Trump said after the incident that such threats were not new, noting he had faced multiple security scares in recent years, according to Axios.
The latest episode adds to a string of past threats and assassination attempts targeting Trump, particularly during the 2024 campaign.
At a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024, a gunman identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire, grazing Trump’s right ear before being shot dead by a Secret Service sniper.
In a separate incident in West Palm Beach, Florida, a suspect armed with a rifle was spotted near Trump International Golf Club while Trump was playing. A Secret Service agent opened fire, and the suspect fled but was later arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The Butler shooting led to disciplinary action within the Secret Service, with six agents suspended over operational failures. Deputy Director Matt Quinn said the agency was “totally accountable” and working to ensure such lapses are not repeated.
Trump has also faced other threats over the years. In 2016, a British man attempted to grab a police officer’s weapon at a rally in Las Vegas. In 2017, a man in North Dakota drove a stolen forklift toward the presidential motorcade. In 2020, a ricin-laced letter was mailed to Trump.
More recently, in 2024, a Pakistani national was convicted for allegedly plotting a murder-for-hire scheme linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. In February this year, Secret Service agents shot and killed a man armed with a shotgun near Mar-a-Lago while Trump was in Washington.
