Trump jokes he will run as president for 'fourth term' in rescheduled White House Correspondents' Dinner
“Don’t believe the fake news," Trump told the room of reporters, referencing the US-Israel war on Iran
President Trump joked about "fake news", a fourth term and "Trump Derangement Syndrome" in his speech at the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Friday.
Listen to this article
The annual black tie dinner was rescheduled in April after an armed man allegedly tried to force his way through a security checkpoint outside the Washington Hilton, just as Trump and other officials were arriving.
This year's gala - held to celebrate press freedom - comes just a day after the Trump administration abandoned a bid to subpoena reporters over their coverage.
The US President sat back on Friday evening as outlets he had criticised - and even sued - over coverage of himself came up to be honoured with awards, including the Wall Street Journal, CNN and the New York Times.
Afterwards, delivering an hour-long speech, Trump was largely cordial towards his audience, praising journalists for doing an "amazing job", before delivering several jabs about coverage of his second term, insisting the Iran war was going "extremely well".
“Don’t believe the fake news," he told the room.
Trump continued, adding that he respects "most of them", and jokingly telling the press that "sometimes I really do think that some of you don't like me".
Read more: Officers seriously injured in police boat crash were responding to ‘person in water’
"This place [the dinner] is really the largest group of 'Trump derangement syndrome' people ever put together at one time," he said.
"I suspect some of you are lucky that our last dinner was cut short...I was going to go after you."
The US president also used the event to call on Americans to respect freedom of speech.
"We settle our differences not with bullets, but with open and vigorous debate," Trump said.
"And no deranged loser with a gun will ever change that. We can't let that ever happen."
He went on to quip that the news industry will "be broke" after he is no longer in office before saying he'd run for another term.
"You people have no idea how lucky you are. When I'm gone, you're all going to be broke. Your business model is going to be finished," Trump said.
"That's why tonight to show just how much I care about the press, and I want to save your ratings."
He then put on a “Trump 2028” hat, joking, "I'm pleased to announce my intention to - and this is somewhat of a scoop - my intention to run for a fourth term as president of the United States. I will be doing that."
The black tie dinner was rescheduled from April and moved to the Waldorf Astoria in downtown Washington,
Secret Service officer Victor Gonzales, the only person injured, was shot while stopping the attacker.
He and Hilton staff who helped guests during the incident were honoured at Friday's rescheduled event, where streets have been sealed off and police, Secret Service agents, National Guard personnel and security drones have been deployed.
Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and First Lady Melania Trump were not in attendance at the dinner.
However, most of Mr Trump’s Cabinet and several senior administration figures were among those in attendance, including press secretary Karoline Leavitt, FBI director Kash Patel, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
White House Correspondents' Association President Weija Jiang opened the evening, saying: "Whatever may divide us, we stand together against political violence.
"An assassination attempt on our president is an attack on democracy itself," she added.
"Tonight, our message is this: We are back. We will not be intimidated. We refuse to let an act of violence have the final word."