Melania Trump, Vance and Rubio each had scheduling conflicts, as did House Speaker Mike Johnson, after a man with a gun interrupted their last dinner on April 25th.
President Trump rushes off stage after shooting at WHCD
Video shows Secret Service agents removing President Donald Trump from the stage after an armed suspect charges into a checkpoint during the WHCD.
Mark J. praises
WASHINGTON – First lady Melania Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not attend the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on July 24.
The original April 25 event was canceled after a gunman came dangerously close to the Washington Hilton ballroom where President Donald Trump and top administration and Congressional leaders were scheduled to dine with thousands of reporters and guests.
The White House said in a statement that Melania Trump, Vance and Rubio have conflicting schedules.
Melania Trump attended the FIFA World Cup Soccer Championships with her husband on July 19th. Vance’s wife, Usha, gave birth to their fourth child on July 19th.
The White House said Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullin and FBI Director Kash Patel will attend.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), who was USA TODAY’s guest at the April dinner, will not be able to attend the second dinner due to scheduling conflicts, a spokesperson said.
Cole Thomas Allen, the suspect in the April dinner shooting, was apprehended on the upper floor of a banquet hall after he allegedly shot and killed a Secret Service agent wearing a bulletproof vest while passing through a security checkpoint. Allen was charged with attempting to assassinate President Trump and has pleaded not guilty.
The postponed dinner is scheduled to take place at the Waldorf Astoria, a hotel that Trump converted from a government building as part of his real estate venture before he was elected president.
