US President Donald Trump was evacuated from the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday after gunshots were heard outside the Washington Hilton.
As soon as the incident occurred, the US Secret Service immediately moved Trump out of the ballroom. Several high-profile leaders, including Vice President JD Vance, Cabinet members, and lawmakers, were present at the time.
Speaking after the incident, Trump said this was not the first time such a threat had happened in recent years, reported Axios. The suspect is a 31-year-old man from California and is now in custody.
The latest incident adds to earlier security scares, as Trump faced two assassination attempts during the 2024 campaign.
Butler, Pennsylvania
At a campaign rally in July, a 20-year-old man named Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire using a rifle. The bullets grazed Trump’s right ear, which injured him slightly. Security quickly responded, and the gunman was shot dead by a US Secret Service sniper.
The US Secret Service suspended six of its agents “for failure”. “Secret Service is totally accountable for Butler…Butler was an operational failure, and we are focused today on ensuring that it never happens again,” said Matt Quinn, Deputy Director of the USSS.
West Palm Beach, Florida
The second incident occurred at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, where a suspect with a rifle was spotted near the course while the president was playing. A Secret Service agent spotted him and fired, after which the suspect ran away but was later caught by police. He has since been sentenced to life in prison.
Apart from these, Trump has faced several other threats over the years.
In June 2016, a 20-year-old British man tried to grab a police officer’s gun at a Trump rally in Las Vegas. He later told authorities that he intended to kill Trump. In September 2017, another man in North Dakota stole a forklift and drove it toward the presidential motorcade, allegedly planning to flip the limousine.
In September 2020, a dual French-Canadian citizen mailed a letter that contained the deadly poison ricin to Trump. In July 2024, a Pakistani national was arrested and later convicted for allegedly planning a murder-for-hire plot on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to kill Trump.
In February this year, the Secret Service shot and killed a man who showed up at Mar-a-Lago with a shotgun and a gas canister, while Trump was in Washington at the time.