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Suspected shooter apprehended after Donald Trump evacuated from White House correspondents’ dinner – live | Donald Trump
Key events
Marcin Wrona, US correspondent for TVN Poland, was sitting close to the incident. He told the Guardian’s David Smith: “We were waiting for our dinner and suddenly I heard bang, bang, bang, bang and for a moment we had no idea what was going on but then we immediately heard someone scream, ‘Shots fired!’ and everybody went you know under under the table.
“I stayed on my chair, looking around to see if there is any imminent danger, if I can spot anything. I couldn’t. And some people were really frightened. You could clearly see that.
“Then the evacuation of the president, the first lady, et cetera, et cetera. But also the members of the cabinet, Steve Scalise, were being escorted outside right next to us. So, in fact, they were passing very close to where the shots were fired, but they were using a different door.”
Wrona added: “It is a bit surprising because this is supposed to be the most secure place in Washington DC with cabinet members, president, vice president, everybody here. So this is the most secure place. Yes, there are tensions. Yes, we had attempts on President Trump’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania, in Florida. Am I very surprised? Unfortunately not.”
Many guests and journalists in the room are recounting their experience in the room.
Kerry Kennedy, RFK’s sister who was a guest of the Boston Globe at the gala, recalled on X: “A loud bang of gun shots, then “Get down, get down, get down!” I hit the floor at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner mid conversation with Jamie Raskin, who heroically protected me, whispering, “You’re ok, you’re ok, you’re ok,” while my host from the Boston Globe laid on the ground while furiously taking notes, and thousands of journalists, photographers, and editors took cover under tables and beneath chairs. Then the doors burst open, and scores of Secret Service agents rushed into the room, many with hands on holsters. They rushed for cabinet secretaries and pulled them to safety. Then security started yelling, “Go, go, go,” demanding that we leave. It was terrifying. But I am still grateful to the brave Secret Service, to my friends at the Boston Globe, and most especially to Jamie Raskin.”
The WHCA gala is held each year at the Washington Hilton.
It is the same hotel where president Ronald Reagan was shot and gravely wounded by a would-be assassin in 1981.
WHCA had hoped to resume the dinner, but now many of the journalists from the dinner are trying to make it to the White House in time to attend the president’s press briefing. Many of the roads around the hotel are closed or blocked.
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is a black-tie event hosted by the association of journalists who cover the US president, held annually in the cavernous ballroom of the Washington Hilton.
Known as “nerd prom” the evening has traditionally been attended by the president, political leaders, comedians and celebrities, who come together in celebration of press freedom. However, Trump had made it a practice not to attend during his first term. This year was the first time he had ever attended the event, and was set to make a speech. The featured entertainer this year was mentalist and magician Oz Pearlman.
George Chidi
CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer said he was within a few feet of the shooter, and called into CNN to describe his observations.
Blitzer said he saw “a very, very serious weapon. He starts shooting, and I happened to have been a few feet away from him. As he was shooting, of course, the first thing that went through my mind: is he trying to shoot me? And I don’t think he was trying to shoot me, but I was very close to him as the gunshots were fired and he was very, very scary. But I’m OK, now.”
In longer comments to CNN, Blitzer said he did not see the actual shooting, but was in a nearby hallway when gunfire erupted.
Blitzer had been returning from the men’s room when the shooting began, he said.
Trump to leave dinner, hold press conference at the White House
Donald Trump said he and the first lady will leave the Washington Hilton, where the White House correspondents’ dinner was held on Saturday night, at the request of law enforcement. The president said he would give a press briefing at the White House in 30 minutes.
“The First Lady, plus the Vice President, and all Cabinet members, are in perfect condition. We will be speaking to you in a half an hour. I have spoken with all the representatives in charge of the event, and we will be rescheduling within 30 days,” he wrote on Truth Social.
In a statement, secret service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, said the agency was investigating a “shooting incident near the main magnetometer screening area at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner”.
“The president and the first lady are safe,” he said, along with everyone who was at the dinner and in the protection of Secret Service. “One individual is in custody. The condition of those involved is not yet known, and law enforcement is actively assessing the situation.”
Trump to hold press briefing at White House
“The president will be having a press briefing at the White House in 30 minutes – that is not a joke,” Weijia Jiang, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, just told the room full of reporters.
“And he insists that we will reschedule this event in 30 days and that he wanted to continue, despite the news, but has to follow security protocol.”
The Guardian’s Rachel Leingang was seated at the table alongside colleagues and guests when someone yelled that shots had been fired. Guests began diving under the tables. She recalls Secret Service agents running in and moving chairs of the way as they raced down the aisles.
“Everyone kind of stayed under the tables for a little while, until people started like popping back up and then everyone tried to figure out what was going on – they were talking to each other like, ‘What happened? What happened?’”
Then security agents came inside of the ballroom and said everyone needed to leave. Rachel said she left the room.
Now Rachel is outside, where the sounds of sirens and helicopters are buzzing all around. She is safe, and said the exits have been blocked.
David Smith, the Guardian’s Washington bureau chief, spoke briefly to Frank Luntz, a prominent political consultant and pollster.
“I watched the security people use the ultimate in athleticism to get over tables, get over chairs, to get to the people that they were guarding,” Luntz said.
“The Secret Service was impressive, the congressional security was impressive. All the military and all the people responsible for keeping Americans safe, they were all in play in the last few minutes, and it’s both impressive and frightening that this should happen at the White House correspondents’ dinner. I’ve never seen this before. More security people are in this room than in any other place in America. And they all leaped into action. They all understood what they were facing. And it makes me proud to be an American.”
Trump says suspected shooter has been ‘apprehended’
Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that the “shooter has been apprehended” and that he has recommended that we “LET THE SHOW GO ON” but said the decision will ultimately be made by law enforcement.
“They will make a decision shortly,” Trump said. “Regardless of that decision, the evening will be much different than planned, and we’ll just, plain, have to do it again.”
David Smith
The Guardian’s David Smith, who was one of four Guardian journalists in the room at the Washington Hilton when the president was evacuated, stopped Representative Jamie Raskin for his reaction.
Raskin, a Democratic congressman from Maryland, said: “I didn’t see anything in terms of the shooter except I just entered the room about five minutes ago and I was talking to people from the Boston Globe and my old friend Kerry Kennedy and then I think a secret service agent threw me to the ground and on top of some other people and people were screaming and yelling.
“Apparently there was a shooter in the lobby and, at least the rumor is, that the shooter has been killed and is dead in the lobby and that’s really all I know. I was just trying to get over to the NBC table – these people had invited me and I never even made it to the table so I felt bad.”
Raskin added: “I heard some loud noises but I don’t know if that was people reacting or if that was something outside, it was hard to know, but people very quickly were saying that was a shot, that was the gunshot.
“People were terrified; people seem to be relieved now.”
Dinner expected to resume after Trump and cabinet members evacuated
Weijia Jiang, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, has said the dinner will resume.
“Our program is going to resume momentarily,” she said.
The presidential seal is on the podium onstage at the Washington Hilton, a sign that Trump may return to speak.
Opening summary
The White House correspondents’ dinner was interrupted by loud bangs on Saturday evening, followed by immediate commotion. Donald and Melania Trump were evacuated immediately as many journalists and their guests across the room ducked under tables in the Washington Hilton ballroom.
There were reports that the US Secret Service had guns drawn as they rushed the White House pool reporters out of the room and mentioned “shots fired”.
The atmosphere in the room was tense as journalists waited to hear what happened and what to do next.
This is a breaking news story and we will bring you developments as they unfold.
The Bank last cut interest rates in December but upheaval in the Middle East has stalled any further reductions.
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US to review benefits of having troops in Europe with ‘era of free-riding’ over – Europe live | World news
US to conduct a review of forces in Europe
Hegseth says the US will be “doubling down” on its efforts to get allies to spend what they need to spend.
He says his department will conduct a six-month review of US forces in Europe.
He says it will look at actual benefits of having US military in Europe – and will be a real review.
“It will be designed to ensure that Nato is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe leading, stepping up to take primary responsibility for the defence of Europe.”
He then goes further to say that the US dues to the Nato budget will be contingent on other countries meeting their defence spending targets.
“Where other allies do not spend with urgency, our dues, contributions will go down. Nato will be a two-way street.”
He adds:
“America cannot care for or pay more for Europe’s defence than our allies do.”
Key events
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US defence secretary urges UK to spend more on defence, ‘step up and do even more’
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US force review will ‘change how we look at continent,’ Hegseth says
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Russian oil refinery on fire after barrage of Ukrainian drones strike Moscow
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Trump was ‘pumped with’ harmful ideas during G7 summit, Kremlin says
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Nato agrees to modernise nuclear capabilities, strengthen planning
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Hegseth’s frustration is not new, but still striking – snap analysis
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‘Our direction of travel is and has been clear,’ Hegseth tells Nato
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Some Nato countries ‘will fail’ US posture review, Hegseth says
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US to conduct a review of forces in Europe
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Hegseth says ‘era of free riding’ is over
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Nato allies refusal to help on Iran ‘shameful,’ Hegseth says
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US ‘gave allies test to support America … and too many failed it,’ Hegseth says
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‘There have been real setbacks we cannot ignore,’ Hegseth tells Nato
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‘Europe was not supposed to be a dependency of the US,’ Hegseth tells Nato
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‘Nato has been a paper tiger and a one-way street,’ US Hegseth tells Nato ministers
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Morning opening: Ukraine hits Moscow oil refinery, disrupts flights in retaliation attack as Nato, EU leaders meet for talks
US defence secretary urges UK to spend more on defence, ‘step up and do even more’
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth has also offered his view on the relationship with the UK, after meeting Britain’s new defence minister Dan Jarvis.
His predecessor resigned in protest against low government spending on defence.
Hegseth said it was “a good meeting,” stressing that “the US-British defence alliance is an important one.”
He praised Jarvis for having first-hand experience of serving in a combat zone.
But he said “the message was the same: hey, we need you guys to step up and do even more, spend even more.”
He added:
“If we need access and basing, whether it’s in the UK or say at Diego Garcia, we can’t live in a world where other countries are standing at the end of a runway with a clipboard trying to decide what flies and what doesn’t. It’s not gonna, it’s not gonna work for us. It’s not good in contingencies, and I don’t think it’s what he wants either.”
He continued saying that “the more the UK spends on defence, the stronger Nato is going to be, the stronger western civilization is, and that’s a good thing.”
“I think [it was] a good start to a relationship that we need to renew even more,” Hegseth said.
US force review will ‘change how we look at continent,’ Hegseth says
We are now again hearing from US defence secretary Pete Hegseth again, as he’s speaking with reporters after his explosive speech at the Nato ministerial in Brussels this morning.
Just as I argued (10:15), he tells them that the message is not new, with many countries already stepping up – but not all of them.
“We will be clear with them, and as we do this review, we’ll change how we look at the continent as a result,” he says.
Separately, speaking on Iran, he also notes that a number of European countries are “prepared to step up” to help with the strait of Hormuz.
“It’s an international water bill, and frankly, European countries and Asian countries use it a lot more than we do,” he says.
Russian oil refinery on fire after barrage of Ukrainian drones strike Moscow
Peter Beaumont in Pavlograd and Warren Murray
Ukrainian drones have hit several locations across Moscow, including setting an oil refinery on fire, sending out flames and towering plumes of smoke over the city and forcing the capital’s airports to suspend flights.
The scale of the long-range attack, apparently designed to shut down operations at the key oil refinery in the Kapotno area, caught most Muscovites by surprise in a city that does not typically warn residents with air raid alarms, and prompted panicked messages on social media.
Footage posted online showed three plumes of smoke rising from the refinery.
The strike was the second in two days on the facility, in what the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, then called “a just response to Russian strikes”.
“Air defence forces are continuing to repel a large-scale attack. Several drones managed to reach the [Moscow oil refinery],” said Sergei Sobyanin, Moscow’s mayor, adding that a shopping centre was also damaged. He claimed about 180 drones heading for the capital had been downed.
Sobyanin said emergency crews were working at the site and also reported “damage” to Sadovod shopping centre in the south-eastern part of the city. At least seven drones appear to have beaten Russia’s air defences to strike targets in the city.
Traffic was halted on Moscow’s ring road near the refinery, the broadcaster RIA cited the interior ministry as saying, while air traffic was disrupted at Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo, and Zhukovsky airports.
Jakub Krupa
Let’s get a bit more on these Ukrainian drone strikes on Moscow.
Trump was ‘pumped with’ harmful ideas during G7 summit, Kremlin says
Meanwhile, the Kremlin has offered its take on yesterday’s G7 summit – including a supportive statement on Ukraine (Europe Live, Wednesday) – saying that the US president, Donald Trump, was “pumped with” harmful ideas by the EU.
The US had no contacts with Moscow after the meeting, Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov was quoted by Interfax and Reuters as saying.
Ushakov also disputed the EU’s assumption that the battlefield situation was changing in Ukraine’s favour.
Nato agrees to modernise nuclear capabilities, strengthen planning
Separately, Nato has agreed to modernise its nuclear capabilities and strengthen its nuclear planning capacity, the alliance’s senior body for nuclear deterrence said in a statement quoted by Reuters.
All Nato allies except France are members of the Nuclear Planning Group, which serves as a forum for consultation and decision-making on nuclear deterrence.
Defence ministers taking part in the meeting “recalled that the strategic nuclear forces of the Alliance remain the supreme guarantee of Allied security and underpin Nato’s extended deterrence architecture,” the statement said.
Hegseth’s frustration is not new, but still striking – snap analysis
Jakub Krupa
None of this is really new new – Hegseth largely repeats the US’s main frustrations and grievances with the alliance, repeatedly expressed by Trump – but the tone of the delivery is still very, very striking.
Hegseth has laid into Nato allies for not helping enough with bases and overflights during its early Iran operations – and once he did not name any countries, it’s likely targeted at the likes of Spain, Italy, Portugal.
In other parts, it is just a broader criticism of what the US sees as “free riding” from the allies, as they do not move quickly enough on spending.
Coming just weeks before the Nato summit in Ankara, it is clearly intented to serve as a warning to several of the allies that still don’t spend enough and don’t seem to act with the urgency the US is expecting them to increase that spending – or even offer a credible path towards it.
The proposed posture review – and explicit threat that some of them will fail it – and the suggestion the US could reduce its contributions if others do not pay enough, will make some think twice about their plans in the next few weeks.
As Hegseth ends his remarks, Rutte says “there’s much to discuss and decide today.”
You bet it’s going to be lively.
‘Our direction of travel is and has been clear,’ Hegseth tells Nato
Hegseth says “our direction of travel is and has been clear.”
“This is the right thing to do by the American people. It’s the right thing to do by this alliance.
Europe can and must take primary responsibility for its conventional defence as it pledged at The Hague Summit, and in the process safeguarding Europe’s defence for generations to come, we know our allies can do it, and it’s time.”
Some Nato countries ‘will fail’ US posture review, Hegseth says
Hegseth makes it clear that the review will not be just a box-ticking exercise.
“It’s a review that some countries will fail and others will pass with flying colours. In the end, the review is intended to both improve US force posture and basing and strengthen Nato 3.0.”
US to conduct a review of forces in Europe
Hegseth says the US will be “doubling down” on its efforts to get allies to spend what they need to spend.
He says his department will conduct a six-month review of US forces in Europe.
He says it will look at actual benefits of having US military in Europe – and will be a real review.
“It will be designed to ensure that Nato is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe leading, stepping up to take primary responsibility for the defence of Europe.”
He then goes further to say that the US dues to the Nato budget will be contingent on other countries meeting their defence spending targets.
“Where other allies do not spend with urgency, our dues, contributions will go down. Nato will be a two-way street.”
He adds:
“America cannot care for or pay more for Europe’s defence than our allies do.”
Hegseth says ‘era of free riding’ is over
Hegseth says that “some of Nato’s largest economies, some of our richest countries, allies that are happiest to go on about the rules-based international order and middle powers banding together still think the era of free riding is here.”
He says Trump disagrees.
“This is not what any reasonable person would expect, and it’s not going to cut it any more.”
(He may be thinking of, among others, Spain, which has long been the target of US criticism, and has clashed with it in recent months.)
Nato allies refusal to help on Iran ‘shameful,’ Hegseth says
Hegseth makes it very clear how the US is annoyed about the perceived lack of support on Iran.
“The United States has defended Europe for generations, and the President said all he said was that our jets would need to take off from bases in Europe or our ships from ports to strike targets in the Middle East, Iranian targets that threaten European interests even more directly than they threaten us.
But too many of our allies said no, or tried to drown us in arcane legal debates, or criticised us publicly for doing what they aren’t prepared or able to do themselves. It was shameful.
These allies, they put America’s sons and daughters, our sons and daughters, at risk by denying them the predictable access facing an overflight that never should have been in question at all.”
US ‘gave allies test to support America … and too many failed it,’ Hegseth says
Hegseth now goes hard on some Nato countries that are still paying below the expected levels.
He says “for all of our clarity, too many allied capitals seem to still miss something in translation” and “too many allies still do not recognise the historic need … to forge a relevant, powerful military alliance.”
He says the US “gave our allies a test to support America when we asked for their help and too many failed it.”
‘There have been real setbacks we cannot ignore,’ Hegseth tells Nato
Hegseth says that Trump is clear about his intention to increase defence spending so the US leads and shows others “it’s not do as I say, it’s do as we do.”
He says he believes the US approach has been validated on Ukraine, with allies taking more responsibility for Ukraine’s defence – and this approach actually yielding positive results.
“It is happening, and it’s a validation of President Trump’s approach, an approach that will set the table for peace.”
But he says that “for all these early steps in the right direction, there have also been real setbacks that we cannot ignore.”
Hegseth continues by saying that Nato 2.0 was “an era of distraction, de-industrialisation and demilitarisation,” with “an era of free riding.”
“Those were lost years that we are not going back to.”
He says that’s why his department is “so clear and so candid” about the need to “restore Nato’s core military role and character” and why it’s returned US troop levels to pre-2022.
He says the alliance needs to return to its roots to be as strong as required and “if need be, make good on Article Five.”
He says some countries “got the message and stepped up,” but others are still failing.
‘Europe was not supposed to be a dependency of the US,’ Hegseth tells Nato
Hegseth seems to praise spending commitments adopted at last year’s Nato summit in The Hague, saying they were “all about transforming Nato back into a real military alliance that is focused on hard power and real deterrence.”
But in another eye-catching quote, he goes on to say:
“Europe was not supposed to be a dependency of the United States. That’s not what Winston Churchill or Charles de Gaulle or Konrad Adenauer wanted or expected. No, Europe was supposed to be a military power, allied with a strong America.”
He goes back in Nato history to 1951, quoting Eisehower comments that “if in 10 years all American troops stationed in Europe for national defence purposes have not been returned to the US, then this whole process will have failed.”
But he says that Nato 2.0 in the following decades increasingly focused on “gender equality and climate change” instead of “tanks and fighters and air defences.”
“Europe’s borders flew wide open, welfare states expanded, defence budgets cratered, along with Europe’s belief in itself and its civilization. Nato lost its way.”
Ouch, again.
‘Nato has been a paper tiger and a one-way street,’ US Hegseth tells Nato ministers
US secretary of defence Pete Hegseth has asked to speak at the beginning of the Nato ministerial in Brussels, and it very much looks like his comments will set the tone for the day.
He begins by saying that Trump “has said again and again … our allies must step up.”
“Nato has been a paper tiger and a one-way street. No more.”
Ouch.
Morning opening: Ukraine hits Moscow oil refinery, disrupts flights in retaliation attack as Nato, EU leaders meet for talks
Jakub Krupa
Ukraine hit an oil refinery near Moscow and other targets in Russia overnight in what president Volodymyr Zelenskyy called “a justified response” to recent strikes on Ukraine.
Russian officials were quoted as saying that the attack forced commercial flights and airports to be suspended for safety reasons and caused a temporary halt on Moscow’s ring road, after some 180 drones were shot down over the Russian capital.
“This is a fully justified response to Russian attacks on our cities and communities, and another important result of our warriors’ work against facilities that sustain Russia’s war machine,” Zelenskyy said.
The strikes come on the day of a Nato ministerial meeting in Brussels, the last before next month’s summit in Ankara.
Nato allies are expected to discuss the latest on their defence spending plans, with the US pressing Europe to take more responsibility for the defence of the continent.
Later on, the ministers will also take part in the Ukraine Defence Contact Group meeting, a key forum to coordinate on support for Ukraine, which is expected to be attended by Zelenskyy.
The main event comes fairly late in the day, as EU leaders are expected to gather for the European Council meeting on Ukraine and the Middle East. It’s a two-day summit, likely to go late into the night.
Lots for us to cover.
It’s Thursday, 18 June 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
The Major Oak is thought to have stood for more than 1,000 years in the heart of Nottinghamshire’s Sherwood Forest.
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