Trump thought sound of gunman at journalists’ dinner was tray falling

Donald Trump holds a press briefing at the White House, following a shooting incident during the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/ReutersView image in fullscreenDonald Trump holds a press briefing at the White House, following a shooting incident during the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/ReutersWhite House correspondents' dinner shootingTrump thought sound of gunman at journalists’ dinner was tray fallingPresident says incident, in which Secret Service agent was saved by bulletproof vest, was ‘totally shocking to me’ Suspect in custody after Trump evacuated in shooting incident White House correspondents’ dinner shooting – what we know Hugo Lowell and Joseph Gedeon at the White HouseSun 26 Apr 2026 01.13 EDTLast modified on Sun 26 Apr 2026 03.21 EDTSharePrefer the Guardian on GoogleDonald Trump said on Saturday night he initially thought that the sound of a gunman charging a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was a tray falling, in his first remarks about what was going through his mind as the incident unfolded.“Actually, it was totally shocking to me, and that never changes,” Trump said, appearing to refer to the assassination attempt against him at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and a second incident on his golf course in Florida during the 2024 presidential campaign.“I heard a noise, and sort of thought it was a tray. I thought it was a tray going down many times,” he said. “There was a gun and some people really understood that quite quickly. Other people didn’t. I was watching to see what was happening, probably should have gotten down a little faster.“Melania was very cognizant, I think, of what happened,” Trump said of his wife, who has been among the members of his family most concerned about security even before Trump faced assassination attempts. “I think she knew immediately. She was saying ‘it’s a bad noise.’”The US president’s description of his reaction to the episode came at a hastily arranged news conference in the briefing room at the White House, where he had been rushed back by motorcade ahead of a number of other senior cabinet officials who had attended the dinner.Asked why he thought he keeps being the target of assassination attempts, Trump compared himself to Abraham Lincoln, and said: “The people that make the biggest impact, they’re the ones that they go after. They don’t go after the ones that don’t do much, because they like it that way.”Still wearing his black tie dinner jacket, Trump was joined at the lectern by the vice-president, JD Vance, the FBI director, Kash Patel, the acting US attorney general, Todd Blanche, and the homeland security secretary, Markwayne Mullin.To the side of the room stood his wife, Melania Trump, the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. Trump’s longtime aide Dan Scavino squeezed into the briefing room behind them.Trump had emerged into the briefing room with his brow furrowed and appeared to pause at the threshold, as if still contemplating what had transpired at the dinner, before opening his remarks by ticking through updates on the gunman.“He was a sick person, a very sick person,” Trump said. “He was running full blast, and they got him before he got any further. I was very far away, he wasn’t anywhere close to breaching the doors of the ballroom. My…

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