Trump pokes fun at press during White House Correspondents' Dinner

What the report says

BBC World News reported that US President Donald Trump used his first White House Correspondents’ Association dinner to joke at the expense of the media while also marking the event as a celebration of press freedom. The dinner was held after an earlier gathering in April was cancelled following a shooting, and BBC said the outgoing WHCA president, CBS News journalist Weijia Jiang, told attendees she would not allow violence to define the occasion.

According to the BBC, Trump sat among reporters from news organizations he has frequently criticized or taken legal action against, including The New York Times, CNN and The Wall Street Journal. While some in the press corps had expected a harsher confrontation, the president mixed conciliatory remarks about freedom of speech with familiar attacks on “fake news” and jokes about journalists having “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” He also said political differences should be handled through debate rather than violence.

The BBC reported that Trump presented an award to Victor Gonzalez, a US Secret Service officer shot during the April incident. A Wall Street Journal team was also honored for reporting on Trump’s links to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier. Jiang said the dinner would return next year to the Washington Hilton, where the shooting occurred.

The rescheduled dinner was smaller and more heavily secured than the April event, with about 700 attendees compared with more than 2,000 previously, according to the BBC. The report said roads near the hotel were blocked, guests went through multiple checks, and armed Secret Service officers were visible. BBC identified the April shooting suspect as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, who has been charged with attempting to assassinate the president.