White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that Vice President JD Vance may or may not attend the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Dinner, as the administration reviews security protocols two days after a gunman attempted to breach the event's perimeter at the Washington Hilton and shot a Secret Service officer.
President Trump intends to show up. Whether his vice president joins him is another matter, one the White House is treating as an open question while officials sort through what went wrong Saturday night and what needs to change before the dinner is held again.
Leavitt, speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday afternoon, told Politico:
"I can assure you the president intends to attend the event. I don't want to rule in or out the vice president's attendance, but certainly, that's a conversation that will take place."
The noncommittal posture comes after both Trump and Vance were swiftly evacuated from a ballroom at the Washington Hilton on Saturday night. A gunman, identified as California resident Cole Tomas Allen, attempted to breach the security perimeter of the annual media gala. A U.S. Secret Service officer wearing a ballistic vest was shot during the encounter. Allen was apprehended on site.
The officer was released from the hospital the following day. Allen had his first court appearance Monday afternoon. Law enforcement is looking into a manifesto in which Allen allegedly wrote that he intended to target administration officials at the event.
One detail drew immediate scrutiny: several of the top officials in the presidential line of succession, including Vance, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and numerous Cabinet secretaries, were all present at the same off-site event. The White House did not designate a single survivor in the line of succession for the dinner.
Leavitt said planning conversations did take place beforehand but argued the formal step was unnecessary. She pointed out that several Cabinet members in the line of succession had already skipped the event for personal reasons.
"Those conversations ahead of the dinner did take place. There were several members of the Cabinet in the line of succession who did not attend for various personal reasons, so designating one survivor was not necessary as we had several members who were not there already."
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday that security protocols worked as planned. That assessment did not satisfy everyone on Capitol Hill.
House Speaker Johnson said Monday that hotel security at the Washington Hilton "looked a little lax" and called on the Secret Service "to tighten up and reevaluate these things." Former House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Michael McCaul has separately argued that the Secret Service should reconsider joint appearances by Trump and Vance at events like the correspondents' dinner.
Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley announced Sunday that he was scheduling a bipartisan briefing this week with the Secret Service "regarding security protocols and related law enforcement matters involving the White House Correspondents Dinner."
Chief of staff Susie Wiles is convening a meeting early this week with the White House operations team, the Secret Service, and Department of Homeland Security leadership to discuss "protocol and practices" for major events involving the president. The scope of the review has not been publicly detailed, but the timing, days before any rescheduled dinner date is set, signals the administration knows the status quo is not good enough.
Trump initially insisted on continuing the night's planned events Saturday but reversed course after law enforcement informed him it would not be safe to carry on. He announced the dinner would be rescheduled within 30 days.
The security concerns around this dinner are not isolated. The Secret Service has faced a string of incidents in and around the White House complex, including a recent episode in which an officer was injured after a man jumped a barrier near the grounds.
Leavitt said the president was satisfied with law enforcement's response on Saturday. But satisfaction with one night's outcome does not answer the harder question: whether the entire framework for protecting the president and vice president at large public gatherings needs to be rebuilt.
The Washington Hilton has hosted the annual media gala for decades. Whether the rescheduled event returns there or moves to a different location remains unclear. Leavitt indicated the administration is discussing a possible venue, including whether the dinner could be hosted at the White House itself.
Republicans have thrown their support behind a planned $400 million ballroom project on the site of the razed East Wing. That project, however, has been put on pause due to a pending lawsuit, making it unavailable for any near-term event.
Vance has remained a visible figure inside the administration, leading initiatives like an anti-fraud task force that has racked up early wins across multiple agencies. His public schedule has also drawn disruptions from other quarters; a Turning Point USA speaker recently pulled out of an event with Vance after receiving threats.
White House Correspondents' Association President Weijia Jiang, a CBS News reporter, said in a Sunday statement that "the WHCA board will be meeting to assess what happened and determine how to proceed." No further details from the association have been made public.
The administration has not disclosed what specific security changes, if any, will be implemented before the rescheduled dinner. No new date or venue has been announced. The charges against Allen, if any have been formally filed, were not detailed in Monday's public statements. And the contents of the alleged manifesto have not been released beyond the reported claim that Allen intended to target administration officials.
Leavitt acknowledged the question of Vance's attendance was a fair one. She framed it as part of broader conversations still taking place inside the administration.
"It's definitely a good question, and it's one that will be raised."
Meanwhile, the press operation at the White House itself has been adjusting its own staffing around Leavitt's schedule, a reminder that even routine logistics can strain a lean operation, let alone the security overhaul a shooting at a marquee Washington event demands.
When a gunman can get close enough to wound a Secret Service officer at an event attended by the president, the vice president, the speaker of the House, and a roomful of Cabinet secretaries, the only honest answer to "who should attend the do-over?" is: figure out how it happened first, then decide who walks through the door.
