Rohit Kumar
NEW DELHI, Apr 26: She could have been hailed as a great predictor but for the fact that her prediction was slightly off-line. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s comments that “there will be some shots fired tonight” proved true within minutes, except that it was truly gunshots and not just “shots” by the US President Donald Trump!
Ms Leavitt’s comments that “there will be some shots fired tonight” have gone viral because of the timing of what she said. She was speaking to a journalist minutes before a shooter really attacked the venue of the White House press dinner. The attacker, who US President Donald Trump said was likely a “lone wolf”, also shot at a security officer.
“He is ready to rumble, I will tell you. This speech tonight will be classic Donald J Trump. It’ll be funny, it’ll be entertaining. There will be some shots fired tonight in the room. So everyone should tune in, it’s going to be really great,” Levitt said ahead of the event, clearly referring to a speech that would be characteristic of Trump’s loud and fiery public addresses.
To a question about who wrote the speech, she said, “I can’t take credit. In true Donald Trump fashion, the man puts his pen to the paper himself. So it’s a lot of his own work.” Trump was seated on the dais at the White House Correspondents’ Association’s annual dinner at the Hilton Hotel in Washington – the first time he is attending as president – when loud bangs disrupted the revelry and caused him and others on stage to look up in alarm.
Amid the chaos, he was quickly surrounded by US Secret Service personnel, their weapons drawn, and they quickly rushed him off the stage and through a back curtain as the crowd crouched in shock. Later, giving details of the incident, Trump said the shooting suspect was his “would-be assassin”, but thanks to the Secret Service who stopped him. A video posted by the US president showed the suspect running past a security barricade as Secret Service agents ran toward him.
Trump, describing what was going through his mind as the shots rang out, said he initially believed it was a tray being dropped, noting that the noise was “quite far away.” But the First Lady was “very cognizant” that it was a shooting, he said. “I think she knew immediately what happened,” the president said, recalling that his wife told him, “That’s a bad noise.”
It was for the third time in as many years that Trump found himself at the center of a threat to his life on Saturday. After an almost two-hour ordeal of being whisked away by Secret Service agents alongside other cabinet members, departing the hotel, the president addressed the nation from the White House. “That was very unexpected,” Trump said. As the reporters peppered him with questions, one stood out particularly. A correspondent asked the president directly, “Respectfully, why do you think this keeps happening to you?”
Trump used the moment to draw comparisons with historical figures. “Well, you know, I’ve studied assassinations,” he said. “And I must tell you the most influential people, the people that do the most — you take a look at Abraham Lincoln… the people that make the biggest impact, they’re the ones that they go after.”
He went on, “I hate to say I’m honored by that, but I’ve done a lot. We’ve changed this country, and there are a lot of people who are not happy about that. So I think that’s the answer.” The president also addressed how he copes with the constant danger that shadows his public life.
“I lead a pretty normal life, considering, you know, it’s a dangerous life,” he said. “A lot of other people, you know, you read stories where they become basket cases. To be honest, I’m not a basket case.” The dinner was set to mark Trump’s first attendance at the event since 2015. During his first term in office, Trump declined to attend, and a number of his deputies followed his lead.
Saturday’s incident is far from the first time Trump has faced a threat to his safety. The most alarming episode came in July 2024, at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. A gunman climbed onto a nearby rooftop that had a clear line of sight to Trump as he addressed the crowd. One bystander was killed in the attack, and Trump suffered a wound to his ear. Security agents shot the suspect dead at the scene. He was identified as 20-year-old Thomas Crooks.
Months later, in September of the same year, another man was found hiding near Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, with the apparent intention of killing him. A Secret Service agent spotted Routh before he could fire a single shot, and he was arrested shortly afterward. He was found guilty of attempting to kill the president and was sentenced to life in prison in February this year.
In a separate incident in February, a 21-year-old man named Austin Tucker Martin was shot dead after entering Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida carrying a shotgun. The president was not present at the property at the time.
Mr Trump on Saturday thanked the US Secret Service for their “bravery” and their “incredible” response in dealing with the situation. The 79-year-old Republican leader said the shooter after charging towards a security checkpoint left an officer injured. However, the officer was saved as he was wearing a bulletproof vest, adding that he was “doing great” and is in “great shape” with “very high spirits”, he added.
“A man charged a security checkpoint armed with multiple weapons, and he was taken down by some very brave members of the Secret Service,” Trump said. “They acted very quickly and have just released, for purposes of transparency and clarity, I’ve ordered it to be put out.”
“A tape showing the violence of this thug who attacked our Constitution, and also showing how quickly the Secret Service and law enforcement acted on our country’s behalf,” the president added.
In his remarks, Trump said the building where the event was happening was not a secured place, stressing the needs for more protective measures. Pointing out to upgrades planned at the White House, he said the Secret Service and the military have been demanding a war room.
Recalling the previous assassination bids against him in Pennsylvania and in Florida, the US president once again thanked the law enforcement agencies for the “great work” they have done. He also spoke about the incident’s video he shared on his Truth Social account, saying the shooter was seen in different positions before he was totally “subdued” and brought under control.
He also appealed to all US nationals – including Republicans, Democrats, independents, conservatives, liberals, and progressives – to “recommit with their hearts” to resolving their differences peacefully. “The First Lady and I were taken very well care of, very quickly rushed off the stage. Vice President JD Vance was here; it was likewise beautifully done… Marco had the same thing. Pete was there. Pete didn’t want any help. He didn’t want anybody to help him… I think you also said that it was very impressive,” Trump said at the presser.
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