On April 30, 2011, Donald Trump sat in the Washington Hilton ballroom as the butt of jokes at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. Fifteen years later, he returned to the same hotel as a sitting US president, but the evening was cut short amid gunfire.
The arc between those two nights tells much of the story of Trump, who went from a reality TV star to the most powerful person in the world.
Trump attended the 2011 dinner as a guest of The Washington Post, invited by then editor Lally Weymouth. He had spent weeks inflaming the 'birther' movement, questioning President Barack Obama's presidency.
Obama released his birth certificate that day and mocked Trump's interest in conspiracy theories at the dinner.
Comedian Seth Meyers followed, saying Trump would run for president as a joke. Trump sat through the barrage in silence, but those with him that night said it was transformative.
Trump skipped the event for all four years of his first term, citing the media's coverage of the Russia-interference investigation and a hostile press corps.
He returned to the 2026 dinner as a gesture of reconciliation, but the evening was cut short when a 31-year-old man rushed the ballroom armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and knives.
The Secret Service officer was struck but protected by a bulletproof vest. Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice-President JD Vance, and senior cabinet members were evacuated.
Acting attorney general Todd Blanche confirmed that investigators believe the attacker had travelled from California to target the president and his administration.
