Trump, Vance evacuated after shots fired at White House Correspondents' Dinner
The NPR Politics Podcast
NPR
4.4 • 25.7K Ratings
🗓️ 26 April 2026
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This episode: All Things Considered host Scott Detrow, All Things Considered deputy executive producer Courtney Dorning, White House correspondents Franco Ordoñez and Deepa Shivaram, & immigration correspondent Ximena Bustillo.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Scott Detrow. President Trump was rushed from the ballroom of the Washington Hilton this evening after a gunman apparently opened fire outside the security perimeter of the ballroom. |
| 0:12.9 | Trump, along with First Lady Melania Trump, was there for the White House Correspondence Dinner, an annual event in Washington that draws top officials from all branches of the government. |
| 0:22.3 | It had been the first time he'd ever attended the dinner. The Secret Service says Trump is safe. |
| 0:27.2 | He is back at the White House now. All of the Secret Service protectees at the dinner are safe, |
| 0:32.6 | according to the agency. That includes Vice President J.D. Vance, as well as many members of the |
| 0:37.4 | cabinet. The dinner has since been as many members of the cabinet. |
| 0:38.2 | The dinner has since been called, canceled for the night, and Trump will apparently be speaking |
| 0:42.4 | from the White House press briefing room shortly. The ballroom was packed to capacity with |
| 0:48.6 | government officials, journalists, and celebrities. Many people from NPR were there, |
| 0:52.5 | including White House correspondent Franco Ordonez, |
| 0:55.0 | who's here with me in studio. Hey, Franco. Hey, Scott. Tell me what you saw, what you heard in this moment. |
| 0:59.7 | Yeah, I mean, it wasn't really that long after the colors were presented and the Star-Spangled banner |
| 1:04.8 | was saying people were just finishing up their, you know, first dished salads and plates were being cleared when |
| 1:12.3 | we heard this bang, bang, bang. I heard at least three bangs. My guest, who is in the administration, |
| 1:19.1 | kind of turns toward me kind of with a half glance towards the back as well, which is where we heard |
| 1:23.9 | these bangs from, and then just crash. I mean, everything's crashing to the floor. |
| 1:28.0 | These are people crashing to the floors, plates crashing, people, trays going in. And it was just |
| 1:35.4 | very chaotic. You heard a few screams. And then security was rushing in. Dozens of dozens of |
| 1:42.5 | security agents. You had Secret Service, you had officers in |
| 1:46.5 | FBI jackets and DEA jackets. I'm talking full tactical gear, literally jumping over people, |
| 1:53.4 | jumping over tables, jumping over chairs. Trump had been evacuated by this time, obviously |
| 2:00.4 | everybody rushed to him right away, and this swarm of secret service agents and security, you know, started heading towards different cabinet members. |
... |
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