CBS News senior White House correspondent and White House Correspondents’ Association president Weijia Jiang recounted the moments she spent beside President Trump when shots were fired at the association’s dinner. What began as a normal evening turned unnerving when she first heard sounds she thought might be protesters. Then she saw SWAT officers move toward the head table and heard an urgent command to get down, signaling an active threat.
Jiang said she dropped to her knees and crawled directly behind the president to get off the stage. Backstage, she encountered more than a dozen SWAT officers along with members of the president’s advance team and the Secret Service. The scene felt “really scary” to her because there was no confirmation yet about what had happened.
Throughout the incident, Jiang remained in communication with the president through his team. Although he initially wanted to continue — saying he intended to stay and try to resume the program — officials kept agents working the area, and a planned announcement to bring the head table back onstage was delayed while security assessed the situation.
Later, the president called Jiang into a secure hold room at the hotel. He told her that, despite his wish to proceed, protocol required postponing the dinner. He asked her to wait for him to post the decision and expressed a desire to reschedule the event, saying he did not want an attack to silence the gathering. Jiang said the president also noted the episode produced an unexpected sense of unity and changed the dynamic between the press and the presidency in a way that reflected the dinner’s intended purpose.
Jiang described being pulled off the stage, crawling behind the president, and then waiting in a tense, uncertain backstage area with other journalists until officials confirmed the situation was secure.