Again, a gunman got perilously close to Trump

WASHINGTON - Once again, a gunman got perilously close to President Donald Trump.

The storming of a security checkpoint Saturday evening by an armed man at the hotel hosting the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was the third time in three years that Trump had faced danger. During the 2024 campaign, he survived two assassination attempts, including a bullet grazing his ear in Butler, Pennsylvania.

In this case, the gunman rushed toward the ballroom where the president was dining with hundreds of journalists, government officials and guests, and drew fire from security forces before being taken into custody.

It is not yet known what the man’s motive was, but the outburst of violence is sure to revive questions about the scourge of political violence afflicting the United States, and about whether there is enough security around Trump, one of the most targeted presidents in history.

“It’s a dangerous profession,” Trump said afterward at the White House, referring to being a political leader. He compared his line of work to being a race car driver or a bull rider, and said presidents were more likely to be shot at or killed.

“Nobody told me this was such a dangerous profession,” he said.

There were no metal detectors set up at the hotel’s entrances, and a secure perimeter was only established closer to the ballroom deeper inside the Washington Hilton. A security video posted by Trump showed the gunman sprinting past the security checkpoint before being captured short of the ballroom.

Trump said the incident underscored why he wanted to build a $400 million ballroom on White House grounds that he said would be equipped with the latest security features. That project is currently subject to litigation.

“It’s not a particularly secure building,” he said of the Hilton, before launching into a pitch for the necessity of his planned ballroom. “It’s bulletproof glass. We need the ballroom.”

On July 13, 2024, Trump became the first current or former U.S. president to face an assassination attempt since 1981, when a bullet nicked his ear while he was giving a speech in Butler.

The 20-year-old gunman was able to fire several shots at Trump before the Secret Service returned fire and killed the shooter. But the fact that he came so close to killing Trump prompted immediate demands for changes at the Secret Service. The agency’s competence was called into question.

Trump on Saturday praised the response by the Secret Service and other agencies, and credited the countersniper who killed the gunman in Butler. “He hit him right between the eyes from 400 yards without any notice,” Trump said, adding: “If he didn’t do that, beyond me, you would have had a lot more people killed.”

Then, on Sept. 15, 2024, a man armed with a rifle hid in the shrubbery at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, plotting to shoot Trump.

The suspect, Ryan Routh, was convicted of attempted assassination and sentenced to life in prison.

Asked on Saturday why he believed he was so often the target of violence, Trump said it was because of the consequential nature of his presidency.

“I studied assassinations, and I must tell you the most impactful, the people that do the most” are targeted, Trump said, adding: “The people that do the most, the people that make the biggest impact -- they’re the ones that they go after.”

In addition to the known attempts on Trump’s life, he has faced other threats. Federal prosecutors have said that Iranian agents plotted to kill Trump in retaliation for the killing by the United States during Trump’s first term of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who helped lead Iran’s terrorism campaign.

The president is the highest-profile target of political violence, but the threats for years have affected officeholders at local, state and federal levels. The violence has taken the lives of members of both major political parties.

There was the mass shooting in 2017 of Republicans at a congressional baseball practice that nearly killed Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La. And there was the assassination last year of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Democrats are also often under threat. There were the killings in Minnesota of a Democratic state lawmaker and her husband; the arson attack on the home of Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania; a hammer assault on the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; the shootings at a Kamala Harris campaign office in Arizona.

There was also the Jan. 6, 2021, pro-Trump mob attack on the Capitol that injured roughly 150 police officers.

Threats against members of Congress from both parties have skyrocketed.

Trump on Saturday acknowledged the atmosphere.

“In light of this evening’s events, I ask that all Americans recommit with their hearts to resolving our differences peacefully,” he said.

Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, said the incident Saturday put on display the “very worst and the very best of this country.”

“You saw the very worst by the actions of that coward, that coward that the president just talked about. But you also saw the very best, because you saw law enforcement do exactly what they’re supposed to do,” he said. In the videos of the incident, he added, “you’ll see law enforcement do exactly what we want them to do.”

Trump was asked whether he would change how he functioned, given how frequently he has been targeted. He said that he tries not to think about the dangers of the job.

“We’re going to reschedule,” he said of the dinner that was abruptly canceled. “We’re going to do it again. We’re not going to let anybody take over our society. We’re not going to cancel things out.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Copyright 2026 The New York Times Company

This story was originally published April 26, 2026 at 12:10 AM.