President Donald Trump attended his first White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, with this year’s rescheduled gala held Friday night in Washington, D.C., and delivered some pointed comments to the assembled reporters in a rambling speech that lasted just over an hour, during which he insulted several journalists, politicians and celebrities he had clashed with.

“I’m delighted to be here at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Amazing people, a lot of people I like,” Trump said. “I don’t like some of them at all, but I respect the majority.”

At first, Trump seemed unsure of the tone he wanted to strike and suggested that, compared to the barbs he planned to deliver at the original WHCA dinner, which was interrupted by an armed attacker, he was taking action. “I said, ‘What are we doing here? Is this supposed to be funny? Am I supposed to be serious? Am I supposed to be a comedian?’ “So I guess you said, maybe a little bit of everything.”

But Trump quickly began criticizing the press. “Tonight is really about the fake news media and their handling of the awards: writing, producing and performing made-up stories like the Academy Awards,” Trump said. The Academy Awards “used to be the epitome of ratings outside of the Super Bowl… Now they’re in the dust. No one wants to watch them anymore because they took on Trump. They beat me up all night.”

He told reporters: “When I’m not around, everyone will be broke. Their business model will be over. No, it’s true. When I’m not around, they will be broke. There will be no one to report on. No one gives a damn about anyone else.”

Trump said that “for the most part, I’ve given up on you and the media, so now I just gave up on you, and I’m number one on TikTok. Did you see that?… I gave up on you, people. I gave up on the traditional press, and obviously it worked because we won on a landline” (I wanted to say “landslide,” but that’s not true). Trump boasted that “I was able to get [TikTok] sold to a group of very rich people, mostly Americans.”

Trump said he didn’t attend previous WHCA dinners because “I thought the press treated me very, very unfairly, and I don’t know. I think I made the right decision because they need to go where they may not want you, but they did want me. They wanted me for the ratings and they wanted me for other reasons, but not for love. And I said, ‘You know, I’m not going to go.’ The first time that happened… And I didn’t go for four years because the press treated me terribly.”

This year, Trump noted, the WHCA decided not to have a comedian. “They considered using Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon,” Trump said. “These guys are terrible. They’re terrible. Stephen Colbert. They’re talentless people… They’re not talented, but they’re not comedians. They’re not funny people. They’re angry people. They’re sick people.”

Trump took the podium at 9:33 p.m. and spoke for about 64 minutes.

Trump joked that Paramount CEO David Ellison, whose company owns CBS News (“He bought it, spent a lot of money, and I think he’s going to make some fantastic changes and keep some of the great things going”), told him that next year Ellison will rename the WHCA dinner the “Trump White House Correspondents’ Dinner.” “He told me that and I really like it. We’re going to change his name, okay?” Trump said, alluding to his failed effort to add his name to the Kennedy Center.

He also said at another point in his talk, “I, for one, wish Bari Weiss all the best at CBS News. She is a wonderful woman,” prompting an audible murmur from the audience.

He said that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt “may have one of the most difficult jobs in the White House” because she has to “deal with all of you all the time, and you can be very difficult. You can be very, very difficult people. But I’m probably being a little too sensitive. Sometimes I really think some of you don’t like me.”

He joked, “I suspect this place is actually the largest group of people with Trump Derangement Syndrome ever gathered at the same time,” prompting some laughter. (The president apparently believes Trump Derangement Syndrome is a real medical condition.)

Trump harshly criticized some of his supposed favorite enemies. He said the winner of the lowest ratings and “lowest IQ on television” was “actually Don Lemon,” whom Trump called “the dumbest man on television. I told him, you know, when you say some things, you never come back. It’s not like, ‘Oh, gee, hey Don, let’s go out to dinner some night.'”

Trump also took aim at CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, who won the 2026 WHCA award for her coverage of Trump’s Oval Office showdown with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in February 2025. Trump said, “I want to personally congratulate CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on receiving her award,” but said, “It’s all about me. It’s fake. She shouldn’t get the award. It was fake, but I didn’t care.” (In a statement issued while Trump was still speaking, Mark Thompson, president and CEO of CNN Worldwide, said: “We stand behind our journalists and the integrity and fairness with which the CNN team reports the news. Honest and accurate journalism can sometimes irritate politicians, but our right to report and present that information to the public without government interference is fully protected by the United States Constitution. CNN will continue to exercise this right.”)

Trump then spoke strangely about Collins, calling her “a young, active woman” but that “she never smiles. I said, ‘Kaitlan, do you ever smile? Smile. You’re well off. You’re on CNN fake news. You should be a happy person. Just smile, Kaitlan. Just smile.'” Trump then tried to joke that Collins had signed “a major new endorsement. But then I informed her that it wasn’t her on the Bud Light can. It was Dylan Mulvaney.” Trump said, referring to the transgender influencer who was recruited by the beer company in 2023, a campaign that suffered a huge backlash. “Dylan Mulvaney cost Bud about $35 million in market cap. By the way, it was the worst commercial ever made. The few people who want to hear that, most of them don’t care, but I do. I wouldn’t want to hire Dylan anytime soon,” Trump said.

About another CNN anchor, Anderson Cooper, Trump said: “I actually like Anderson because he’s covered me well for many years, and he went south as soon as I got into politics. But for years, he loved interviews. I did a lot of interviews with him, and he was great. But you know, he’s a little bit of a different persuasion than me, in a lot of ways actually.”

Trump also lashed out at California Gov. Gavin Newsom, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer, Rosie O’Donnell (a “sick older woman”), CNN’s Jake Tapper and Bruce Springsteen. Of Springsteen, Trump said: “What the hell happened to that guy? He looks terrible… I’m sure he doesn’t like the way I look, but I don’t look that bad.” He complained that Springsteen gave “four political speeches in his three-hour show,” prompting Trump to joke: “The tour was renamed ‘Bored in the USA’ and their new song was really bad.”

Trump, of course, has had a hostile relationship with the press. Not only does he routinely complain about the media being “fake news” and insult individual journalists, but he has also sued several media outlets for coverage he doesn’t like, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, ABC News and CBS News’ “60 Minutes.”

At the WHCA dinner, Wall Street Journal reporters behind the newspaper’s story about a birthday letter allegedly written by Trump to Jeffrey Epstein won the $10,000 Katharine Graham Award for Courage and Responsibility. Trump, who has denied writing Epstein’s letter, sued over the story, demanding $20 billion in damages. The Journal’s lawyers called Trump’s lawsuit “an affront to the First Amendment.” A judge dismissed his original lawsuit, but Trump refiled the complaint in May 2026 and the case is pending. At the dinner, Trump awkwardly shook the hands of Journal reporters who were there to accept the award, then raised his hands in mock resignation and returned to his seat.

“This has not been an easy night. All these awards… Do I have a say in those awards?” Trump joked during his remarks.

Near the end of his long speech, Trump joked that he would run for a fourth term (and donned a “Trump 2028” hat), repeating his baseless claim that he actually won the 2020 US presidential election. (He didn’t.) Trump said he plans to return to the correspondents’ dinner in 2027.

Meanwhile, Trump also made a joke at the expense of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his secretary of Health and Human Services. “Bobby Kennedy is right here. He personally ran over the cow in his car… He brought it here for you to eat tonight,” Trump said. “So it’s very fresh. And Bobby also suggested an appetizer with his favorite cut of roadkill male raccoon. But we drew the line at that, Cheryl. We said, no, we’re not going to do that. We’re not going to do that. We love Bobby.”

Friday’s WHCA dinner took place at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in DC. It featured a performance by mentalist Oz Pearlman, while the association has traditionally invited a comedian to roast the sitting president.

The WHCA dinner was rescheduled after the first meeting, on April 25, was interrupted by an obvious assassination attempt on Trump. The gunman who stormed security at the Washington Hilton has been arrested and charged. Trump spent time discussing the April attack in his remarks and thanked the law enforcement personnel who subdued the suspect.

Outgoing WHCA President Weijia Jiang, CBS News Chief White House Correspondent, delivered the keynote address at the start of the event. She then alternated hosting duties with Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich, who will serve as the organization’s president for the 2026-27 term.