Donald Trump assassination attempts in full after gunman storms White House Correspondents' Dinner

President Trump has now survived three potential assassination attempts in just 21 months having been at the centre of numerous security scares. He has been targeted at a rally, a golf course and now a hotel, surviving each attempt. But the latest shooting attempt was described as an "historic security failure". A man armed with guns and knives stormed the lobby of the Washington Hilton last night during the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. Footage showed him running through a metal detector and rushing security as he charged toward the ballroom in what a security expert said could have been a "catastrophe". One officer was shot, with the bullet hitting his bullet-resistant vest. Trump and other top US politicians were rushed off stage and out of the event while the gunman was tackled to the ground and taken into custody. Andrew Badger, former defence intelligence agency officer, told Sky News: "I think this is a historic event. What strikes me is that eight out of the nine cabinet members who would succeed President Trump were at this single event... this is a historic failure, this gunman should never have got that close to the President." Trump came the closes to being assassinated in July 13 2024, when a bullet grazed his right ear. Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, fired eight times with a rifle from a roof overlooking the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. He failed to assassinate Trump but killed another attendee Corey Comperatore, 50, a former volunteer fire chief who was in the crowd and shielding his family. Two others were seriously injured. The gunman was killed by a Secret Service sniper. In the seconds after being shot, a defiant President Trump stood up with blood on his face and raised his right fist shouting ‘fight, fight, fight’. A subsequent senate report criticised Secret Service planning, communications and leadership. They were slammed for allowing the gunman to breach the security perimeter with a rifle and reach an elevated position close to Trump. Video of the attack and the accounts of eyewitnesses suggest that members of the crowd became aware of the threat before the police and other security officials and attempted to alert them to the danger. But it was only when the gunman opened fire that officials recognised the danger and responded, with Thomas Crooks shot dead by armed officers. Then in September 2024, West Palm Beach, Florida, a gunman was spotted with a rifle at Trump’s International Golf Club while the President was playing on the course. Just as Trump moved holes, a Secret Service agent spotted a muzzle peeking out from the bushes. A Secret Service agent fired at Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, who fled without firing a shot and was arrested on a nearby highway. He is now serving a life sentence. In September 2025, a New York (NYPD) off duty police officer, Melvin Eng, turned up at the Ryder Cup golf tournament at Bethpage Black Course in New York, armed and in full tactical gear, pretending to be part of Trump’s security detail. It was later discovered that Eng was on sick leave, had no official assignment to be part of the president’s detail and no assigned role at the event. The incident reportedly led to Eng’s suspension, pending further investigation by the NYPD. In February this year, US Secret Service agents and a deputy from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's office shot and killed an armed man who entered the inner perimeter at Mar-a-Lago, President Trump’s residence in Florida. He was not there at the time of the incident. The suspect 21-year-old Austin T. Martin, from North Carolina, was reportedly carrying a shotgun and a fuel cannister when he entered Mar-a-Lago. TMZ later reported that Martin had grown increasingly obsessed with Epstein, a former friend of Trump. The latest shooting took place in the same hotel where former President Reagan was wounded by John Hinckley Jr. on March 30, 1981. Reagan was returning to his limousine after a speaking engagement when Hinckley shot him with a revolver, seriously wounding him. Hinckley believed the attack would impress the actress Jodie Foster. It prompted security overhauls at the hotel, including a secured garage designed to fit the presidential limo which leads to a private elevator to ferry the VIPs to a secure suite. It has its own bathroom with monogrammed towels. But despite these changes, a gunman was allowed to enter the hotel on the day of a prestigious event attended by some of the most powerful politicians in the world. After the latest shooting, Trump said: "I've studied assassinations, and I must tell you, the most impactful people, the people that do the most...The people that make the biggest impact, they're the ones that they go after." Former FBI agent Jonathan Gilliam said he was astonished that a would-be assassin was again allowed to get so near the President in Saturday's shooting. He said: "There has been better security at events like the Superbowl. You cannot get a bag in, bigger than a purse. I cannot for the life of me understand how this keeps happening." Fellow former FBI agent Barry Donadio said of the Washington attack: "I have manned check points like that. Watching the video of him running to get through gave me chills. He ran quickly. If they had not stopped him then he would have got right through. They did exactly what they were supposed to do, but that video is terrifying."