White House Correspondents' Dinner rescheduled after shooting incident

The annual White House Correspondents' Dinner has been rescheduled after the original event on April 25 was suspended after a gunman attempted to access the venue, resulting in an exchange of fire with Secret Service agents.

The new event will be held on July 24 with "significantly enhanced safety measures and new access procedures", Weijia Jiang, president of the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA), wrote in a letter to members.

US President Donald Trump said he would attend the rescheduled dinner, which will be held at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington DC.

The April shooting saw Trump and Vice-President JD Vance, among others, rushed off stage by Secret Service agents.

The suspect was subdued by agents on the scene, and one Secret Service agent was injured by shotgun fire, according to the Department of Justice.

Trump said the rescheduling of the event, which is meant to honour journalists and the freedom of the press, is a "sign of Strength and Fortitude".

"This announcement is a very good thing in that we cannot allow Lunatics to change our way of life, or even its scheduling," the president wrote on social media.

The WHCA spent the last several weeks raising funds to make sure that its members who purchased tickets to the April event do not have to pay again for the July event, which will be a "more intimate gathering", Jiang said.