UFC CEO Dana White was among the notable figures attending the White House Correspondents' Dinner when chaos erupted due to an active shooter incident. White, a friend and supporter of President Donald Trump, recounted his experience to USA Today in a video posted to Instagram.
"All of a sudden, it just started getting noisy. Tables started getting flipped over, guys running in with guns, and they were screaming, 'Get down!'" White said. "I didn't get down. It was f***ing awesome, and I literally took every minute of it in. It was a pretty crazy, unique experience."
In other videos shared on social media, White could be seen sitting near the front of the room, not far from Trump's table. "Nobody got tackled, but guys came in looking for the shooter. And they came toward our table. I thought the shooter was over by us or something," White added.
Trump's Reaction and Rescheduling Plans
President Trump, 79, was onstage with his wife Melania, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, and mentalist Oz Pearlman when a man allegedly armed with guns and knives attempted to storm the ballroom. Trump later told 60 Minutes' Norah O'Donnell that he was reluctant to get down during the attack. "My thought was, 'You know, I've been through this before a couple of times,'" he said. "I wanted to see what was happening."
Trump also promised to reschedule the White House Correspondents' Dinner. "We're going to do it again," he told reporters. "We're not going to let anybody take over our society. We're not going to cancel things out, because we can't do that."
White's Previous Comments on Trump's Resilience
Last year, White told Piers Morgan on his Uncensored show that he urged Trump to drop out of the 2024 presidential race after a would-be assassin attempted to kill him during a speech in Butler, Pennsylvania. "I've been through it all with him … I told him to stop so many times. It's just like, 'You have such a good life, and you could do all these other things,'" White said. "'Why are you doing this stuff? Stop.'"
But Trump told White that he was inspired by God to keep going. "The thing is, with President Trump is he believes in God, and he's very religious … He believes that to his core that God has spared his life to be the president and do the things that he's going to do over the next four years," White said at the time. "At some point in life, we all go through hard times … An assassination attempt? This guy was (so) close to being assassinated. The way he fought through that and bounced back from it … unfazed. The way Trump reacted to that assassination attempt. Every man hopes that that's the way they'd react … He's the most resilient human being I've ever met in my life."
Shooter Apprehended
After Saturday night's event, Trump took to Truth Social to declare that "the shooter has been apprehended." He praised the Secret Service and law enforcement for their quick and brave actions. "Quite an evening in D.C. Secret Service and Law Enforcement did a fantastic job," the president wrote. "They acted quickly and bravely. The shooter has been apprehended, and I have recommended that we 'LET THE SHOW GO ON' but, will entirely be guided by Law Enforcement. They will make a decision shortly. Regardless of that decision, the evening will be much different than planned, and we'll just, plain, have to do it again."
