The White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner, relocated to Washington, is underway, three months after the original event was cancelled. The disruption to the initial event occurred in April when a man fired a shotgun blast at a security checkpoint outside the venue, resulting in the evacuation of the hotel. The incident was assessed as an attempt directed against the president and his administration.
Donald Trump arrived at the relocated gala at the Waldorf Astoria, where organisers stated that the atmosphere would be more intimate and smaller compared to the original plans. The White House announced that the presidential speech would combine a unique address with sharp attacks. After praising journalists for their "incredible work", Trump’s speech turned bitter and devolved into a series of complaints and sharp attacks on political opponents.
In Minneapolis, Democratic congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Pramila Jayapal visited the Whipple Federal Building today. This was a congressional oversight visit to the building which had been the centre of sustained protests earlier this year. Protesters had opposed a harsh immigration campaign that engulfed the state of Minnesota.
Those protests led to tragic consequences when federal immigration agents killed two US citizens. The visit by congresswomen Omar and Jayapal is aimed at investigating the circumstances of those fatal shootings and the broader context of immigration policy in the region.
