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Erika Kirk Claims Reporters Broke 'No. 1 Rule Of Journalism' At WHCD Shooting
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Erika Kirk on Wednesday accused the press of breaking the cardinal rule of journalism during last weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner. (Watch the video below.) Kirk was addressing the alleged assassination attempt of President Donald Trump on “The Charlie Kirk Show,” which still carries the name of her conservative activist husband who was assassinated in 2025. At Saturday night’s dinner, the suspect sprinted through a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton and shot a Secret Service agent in his bulletproof vest. That set off what Kirk called “utter chaos” inside the ballroom as Trump and other dignitaries were whisked away by armed officers. An understandably shaken Kirk was shown on camera crying and saying she just wanted to leave. “Everyone is asking why I even went to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” she said on the Real America’s Voice show Wednesday. “And it was because many of the journalists in that room have attempted to dehumanize me, and I wanted to meet some of them face-to-face, quite frankly. Why have a conversation about me when you can have a conversation with me?” Kirk, dressed in almost all black, including a baseball cap, did not mention names of those she spoke with. She eventually pivoted to criticizing the press for its reaction to the shooting. “You guys have all seen what happened next because there are a thousand videos of it,” she said. “So let’s discuss that fact for a second. If you were in that room, you had no way of knowing what the status of the shooter was, how many there were, or honestly, really anything.” “It was just utter chaos and so during an active shooting these journalists are using their phones to find moments to capture for clips,” she continued. “They were so concerned about getting a video in a room with an active shooter, that they could have accidentally and quite literally filmed themselves being shot. “Many of those people have become so desensitized that fight or flight became secondary to the opportunity of putting themselves into the story, which ironically breaks the No. 1 rule of journalism.” For many journalists, documenting an event suddenly unfolding around them would be a duty, not a violation. Even the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association and lead organizer of the dinner, Weijia Jiang, who sat next to Trump on the dais when shots rang out, shared her account of what happened. Cellphone footage from attendees helped her tell the story. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.