White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday the administration is reviewing whether or not Vice President J.D. Vance should attend the same events as President Trump, to preserve the presidential line of succession.
There are 18 officials in the line of succession beginning with the vice president and ending with the Homeland Security secretary. At least 12 of those officials were in attendance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday night when a gunman opened fire near the ballroom in an apparent attempt to assassinate Mr. Trump.
Ms. Leavitt said the White House will have a “conversation” over whether Mr. Vance should be attending the same events as Mr. Trump, to avoid an attack incapacitating both men. She said Mr. Trump plans to attend a potentially rescheduled WHCA dinner.
“I can assure the president intends to attend the event as he has told all of you publicly,” Ms. Leavitt said. “I don’t want to rule in or out the vice president’s attendance, but certainly that’s a conversation that will take place.”
Six of the seven top officials in the line of succession for the presidency attended the dinner Saturday night. After Mr. Vance, the line of succession is House Speaker Mike Johnson; Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa (who did not attend); Secretary of State Marco Rubio; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Mr. Grassley, 92, was at home recuperating from surgery.
It is not unusual to have so many officials in one place. It also happens with the State of the Union address and presidential inaugurations. But those events typically designate a survivor who remains in a secure location in the event of an attack. It’s not clear if a designated survivor was picked for the correspondents’ dinner.
In addition, those events are held at the Capitol, where security is much more stringent than at the dinner, which was held at the Washington Hilton.
When asked about so many members of the succession attending the dinner, Mr. Blanche appeared to brush off such concerns.
“The system worked,” he said in an interview with ABC News’ “This Week.” “Law enforcement and the Secret Service protected all of us. The man barely got past the perimeter. And so when you have a perimeter designed to keep people safe, like President Trump, and it works, that’s something that should be applauded.”
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.