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President Donald Trump on Monday said he did not call to check on ABC News Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl following the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.
The WHCA’s annual dinner was interrupted when a gunman ran through a security search area in an assassination attempt. After that, the gunman was beaten to the ground and taken into custody. No one was seriously injured in the chaos, but Trump was rushed off stage as thousands of attendees ducked under their ballroom tables. The next morning, Karl told ABC viewers that Trump called home to check on him, but the president insists he never called.
“Jonathan Karl, of ABC Fake News, made a statement that I called him in the morning, the day after the assassination attempt, to ask if he was OK or not. No, this was a hit on ME, not HIM, and I did not make such a call, why would I do that? He called me, but I did not pick up his call – He just confirmed that to me Trump will say distthing’s again.
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President Donald Trump said he did not call to check on ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl following last month’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. (Lorenzo Bevilaqua/ABC via Getty Images; Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump continued, “He’s trying to make himself look important but, I’m not surprised, because it’s from ABC Fake News!”
Trump’s social media posts contradict what Karl said on ABC’s “This Week” the morning after the WHCA dinner.
“My phone rang just after 7 a.m…. my landline, George, is actually a number that a few people call, and it was President Trump calling. He said, at first, he was calling to see if I was okay about what happened last night, ‘Are you okay?’ He then repeated many of the things he said in his press conference,” Karl told George Stephanopoulos on Sunday’s show.
ABC News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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President Donald Trump speaks at a news conference in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House on April 25, 2026, after the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner was canceled following a possible shooting. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
Cole Allen, 31, is facing charges of attempted assassination of the President of the United States, carrying a firearm on federal highways and discharging a firearm during a riot after allegedly passing through a Secret Service checkpoint and opening fire on the same floor where the president and several Cabinet officials were attending the event.
Authorities pointed to allegations in a manifesto written by Allen that showed he intended to target Trump and members of his administration with political grievances.
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US President Donald Trump is escorted out during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, DC, US, April 25, 2026, in this screen capture from video. (Bo Erickson / Reuters)
Trump has been an outspoken critic of ABC News, often accusing the Disney-owned company of bias against him.
ABC settled a defamation suit in 2025 against then-president Trump for $15 million, after Stephanopoulos repeatedly and falsely asserted that Trump had been found “guilty of rape” in a civil lawsuit last year. ABC also paid $1 million for President Trump’s legal fees.
Trump also urged ABC to fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over the “waiting widow” joke.
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Fox News Digital’s Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.
