Nancy Pelosi’s stock trades, Chris Christie’s weight and sharp jabs at CNN could all be in the mix when President Donald Trump takes the mic Friday for a do-over of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Exactly what Trump will say remains under wraps, but the Daily Mail has learned new details about the prepared remarks that were never delivered in April, when a lone shooter breached a Secret Service checkpoint and brought the dinner to an abrupt halt.
Roast comic Tony Hinchcliffe has told fans he had lined up a set of “bangers” for Trump to use during the high-profile Washington event.
Rather than let the jokes disappear, Hinchcliffe later tested the material before a Kennedy Center crowd, asking whether they wanted to hear the lines that had been prepared for the president.
The Washington, DC, audience responded enthusiastically, prompting Hinchcliffe to bring out fellow comedian and noted impressionist Adam Ray to perform the jokes in Trump’s voice.
Swalwell targeted in Trump roast
According to sources who attended Hinchcliffe’s appearance and spoke to the Daily Mail, the material took aim at Congressman Eric Swalwell after his resignation in disgrace days earlier, while California Governor Gavin Newsom was mocked over what the jokes portrayed as weak leadership in the Golden State.
Hinchcliffe later told Joe Rogan that the updated presidential routine would feature “some new stuff.”
Sources said the Kennedy Center crowd gave Hinchcliffe useful feedback, though they expect his lines either to be sharpened to reflect current events or replaced entirely with fresh material.
Mutual friends familiar with his prepared jokes told Hinchcliffe the President was ‘very pumped’ by the jokes he submitted and was preparing to roast the press in dramatic fashion.
‘I was all set to really rip it,’ Trump said to reporters after the dinner was canceled. ‘I said to my people, “This would be the most inappropriate speech ever made,” if I said what [was prepared] so I’ll have to save it.’
At the time, Trump teased that he could be ‘very nice’ and ‘very boring’ at the rescheduled dinner, but few expect the President to hold back.
Trump considers jokes from multiple writers
Hinchcliffe’s submissions are some of several writers Trump considers for his speeches, a source familiar with the process told CNN, including other comedians.
Trump’s speechwriter team led by Ross Worthington compiles a number of jokes and other ideas to run by the President. Worthington has been spotted on Air Force One in recent days, presumably working with Trump to fine-tune the speech.
The use of comedians to draft the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner speech is not unusual for presidents. President Barack Obama consulted comics such as Judd Apatow, Jon Lovett, Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele for his speeches.
Hinchcliffe made his name writing the Comedy Central roasts before stepping out to deliver the insults himself on Netflix’s Tom Brady and Kevin Hart specials. He also hosts the live podcast Kill Tony, where he turns on performers and audience alike, playing the heel who enjoys being hated.
His loyalty to Trump survived the moment that nearly swallowed him. Opening the President’s Madison Square Garden rally in October 2024, Hinchcliffe told the crowd there was ‘literally a floating island of garbage’ in the ocean, then named Puerto Rico.
The line drew condemnation from Democrats and Republicans and dominated the closing week of the campaign.
Hinchcliffe remains loyal to President Trump
Hinchcliffe feared he had cost Trump the White House, and has since described his relief when Trump won anyway. He remains a supporter, even as fellow comics and podcasters have turned on parts of the administration’s record.
On one point, he says, they all still agree. Trump is funny.
‘All the best comedians talk about how he might be the funniest human being on planet Earth,’ Hinchcliffe said in December.
Friday’s dinner is at the Waldorf Astoria on Pennsylvania Avenue, the Old Post Office building that housed the Trump International Hotel until the family sold the lease in 2022. The President is unlikely to let that pass without comment.
The room will be far smaller than April’s. The WHCA has cut the guest list sharply for what it has billed as a more intimate evening under significantly enhanced security.
Also being honored: the Secret Service officer shot in the chest at the checkpoint, saved by his ballistic vest, and the Hilton staff who emptied the ballroom.
‘President Donald J. Trump is a once-in-a-generation [tough guy]. An armed assassin storms a Secret Service checkpoint after multiple assassination attempts, and what does President Trump do? He reschedules, keeps his word, and will deliver the speech anyway,’ former White House Director of Digital Content Billy McLaughlin told the Daily Mail. ‘That’s the kind of resolve Americans expect from their Commander in Chief.’
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