Donald Trump made good on his promise to appear to appear at the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Dinner after the original was canceled following another attempt on the president's life.Trump was without his wife First Lady Melania Trump, instead seated between WHCA President Weija Jiang and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday at Washington's Waldorf Astoria hotel. Trump and Jiang could be seen chatting and dining before the speeches kicked off.The president's remarks, delivered to a smaller audience at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, come months after the original event was postponed by a gunman who opened fire outside the event in April. The White House Correspondent’s Association vowed at the time that a rescheduled version of the event would take place, and that violence would not ‘have the last word’ in scuttling the annual gala.The event, moved from its longtime home of the Washington Hilton, has been billed as a more ‘intimate’ event; flanked by a higher security presence and fewer attendees in the audience. Despite that, the White House promised a high-caliber speech from Trump, who until this year has never attended a White House Correspondents' Dinner as president. The president’s remarks will be ‘a combination of unifying yet vicious, and serious yet hilarious, all at the same time, if you can imagine that,’ White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said of Trump's speech Friday afternoon.‘One thing I can assure you, it will be entertaining,' she added. Donald Trump made good on his promise to appear to appear at the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Dinner after the original was canceled following another attempt on Trump's life The President was without wife and First Lady Melania Trump, instead seated in between WHCA President Weija Jiang and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday at Washington's Waldorf Astoria hotelAs for Trump himself, he indicated last month he wasn't sure. 'I don't know whether or not I will give the same rather nasty statements, at least as it concerns certain people, but we will soon find out,' the Republican president wrote on his Truth Social platform.'In any event, it will be a 'HOT' ticket!' Besides the pared-down approach, there is another change at Friday's dinner: two additional awards. One will be presented to Victor Gonzales, the Secret Service agent who was staffing a security checkpoint in April and was struck in his protective vest.'Officer Gonzales … ran toward danger so that thousands of others could make it home safely,' Jiang said in a statement. 'His courage stemmed from a dedication to service, which we are looking forward to honoring this week.'A second award will be presented to the staff of the Washington Hilton hotel, site of the first dinner. Donald Trump and CBS News senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang speak at the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) Dinner 'The president looks forward to finishing what he started,' press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday, confirming Trump's attendanceOther changes: With security in mind, there will be only one entrance at the much smaller venue, with airport-style metal detectors.Guests received individual QR entry codes in advance, and nobody can get in unless recognized. 'There is NO red carpet at this dinner,' said a memo Jiang sent to some guests last month, seen by The Associated Press. 'There are NO onsite pre-dinner receptions.'The dress code this time is a looser 'black tie optional,' and dinner includes grilled peach and burrata salad, lobster, and beef Wellington. The evening, as at the last dinner, has entertainment by mentalist Oz Pearlman, along with the awards presentations and Trump's remarks.Jiang and her fellow board members worked hard to bring about this WHCA dinner 2.0, not wanting to let a violent act - or the image of colleagues hiding under tables - remain the final thought. Announcing the rescheduling, she emphasized the dinner's stated purpose: 'a celebration of a free press and the vital role of journalism in our democracy for over a century.''We will not allow an act of violence to have the last word, especially during a year when we are reflecting on the 250th anniversary of America and everything we stand for,' Jiang said.The new dinner comes during a time of fast-increasing tension between the media and a president who, in his second term, has tried to exert pressure on media outlets he is unhappy with in a variety of ways. That pressure has ranged from sanctions against members of the White House press corps to regulatory actions through the Federal Communications Commission to outright lawsuits.Those tensions have only escalated since April, with the latest example reaching a New York courtroom on Thursday. There, criticized by a federal judge for sloppy legal work, the government withdrew subpoenas that would have compelled three New York Times reporters to testify about their sources for articles about Trump’s Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet.