Trump 'honoured' by what he says is an assassination attempt

US President Donald Trump says he is 'honoured' to be the target of an assassination attempt after being asked why he believes he has been the target of multiple attempts.

Trump also reflected on the history of political assassinations during his address, suggesting that those who are targeted are the most "impactful" people in history.

"I've studied assassinations and I must tell you the most impactful people, the people that do the most ... the people that make the biggest impact, they're the ones that they go after," Trump said.

"They don't go after the ones that don't do much, because they like it that way."

Authorities have said they could not yet confirm whether the president was the intended target of the incident.

Jeff Carroll, the interim chief of police of the Metropolitan Police Department, said the suspect was running in the direction of the ballroom where Trump and cabinet members were attending the dinner.

"What the specific motivation was, we can't say at this point."

Follow for more on our live blog: https://bit.ly/3Qyp8Rp