BREAKING: Trump Evacuated From WH Correspondents Dinner After Shots Fired
Secret Service reportedly apprehended a gunman at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday evening.
US President Donald Trump left the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday evening after Secret Service and law enforcement agents subdued an attempted gunman who ran through the security perimeter inside the hotel with an apparent rifle, according to video released by the administration.
When the president was asked at a press briefing late Saturday why he’s been targeted by several attempted gunmen now, Trump said he’s “studied assassinations,” and they often target “the most impactful people” and “the big names.”
“I hate to say I’m honored by that, but I’ve done a lot,” he said. “We’ve changed this country, and there are a lot of people that are not happy about that.”
Saturday’s dinner event with the media is the first Trump has attended as a sitting president. Trump said he wants to do this event over “within the next 30 days,” adding that he had been “set to really rip it” with his speech before he was escorted out. “I said to my people, this would be the most inappropriate speech ever made. And I said, I don’t know if I could ever be as rough as I was going to be tonight.”
Trump added Saturday evening that the incident underscored the need for the massive ballroom he’s been constructing at the White House – a construction project that has partially been placed on hold in court.
“I didn’t want to say this, but this is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we’re planning at the White House,” he said, adding: “That’s why the Secret Service, that’s why the military are demanding it.”
The president’s attempt to turn a moment of violence and chaos that had just happened that same evening into an opportunity to promote his East Wing-demolishing ballroom is strange for a number of reasons. One of them is that a White House Correspondents’ Association event or dinner is not supposed to be hosted at the White House anyway. The WHCA is an independent organization.
Multiple shots could be heard inside the ballroom before Trump was set to speak, according to live video of the scene from Fox 29 in Philadelphia. Security surrounded Trump, and police in riot gear with rifles appeared, as agents escorted out the president, the First Lady, and other dignitaries on stage, as attendees and Trump officials ducked down.
Moments after the loud bangs sent the gala into a state of chaos, both media and political sources at the event told Zeteo that at first there was complete confusion about what had happened. For a moment, multiple tables were convinced it was a false alarm. Minutes, if not seconds, later, conflicting reports and accounts quickly emerged.
At his press briefing late Saturday, Trump said the alleged gunman wasn’t “anywhere close” to breaching the ballroom.
“Quite an evening in D.C. Secret Service and Law Enforcement did a fantastic job. They acted quickly and bravely,” Trump posted after evacuating the event. “The shooter has been apprehended, and I have recommended that we ‘LET THE SHOW GO ON’ but, will entirely be guided by Law Enforcement. They will make a decision shortly. Regardless of that decision, the evening will be much different than planned, and we’ll just, plain, have to do it again.”
Twenty minutes later, Trump wrote that law enforcement requested he leave the event.
This is a developing story and has been updated.
Staged event
He likes to stage events. Just more bullshit.