President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump were abruptly evacuated Saturday night from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton after a security alert prompted a rapid Secret Service response.
Security was already extraordinarily tight because of Trump’s attendance, with heavy Secret Service presence throughout the hotel, restricted access points, magnetometer screenings, credential checkpoints, and a visible law enforcement presence inside and outside the Hilton. Trump was attending the dinner for the first time as president after years of boycotts.
The Advocate was inside the hotel at the time but was not in the main ballroom when the disruption occurred.
According to a White House press pool report from Washington Times reporter Jeff Mordock, “There were several loud bangs and the Secret Service with guns drawn rushed the pool out of the room.” He added that agents “pushed us back screaming ‘Shots fired.’”
Attendee reports similarly described loud popping sounds from within or near the ballroom, prompting agents to move Trump and first lady Melania Trump through the hotel’s secured presidential exit corridor.
This story is developing...
