The president of the United States, Donald Trump, was evacuated this Saturday night for security reasons from the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, after sounds of gunshots were heard in the lobby in front of the room where the event was being held, at the Hilton hotel in Washington. The alleged shooter has been arrested.
The incident, in the same hotel that in 1981 was the scene of an attack against another American president, Ronald Reagan, occurred during the annual event organized by the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA). It is traditional for the sitting US president to attend this evening, but Trump, who maintains an ambivalent love-hate relationship with the press, had always declined to attend. This occasion was the first in which he had agreed to be present and the expectation was maximum.
Everything had started as planned. The nearly 2,500 guests had taken their seats in the Hilton’s grand ballroom. A military band had been playing music. The American anthem had been played, with those present standing. The entry of the American president and his wife, Melania Trump, had been announced. The president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, Weijia Jiang, a CBS journalist, had given a few brief introductory words. The diners had begun the first course, a salad of burrata and fresh peas.
At that moment, five dull, dry sounds were heard coming from one of the doors. Shots. Everyone on the ground. Everyone, except the journalists present, who reached for their phones (in vain: the dance hall is in a basement and it was not possible to get a connection).
When the shots were heard, the Secret Service agents rushed en masse to the presidential table, on the dais in the room, to protect the president and remove him from the hotel. “We’re leaving here, now!” one of them exclaimed as he ran towards the president.
“What a night in Washington. The secret service and law enforcement have done a fantastic job. They have acted decisively and bravely. The shooter has been captured and I have recommended that THE PARTY CONTINUE, but it will depend on law enforcement. They will make a decision soon,” the US president wrote in a message on Truth, his social network. “Regardless of the decision they make, this evening will be very different from what was planned, and we will simply have to organize it again (at another time).”
Confusion reigned in the first moments in the room after the shots. Some claimed that the shooter had been killed. Others, that he had been captured. Many of the guests – all Washington, the creme de la creme of American political life, from White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt to FBI director Kash Patel – consoled each other. Some were trembling; Others shed tears. From one of the tables near the presidency, a voice shouted: “Long live the United States!”
About 20 minutes after the incident, Weijia Jiang, CBS News White House correspondent, announced that the party was going to resume “as soon as possible.” Jiang is the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, which has about 800 members and this evening is the most important moment of its annual activities.
At the event, Trump had been scheduled to give a speech to journalists grouped in the WHCA, an association that encompasses reporters dedicated to covering information from the White House and with which he has maintained a complicated relationship. The president usually attacks his fellow reporters when they ask him questions that he considers uncomfortable, and his comments sometimes enter into personal territory. At the same time, he boasts of being the most accessible president in the country’s history and answers journalists’ questions almost daily. Since the beginning of the war in Iran, it has become almost customary to answer calls from various journalists on his mobile phone, to grant them brief interviews.
The Hilton hotel is no stranger to tragedy. On March 30, 1981, it had been the scene of an attack against then-President Ronald Reagan, who had just given a speech there. One of the bullets fired by John Hinckley ricocheted and hit the president in the lung, causing severe internal bleeding. His spokesman, James Brady, a Secret Service agent and a police officer were also injured.
