I was at the WH Correspondents’ Dinner when the shooting started – 1 word sums it up | World | News
Jack Hobbs was at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner when the shooting began. (Image: EXPRESS)
One word describes Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner: chaos.
I often dreamed of attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which could be considered the Oscars of Journalism in America.
But Saturday night the scene took a dark turn when five gunshots rang out just outside the Washington Hilton ballroom, just feet away from my table.
People screamed and some cried as the shooter tried to rush in. The journalists initially hid, but we crouched under tables, chairs and, in my case, under railings and began taking photos and video to document the third attempt on Trump’s life.
In general, there was confusion regarding the members of the Presidency. Donald TrumpThe Secret Service team rushed to the stage and positioned themselves around the president and first lady Melania Trump.
Pandemonium then ensued, as members of SWAT and the Secret Service descended on Trump officials, including press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Vice President J.D. Vance, and dragged them off the stage.
In a bizarre moment, several Trump loyalists began chanting “USA” and “God Bless America.”
Trump later said at a White House press conference that he thought a server had dropped a tray full of food. I had a similar thought when the chaos started. However, the truth soon emerged.
Members of Congress, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senator John Fetterman, and members of the president’s Cabinet, were immediately ushered out of the ballroom as members of the security detail roughly pushed the guests aside. Some attendees attempted to escape the ballroom, but were met with a human barricade set up by hotel staff, who flatly refused to let us leave until they were given more information.
Weijia Jiang, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, returned to the slides and informed the stunned crowd that the dinner would go on as planned. The announcement shocked many; Among them was a couple I had talked to earlier in the evening, who said they would not stay and wanted to leave immediately.
Encouraging me to do the same, they were about a quarter of the way to the now open ballroom doors when it was announced that everyone must take their seats and the program would continue. Many attendees who rushed to exit the now chaotic stage did so reluctantly.
Most of us would have enjoyed a stiff drink after the chaotic events, but unfortunately Jiang reappeared a few minutes later to inform us that the dinner would be postponed to a later date due to federal policy.
We were then all escorted out of the hotel and only those with Hilton reservations were allowed to stay.
