Trump was evacuated from an annual dinner of White House correspondents after a reported shooting in the hotel where it was taking place.
WASHINGTON — Minutes after being evacuated from the site of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner because of reported shooting outside the event, President Donald Trump took to social media to praise law enforcement officials and recommend that the show resume.
“Quite an evening in D.C. Secret Service and Law Enforcement did a fantastic job,” the president posted on Truth Social. “They acted quickly and bravely. 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. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
The post comes minutes after Trump and other top leaders of the United States were evacuated from an annual dinner of White House correspondents on Saturday night after a shooting inside the hotel where the event was taking place, sources say.
The Secret Service confirmed it was investigating a shooting “near the main magnetometer screening area” for the dinner.
The White House Correspondents’ Associated President later announced that law enforcement had asked the event not to resume and Trump planned to give a press conference shortly after 10 p.m. Eastern.
CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer described seeing a shooter open fire with a “large weapon” and he fired “at least half a dozen shots.” Wolf had stepped out of the ballroom to use the bathroom when gunshots rang out and encountered the shooter.
The Secret Service and other authorities swarmed the banquet hall as guests ducked under tables by the hundreds. “Out of the way, sir!” someone yelled. Others yelled to duck.
Multiple reports on scene said there were “loud sounds” in the area, which prompted the response.
Trump has already survived multiple assassination attempts. In the first, he was grazed by a bullet in an assassination attempt during an election campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he was shot in the ear.
The shooter in that incident was shot by a Secret Service sniper protecting then-candidate Trump.
In a second incident later that year, a man camped out in the bushes near where Trump was golfing with a rifle. After Secret Service agents scared him off, he ran but was later arrested and convicted.
At the man’s trial, a Secret Service agent helping protect Trump on the golf course testified that he spotted the would-be assassin before Trump came into view. The shooter aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing him to drop his weapon and run away without firing a shot.
