Journalists’ Posts From Donald Trump Event Spark ‘Safe Or Unsafe Venue’ Debate

Front PageIndia

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New Delhi:

US Secret Service agents shielded President Donald Trump from the stage as shots rang out at a media gala, in what Trump later described as an attack by a “would-be assassin.” The chaotic scenes unfolded at the glitzy White House Correspondents’ Association dinner held annually at the Washington Hilton in the US capital.

Now, questions around the security at the reception and how a gun was brought into the hotel have been raised by many people including journalists who came to the event. While many of them pointed out there was a magnetometer placed outside the ballroom to detect metal, there was no such screening before that or at the entrance to the hotel itself.

Trump initially said it was “not a particularly secure building,” but later said the ballroom where the event was being held was not breached by the gunman and was “very, very secure.”

The checkpoint that the suspect tried to charge past was “right outside the ballroom,” the authorities said.

Posts on social media by the journalists who were in the ballroom confirmed there was no security screening to enter the hotel lobby. Entry to the ballroom, however, needed visitors to pass through metal detectors and other security presence.

“This was the only thing required for entry into the Washington Hilton ballroom. There was no security screening prior to entering the lobby,” DW journalist Misha Komadovsky said in a post on X, showing a card-sized entry ticket.

Writer and producer Nazanin Nour said, “I was shocked at the lack of security at The Hilton tonight. Showed my ticket at 3 different entry points, but no IDs were checked, and nobody looked inside of purse. One protester was inside yelling at attendees. Strange.”

Kari Lake, who heads the US Agency for Global Media, in a long post on X said “security was terrible at the event.”

“It was the easiest event I’ve ever gained access to that the president was at. It was so bad we talked about it at our table before the shots rang out. Remember, 90 per cent of the people in the room were part of the fake news who have spread abject and despicable lies about President Trump. They have sowed so much division in our country,” Lake said.

Anchor Greta Van Susteren said the security at the dinner “was so lax [that] you flash your invitation and walk through the magnetometer.”

ABC News reporter Beatrice Peterson, who has been going to this event for nearly 15 years, posted a thread on X which she said may add some helpful context about security and access at the White House press dinner.

The Hilton Hotel has also seen another assassination attempt on a president – Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded in March 1981 outside the hotel. He suffered a puncture to his lung in the attack by a man who was declared insane and escaped trial.

Officials and Trump have praised the Secret Service for stopping the shooter, identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, from California.

“Because that checkpoint worked, there was no one who was injured,” US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said. Metropolitan Police Department interim chief Jeffery Carroll told reporters they will go through videos across the hotel to figure out how the gun got in.

According to Trump, the security services did a “much better job than Butler,” where he was the target of an assassination attempt in 2024 during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

With inputs from AFP


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