Confusion and fright at White House Correspondents’ Association dinner

WASHINGTON – The spring pea and burrata appetiser course had been distributed and the schmoozing hour of April 25’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner had begun when a small commotion occurred towards the back of the Washington Hilton ballroom shortly after 8.30pm local time (8.30am on April 26, Singapore time).

It might have been an upturned catering cart, or perhaps a scuffle with protesters.

Then security officers began sprinting down the aisles towards an elevated dais, where President Donald Trump, along with his wife Melania and Vice-President J.D. Vance, had taken their seats just a few minutes earlier.

There were no announcements or cries of “get down”. Instead, a sense of danger spread across the room like a wave.

Hundreds of the country’s top media executives, editors-in-chief and prominent television anchors, clad in tuxedos and evening gowns, instinctively dropped to the floor, crouching beside chairs and ducking under tables.

A nauseous silence descended, punctuated by small gasps and whimpers. The loudest sounds were those of the security officers racing – and in some cases leaping over chairs and guests – to evacuate senior administration officials from the tightly packed ballroom.

No one had a hint as to what was going on – except that Mr Trump had been rushed from the stage, which was now occupied by a pair of security officials brandishing large guns.

Later in the evening, officials said that an armed man had charged a security checkpoint and that a Secret Service officer had been shot.

Ms Erika Kirk, widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and a guest of Fox News, crawled beneath her table, where she was comforted by anchor Harris Faulkner and Mr Trey Yingst, the network’s chief foreign correspondent.

From beside his chair, Mr Brian Stelter, CNN’s media correspondent, held his iPhone aloft, recording video of whatever scenes were unfolding above.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr and his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, looked pained as guards hustled them out.

Others appeared relatively unfazed. Mr Lloyd Blankfein, former chief executive of Goldman Sachs, was sitting with CBS News journalists towards the front of the room when the emergency occurred.

As the confusion unfolded, he turned to his seatmate and asked: “Are you going to finish that salad?”

After fewer than five minutes, the crowd sensed that any immediate threat had passed. Guests shakily returned to their feet, some wiping away tears.

Journalists are accustomed to chronicling moments of unexpected violence, but few witness them in real time.

Even as some in the room rushed towards the exits, dozens of reporters dialled law enforcement sources to figure out what had happened.

Network executives and editors ordered coverage plans. Ms Susan Zirinsky, a veteran producer at CBS News, stood on a chair in a sparkly sequinned jacket with a phone pressed to her ear.

Mr Yingst, of Fox News, called into his control room to deliver on-air updates. Ms Jacqui Heinrich, one of the network’s White House correspondents, had been seated on the dais, and she filed a report from backstage. CNN aired Mr Stelter’s iPhone footage live.

“It wasn’t until I stopped streaming half an hour later that the gravity of the moment really registered,” he said.

Politico editor-in-chief Jonathan Greenberger ordered several black tie-clad reporters to commandeer a nearby banquet room as an ad hoc command centre so they could quickly publish the news.

Some gallows humour emerged.

“Are they bringing more champagne?” one attendee said to a friend. But other guests were deeply upset. One woman’s hand shook as she spoke on the phone with a family member and wiped away tears.

Ms Weijia Jiang, a CBS News correspondent who is president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, eventually retook the stage and, with some emotion in her voice, said the evening would continue, prompting loud applause.

Eventually an announcement was made that the authorities preferred that the crowd depart.

By 10pm, the ballroom was emptying. Hundreds of plates of half-eaten burrata lay abandoned as guests shuffled to the escalators, towards the chilly outdoor air of an unnerving and unexpected night. NYTIMES