What is supposed to be one of Washington's most celebrated nights — a room full of journalists, sources and officials coming together to honor the First Amendment — became something very different on Saturday at the Washington Hilton.
An armed individual charged a security checkpoint in the lobby just outside the doors of the event, exchanging gunfire with law enforcement and sparking chaos inside where President Trump and other key administration officials were rushed from the stage.
At least six shots were fired before the gunman was neutralized just outside the ballroom. At first, the sounds were easy to dismiss. Something that could have been a server dropping a tray of dishes or broken glass. Then someone yelled to get down. I ducked under a table and waited until it was clear.
I've spoken to multiple members of Congress and other attendees, and the consensus is clear. That gap between the entrance and the ballroom is exactly the problem. When you arrive at the Washington Hilton, you present your invitation to get into the building, but the check is cursory at best. No ID is required.
This is true not just for the dinner itself, but for the preparties happening throughout the building beforehand. Security with magnetometers was in place outside the ballroom, but by that point you have already moved freely through a large, porous building with multiple ways to get in. And the shooter, according to law enforcement, was himself a guest of the hotel, meaning he had even more unfettered access to the building before a single magnetometer was ever reached.
According to law enforcement, the suspect is believed to have booked a room at the Washington Hilton in early April, per ABC News, weeks before the event. A man who allegedly came to that hotel with weapons and a stated desire to target administration officials was, in the hours before the shooting, a guest of the very building where the dinner was being held.
That raises questions about whether hotel guest lists are being cross-referenced with threat intelligence in the lead-up to high-profile events like last night's.
The suspect was apprehended in the hotel lobby before he got to the magnetometers, and everyone in attendance is incredibly grateful to the Secret Service and law enforcement that protected us all from something that could have been so much worse.
The bad news is that the existing security perimeter still allowed someone armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives to get remarkably close to a room containing the President, members of his Cabinet, congressional leadership and hundreds of others.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) told me the security was "absolutely pathetic," but applauded federal law enforcement for acting quickly. He's right. This wasn't a random public venue. This was an event packed with some of the highest-profile targets in the country, and the perimeter reflected something far less than that reality.
At the Politico/CBS preparty earlier in the evening, I ran into House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), himself a survivor of political violence, having been shot during a congressional baseball practice in 2017. We were chatting about how it was his first time attending the dinner and how excited he was. In the chaos that followed, Scalise pulled Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz to safety, telling his security detail, "He's a member. Grab him," Moskowitz recounted to CNN. On Sunday, Scalise told me the event may need to be moved to a different venue to ensure safety.
The Washington Hilton has its own history with political violence. It was the site where John Hinckley Jr. attempted to assassinate President Reagan in 1981, leaving his press secretary James Brady partially paralyzed. That the same hotel has now been the scene of another such incident should not be ignored.
The White House Correspondents' Dinner is one of the few nights a year when the press and the powerful are in the same room, not for business, but to celebrate journalism. President Trump has said he wants the event rescheduled within 30 days, and let's hope the next event is safer for everyone.
The security footprint needs to match the threat environment, and it sounds like those changes are in the works.
