Jack Hobbs was at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner when the shooting started. (Image: EXPRESS)
One word describes Saturday evening at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner: chaos.
I’ve often dreamt of attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which in the States could be considered the Oscars of Journalism.
But Saturday night’s event took a dark turn when five shots rang out right outside of the Washington Hilton ballroom, just feet from my table.
As the shooter tried to burst into the event, people screamed, and some cried. Journalists initially hid, but as we crouched under tables, chairs, and, in my case, against a railing, we began taking pics and video in order to document the third attempt on Trump’s life.
In general, there was confusion as members of President Donald Trump’s Secret Service team rushed to the stage and positioned themselves around the president and first lady Melania Trump.
Next, there was a flurry of comotion as members of SWAT and Secret Service descended upon Trump officials such as press secretary Karoline Leavitt, Vice President JD Vance, and yanked them off stage.
In a bizarre moment, several Trump loyalists started chants of “USA” and “God Bless America.”
Trump later said during his press conference at the White House that he thought that a server had dropped a tray laden with food. I have a similar thought when the pandemonium began. The truth quickly became clear, however.
Congressional members, such as Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Senator John Fetterman, and members of the president’s Cabinet, were all promptly escorted out of the ballroom, with members of their protection detail roughly shoving guests aside. Some attendees attempted to flee the ballroom, only to be met by a human barricade formed by the hotel staff, who refused point-blank to let us go until they were given more information.
Weijia Jiang, the president of the White House Correspondents Association, returned to the dias and informed a startled crowd that the dinner would proceed as scheduled. The announcement had left several people shocked, including a couple I had been speaking to earlier in the evening, who said they would not stay and wanted to leave immediately.
Urging me to do the same, they made it about a quarter of the way to the now-open ballroom doors when it was announced that everyone needed to take their seats and that the program would resume. Many attendees, who were rushing to exit the now-chaotic scene, did so begrudgingly.
Many of us could have used a stiff drink after the chaotic events, but, unfortunately for us, Jiang reappeared several minutes later and informed us that the dinner would be postponed to a later date due to federal policy.
We were all later removed from the hotel, and only those with a Hilton booking were allowed to stay
