On Saturday night, I attended my eighth White House Correspondents Dinner at the Washington Hilton hotel. This is one of the premier dinners in DC to hobknob — to see and be seen. Every time I enter this hotel, I recall that this was the same Hilton where Ronald Reagan was shot and nearly killed 45 years ago. I walked through the same entrance where that assassin’s bullet came within an inch of killing Reagan.
I had anticipated a very long security line and about an hour wait to enter the hotel. I brought my paper ticket and my passport identification.
To my surprise, the security was lax to put it lightly. Wearing my tux, I walked in the front door by flashing the paper ticket. There was no code to be scanned, and I never once was asked for my ID. I could have given that ticket to anyone or xeroxed several copies for friends who wanted to attend the pre-event parties. That was odd to say the least.
The pre-parties hosted by Fox and CNN and Wall Street Journal, with ladies donned in beautiful gowns, lasted about an hour, and then we were ushered into the 2500-seat ballroom for dinner. We entered through an airport-like scanner, but never asked for ID.
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The room was packed tight and at 7pm President Trump entered to shallow applause — after all, these were mostly journalists unfriendly to Trump. What shocked me was that after the National Anthem and military color guard, Trump and the First Lady sat for dinner front and center in front of 2500 people. That didn’t strike me as safe or advisable. For a sniper, God forbid, it seemed he was a sitting duck.
It also struck me that the President, the Vice President and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson — were all in attendance. I am told five of the six in succession to the presidency were there for this crazy party. That didn’t seem advisable either.
About 15 minutes into the dinner, I was chatting with the Wall Street Journal reporters at my table, when all hell broke loose. The Secret Service suddenly charged in with pisols and machine guns and all of a sudden I heard two loud booms, like a bomb going off. There was screaming and we all ducked down and many climbed under their tables.
I looked toward the President, and he was surrounded by Secret Service. They pulled him out of his seat and shoved him toward the exit. My heart sank, and I panicked when I saw Trump appear to stumble to the ground. You can see that on the video. Oh my God, I gasped, in horror. Trump has been hit.
Please NO! I frantically worried.
None of us knew what was going on.
The Secret Service agents stood on the tables. I was seated at the table next to Speaker Johnson and had just been chatting with him. The Secret Service began yelling: “Where is the Speaker?” His seatmates had pulled him under the table evidently. He was ushered out.
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For about five minutes it was a frightening environment, although people stayed mostly calm. I was impressed with the reporters at our table who were instantly filing stories and taking cell phone photos of the pandemonium even as the safety of the situation was still unresolved.
The Secret Service was phenomenal in their instantaneous response. I was heartsick that Trump might have again been hit with a bullet.
Everyone stood in mostly stunned silence, and we were told of a lone gunman who had been taken down and that one agent was shot.
We didn’t get the word that Trump was unharmed until about 20 minutes later.
This was clearly a major security breakdown on multiple levels. It was easier to get into the Hilton to see the president and to get 30 feet from him than to attend a sporting event at a Wizards basketball game down the street.
Anyone with a photo copy of the ticket could have entered. No one ever actually inspected my ticket to ensure it was authentic. I saw one person in line enter with a ticket and his date didn’t have one but they waved her in.
Given the heightened threat to the President of late and the other highest ranking government officials packed in the room, none of this made any sense to me.
Obviously, these protocols need to be fixed.
Source – https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/stephen-moore-whcd-celebration-turned-chaos
