Inside the Ballroom at the Correspondents’ Dinner

WASHINGTON — President Trump entered the international ballroom at the Washington Hilton shortly after 8 p.m. The president entered the room with First Lady Melania Trump as a military band played “Hail to the Chief.” I was standing away from my seat near the back of the ballroom, crowded in with other journalists and guests. Despite concerns about there being tensions in the room, I would estimate that about 95 percent of attendees applauded the president when he arrived for the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner. After the presentation of the colors and the singing of the national anthem, I navigated my way through a crowd of tables back to my seat, where I was sandwiched between my date — an old friend from high school — and Dan McCue, the editor of the Well News. My date was texting with members of her family, giving them updates about being in the room with the president of the United States, top cabinet officials, and members of Congress. I went back and forth talking to Dan and my date while also sporadically saying something to my friend, Eric Michael Garcia, the Washington bureau chief for the Independent. About 20 minutes after the president entered the room, attendees were in the middle of eating their starter salads when four or five distinct shots rang out. We were seated toward the back of the room at table 218 near the main entrance, which is the door to which the shooter had gotten closest. The second I heard the noise, I knew what it was. I grabbed my date’s hands and pulled her under the table with me. Within seconds, I could see Secret Service agents grabbing the arms and shoulders of administration officials. First, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought was whisked out of the room. Then, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth swiftly followed, each with their respective security detail. In close-up videos of the president shortly after the shooting, one can see he is still speaking to mentalist Oz Pearlman, who was scheduled to be the entertainer for the night, when the shots rang out. The alarm in the room moved like a wave through the crowd, with those of us at the back who were nearest to the shooter diving down first, only for sounds of falling glasses, plates, and silverware to alert a succession of tables closer to the president to take cover as well. About five seconds after the shots echoed through the ballroom, it was the commotion among the crowd — not the shots themselves — that caught the attention of the president, White House Correspondents’ Association President Weija Jiang, the first lady, and others seated at the front of the room. We were seated approximately 25 feet from the main entrance at the back of the ballroom opposite where the president was seated. Outside of that entrance, two staircases lead up to the terrace level of the building, which is where the general reception was held. The staircases have approximately 30 steps each. The shooter was taken down right at the top of those staircases, meaning he was somewhere between 50 and 100 feet from the entrance to the ballroom, by my estimation. Luckily, with the president and several cabinet secretaries in the room, there was an army of law enforcement officers in the building. Lying under the table following the shooting, I began calling a number of friends and family members just to let them know that I was alright and that it seemed that Secret Service or other law enforcement had taken the shooter down. I wanted to cast as wide a net as possible before anyone saw a news alert on their phones about a shooting at the dinner. I spoke to my girlfriend and assured her that we were alright. After that, I spoke to my parents, my grandmother, my sister, and my friends back home in Boston. After about five minutes of lying under the table, we stood up when it became clear that law enforcement had secured the room. Weija Jiang came out to address the crowd a few minutes after that, saying that she would have more answers in a moment.I began wading through the crowd to find other friends to make sure everyone was alright. I spoke to five or six other reporters whom I’ve known for years. Luckily, everyone was in good spirits. The greatest sign of security was that Mr. Vought had made his way back to the ballroom, a clear indication that the Secret Service believed the threat had been neutralized and that administration officials could return to their seats. After 30 minutes of waiting for the program to restart, Ms. Jiang spoke to the crowd one more time to say that the event would actually be rescheduled for some time in the next month. The president wrote in a Truth Social post that he believed it was important that the event still take place. We filed out of the room through a door on the far left side next to the stage. Agents and other law enforcement intensely scanned the crowd as we made our way up the escalator to another bar in the hotel lobby. When we got there, I ran into actor Esai Morales and we had a chance to chat for a few minutes. (I’m a big fan of Ozark.) While we were talking, a short, older gentleman walked up behind me to ask both me and Mr. Morales if we knew anything about the shooter or what had happened. We said we knew little, and he said the same. As he walked away I realized that I had just spoken to the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein.

Inside the Ballroom at the Correspondents’ Dinner

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