After a gunman charged a security checkpoint at the hotel hosting the event, Trump used the incident as an additional justification for his illegal destruction of the East Wing for his "ballroom" project.
Republished with permission from Common Dreams, by Jake Johnson
US President Donald Trump used a lone gunman’s storming of the lobby outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night to promote his $400 million White House ballroom project, which is riddled with glaring conflicts of interest.
Speaking at a press conference after being evacuated from the Washington Hilton hotel hosting the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Trump declared that “this is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we’re planning at the White House.” The president added that “we need the ballroom,” saying, “We need levels of security that probably nobody’s ever seen before.”
A man armed with multiple weapons, including a shotgun, charged a security checkpoint outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night, setting off a chaotic scramble to evacuate Trump and members of his administration who were present at the private event.
The chief of the Washington, DC police said at a press conference that the suspect, later identified as 31-year-old Cole Allen of Torrance, California, “exchanged gunfire” with law enforcement and a US Secret Service officer “was struck in his vest.” The suspect was not shot and was taken into custody, the police chief said.
CBS News White House reporter Jennifer Jacobs noted on social media that the shooting “happened on the level above the ballroom where the White House Correspondents Association dinner was.”
“I don’t think people hearing about this—or even those of us in the room—realized how far from the president, VP, and other guests this incident was,” Jacobs added. “It was on another floor, up some stairs, and several sets of security away. Because the Washington Hilton’s hotel and other public spaces were open for other functions, the entire building wasn’t secured by the Secret Service, just the specific areas where the WHCA dinner was held.”
Trump, who skipped the annual dinner during his first term as his administration assailed press freedoms, said the event would be rescheduled “within 30 days.” Some White House reporters boycotted the event, citing the president’s relentless attacks on journalists.
The scene was described as “absolute chaos,” with Secret Service officers rushing through the ballroom to evacuate Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and other administration officials and attendees ducking under tables in confusion and panic.
The White House ballroom project that Trump touted at his press conference after being evacuated from the correspondents’ dinner has received funding from massive corporations with interests before the federal government. Other donations to the project are shrouded in secrecy.
Public Citizen noted in a recent report that “two-thirds of corporate donors—16 out of a total of 24—have entered into government contracts.”
“Lockheed is the largest of these government contractors, having received $191 billion in contracts over the last five years. Altogether, the corporate donors benefited from nearly $43 billion in contracts last year and $279 billion over the last five years,” the watchdog group observed. “Most of the corporate donors—14 out of 24—are facing federal enforcement actions and/or have had federal enforcement actions suspended by the Trump administration. These include major antitrust actions involving Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and T-Mobile; labor rights cases involving Amazon, Apple, Caterpillar, Google, Lockheed, and Meta; and SEC matters involving Coinbase and Ripple.”
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