The Trump Administration provided a lower level of security for the White House correspondents’ dinner than it has for other gatherings of high-ranking officials, even though the United States President and many Cabinet members were in attendance, according to officials familiar with the plan.
US President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance were quickly evacuated to safety on Saturday night (local time) when a gunman charged the security perimeter and attempted to storm the ballroom at the Washington Hilton Hotel.
Others in attendance included Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The concentration of high-ranking leaders in one ballroom left the US unusually vulnerable as the would-be assassin raced past Secret Service before he was apprehended.
A worst-case scenario might have resulted in passing the power of the presidency to the most-senior senator of the majority party, Chuck Grassley (Republican-Iowa), who was not at the event and is third in line to the presidency behind Vance and Johnson.
When so many officials gather in one place for official functions such as an inauguration or State of the Union address, the Secretary of Homeland Security typically puts the Secret Service in charge of co-ordinating all security through a formal designation known as a “National Special Security Event”.
There was no such designation at an event also attended by thousands of journalists and other government officials, according to local and federal officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss security details.
The suspected gunman, 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, wrote a statement saying he wanted to target members of the Trump Administration and ridiculed what he called lax security at the hotel, according to two law enforcement officials familiar with the writings.
He said Iranian agents could easily have brought more dangerous weapons to the venue, according to the text.
The White House referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A spokesperson for the Washington Hilton said in an email that the Secret Service “led security for the event”.
The Secret Service did not answer questions about its role.
One Washington DC government official said they were not aware of an instance when the annual dinner had been designated as a National Special Security Event.
It typically hosts high-ranking officials, but the line-up of those who attend varies from year to year.
White House Correspondents’ Association executive director Steve Thomma also said in a text he was not aware of such a designation in the past. “Not a thing that’s ever come up in my time as executive director,” Thomma, who has been in the role since 2017, said.
The Secret Service considered the site it was charged with protecting to be the ballroom and the immediate perimeter around it, according to two law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because there is a pending prosecution. The agency did not take responsibility for the entire Hilton hotel.
Outside, DC police handled road closures and traffic. In between, there was no clear responsibility for the security of the thousands of guests and rest of the Hilton property, where authorities said the suspect had booked a room.
Acting Attorney-General Todd Blanche said yesterday that he did not view the incident as a security failure. The gunman was detained before reaching the ballroom.
“On the contrary, it was a massive security success story,” Blanche said during an interview on CNN. “I mean, if you think about what happened as far as what we know right now, this suspect barely breached the perimeter.”
The full range of security precautions taken before and during the event was not immediately detailed by authorities. Attendees were free to enter the hotel with only a paper or digital ticket, then mill about for hours before walking through metal detectors.
Attendees including Senator John Fetterman (Democrat-Pennsylvania) and Kari Lake, senior adviser for the US Agency for Global Media, questioned the security at the event. Representative Ritchie Torres (D-New York) called for an investigation.
In a post on X, Grassley said he was setting up a briefing with Secret Service leadership about “security protocols & related law enforcement matters” involving the dinner. He thanked the Secret Service for “quick action” at the scene.
Police said the gunman was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and knives. One Secret Service officer was struck by a bullet but protected by a bulletproof vest. Blanche said authorities initially believe the suspect fired the shot that struck the officer.
“While this was extraordinarily dangerous and put a lot of lives at risk, the system worked. All of us were safe. President Trump was safe,” Blanche told NBC News.
In a statement, association president Weijia Jiang said the evening was “a harrowing moment for everyone in attendance”.
“Our dinner exists to celebrate the First Amendment and the hard daily work of the journalists who defend it,” Jiang wrote. “The WHCA board will be meeting to assess what happened and determine how to proceed. We will provide updates as soon as any are available.”
Jiang and Thomma did not immediately respond to questions about whether there had been any discussion with Homeland Security before the dinner about whether it should be designated a National Special Security Event or who was responsible for security outside the immediate perimeter of the ballroom.
The absence of a National Special Security Event designation last came under scrutiny for the failure to protect the US Capitol during the certification of the presidential election results on January 6, 2021.
Pro-Trump rioters overpowered the Capitol police and breached the building, forcing lawmakers to evacuate and suspending the certification for hours. The Capitol was eventually cleared with help from the DC police, federal agents and the National Guard.
In the aftermath, the House January 6 committee, the Government Accountability Office and the Justice Department Inspector General all recommended designating future electoral certifications as National Special Security Events. The joint session of Congress on January 6, 2025, was such an event, with the Secret Service in charge.
A DC government official briefed on the preparation for the event, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said National Special Security Events tend to be for multiday events with regular attendance by the US President and top Cabinet officials.
“This is a dinner that he might not go to at the last minute and is not annually attended by him,” the official said in a text message in response to questions about why the event was not given the highest security level.
“The State of the Union can only occur with the President, the WHCD has occurred many times without POTUS.”
Trump told reporters after the dinner that Secret Service and law enforcement did what they were supposed to do.
“I’m the one that would complain,” he said. “I’d be up here right now saying they didn’t do their job. Oh, believe me, because, you know, it’s my life.”
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor’s Picks, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week’s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here.