Karoline Leavitt said Trump was willing to wait hours for the dinner to resume and wanted to address the incident publicly from the White House.
WASHINGTON, DC: Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed new details Monday, September 21, about President Donald Trump’s behind-the-scenes response after gunfire disrupted the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in April.
Speaking on Hang Out with Sean Hannity, Leavitt said Trump was eager to return to the Washington Hilton ballroom after being evacuated by the Secret Service. She described him as being “like a caged lion” and said he repeatedly questioned why he could not return.
Karoline Leavitt describes Trump’s push to return to the ballroom
The April 25 dinner was interrupted shortly after President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and other senior administration officials arrived at the Washington Hilton.
According to the Justice Department, suspect Cole Tomas Allen allegedly ran through a security checkpoint toward the ballroom while carrying a shotgun and pistol. A Secret Service officer was struck in the chest by a gunshot but was protected by a ballistic vest. Trump and other officials were evacuated from the event.
Leavitt, who was serving as White House press secretary at the time, said Trump’s reaction backstage was markedly different from her own response to the shooting.
“He was like a caged lion backstage, like just roaring to get out, like, ‘We gotta go back out there,’” she said. “And I’m sitting there like, ‘I don’t know if I want to go back out there.’”
The 29-year-old [Note: DOJ identifies Allen as 31; this reference appears to describe Leavitt, so it is better removed unless her age is relevant.] said Trump continued pressing his security detail about returning to the ballroom even after he had been moved to safety. She recalled that he was prepared to remain at the hotel for hours if necessary while waiting for the event to restart.
“He really was asking hard questions of his detail, like, ‘Why can’t I go? I will wait all night. I don’t care if it’s 3 in the morning, get it started,’” Leavitt said.
The dinner was ultimately canceled following the shooting. Federal prosecutors later charged Allen with attempting to assassinate the president, along with other federal offenses. Authorities said Allen had traveled from California to Washington before the event and approached a hotel security checkpoint carrying multiple weapons.
Trump addressed shooting from White House
Leavitt also described the administration’s decision to have Trump speak publicly about the incident that night. Rather than returning to the dinner, Trump addressed reporters from the White House briefing room.
“He wanted to say something and the best way to say it was in the briefing room. And we did,” Leavitt said.
Trump later appeared at the White House with senior administration officials and spoke about the shooting and his evacuation from the event.
The April dinner brought together more than 2,000 journalists, government officials, and other guests.
The WHCA subsequently rescheduled the dinner for July. At the event, White House Correspondents’ Association President Weijia Jiang addressed the April shooting, while a video montage revisited the evacuation and highlighted the response of journalists covering the incident.