Washington DC [US], April 26 : US President Donald Trump on Saturday (local time) heaped praise on security officers for their swift response during the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, while also recalling past assassination attempts on him in Pennsylvania and Florida.
Trump, while delivering remarks in the Press Briefing Room, after the shooting incident, announced that the shooter of the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington is a resident of California and is 'sick'.
"The law enforcement and DC police just spoke with the mayor... You see the attacker in different positions, but you also see the attacker totally subdued and under control... This is not the first time in the past couple of years that our republic has been attacked by a would-be assassin who sought to kill in Butler, Pennsylvania, less than two years ago... and in Palm Beach, Florida, a few months after that, we came close. We really had, again, some great work done by law enforcement...," he said.
Meanwhile, a man had tried to assassinate Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. In another incident on February 22, an armed individual was shot and killed by the law enforcement officers, including Secret Service personnel, after he entered the secure perimeter of Mar-a-Lago, Trump's residence in Palm Beach, Florida.
Referring to the latest incident, Trump called the shooting unexpected and said an armed man had been swiftly neutralised by security forces.
"That was very unexpected, but incredibly acted upon by the Secret Service and law enforcement... A man charged a security checkpoint armed with multiple weapons, and he was taken down by some very brave members of the Secret Service. They acted very quickly and have just released, for purposes of transparency and clarity, I've ordered it to be put out... a tape showing the violence of this thug who attacked our Constitution, and also showing how quickly the Secret Service and law enforcement acted on our country's behalf," he said.
Furthermore, US President Donald Trump on Saturday (local time) shared a video of CCTV footage showing the entry of the shooter at the venue of the White House Correspondents' Dinner, along with images of the detained suspect.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump also referred to the security breach incident and described the sequence of events, stating that an armed individual attempted to force entry into the premises and was subsequently neutralised by security personnel.
Trump, while addressing the press in the briefing room after the incident, said he had also spoken to the security officer who was shot during the attack.
"A man charged a security checkpoint armed with multiple weapons, and he was taken down by some very brave members of the Secret Service... One officer was shot, but saved... the vest did the job. I just spoke to the officer, and he's doing great," he said.
The US President further used the security breach at the Hilton to highlight the need for enhanced security infrastructure and to make the case for the ballroom he is constructing at the White House, suggesting that the structure would provide a more secure location for future events.
"It's not a particularly secure building, and I didn't want to say this, but this is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we're planning at the White House," Trump said during his news conference. "It's actually a larger room, and it's much more secure. It's got drone-proof. It's bulletproof glass. We need the ballroom. That's why Secret Service, that's why the military is demanding it."
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