David Smith: Washington Bureau Chief for the Guardian on attending the correspondents dinner

The annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner took place in Washington last night, but was cancelled part way through after a shooter with multiple weapons charged through a security checkpoint.

Washington Bureau Chief for the Guardian, David Smith, was present at the dinner. 

He told Andrew Dickens, "I heard some shouting and people diving under tables, and that kind of rippled like a wave through the room, and all of us, including me and guests at our table, we dived under."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
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Speaker 2 (00:16):
So one man is in custody after shots fired near
last night's White House correspondence dinner. The suspect, a man
by the name of Cole Allen, was arrested after opening
fire near a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton. A
Secret Service agent was hit, he walked away thanks to
his bulletproof vest. If confirmed, this would be the third
assassination attempt on Donald Trump since taking on his second

(00:38):
term as president. The President spoke shortly after add an
impromptu press conference, which was held at the White House.
It's always shocking when something like this happens. Happened to
me a little bit, and that never changes. So Dave
Smith is the Washington bureau chief of The Guardian. He
was in the room during the shooting and he joins me, now, Dave,
good morning to you.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
Good morning.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
What happened to you?

Speaker 3 (01:01):
Then, Well, certainly a lot of commotion and confusion in
those moments. I've been coming to the dinner for several
years now and it was a familiar ritual, and the
President came in strains of Hail to the Chief, and
there was a brief speeches, and we were getting on
with a salad starter with some wine and everyone making

(01:22):
small talk. And about forty minutes in I heard this loud,
banging noise from beyond just the back of the ballroom,
not not especially close to where I was sitting. And
as Donald Trump himself said, he didn't really know what
it was. It could even have been, you know, someone
dropping something, plates catching whatever. But the next thing I

(01:43):
saw was some well I had some shouting and people
diving under tables, and that kind of rippled like a
way through the room, and all of us, including me
and guests at our table, we dived under. And then
Secret Service came through and they were shouting get down
and move, move, move, and they were racing towards the
main stage. But by the time I got up to

(02:06):
what was happening, Donald Trump and Lanni Trump and JD.
Vance had been rushed off the stage, and there were
armed officers there with helmets and rifles, and very slowly
but surely, normality gradually descended on the room. People started
chatting and talking and calling their editors and trying to

(02:29):
figure out what was going on, and as the minutes
went by, even people started making some small talk about
various things. And I went over to near the scene
of the incident spoke to some journalists I know who
were there, and once said he heard five gunshots and
said he reckoned it was a nineteen millimeter and another
journist said he heard four gunshots from where they were.

(02:52):
None of them could actually see anything, they just heard
that noise and commotion. And obviously as time went on
we learned about this suspect has been apprehended, and for
a little while there was actually a plan to restart
the dinner and go ahead as normal, but in the
end it was obviously hanseled and Donald Trump went back
to the White House and gave a press conference there.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
How shocking, absolutely so. This fellow Cole Ellen, he's a
California teacher. He was in the hotel. What do we
know about him and do we know any of his motives?

Speaker 3 (03:26):
Well, yeah, as you say, he's from California, I think
a background in mechanical engineering and computer science. He actually
worked making some video games reportedly, and one was a
teacher one one or two like Teacher of the Month awards.
According to Todd Blanch, the acting Attorney General, and other investigators.

(03:48):
Alan appears to have traveled to Washington by train, which
is relatively unusual to do that in America, and one
reason he might have made that long journey is that
obviously if he had flown, then airport security might have
picked up weapons, whereas on a train you don't go
through any metal detectors or anything like that. Apparently, he

(04:11):
checked into this hotel, actually stayed as a guest, and
I know from experienced that would have given him some
kind of advantage over the security in that when you
attend this dinner, you walk into the lobby, and there
are regular hotel guests, you know, sitting at the bar,
going to the restaurants, doing what hotel guests do. So
that's that's a potential floor. They'll look at it in

(04:34):
the future.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
Well, exactly, the secret security are getting a lot of praise.
They were brave, they stood up, they stood in the
line of fire. But would it have been bitter if
they had stopped him before he got into the building
or indeed, during the initial storming of the lobby. I
see that wolf Blitzer was there. He said the man
was running past with the height, you know, with a
big old gun, you know, and he's in the lobby.

(04:54):
Couldn't they have stopped this earlier?

Speaker 3 (04:58):
Yeah, I think there will certainly be an investigation and
questions asked about that. As I mentioned. I mean, if
he's a hotel guest, then I guess it was hard
to stop him being in the building in the first place.
But you know, could more have been done to check
his possessions and you know how he got the weapon
in there? And then sure the security perimeter around this

(05:20):
ballroom that Trump attends. I suspect in future maybe the
metal detectors will be even further back, maybe it will
be an extra layer of security. Of course, it all
comes in the context of the Washington Hilton Hotel where
there was the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan forty five
years ago, and the hotel has been forty five since then,

(05:40):
and you know, the president's access and departure is pretty
secure these days, so this was a surprising breach in
that sense. And you know, even the safest room in America,
as it should have been, is not entirely impenetrable.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
Dave Smith, I thank you for your turn today, Dave,
as the Washington bureau chief for the Guardian.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
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