Another attack at ‘Hinckley Hilton’ raises new security concerns

An attempted attack at Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner is spurring fresh questions about the security around President Donald Trump and other top officials.

The armed assailant, who investigators believe was staying at the Washington Hilton where the dinner was being held, ran past a security checkpoint before being apprehended after a brief pursuit that included gunfire. Administration officials said Sunday they believe he was targeting US officials, including Trump, who faced a pair of assassination attempts in 2024.

Trump and others have praised the US Secret Service for the response and for successfully quelling the attack, but it may yet prompt a review of precautions and procedures as Trump wondered aloud about the vulnerabilities of the venue. The security for the event was essentially designed as a tight perimeter around the ballroom, with the rest of the hotel largely open to the public, raising questions about how close a potential attacker could get.

“I think we have to. We have to take a look at the outer perimeter,” Representative Michael McCaul, a Republican from Texas and former chairman of the House Homeland Security panel, told Bloomberg This Weekend on Sunday. “I do think we’ll be analyzing that.”

Trump, speaking after the incident, called the Hilton “not a particularly secure building” and said again on Sunday morning that the attempted attack reinforces the need for his controversial White House ballroom project, saying that will be more secure. But it’s not an obvious venue for the annual media dinner, which is hosted by the White House Correspondents’ Association, not by the White........

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