US law enforcement officials are reassessing security arrangements after a gunman opened fire near the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, raising questions about how he got so close to an event attended by President Donald Trump, members of his cabinet and lawmakers.
Two former Secret Service officials and three senior US officials told Reuters on Sunday that federal agents appeared to have carried out their plan to protect the president effectively on Saturday night, stopping the alleged gunman before he reached the ground floor of the Washington Hilton, where Trump was expected to speak.
But the fact that some attendees could hear gunshots at Secret Service agents underscored the vulnerability, officials said, even after assassination attempts against Trump during the 2024 campaign have already prompted tighter security measures for the president.
The Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The most obvious lesson from the incident, former law enforcement officials said, is that security personnel may need to expand the perimeter around the president in large public areas, even if that causes public disruption.
