White House to review security stance

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) -Is the American president adequately secure at big events?

President Donald Trump praised the work of the U.S. Secret Service in preventing a would-be assassin from entering the Washington Hilton Ballroom at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday night. But that’s not stopping the White House from re-examining its security procedures.

In video obtained by Gray Media from Bill Frischling of CQ/Roll Call (a Capitol Hill publication), the Secret Service can be seen guarding shooting suspect Cole Tomas Allen - moments after he was tackled - while trying to elude security.

Now, just two days later, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says a full scale review will be done by the Secret Service and DHS to examine whether more needs to be done to protect the President.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt:

“I definitely wouldn’t say changes are out of the question. I think, again, that it’s up to, the White House here, and we view it as a great responsibility to ensure the maximum safety of the president and the vice president and the entire cabinet. And so we’re always looking for ways to improve security. I think if you just sit here and say everything is perfect all the time, that’s not a good way to operate.”

Leavitt added White House Chief of Staff Suzie Wiles will convene a meeting this week evaluating what went right and what went wrong on Saturday night.

“And so the White House will continue to engage with DHS and with Secret Service, to find ways to improve and strengthen security. But as far as Saturday night is concerned, the president was satisfied with the response. And he’s very grateful to the men and women who provided the response for him, his wife and members of his team.”

Some of those new security procedures will be on display over the next few days as King Charles and Queen Camilla visit the White House for a State visit.

President Donald Trump has insisted that the events underscore the need for a huge ballroom to be built at the White House as soon as possible, with Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) proposing legislation to make that happen.