Beyaz Saray Muhabirleri Yemeği'ndeki güvenlik olayının ardından Trump tahliye edildi; herhangi bir yaralanma belirtisi yok

Cumartesi gecesi, belirsiz bir tehdit üzerine, Başkan Donald Trump'ın yara almadığı bildirildi ve diğer üst düzey ABD liderleri, Beyaz Saray muhabirlerinin geleneksel yıllık yemeğinden tahliye edildi. Olayda hemen göze çarpan herhangi bir yaralanma belirtisi yoktu; ancak bir kolluk kuvveti yetkilisi, bir silahlı saldırganın ateş açtığını ifade etti.

Konukların yüzlercesi masaların altına sığınırken, Gizli Servis ve diğer yetkililer Washington Hilton'daki ziyafet salonuna akın etti. Birisi, "Yoldan çekilin, efendim!" diye bağırdı. Diğerleri ise yere eğilmeleri yönünde uyarılarda bulundu.

Kalabalık içindeki bazı kişiler, beş ila sekiz el olduğu tahmin edilen silah sesleri duyduklarını aktardı. Yüzlerce önde gelen gazetecinin, ünlünün ve ulusal liderin Trump'ın konuşmasını beklediği ziyafet salonu derhal boşaltıldı. İnsanların binadan çıkmasına izin verilirken içeriye tekrar girmelerine müsaade edilmedi; bu sırada Ulusal Muhafız birlikleri bina içinde mevzilendi. Binanın dışındaki güvenlik önlemleri de son derece sıkıydı.

Tam olarak ne yaşandığı hemen anlaşılamadı. Bir kolluk kuvveti yetkilisi, bir silahlı saldırganın varlığını doğruladı; ancak olayla ilgili başka herhangi bir ayrıntı hemen paylaşılmadı.

Yemekte hazır bulunanlar arasında Trump, Başkan Yardımcısı JD Vance, Savunma Bakanı Pete Hegseth ve Dışişleri Bakanı Marco Rubio yer alıyordu.

Donald Trump's attendance at Saturday's annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington for his first time as president is putting his administration's often-contentious relationship with the press on full public display.

Trump arrived Saturday night to an event where the leaders of a nation at war mingled with celebrities, journalists and even a puppet — Triumph the Insult Comic Dog — in a dinner that typically generates debate about whether the relationship between journalists and their sources should include socializing together and putting aside sometimes adversarial relationships.

Trump was being watched closely at the event held by the organization of reporters who cover him and his administration. Past presidents who have attended have generally spoken about the importance of free speech and the First Amendment, adding in some light roasts about individual journalists.

The Republican president did not attend during his first term or the first year of his second. He came as a guest in 2011, sitting in the audience as President Barack Obama, a Democrat, made some jokes about the New York real estate developer. Trump also attended as a private citizen in 2015.

Trump entered the subterranean banquet hall of the Washington Hilton to the strains of "Hail to the Chief" and greeted prominent journalists on the dais, also pausing to laud White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt with a cheerful pointing of his finger.

Past dinners have also featured comedians who poke at presidents. This year, the group opted to hire mentalist Oz Pearlman as the featured entertainment.

Trump's appearance is rekindling a longer running debate about the dinner and events like it — in particular, whether it is poor form for journalists to be seen socializing with the people they cover. The New York Times, for example, stopped attending the dinner more than a decade ago for that reason.

"What was once (a fairly long time ago) a well-intended night of fundraising and camaraderie among professional adversaries is now simply a bad look," wrote Kelly McBride, ethics expert at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank.

A contentious relationship
Between berating individual reporters, fighting organizations like the Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press in court and restricting press access to the Pentagon, the administration's animus toward journalists has been a fixture of Trump's second term.

On the eve of the dinner, nearly 500 retired journalists signed a petition calling on the association "to forcefully demonstrate opposition to President Trump's efforts to trample freedom of the press."

The WHCA president, CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang, said the organization was fighting for all different forms of the press that have a line in to the American people. "I don't think people realize how closely we are working with the White House," she said on CSPAN before the dinner convened. "The relationship is important. It can be complicated. It can be intense. But it is robust."
Welcoming guests, Jiang alluded to the contentious relationship in thanking Leavitt "for everything your team does to work with us every day, whether you like it or not."

Veteran reporter Manu Raju of CNN, as he entered the Washington Hilton for the dinner, said it was not his role to express his opinion on Trump's relationship with the press. "I'm not an activist," he said. "My job is not to protest."

A few dozen protesters stood across the hotel in the runup to the event. One was dressed in a prison uniform, wearing a Pete Hegseth mask and red gloves. Another carried a sign saying "Journalism is dead."

Many reporters who attend consider it a valuable opportunity to get story ideas and establish personal connections with those in government, one that may pay dividends with returned telephone calls in the future.

Some news organizations invite sources as guests

Journalists often invite sources as guests at the dinner. It will be noticed Saturday whether administration officials who have also expressed hostility to the press will attend, and with whom they will be sitting. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he was invited by the New York Post; Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were NBC guests.

The Associated Press invited a former Trump official that it sued last year. Taylor Budowich, a former White House deputy chief of staff who crafted communications policy, was a named defendant last year when the AP sued the administration after it reduced its access to the president because the news outlet did not follow Trump's lead in renaming the Gulf of Mexico.

"We maintain professional relationships with people across the political spectrum because we are nonpartisan by design — focused on reporting the facts in the public's interest," AP spokesman Patrick Maks said.

The White House correspondents will also hand out awards for exemplary reporting. That includes some stories that displeased Trump, such as one from the Journal about a birthday message Trump once sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The story led to a presidential lawsuit.

Kaynak: PBS

İşte son gelişmeler.

Cumartesi gecesi, Beyaz Saray muhabirleri yemeğinin düzenlendiği otelde silah sesleri duyulmasının ardından Başkan Trump hızla sahneden uzaklaştırıldı. Başkan olaydan yara almadan kurtuldu ve sosyal medya üzerinden yaptığı paylaşımla, kısa süre içinde Beyaz Saray'da bir konuşma yapacağını duyurdu.

Gizli Servis'in, yemeğin düzenlendiği Washington Hilton otelindeki bir güvenlik kontrol noktasının yakınında "silahlı bir olay" yaşandığını bildirmesinin ardından, F.B.I. bir şüphelinin gözaltına alındığını açıkladı. Başkan'a seyahatlerinde eşlik eden bir grup gazeteciden oluşan Beyaz Saray basın havuzuna göre; Gizli Servis'ten bir görevli "Ateş açıldı!" diye bağırmış, bunun üzerine silahlarını çeken ajanlar, Başkan'a ulaşmak için koridorlardan koşarak geçmişti.

SON DAKİKA: WHCD'de silah seslerinin duyulmasının ardından Başkan Trump'tan basın açıklaması