White House press room evacuated following bomb threat

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/09/white-house-press-room-evacuated-bomb-threat

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The White House press room was evacuated midway through a daily briefing for reporters on Tuesday after secret service agents took the unusual step of interrupting the press secretary, Josh Earnest, to warn of a bomb threat.

“We’ll come back,” said Earnest after an agent dramatically announced on live television: “We need to evacuate the press room.”

The event followed a “telephonic bomb threat” to Washington DC police which forced a sweep of the room by agents with dogs but did not lead to other parts of the White House being evacuated.

Approximately half an hour later, the all-clear was sounded by the secret service who allowed the briefing to resume.

Reporters were taken to the nearby executive office building, rather than escorted off-site, suggesting the threat may have been targeted specifically at the press room.

It followed an earlier telephone bomb threat made to a Senate office building that prompted the evacuation of a live hearing on TSA security.

Resuming his briefing, Earnest appeared to make light of the event: “Good afternoon everybody. We will try this again,” he said to laughter from reporters.

But he faced criticism from reporters who asked why cameras in the room were covered up or turned down to face the floor during the sweep.

“Shortly before 2pm a telephonic bomb threat was called in to the metropolitan police department,” said Earnest.

“The [secret service] determined they needed to evacuate the room and sweep it.”