Three quick pops rang out across the ballroom floor.
I swiveled my head across the room, expecting to see a tray of fallen food. It was tight quarters in the ballroom of more than 250 tables, after all.
Instead, the last thing I saw before I was pulled under our table was the doors of one of the entrances bursting open.
Just an hour before an armed man stormed past security to try to enter the Washington Hilton’s International Ballroom – where President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and top members of the president’s cabinet were in attendance – hundreds of people dressed in tuxedos and gowns were leisurely making their way down to the ballroom for the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner. Including me.
The dinner was set to begin at 8 p.m. ET. And I was there to report on an inside look of Washington’s hottest dinner, often called “nerd prom.” This one was already particularly historic: Trump was attending for the first time as president. Little did I know how newsworthy the event would be.
