White House briefing room evacuated by Secret Service

By The Washington Post

The White House daily briefing was interrupted Tuesday when reporters and staff were evacuated by the U.S. Secret Service during the televised question-and-answer session due to a bomb threat made over the telephone, authorities said.

Reporters present at the event said they were taken out of the basement-level James S. Brady press briefing room at the West Wing at about 2:10 p.m. and led across the street to the South Court auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Press secretary Josh Earnest and his aides went into another section of the building, reporters said.

Secret Service agents searched the room with bomb-sniffing dogs before reporters were allowed back into the room about 2:40 p.m. The briefing resumed a few minutes later.

Taking his place at the lectern for a second time, Earnest said that shortly before 2 p.m., a bomb threat for the White House briefing room was phoned in to D.C. police, who reported it to the Secret Service. As a precaution, the agency initiated the evacuation and checked the room, which was found to be secure, Earnest said.

President Obama, who was at the White House, was not affected by the threat, and he was not forced to interrupt his schedule, Earnest said. Asked whether Obama and his family were ever in danger, Earnest replied: "Not that I'm aware of." It was not immediately clear whether first lady Michelle Obama and their daughters were in the White House at the time.

"Based on a threat ... the press area was evacuated for the safety for all of us," Earnest said.

Secret Service agents interrupted the briefing as Earnest was answering a question about a recent online security breach of the Office of Property Management, allegedly at the hands of Chinese hackers.

"We need to evacuate the press briefing," a voice is heard saying on the White House Web site's video of the briefing.

"Jesus!" exclaims another person.

"Where do we go?" asks a third. "Do we shelter in place?"

"We'll come back," Earnest says, as he folds up his briefing binder and departs the slightly elevated podium. Reporters are heard making jokes and laughing as they leave.

The White House has been put on lockdown, with reporters and staff unable to enter or leave the building, on previous occasions due to bomb threats or other security breaches. However, it was not known when the last time the briefing was interrupted for an evacuation. During the Secret Service's search of the room, the television network cameras — which were still streaming footage of the room — were covered up, according to correspondents. Earnest said he did not know who obscured the cameras.

Reporters tweeted about the breaking news even as they left the building. Earlier Tuesday, U.S. Capitol Police said they found nothing suspicious after they evacuated a large part of the Dirksen Senate Office Building due to a bomb threat.

Capitol Police said in statements that they evacuated part of the building because of a phone call reporting a suspicious package in room SD-340. They described the call as a bomb threat.

"Are we ready to go back to our regularly scheduled programming?" Earnest asked at one point, as reporters kept pressing him for answers on the threat.