Veteran writer/comedian Robert Smigel is “grateful” to be among those who emerged unscathed from Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, which was cut short by the intrusion and quick apprehension of an armed man.
Smigel’s Triumph the Insult Comic Dog had worked the event’s red carpet on behalf of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show before gunshots forced the evacuation of President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and other administration VIPs.
“You may know that I covered the White House Correspondents Dinner for @TheDailyShow last night,” Smigel shared on Threads Sunday. “I was grateful we all escaped unharmed and that I could return to the much cooler party this weekend”— that being the Chiller Theatre Expo, a horror and sci-fi convention in Parsippany, N.J.
Speaking with C-SPAN’s John McArdle on the red carpet, Smigel as Triumph said he’d spoken to “a lot of the no-names and a few biggies,” though not Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. “But I tried to give him his drink tickets!”
Triumph described the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner as “an annual gathering of the press to celebrate— or in tonight’s case, fondly remember—free speech.”
The cigar-chomping puppet noted that conservative members of the media were more willing to speak with him on the red carpet than liberals, which he found “strange, because it’s The Daily Show I’m representing.”
“I was trying to help them, saying if you don’t want to get hit hard by Trump [during his speech], hold up one of these in front of your face”—a cut-out of Fox News host Sean Hannity’s mug—”and he’ll leave you alone.”
Trump never did get to his speech, nor did mentalist Oz Pearlman fulfill his duties as featured entertainer. After a series of loud noises, later confirmed to be gunshots, rang out, Secret Service agents rushed the Trumps, Vance, and others away from the dais. Trump vowed to return and resume the event, but Secret Service protocol demanded otherwise. Instead, the president gave a press briefing later from the White House.
Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old man from Torrance, Calif., was apprehended on-scene after attempting to charge past a security checkpoint one floor above the ballroom where guests were dining. Allen was armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives.
One law enforcement officer was shot during the melee, but was saved by a bulletproof vest, Trump told reporters at the White House.
Allen will be arraigned Monday in federal court, charged with one count each of using a firearm during a crime of violence, and assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said at the briefing.
That’s terrific that no one was hurt. Robert Smigel is a brilliant comedic mind.