Huge commotion in ballroom as incident unfoldedpublished at 03:07 BST
Tom Bateman
US State Department correspondent, reporting from dinner
When that huge commotion unleashed itself in the ballroom at the Washington Hilton just a bit ago, I tried to film what was happening.
I came with a colleague to the back of the room to try and send a video, which was when I got sucked into a group of people who were being ushered outside. On the way out I heard a Secret Service agent saying ‘this is now a crime scene, you’ve got to get out’.
We came out to the back, which is a vehicle exit to the hotel on a side street.
As we came out, I saw the FBI Director Kash Patel being taken out of the building. He was outside, he then came back in at one point. There was a lot of commotion.
In the last few minutes we’ve seen the presidential motorcade leaving the hotel.
There is a more relaxed atmosphere outside now, which tells me the president clearly has left. We now have a large cordon around the hotel, there are a large number of police cars, and people have been moved away.
