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What happened at White House today? Front lawn locked down, press evacuated; Karoline Leavitt provides update
The White House North Lawn was evacuated after a tourist allegedly threw a phone over the fence; press sheltered as Secret Service responded.
The White House's North Lawn was evacuated on Tuesday afternoon by the Secret Service and the press was asked to shelter at the briefing room. Kimberly Halkett, the White House correspondent of Al Jazeera English, said the White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, provided an update on the situation, saying that the lockdown was sparked by someone, presumably a tourist, throwing their phone over the fence.
The White House press pool said in its initial report that a Secret Service officer ordered the reporters at the North Lawn to take shelter in place at the briefing room at around 11:45 a.m. Even the reporters working in Pebble Beach, the place near the West Wing from where TV crews do live stand-ups, were asked to evacuate the area and shelter in the briefing room.
A video also surfaced of an officer arriving and asking the press to leave the Pebble Beach area:
Later, the press pool was updated on the situation by the White House Press Secretary herself. Leavitt told the reporters that a mobile phone was thrown by a tourist over the White House fence, which sparked a security threat alert and the subsequent lock down, even as the security took stock of the situation.
Later, when the object was found to be non-threatening, the emergency protocols were lifted. It's not clear if action has been taken against the person who threw the device.
This story is being updated.
