WASHINGTON, U.S.A. - In a rare interruption of the White House daily press
briefing, reporters were hustled out of the room for about 30 minutes after a
bomb threat was phoned in to local police.
The Secret Service and bomb-sniffing dogs searched the
premises and eventually gave the all clear to resume the briefing by White
House spokesman Josh Earnest.
The White House briefing room and parts of two US Senate
office buildings were briefly evacuated within hours of each other yesterday
after separate bomb threats.
It was not clear if the incidents were linked.
It was not clear if the incidents were linked.
President Barack Obama was in the Oval Office, just steps
from the briefing room, and was not evacuated, Earnest said. First lady
Michelle Obama and their two daughters were nearby in the White House residence
and also were not moved.
The immediate blocks around the White House, including
Lafayette Square across Pennsylvania Avenue, were roped off and closed to
tourists briefly, a Reuters witness said.
US Capitol police cleared a room in the Dirksen building and
the courtyard of the Russell building, which house US senators and their staffs
near the US Capitol but found no problem.
Source: Reuters, Fox
Post a Comment