A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
We're following up this morning on an incident at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
A gunman tried to rush past security on the way to the ballroom, where the president, vice president, cabinet members and lawmakers were about to have dinner with the media. Shots were fired. The president shared his initial thoughts after the gunshots on CBS's "60 Minutes" on Sunday with Norah O'Donnell.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "60 MINUTES")
NORAH O' DONNELL: How worried were you that there were going to be injuries?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I wasn't worried. I understand life. We live in a crazy world.
INSKEEP: In a moment, we'll hear from Democratic representative Jamie Raskin who was in the room. We begin with an NPR reporter who was also there.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR senior political correspondent Tamara Keith joins us.
Tam, you were in the ballroom at the Washington Hilton. Walk us through what happened.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: There was a muffled noise that sounded like a rapid burst of gunfire. Then Secret Service agents came running into the room from all angles. The president and vice president were pulled from the stage. Everyone took cover. This is a room with 2,600 people. It was tense and scary as security details climbed over tables and chairs searching for people who are in the presidential line of succession.
What we know now is that the gunman was actually one floor above the ballroom. He ran through a security checkpoint, headed for the stairs that lead down to the ballroom, but he was tackled before he got there. The acting Attorney General Todd Blanche characterized the incident this way Sunday on NBC's "Meet The Press."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MEET THE PRESS")
TODD BLANCHE: While this was extraordinarily dangerous and put a lot of lives at risk and there's no doubt that that's something that we're going to have to learn from over the next couple of weeks, the system worked. We were safe.
MARTÍNEZ: Tam, you're a former president of the Correspondents' Association. That means that you have planned one of these dinners.
KEITH: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: Tell us about the security situation. How's that set up?
KEITH: It's - this dinner has long been held at the Washington Hilton, which has a special entrance for the president and a secure holding room behind the stage. Some of these unique security features were added after President Reagan was shot outside of the hotel in 1981. When the president attends the WHCA dinner, the Secret Service actually takes over the security.
Everyone going into the ballroom has to show a ticket and go through airport security-style screening. But this is still a busy hotel with regular guests, and there are always risks when the president is out in public.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. And President Trump has been targeted by potential assassins before. How is he reacting to all this?
KEITH: There's been this mix of trying to deliver a unifying message, even praising the press, which is off brand. And he then put a very Trumpian spin on the fact that he's been targeted repeatedly. This is from a phone interview Sunday morning, with Fox News.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "FOX NEWS")
TRUMP: Really, if you're a consequential president, you're in much more danger than if you're not a consequential president.
KEITH: He also used the moment to make multiple pitches for his White House ballroom project, and by Sunday evening, he was back to attacking the press and blaming the rhetoric of Democrats for political violence.
MARTÍNEZ: So then let's get into the politics of this because I'm wondering what this might mean politically.
KEITH: Yeah. This all came at the end of a bad week for the president politically, with his approval ratings at their lowest ever and the Iran war dragging on in a sort of suspended animation. So, this does at least temporarily move the focus away from all that. But this incident also feeds the unease I hear from voters about how chaotic and divided the country feels now.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Tamara Keith.
Tam, thanks a lot.
KEITH: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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