Daily Beast Editor Who Booked Room Next to WHCA Dinner Shooting Suspect Says ‘Nobody Even Looked at My Luggage’

The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images

Daily Beast executive editor Hugh Dougherty revealed on Sunday that he had been staying in the Hilton Washington hotel room next to President Donald Trump’s alleged would-be assassin Cole Allen this past weekend and never even had his luggage checked.

In an article titled, “I Slept Next Door to the Assassin in Hilton Room 10235. This Is a Security Fiasco,” Dougherty revealed that he had been staying “next door to the man who wanted to turn the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner into a mass shooting.”

Dougherty criticized the security at the hotel for its insufficient checks, claiming that he was able to stay at the hotel – where Trump was a guest at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner – without even a basic luggage search.

“How on earth could someone with a disassembled long gun check into a room at a hotel where the president was going to speak?” he questioned. “I can answer that: Nobody even looked at my luggage on Friday afternoon. Worse, my colleague arrived on Saturday at 5 p.m. Nobody looked at his luggage either: No magnometers, no hand checks, no I.D. checks. Nothing.”

Dougherty continued, “I moved up and down from Floor 10 all day. Nobody ever stopped me and asked me anything. I have never shown my I.D., except to the clerk who checked me in; I have never been searched or frisked when I checked in, or moved in and out of the hotel. To get down from my room to the dinner, I simply flashed my ticket. It could have been a photocopy.”

The Daily Beast editor claimed that the only security checkpoint he was subjected to was the checkpoint where the suspect was caught on camera sprinting past agents.

Following the incident, which saw Allen tackled and detained after he ran towards the dinner – where Trump was seated – allegedly armed with guns and knives, many social media users criticized the security at the event.

In a statement to Fox News on Sunday, a senior White House official said, “President Trump and the White House are standing by the leadership of Secret Service, and President Trump has said he personally thinks they did an excellent job neutralizing the shooter and moving the President, First Lady, Vice President, and cabinet to safety.”

“Nevertheless, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is convening a meeting early this week with the White House operations team, USSS, and DHS leadership to discuss protocol and practices for major events involving POTUS,” they continued. “The meeting will discuss the processes and procedures that worked to stop Saturday’s attempt, while exploring additional options to ensure all relevant components are doing everything possible to secure the many major events planned for President Trump in the months ahead as he gears up to celebrate America 250.”

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