White House Briefing Room Evacuated by Secret Service for Bomb Threat

The White House briefing room was suddenly evacuated by the Secret Service this afternoon over reports of a bomb threat.

Reporters tweeted out images from the scene:

That's unusual – the White House briefing interrupted by the Secret Service, press asked to evacuate. pic.twitter.com/sGKwT3fsIH

— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) June 9, 2015

White House press briefing evacuated http://t.co/pjHhznThK8 pic.twitter.com/o2l8eB87eR

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) June 9, 2015

BREAKING NEWS: Journalists escorted across the street. White House on lock-down. MORE: http://t.co/yCBV8tVeJv pic.twitter.com/5FmIffyixM

— Breaking News Feed (@PzFeed) June 9, 2015

White House press crowds outside Executive Office Bldg hoping to get idea of why we were evacuated mid-briefing pic.twitter.com/YrF0lFU3ye

— Anne Walters Custer (@annekwalters) June 9, 2015

Some reporters highlighted on Twitter how all the camera live feeds were covered after the evacuation:

It appears all cams in the White House briefing room have now been covered or moved out of frame by Secret Service

— Dan Linden (@DanLinden) June 9, 2015

Our camera in the WH briefing room was just covered up – our live shot from the briefing tuned dark. Who did that? Why?

— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) June 9, 2015

Press Secretary Josh Earnest tweeted out that the briefing will resume soon:

The @WhiteHouse daily briefing will resume shortly after the Brady Briefing Room has been cleared. Hopefully wont be long.

— Josh Earnest (@PressSec) June 9, 2015

And shortly after that was tweeted out, reporters were allowed back inside.

The evacuation comes just hours after Capitol Police evacuated part of a Senate office building over concerns about a suspicious package and a bomb threat phone call.

And the Secret Service said that precautions were taken in the White House because of another phoned-in bomb threat. Bomb-sniffing dogs were brought into the briefing room.

You can watch the briefing being cut short here:

Below is longer video of the evacuation, via C-SPAN:

[featured image via @annekwalters]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac