A viral video showing several guests grabbing bottles of champagne and wine from Saturday night’s aborted White House Correspondent’s Association dinner has drawn mixed reactions on social media.
The annual black tie press gala at the Washington Hilton had to be evacuated after a suspected gunman attempted to storm the venue – shortly before President Donald Trump was due to address the D.C. press corps – only to be apprehended by members of the Secret Service.
The president, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and other members of the cabinet were hurried out of the hotel’s ballroom as gunfire was heard and journalists hid under tables in fear for their lives, with many subsequently describing the terror of the moment.
But not all attendees were rattled by the ordeal, with some even calmly seizing the opportunity to pick up alcohol on their way out.
In a short clip posted on X by Jennifer Coffindaffer, a retired FBI agent and NewsNation contributor, several women could be seen collecting abandoned bottles from vacant tables as they made their way towards the exit – the footage set to Disturbed’s cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence.”
Coffindaffer’s posed drew a broad range of responses. Some made light of the opportunism by suggesting it was highly relatable in the circumstances while others condemned it as “tacky.”
“My hero,” one person joked. Another downplayed the significance of the conduct with arch sarcasm, writing: “OH NO! She took a bottle of wine that everyone was going to drink anyways! Call in Seal Team 6 this madness has to stop!!”
“Thief? Looks look everyone around her is grabbing a bottle too,” another commenter posted, adopting a more sympathetic tone. “Tbh I would do the same if I dished out steep $ for a dress I only got to show off for 45 minutes, and oh damn now have to get a whole new one for the next rescheduled WHCD.”
“LOOTERS!” another commentator fumed while one more argued that while it was “not technically stealing” given the people present had paid for their tickets to the gala they found the conduct “rather tacky morally.”
Coffindaffer herself took issue with that line of reasoning, pointing out that the event was being rescheduled soon and would therefore have to be restocked.
Among the more humorous contributions was one person who speculated that one of the women in question, with blonde hair and a dark coat, might be Marla Maples, the president’s estranged second wife.
Another said they expected nothing less than petty larceny from denizens of Capitol Hill, and another shared the conspiracy the whole attack had been staged in the first place.
Trump has already rubbished social media suggestions that the incident was not genuine, telling CBS News’s 60 Minutes Sunday night that the conspiracy theorists claiming as much were “sick” or “con people.”
The suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old computer programmer and tutor from Torrance, California, will appear in court Monday to be formally charged with firearms and assault offenses.
Investigators have since recovered an alleged manifesto he sent to family members moments before the attack in which he referred to himself chillingly as the “Friendly Federal Assassin,” expressed his loathing for the president, scoffed at the hotel’s security arrangements, and discussed the weapons he intended to use.
Trump said in a press conference shortly after the attack that his wife had found the episode particularly upsetting while Erika Kirk – who lost her husband, Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk, to gun violence less than a year ago – was seen leaving the event in obvious distress.
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