Final preparations underway for rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner
WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA) - Final preparations are underway for the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Dinner (WHCD) in Washington, D.C., and officials said there are new security measures in place.
"We do expect bad people to show up. It's just a reality of where we are," said U.S. Secret Service Director Sean Curran.
A stark warning this week from Director Curran ahead of the rescheduled WHCD.
New figures show threats made against Secret Service protectees are up more than 40% nationwide compared to the same time last year, amounting to 10,000 cases opened just since January.
"The numbers are numbers that this agency, and certainly I have never seen in my 24-year career," Curran expressed.
President Donald Trump is expected to attend Friday night's dinner at the Waldorf Astoria, along with nearly 700 other guests including journalists and public officials.
The first dinner in April was cut short after an armed man rushed a checkpoint and opened fire, injuring a Secret Service agent.
Cole Allen was arrested and has pleaded not guilty to charges including attempted assassination of the president and assaulting a federal officer.
"We do expect things to happen at the magnetometers, unfortunately, but that's why they are there and that's where it happened, and that's where it ended," Curran said.
Secret Service Deputy Director Matt Quinn said they aren't approaching this dinner as just a re-do.
"We examine every single site, and we change things and get better every single time," Deputy Director Quinn shared.
The agency has carried out nearly 3,000 of these kind of site visits this year alone.
Former Secret Service Special Agent Keith Wojcieszek said the agency is breaking its silence for a reason.
"When you're talking 10,000 threats, 3,000 visits, all these different mental health cases, there's only 2,000 individuals in the Secret Service. They need help," Wojcieszek remarked.
The White House Correspondents Association will present an award to Victor Gonzales, the Secret Service officer who confronted Allen at the dinner April, and another award to the employees of the Washington Hilton where the previous dinner was held.
