A photo of Donald Trump and some of the most important men in his administration has gone viral online in the aftermath of the attempted shooting at Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
The photo shows the President sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office with some of his closest advisers, all of them still in their tuxedos that they had worn to the black-tie gala.
Trump is shown reviewing hotel security footage of the incident on a phone, according to a source familiar with his actions that evening, as his aides gather around his desk to see the details.
The grainy security footage showed the shooter sprinting through the perimeter while secret security agents pivot and grab for their guns in response.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino is on the far left, followed by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. Vice President JD Vance is craning his neck, looking over Mullin’s shoulder. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche also leans in for a closer look, as well as Trump’s Senior Personal Counsel Boris Epshteyn.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, clutching an unidentified canned drink, looks over the President’s shoulder as well as Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
The man holding the phone for President Trump is an unidentified member of the Secret Service who wishes to remain anonymous, a White House source told the Daily Mail
The image of the President and his advisers was first published online by Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino
The iconic photo was taken at 10.15pm on Saturday by White House photographer Daniel Torok, an administration source confirmed.
The picture shows that the President has a glass of Diet Coke on his desk as his hand rests on a binder with prepared remarks, complete with his own scrawled edits from his familiar Sharpie.
Fourteen minutes later, Trump posted the security footage to his Truth Social account, revealing details of the shooting attempt to the world.
The image was first posted by Scavino to social media on Sunday night and was also shared by Rubio.
The unusual behind-the-scenes image quickly went viral online, as it demonstrated the President and his men literally portraying the ‘monitoring the situation’ meme.
Others cheered the seriousness and determination demonstrated by the men in the photo.
‘The amount of faith, strength, and power in this photo sends chills down my spine. God bless you all, and God bless America,’ wrote celebrity makeup artist Spencer Wells in a comment on Instagram.
‘Incredible photograph. Grateful to every single person in this picture, especially the man sitting down in the middle,’ wrote Jessie Salas.
Cole Thomas Allen, 31, was later identified by authorities as the suspected shooter, who sprinted past a Secret Service checkpoint toward the ballroom and fired a shot at an agent before he was tackled and brought to the floor by officials.
President Donald Trump speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House after the shooting incident
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The President, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and press secretary Karoline Leavitt were quickly evacuated from the ballroom, followed by members of his Cabinet who attended the dinner.
Trump and members of his team gathered backstage at the Secret Service command center, where Trump sat in the back to make security assessments.
While the President was adamant about returning to the ballroom, his security team was insistent about getting him back safely to the White House, he later revealed.
Rubio confirmed in an interview with FOX News Channel’s chief foreign correspondent, Trey Yingst, that Trump pushed for transparency by releasing the video.
‘I think the President’s decision to return to the White House released the video and then address the American people in a press conference with many of the people that were in that room now at the White House in their tuxedos asking questions was really showed a lot of leadership by the President, I think, calm the nation down and I think has allowed us to pivot towards, you know, the investigation and move on with the work of the country,’ he said.
Once in the White House press briefing room, the President shared more details from the incident and vowed to return.
‘I said, very importantly, that we’ll do it again within the next 30 days, and we’ll make it bigger and better and even nicer,’ he said.
