Longtime Trump ally Dana White was at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner when gunfire broke out Saturday night, and he apparently loved every minute of it.
Speaking to reporters as he left the Washington Hilton, where the dinner took place, the UFC CEO was all smiles as he said he didn’t seek cover when the shots rang out.
“It started getting noisy, tables getting flipped over, you’ve got guys running in with guns, and they were screaming, ‘Get down,’” he said.
But White said he ignored the directive.
“I didn’t get down. It was f---ing awesome, I literally took every minute of it in and it was a pretty crazy unique experience,” he said.
One Secret Service agent was shot during the confrontation with the alleged gunman. The agent, who was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time, has since been released from a hospital.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told Meet the Press on Sunday that the suspect, 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, took a train from California to Chicago, and then another from Chicago to D.C. to attempt the shooting.
He said law enforcement believed Allen was targeting Trump administration officials.
White detailed the chaos of the moment, saying the Secret Service stormed the venue, seemingly searching for shooters.
“We were sitting right in front of the table. Right in front of where the president was,” he said. “Nobody got tackled, but guys came in looking for shooters. They came by our table. I thought the shooter was over by us or something.”
White was reportedly invited to the dinner because of his friendship with Trump.
Last year the pair announced a UFC match to be held on the lawn of the White House to celebrate the president’s 80th birthday in June.
The fight, touted as part of a series of events to mark the 250th birthday of the United States, happens to coincide with Trump’s milestone birthday and will be broadcast live from the White House.
The president announced plans to build a 4,500-seat arena on the White House’s South Lawn for the event.
“And then in the back at the Ellipse, we’re going to have 100,000, maybe 50 to 100,000 people, I guess,” he said earlier this month.
“They’re building tremendous stages, and we’re going to have massive screens of the fight. It’s a very popular sport.”
