As protesters gathered outside the White House Friday night in Washington, DC, President Donald Trump was briefly taken to the underground bunker for a period of time, according to a White House official and a law enforcement source.
The President was there for a little under an hour before being brought upstairs.
A law enforcement source and another source familiar with the matter tell CNN that first lady Melania and their son, Barron, were also taken to the bunker.
The law enforcement source familiar with protocol said that if authorities moved Trump, they would move all protectees, meaning Melania and Barron.
The second source told CNN that “if the condition at the White House is elevated to RED and the President is moved” to the Emergency Operations Center “Melania Trump, Barron Trump and any other first family members would be moved as well.”
Late Sunday night, the White House cautioned staffers who must go to work on Monday to hide their passes until they reach a Secret Service entry point and to hide them as they leave, according to an email which was viewed by CNN.
The email repeated mandates for maximum telework status and said there is still an “elevated security posture” due to the protests.
Trump praised the Secret Service the next day for its handling of the protests outside the White House Friday night in the wake of George Floyd’s death last week in Minneapolis.
The New York Times first reported Trump was taken to the presidential bunker.
On Saturday, only hours after the protests outside the White House had ended, Trump declared himself safe as he lashed out at the city’s Democratic mayor and raised the prospect of his supporters gathering in place that night in what would amount to a counter protest.
In a series of tweets, Trump commended the US Secret Service for protecting him inside his fortified mansion Friday evening, saying he couldn’t have felt “more safe” as protesters gathered outside over Floyd’s death. The President suggested that dogs and weaponry were waiting inside the gates.
