Minnesota journalist attended White House Correspondents' Dinner to protest, but didn't get the chance
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The alleged gunman who interrupted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday evening when he fired multiple shots makes his first appearance in federal court on Monday.
He reportedly opened fire outside a crowded ballroom at the Washington Hilton as President Donald Trump and several members of the Cabinet joined journalists inside.
One of the guests was Minnesota-based independent journalist Georgia Fort, who pleaded not guilty in February to felony civil rights charges in connection with a demonstration that disrupted a Cities Church service. Her lawyer has said her presence at the protest is protected under the First Amendment.
President Trump and officials within his administration have condemned protesters at the church and said they would be investigated and prosecuted.
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Fort spoke to Cathy Wurzer about why she attended the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
The transcript below has been edited lightly for clarity. Press play on the player above to hear the conversation.
It looked pretty chaotic with men in tuxes and women in sequin gowns diving under tables. What did you experience?
Well, Cathy, I’ll tell you this: as an independent journalist, I attended the White House Correspondents Dinner to stand for the First Amendment by walking out during the president's speech. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the opportunity, because the program barely got started.
It was extremely terrifying to be in the room, to hear a loud boom and to see the entire ballroom — everyone inside — just drop from their chairs under their tables. In those moments of panic, I began to pray.
I may have been one of the first people to leave. We found an emergency exit out of the side door, and we were able to find our way to safety.
Wow. A lot of people in that room have been trained to deal with violence. As a reporter, your work has focused on police violence against Black people. As you reflect on what happened, what do you think the incident says about our society?
You know, being in Minnesota and seeing the assassination of Melissa Hortman, we have seen this escalation of political violence. And again, to underscore the very reason why I was there to take a stand against what is happening in our country right now and to encourage our colleagues — other journalists — who are often trained to not make the story about themselves, to challenge the status quo.
Because the truth is, if we don't dismiss our neutrality about the First Amendment, then we cannot be upset when we lose those rights. To be at the White House Correspondents Dinner as an independent journalist who was prepared to make a stand for the First Amendment and challenge others to do the same, I am hoping that this is a conversation that we can still have, a dialogue that we can still have.
I know it wasn't just me that was planning to take a stand, and so it's not just the violation of the First Amendment our constitutional rights, it's also an escalation of violence that we're seeing here under the Trump administration. There were a lot of journalists who didn't think the president belonged in that room, given his attacks on journalists.
The head of the White House Correspondents’ Association, in her early comments, before everything happened, told the president it was evidently meaningful that he was there, according to what I read. Do you think it was meaningful to have the president in the room?
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner belongs to the press, not the White House. And I think if journalists and journalism institutions are going to continue to be neutral about the First Amendment, including the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Association, then they need to accept that they are complicit to the constitutional crisis we are currently experiencing.
That is why I attended. I attended to take a stand for the First Amendment because I don't think that the press should be intimidated. I don't think that we should be silenced, and certainly my presence there represented that.
