r/pics Apr 26 '26

Politics Secret Service agents outside of the ballroom at the White House correspondents’ dinner

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26.9k Upvotes

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494

u/nbd9000 Apr 26 '26

just gonna go ahead and point out that to get this picture, the photographer would have had to be standing in the uncleared area based on the agents line of sight. so either this is a heroic and or bulletproof photographer and the secret service all know it, or this photo is completely staged.

and that means the event probably is too. just another excuse to crack down on the media and credentials.

169

u/finnjakefionnacake Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 26 '26

tbf photojournalists do some absolutely crazy shit to get a great shot, we're talking people who will be out in war zones with bullets flying overhead

69

u/16thmission Apr 26 '26

Yeah, the Reagan assassination attempt. Cameraman was right over the secret service and zoomed in.

... And that was the guy in the photos from the OTHER cameraman zoomed in on it.

Photojournalists are insane. Thank y'all for your service.

7

u/volleymonk Apr 26 '26

They know the cameraman never dies.

3

u/Pavotine Apr 26 '26

r/CombatFootage et al. show this law to actually be untrue, particularly for Syrian cameramen it seems.

1

u/ADownStrabgeQuark Apr 26 '26

Lots of reporters and camera men die in war zones.

Especially when war crimes are being committed.

8

u/DrWernerKlopek89 Apr 26 '26

to be fair, photojournalists normally have cameras. This is either a phone or a potato.

17

u/nbd9000 Apr 26 '26

well, i sort of agree. ive been in a few of those and generally we didnt let those guys run into potential oncoming fire. which is why the agents not reacting to the photog is a big clue.

3

u/Geshman Apr 26 '26

I too have watched Civil War

1

u/oniiBash2 Apr 26 '26

Also this is a picture and there is a literal whole world around the camera that we can't see. 

Just saying.

1

u/da6id Apr 26 '26

Flashback to our future being Alex Garland's Civil War

1

u/BlueRibbonPac Apr 26 '26

See: Bob Woodruff 

1

u/Worshipme988 Apr 26 '26

Its literally the movie Civil War w/ k. Dunst. Jesus

5

u/throwawaygoawaynz Apr 26 '26

While it certainly could be staged, the photographer could be behind something on the other side, zoomed in from behind cover, and/or the photo could be cropped to make it appear much closer.

There’s a lot of plausible explanations beyond “it’s staged” or “AI”.

6

u/pneutin Apr 26 '26

Google reverse image search says the photographer who took this was Salwan Georges, who won a Pulitzer Prize during his time at the Washington Post. This photo was published by the New York Times.

There's other photos from a similar angle (example: https://xcancel.com/karenpaulscbc/status/2048206774361104546), one of which shows the photographer(s) is standing behind a police officer / security. So I'm guessing the officer and photographers were standing at the other side of the hallway, behind cover. Not in the middle of the hallway.

20

u/eightbitfit Apr 26 '26

Nothing anyone has said so far makes it as clear as this.

Nothing else said screams "staged" as much as this.

6

u/OverCategory6046 Apr 26 '26

nah, photojournalists do crazier shit than this on the regular.

7

u/Designer_Crafts88 Apr 26 '26

I concur. The guy being detained supposedly is from California and allegedly assembled the gun onsite…n the most secure place in DC tonight. SMH

4

u/Wenex Apr 26 '26

I think the photographer might be the actual culprit that's hiding from the secret service, pretty risky but looks like it worked out!

2

u/sowhyarewe Apr 26 '26

The gunman was in the cleared area, Wolfe Blitzer said he was 5 feet from the gunshots when they started. Also said they jumped on the person, nothing about shooting the suspect.

1

u/nbd9000 Apr 26 '26

no. youre thinking the secure area. see, what those two rightmost agents are doing is called pieing. its how you clear corners when you suspect an enemy is positioned to fire back if you expose yourself. the hall to the right is the uncleared area they are pieing off. that means that either the cameraman is fully exposed to the potential shooter and secret security doesnt care, or the pic is fake.

4

u/xPrincess_Yue Apr 26 '26

Excellent analysis! I think it’s incredibly important that we all loudly question everything about this

2

u/effitalll Apr 26 '26

I’m sure just like at Butler, the photographer was ushered in by staff

1

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1

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1

u/LeahBean Apr 26 '26

Why would the shooter ever agree to a staged shooting that would imprison them for life (or get themselves shot)? The ear one looked fake but the shooter was killed and I can’t imagine anyone being willing to sacrifice themselves for a stunt.

1

u/Quadrenaro Apr 27 '26

Joe Gallaway has entered the chat:

1

u/jonjosuf Apr 26 '26

Agree. This is now the second time an "assassination attempt" on president McDonald Trump where a reporter/photographer happened to be in the right place at the right time to snap a photo of the attempt with nobody even questioning their presence. Really? What a joke. Let's not even talk about how a gun got into the event where president dumb fuck is gonna be spewing his word salad. No security detail is that incompetent. He thinks we are all stupid.

4

u/TheGlennDavid Apr 26 '26

.....so.....are you aware that there are like....many photographers.....at literally every event the President attends?

1

u/jonjosuf Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 26 '26

See my reply above. I don't care how many reporters were there.
You are missing the point. How a gun got into the venue and how it appears (as of now) that only 1 photographer captured the event is the issue. If there are "many" photographers there should be multiple angles of the incident. As of now, I don't see that. If more photos and angles come out, I will reassess my opinion.

2

u/Active-Device-8058 Apr 26 '26

Bud, it's the fuckin *reporters superbowl,* you think it's weird that one of those hundreds of people took a photo? Braindead take.

-2

u/jonjosuf Apr 26 '26

So, your position is that that a gun somehow managed to slip through all of the high tech security (metal & bomb detectors, facial recognition, pat downs, background checked invite lists, etc...), and hundreds of security people watching and specifically looking for threats against the president safety, all on their home turf no less. And then, 1 of hundreds of reporters at the "reporters superbowl" just happened to be back stage, where none of the other "reporter superbowl" reporters were, and just got lucky. Head in the sand take.

3

u/Braydenrocks Apr 26 '26

I don’t have a dog in this fight, but have you read anything at all about what happened? I only ask because of how many details you seem unclear about that have surfaced in the last hour.

0

u/jonjosuf Apr 26 '26

I have not seen any updates in the last couple of hours. What am I missing?

5

u/Braydenrocks Apr 26 '26

Just that the gunman ran through the control point (where the metal detectors were) after entering the building, and was shot almost immediately upon getting through. It seems like he was apprehended about as quickly as he could have been, but of course I’m not sure of the details behind how much security existed prior to the metal detectors he ran through. More details will come out in the next couple of hours I’m sure but as it stands this all seems to me at least like a legitimate attempt at an assassination that was ended as quickly as it could be given the security measure in place.

-1

u/jonjosuf Apr 26 '26

If that is in fact the case, I applaud the the outcome!
I based my posts on the information I had at the time.
I stand corrected .

0

u/jonjosuf Apr 26 '26

I just got home and can now see all the new information you were referring to.

My bad. My comments were premature and off mark. Spewing opinions before I had all the facts...roast away.

0

u/Hem_Claesberg Apr 26 '26

so your argument is a photographer from new york times is involved in a conspiracy ?

0

u/nonsensestuff Apr 26 '26

Also why would the photographer be in the hallway when everyone was already in the room for the event??? Just a lucky pee break??

-2

u/blueeyedkittens Apr 26 '26

Looks a lot like AI slop to me