After being told to evacuate a ballroom due to apparent threats, attendees at conference for conservatives in Washington, D.C. were given the all-clear by police, according to several reporters present at the Faith and Freedom Coalition summit.
Event organizers had previously interrupted Friday’s events to ask participants to evacuate the ballroom where the main speeches were being held, as they had received word from police that threats had been called into the event.
“We have received a threat about the safety of this event and this room,” said Faith and Freedom Coalition Director Ralph Reed. A number of prominent Republican politicians had made appearances at the summit.
Attendees were instructed to leave the ballroom and move to a new room in the hotel, the Omni Shoreham, where the event was being held.
Reed made the announcement after former Sen. Rick Santorum, a GOP 2016 candidate, had wrapped up his speech. The next speaker, former New York Gov. George Pataki, another presidential contender, would make his remarks from the new room, Reed said.
The D.C. Metropolitan Police Office has not returned TPM’s request for more information about the threat.
This story has been updated.
Let’s call it what it really is: Racism and Hate Coalition
Suspicious package. Police cannot confirm credibility of the threat…
It’s a hoax perpetrated by Cons to show they’re as “vulnerable” as African-Americans in a church, and steal the limelight away from Charleston.
Probably some white guy trying to make it seem like black people were trying to get even. I wouldn’t put it past them
They didn’t “receive a threat.” They found a “suspicious package”, i.e., unattended box or bag, i.e., some dumbass Teatroll went to the potty and left their purse or backpack at their seat.
But hey, maybe this actually is textbook fabrication. There was no threat made, but how easy is it to just “oopsy, misstated it” after setting it up so someone could report the “suspicious package”?