Reporters at the White House were evacuated around 2 p.m. Tuesday afternoon from the briefing room as press secretary Josh Earnest was giving his daily briefing.
The press was led out of the room and returned shortly after 2:30 p.m., when Earnest said someone called the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police to make a bomb threat related to the briefing room. Earnest said the emergency was lifted after security swept the room.
Earnest said that fortunately, the “Secret Service maintains the resources necessary to quickly make the room safe.”
Reporters asked why some of the cameras left in the room were pointed to the floor during that sweep, but Earnest, who was also evacuated, said he didn’t have any immediate answers.
Earnest also said other White House staff, including himself and President Obama, remained on the premises, but not near the room being swept.
After a few minutes outside, Secret Service members ushered the journalists into the South Court Auditorium in the Old Executive Office Building, after which they returned to the press briefing.
It happened just hours after part of the Senate was evacuated by police.
This story was last updated at 2:52 p.m.
