A called in bomb threat caused an evacuation of the press briefing room  during the daily press conference at the White House on June 9 2015. The interruption was in the middle of a the live broadcast of the press briefing. As journalists were escorted out they live tweeted and took pictures of the evacuation. Their live tweeting posed an interesting question: where was the First Family and the White House staff?

During the evacuation different journalists reported that there was no sign of the First Family or White House staff (besides press secretary John Earnest who was evacuated with the rest of the journalist). Jonathan Karl, the White House correspondent for ABC News, shared pictures of the cameras turned down outside and reported that the live coverage inside of the room had gone black after White House staff covered the cameras inside and outside. 

Associated Press reporters shared that their stuff had been misplaced, seemingly, by the Secret Service. The instances of misplaced stuff and covered cameras raised questions once the briefing was back in session. Once Earnest returned he explained what had caused the evacuation and followed up on a previous question about encryption.

“Before I get to your questions, I used our brief respite to gather some more information, Roberta, in terms of answering your previous question about encryption, and I can tell you that officials at the White House have received the letter,” said Earnest. This statement did reveal, which he later confirmed, that earnest may have been evacuated-but only to his office.

All the journalist in the press room, and the one adjacent,  were evacuated to South Court Auditorium  while people inside the White House were not even asked to shelter place. When Earnest was questioned if he worried about his safety he said that he had full trust in the decisions made by the Secret Service.