White House placed on lockdown for second time in a week due to suspicious package

The White House was placed on lockdown on Monday for the second time in less than a week after Secret Service responded to a suspicious package on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Reporters at the White House were ushered into the briefing room a short time after 11 a.m., though they were not given any information at the time.

Secret Service tweeted a short time later that officers were responding to a suspicious package, and that pedestrian traffic was closed along Pennsylvania Avenue outside the building and in Lafayette Park.

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President Trump was at the White House at the time. His public schedule indicated that he was taking part in a photo with the 2019 Presidential Scholars around the time of the lockdown.

Monday’s incident was the second time in a span of less than a week that reporters at the White House were urged to remain inside the building.

The White House was briefly placed on lockdown and nearby Lafayette Park were placed on lockdown last Wednesday after an individual allegedly dropped a backpack and attempted to jump a bike rack near the perimeter of the building on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Trump was not at the White House at the time of that episode.

*see full story by The Hill