House Republican calls for Congress to take 'better steps' to address security after WHCA gala shooting

Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-Ariz.) said Sunday that Congress should take “better steps” to address lawmaker security in the wake of the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner. “I do,” Hamadeh told host Chris Stirewalt on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday,” when the latter asked whether the legislative branch “should be doing something different” regarding security. Hamadeh attended the event at the Washington Hilton . “Honestly, it was very lucky that I was able to even communicate with my protective detail, because he was not in the ballroom,” the Arizona Republican added. Hamadeh said that he was only able to communicate with his protective detail because he had logged on to the Wi-Fi at the hotel roughly a minute before the shooting occurred . The Republican lawmaker noted that he met with his security “towards the exit of the ballroom,” after which they evacuated the hotel “quickly and safely” with GOP Reps. Marlin Stutzman (Ind.) and Andy Ogles (Tenn.). The shooting occurred at roughly 8:30 p.m. EDT, as a man charged a security checkpoint outside of the ballroom where the annual dinner was taking place. The suspected gunman, identified by multiple outlets as 31-year-old Cole Allen, exchanged gunfire with law enforcement officers and hit one Secret Service officer in his bulletproof vest. …