Hill hearing with U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power evacuated over ‘threat’

A House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing featuring a report from U.S. United Nations Amb. Samantha Power had to be evacuated Tuesday at approximately 11:30 a.m. after authorities received an apparent threat. They were told to “look behind the curtains,” according to one police officer on the scene.  

The hearing in the House’s Rayburn Office Building became the latest Washington gathering to be interrupted by a called-in threat in recent days. A Senate hearing room and the White House briefing room were both cleared last week after authorities received threats, although both meetings were soon resumed.

Canine units and a bomb squad searched the room while Capitol Hill police watched over the evacuated crowd outside the hearing room. Police reported at approximately 11:50 a.m. that all was clear. Hearing attendees, the press pool and congressional members slowly filed back into the room moments later.  

House Committee Chairman Ed Royce resumed the hearing at approximately 12:05 p.m.   

The House panel was holding a hearing on advancing United States’ interests at the United Nations with Ms. Power. Capitol Hill police said the U.N. hearing was the only meeting affected by the evacuation order.