What I saw: Traveling inside the White House bubble during the Fort Hood shootings

President Barack Obama was at a Chicago steakhouse for a Democratic fundraiser the night a shooter opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas, and Washington Post writer David Nakamura was among the press pool.

He writes about this unique, firsthand experience and how the president responded with an impromptu press conference inside the restaurant.

“As the traveling reporters are led back into the ‘press hold,’ a nondescript office space where we had just spent an hour being kept away from Obama’s private conference with two dozen donors, White House aides are one level up, scrambling to transform the fundraising space in the steakhouse into an impromptu news conference setup,” Nakamura writes, giving an inside look at life in the press corps. “Tables are removed, chairs are pushed into the back, and a lone American flag is placed in front of somber black curtains.”

Obama spoke 327 words and walked out of the room. Here’s the full transcript collected by Nakamura.

What surprised press pool reporters, Nakamura writes, is that Obama addressed the media well before having the facts surrounding the shooting. Knowing he was scheduled to appear at another private fundraiser at a Chicago residence that evening, Nakamura tells, “There is discussion among the reporters about the optics of Obama continuing to raise money for the Democrats if he had not spoken about Fort Hood.”

Nakamura sheds light on the thrilling and mundane job of covering the commander in chief.

Read more from the Washington Post.