Apparently, nothing rattles Lloyd Blankfein, the senior chairman of Goldman Sachs — not even a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
The 71-year-old billionaire, who was raised in the public housing projects of Brooklyn’s East New York before he went to Harvard, reportedly had a nonchalant reaction to the chaos unfolding around him Saturday.
CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss wrote in a post on X that while writer and podcaster Coleman Hughes was crouched under a table, Blankfein piped up, “Are you going to finish that salad?”
things I never thought I’d hear while crouching under a table at an active shooter incident: “hey, are you gonna finish your salad?”
— Coleman Hughes (@coldxman) April 26, 2026
Was Blankfein serious or just trying to break the tension? Unclear — but he kept it light when he later posted on X about the shooting that erupted near the metal detectors at the Washington Hilton while President Donald Trump was on stage.
He called his appearance at the so-called “nerd prom,” attended by hundreds of journalists and politicians, “a rare DC trip for me without a subpoena.” Blankfein, who was CEO of Goldman Sachs from 2006 to 2018, famously testified before Congress in 2010 about the bank’s role in the financial crisis.
His insouciance didn’t stop there. While many dinner attendees later described the shooting of a Secret Service agent and the evacuation of Trump and other guests as traumatic and terrifying, Blankfein seems to be a glass-half-full kind of guy.
“On the positive side—was exciting, no one was killed, and ended early,” he wrote.
Was at the WH Correspondents dinner last night, a rare DC trip for me without a subpoena. On the positive side—was exciting, no one was killed, and ended early. I noted a new litmus for status among the gov’t elite—whether you were whisked away by secret service, or left to fend.
— Lloyd Blankfein (@lloydblankfein) April 26, 2026
The Secret Service agent who was shot was saved by his protective vest. The suspect, who is expected to be formally charged on Monday, was tackled to the floor. There were no serious injuries reported from the evacuation, which Blankfein was paying close attention to.
“I noted a new litmus for status among the gov’t elite—whether you were whisked away by secret service, or left to fend,” he wrote.