Shortly after 8 p.m. Sunday night, TV cameras that are regularly pointing at the White House picked up an eerie and strange sight. Red flashing lights were to be seen shining in two windows of U.S. President Donald Trump’s second-floor White House residence. Social media exploded with theories, but it turned out it didn’t need Agatha Christie to solve the mystery.
Flashing red lights cause concern and amusement on social media
President Trump was reportedly at home in the White House after his nine-day overseas trip when it happened. The TV cameras picked up the strange sight of flashing Red Lights in the windows of the president's private residence in the White House.
According to a report by Yahoo News, the red lights flashed for 20 minutes, with no one appearing to be doing anything about the situation.
Many on Twitter were concerned, saying flashing red lights must mean something was seriously wrong in the room. Others joked that it was merely a light show in Trump’s dining room to celebrate his return home.
Others pointed to the news of the mysterious glowing orb, rubbed by Trump during his visit to Saudi Arabia. Maybe he stole it. Another Twitter user theorized it was a back-channel code sent to the Russians.
Did the red lights have anything to do with 'covfefe?'
Twitter at its best #Covfefe pic.twitter.com/nfH8IapUWO
— Bodacious Ben 😎 (@The_Karmelian) May 31, 2017
Many referred to the hashtag #covfefe, referring to a typo in one of Trump’s many random tweets, theorizing the word meant “I resign” in Russian.
Between the orb, flashing red lights and covfefe, this presidency took a turn for the bizarre
— uǝʞoɹq (@ClayComix) May 31, 2017
We are now 4 hours into #cofeve gate. Are the red lights flashing again in the WH? Is he alive? Is it normal I have to be awake and asking.🤔
— Diana (@Diana25017037) May 31, 2017
Anybody figure out was those weird flashing red lights in the White House the other night were? The covfefe? pic.twitter.com/gWttlh8T3i
— Jeff Cóvfefe (@EngageTheRebels) May 31, 2017
Cut him some slack. The flashing red lights make it nearly impossible to see the keyboard on his Tweetmeister 4000. #Covfefe #CovfefeGate
— jon stillman (@JonStilts) May 31, 2017
Other Twitter users theorized that White House staffers had rigged up lights to flash when Trump started tweeting, or maybe the president had been gone so long, he thought it was Christmas already.
#WhiteHouseFlashingLights
— RonEdens (@RonEdens) May 29, 2017
3) Trump was gone so long, he thought it was Christmas
Secret Service solves the mystery of the flashing red lights
The Secret Service was on the job and soon solved the mystery of the flashing red lights, saying in a statement, quite simply that the lights didn’t have anything to do with the White House.
According to a report by the New York Post, it turned out it was just a reflection in the windows of the red lights of emergency vehicles directly across the road from the White House.
DC Fire and EMS spokesman Doug Buchanan said an ambulance and fire truck had been sent to Lafayette Park for a medical emergency at around 8 p.m. Sunday, after a man became ill on a park bench there, directly across the street from the White House. The patient was treated on the spot and reportedly declined a lift to the hospital.
While the mystery has now been solved, the incident did give a little light relief from all the other recent White House related news.
