--- title: White House Welcoming Ahmed Mohamed, Teen Arrested for Clock description: Clock was mistaken for a bomb canonical: https://time.com/4078530/ahmed-mohamed-clock-white-house/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-19T19:26:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T11:54:21.288Z article:section: Politics og:title: Ahmed the Clock-Maker Heads to the White House og:description: For Astronomy Night. og:url: https://time.com/4078530/ahmed-mohamed-clock-white-house/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a9d4f45dcd2a61d/698864230a4a22a9859c61fe/ahmed-mohamed1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2100 og:image:height: 1181 og:image:alt: Ahmed Mohamed og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ahmed the Clock-Maker Heads to the White House twitter:description: For Astronomy Night. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a9d4f45dcd2a61d/698864230a4a22a9859c61fe/ahmed-mohamed1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ahmed the Clock-Maker Heads to the White House > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 19, 2015 7:26 PM UTC  Ahmed Mohamed, 14, gestures as he arrives to his family's home on Sept. 17, 2015 in Irving, Texas. Ahmed Mohamed, 14, gestures as he arrives to his family's home on Sept. 17, 2015 in Irving, Texas. LM Otero—AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 19, 2015 7:26 PM UTC The Texas teen who was arrested for bringing a homemade clock to school heads to the White House Monday night. Ahmed Mohamed, 14, will attend Astronomy Night, an event that brings together scientists, engineers, teachers and students for an evening of stargazing on the South Lawn. The White House has billed the event as an opportunity for Obama to encourage more boys and girls to take interest in STEM. He became a household name last month after school administrators mistook his clock for a bomb. The incident inspired the hashtag #StandWithAhmed and led to praise and free stuff from a number of tech companies. President Obama personally extended an invitation to Mohamed on Twitter in September following the news that he’d been arrested at school. > [](https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/644193755814342656) White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday he is not sure whether or not the teen will bring the clock to Monday’s event, but the White House has been welcoming to the teen. In a White House [blog post](https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/09/16/we-stand-ahmed-and-we-hope-hell-join-us-astronomy-night), U.S. Chief Data Scientist D.J. Patil said the administration thinks “Ahmed will fit right in” at Monday’s fair. Mohamed has been tweeting pictures of his trip to Washington over the weekend. > [](https://twitter.com/IStandWithAhmed/status/655155881131294720) Monday’s White House event will mark Ahmed’s latest rendezvous with luminaries and world leaders. The teen has visited [Google](http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/21/technology/google-science-fair/index.html), met [Queen Rania of Jordan ](http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20955970,00.html)and the Turkish Prime Minister and even stirred up controversy after meeting the President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes. (The teen’s father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, has attempted to run against al-Bashir twice in presidential elections.) On Tuesday, Mohamed will attend a press conference with Silicon Valley Rep. Mike Honda, where the two will discuss a letter the Democratic congressman sent to Attorney General Loretta Lynch urging the Department of Justice to investigate Ahmed’s arrest. Monday’s Astronomy Night is the White House’s second. 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