.jpg?trim=0,50,0,50&width=1200&height=800&crop=1200:800 "Jesse Watters reacts to Charlie Kirk’s assassination: ‘They are at war with us!’ – UK Times")
The Secret Service is reviewing how a member at a Trump golf club in Virginia was able to inadvertently bring a semi-automatic Glock handgun into the facility at the same time President Trump was present, despite the agency providing security.
“The U.S. Secret Service takes the safety and security of our sites very seriously and there are redundant security layers built into every one,” a Secret Service spokesperson told RealClearPolitics, which reported on the breach. “The Secret Service initiated an internal review into employee conduct after a member of a Virginia golf club notified the agency that they inadvertently brought their firearm into a protective site on August 31.”
The Secret Service added that the club member was never “in close physical proximity” to the president, and the agent involved in screening the individual has been placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of an incident review.
The breach spooked club members, who expressed alarm about the overall state of security and presidential protection at the club, sources told the outlet.
The individual who brought the gun into the club has been interviewed by officials.
At the time of the incident, agents were using handheld magnetometers to screen guests, rather than walkthrough devices, The New York Post reports.
Senior Secret Service officials reportedly later visited Trump National Golf Club to further probe security features.
Little over a week after the incident, a hostile crowd of protesters came face-to-face with the president as he dined in an upscale restaurant in Washington, D.C., an effort meant to highlight the administration’s claims that its law enforcement takeover of the capital had made the city safer.
Demonstrators called the president “the Hitler of our time” before being escorted out.
During the 2024 presidential election, the Secret Service came under heavy scrutiny, following multiple assassination attempts against the then-candidate, including a bullet that grazed the Republican’s ear during a July rally in Pennsylvania.
The president has defended the agency’s work, despite multiple scathing reviews pointing to training issues and operational failures over the last year.
“I have great confidence in these people. I know the people. And they’re very talented, very capable. But they had a bad day. And I think they’ll admit that. They had a rough day,” Trump told Fox News in an interview that aired in July.
