TMZ is like any other outlet. It will have hits and misses. On this scoop, it looks overblown, but if it were true, it would’ve capped off a stunning collapse within the Secret Service. The initial reports were alarming: an armed security guard claims to have come within feet of former President Barack Obama after any member of his detail didn’t approach him. It wasn’t an assassination attempt.
A security guard allegedly did his due diligence when a black SUV appeared. He approached the vehicle and happened to recognize the former president. Still, the lack of response from the Secret Service is startling, not the least being that they allowed Donald Trump to get shot in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. The Secret Service said the initial report was inaccurate (via Newsweek):
BREAKING: Armed man working low-level security job at L.A. restaurant got within inches of Barack Obama in latest lapse by Secret Service - TMZ
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) September 25, 2024
The U.S. Secret Service told Newsweek that reports about a "security lapse" in former President Barack Obama's security detail over the weekend are "inaccurate."
TMZ reported on Wednesday that its reporters spoke to a security guard who was working at an event above a restaurant that the former president attended in Los Angeles on Saturday evening. The guard, who remained nameless, said that he approached the SUV transporting Obama without being stopped by Secret Security agents. He reported that two agents were standing away from the vehicle in an alleyway when he approached the former president's transport.
The guard said he saw Obama in the back of the vehicle using a laptop, according to the TMZ report. The man said that he was armed at the time and quickly backed away from the vehicle once he recognized the former president.
[…]
"The Secret Service cannot provide the details on our means and methods of protection, but we can confirm that at no time were any Secret Service protectees in the vehicle while the individual was walking down the alleyway," the spokesperson said on Wednesday. "These claims are inaccurate."
The Secret Service spokesperson added that the "photo in question was upon departure and not during the alleged incident."
The security guard who spoke with TMZ said that about 30 minutes after the alleged interaction, Secret Service agents asked to see his credentials and license to carry a concealed weapon. Newsweek reached out to the Secret Service via email for confirmation on whether agents ever interacted with the man in question.
Here’s the sticky wicket: there’s no reason to trust the Secret Service on anything right now. The agency has been exceptionally cagey about why the rooftop at the Butler rally was left unprotected, the location where would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was able to set his sights on the former president less than 400 yards away. It was a glaring hole in the safety net. An interim report from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs paints a damning picture of incompetence when it came to protecting Trump.
Earlier this year, a drunk man stumbled into the home of National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. There have also been reports of agents being caught sleeping on the job at Mar-a-Lago. It’s not to say the Secret Service is lying, but it wouldn't shock me if, in the months or even years to come, we learn that this security guard did stumble upon Obama without being confronted by federal agents.
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