Tag: secret service

Secret Service Agent Arrested, Charged with Five Felonies in Near-Fatal Hazing Incident

A Secret Service agent was arrested and charged with five felonies in connection with a near-fatal hazing incident.

Three men, including a Secret Service agent, were arrested in Miami for severely beating fraternity pledges.

The men beat the pledges with paddles and canes. The college and fraternity have not been identified.

The SS Agent, identified as 29-year-old Marquez Christopher Pinder, was charged with attempted manslaughter with a deadly weapon, hazing with a deadly weapon and other charges.

CBS News reported:

Three men have been arrested and charged in connection with alleged fraternity hazing that left victims hospitalized, Miami-Dade authorities said.

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz and Sweetwater Police Chief Sergio Diez identified the suspects as 29-year-old Marquez Christopher Pinder, 26-year-old Jared Lamar James and 29-year-old Elijah Delano Dyous.

Investigators said the alleged hazing involved prolonged and repeated beatings with canes and paddles. According to prosecutors, the victims were beaten after they failed to correctly answer questions about the fraternity.

The incidents allegedly began April 1 at an apartment in the 400 block of Southwest 183rd Street in unincorporated Miami-Dade County.

Pinder, James and Dyous face various counts of attempted manslaughter with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon causing great bodily harm and hazing with a deadly weapon, according to the state attorney’s office.

Keep reading

Secret Service Agent On JD Vance’s Detail Under Investigation For Leaking

CNN reported Thursday that a Secret Service agent on Vice President JD Vance’s security detail has been put on administrative leave and is suspected of leaking information about his travel to a news site.

According to CNN, the agent is suspected of leaking to MS NOW about how agents on Vance’s security detail are overworked by his busy schedule. MS NOW’s source complained about Vance planning to fly with his son on a Marine Corps helicopter to a golf lesson — even though that plan was canceled.

“The story caught the attention of Secret Service, FBI and White House officials, who fumed over operational details being described in the press,” CNN reported Thursday.

Secret Service Chief of Communications Anthony Guglielmi confirmed to CNN that an agent is indeed under investigation.

“A member of the Vice Presidential Protective Division is the subject of an administrative investigation, and potential criminal inquiry, involving allegations of compromising operational and information security,” Guglielmi reportedly said in the statement.

“While we will not comment on the specifics of this matter, one principle is unequivocal: any conduct that undermines the trust and confidence between a protectee and their protective detail is fundamentally incompatible with our mission and will not be tolerated.”

Keep reading

Strange Findings – DHS Investigators Release Report on Secret Service Failures at Butler Assassination Attempt

On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General released its final report on Secret Service failures that preceded the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt against then-former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The report featured five key findings, the fifth of which included some strange details.

In short, the Secret Service site agent counterpart — usually a member of state or local law enforcement who coordinates event protection with the lead Secret Service agent, per NBC News — showed inappropriate deference to Trump’s staff on a question of major security-related significance.

Specifically, the report’s fifth key finding blamed the Secret Service for failing to block line of sight to President Trump.

Shortly after 6:00 p.m. on July 13, would-be assassin Thomas Crooks climbed the roof of an American Glass Research International building 155 yards away from Trump and fired eight shots, wounding Trump and killing rally attendee Corey Comperatore.

Prior to the event, the counterpart had identified that building as a threat.

“In Butler, the Secret Service site agent counterpart proposed blocking line of sight from the AGR complex to the stage where President Trump would be speaking,” the report read.

Keep reading

Inspector General: Secret Service’s Failure to Secure Mobile Devices Heightened Risk for U.S. Leaders

The U.S. Secret Service failed to secure mobile devices that became security risks, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) said pertaining to a review of the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024.

The OIG, which operates under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said in its report published Monday it found the Secret Service “did not effectively secure and manage mobile devices, including during protective operations. As a result, adversaries could have intercepted and exploited Secret Service information, placing at risk our Nation’s leaders, other protectees, and employees — especially when unsecured devices were used overseas.”

The office noted that during other reviews after the attempted assassination in Butler, officials learned, “Secret Service personnel frequently used personal cell phones for official business, raising security concerns. We conducted this review to determine whether the Secret Service effectively manages and secures mobile devices used to conduct official Government business, including its protective mission.”

Furthermore, the OIG report said:

This heightened risk occurred because the Secret Service’s process for identifying and implementing mobile device capabilities did not always fully identify employees’ operational needs, leaving employees without essential capabilities such that they resorted to using personal devices. The Secret Service’s processes for securing mobile devices for international use were insufficient, and it did not have a policy of testing mobile device app code before installation.

The OIG noted it made five recommendations to improve mobile device security and “reduce the use of unmanaged personal mobile devices,” adding the Secret Service concurred with those recommendations.

President Trump’s right ear was bloodied when a bullet grazed it and members of the Secret Service rushed him offstage moments after shots were fired in an assassination attempt during the Butler rally, Breitbart News reported at the time.

Keep reading

US Secret Service and Press Get Into Tense 30-Minute Standoff with Chinese Agents During Trump’s Visit

An armed Secret Service agent and members of the press got into a tense, 30-minute standoff with Chinese agents on Thursday during Trump’s visit.

President Trump on Wednesday evening arrived in Beijing for a state visit.

China rolled out the red carpet for President Trump – literally.

President Trump shook hands with Xi Jinping ahead of their high-stakes bilateral meeting.

On Thursday, however, there was a tense standoff after Chinese security stopped an armed US Secret Service agent from entering Beijing’s Temple of Heaven with their firearm.

“Chinese security officials allegedly blocked an armed U.S. Secret Service agent from entering an event on Thursday during President Donald Trump’s visit to the country, according to media members on the ground,” Fox News reported.

“A Secret Service agent was reportedly blocked from entering Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Beijing’s Temple of Heaven with their weapon on Thursday, according to reporters. The incident triggered an alleged “intense standoff” that delayed entry to the venue for over a half-hour due to heated discussions,” Fox News said.

Keep reading

Armed suspect who allegedly shot at Secret Service officers near White House identified as Texas man

Fox News has learned the name of the suspect shot by U.S. Secret Service officers near the White House this week. 

Michael Marx, a 45-year-old Texan, has been identified as the individual seen allegedly carrying a firearm just blocks from the White House on Monday, sources told Fox News on Tuesday.

Secret Service Uniformed Division officers engaged the suspect after he was observed pulling a gun, a federal source previously told Fox News Digital. 

In a news conference, Secret Service Deputy Director Matt Quinn told reporters that the suspect allegedly shot in the direction of officers after they tried to confront him near 15th Street and Independence Avenue, causing the agents to return fire.

A juvenile suspect was also struck by the suspect and sustained non-life-threatening injuries, Quinn said. 

Quinn said the confrontation began after trained surveillance personnel spotted a “visual print” of a weapon.

“My understanding is they observed a print,” Quinn said. “These are trained surveillance detection personnel out there looking every day to look for just that… and they observed a visual print of a firearm.”

Keep reading

Secret Service Officer Arrested For Exposing Himself in Miami Hotel Hallway

A Secret Service officer was arrested and charged for exposing himself in front of guests at a Miami hotel.

John Spillman, 33, was arrested after he exposed himself and masturbated in the hallway of the hotel.

Spillman was allegedly in the lobby of the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Miami Airport and followed a female guest upstairs.

The woman and another guest immediately entered their room because they were afraid.

The victims saw Spillman expose himself and called hotel security.

Per RealClearPolitics reporter Susan Crabtree:

A Secret Service Uniformed Division officer was arrested early Monday for allegedly masturbating naked on the sixth floor of the DoubleTree hotel near the Miami airport.

Police arrested John Spillman, 33, shortly after midnight Monday morning after hotel security called them.

Officers with the Miami Dade Sheriff’s office responded and caught him in the act, according to the arrest affidavit.

A victim told police that she was in the lobby when Spillman allegedly followed her and another upstairs and immediately entered a room “because she was in fear for their lives.”

“The victim saw the defendant masturbating next to their hotel room,” according to the arrest affidavit.

A judge has set bail at $1,000 and scheduled a hearing for May 27.

Keep reading

US presidential security deliberately weak – anti-terrorism expert

The latest assassination attempt on US President Donald Trump was not only a complete security failure but a product of systemic weakness that may even be deliberate, a special forces veteran of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has told RT. 

Cole Tomas Allen, a 31‑year‑old teacher from California, has been charged with trying to assassinate the US president during a dinner event at the Washington Hilton on Saturday. Allen had reportedly checked into the hotel the day before. On the day of the attack, he used an internal stairwell to get to the hotel’s terrace level where the event was held. Armed with a pump-action shotgun, a semi-automatic handgun, and three knives, Allen rushed through the metal detector frame and engaged in a gunfight with Secret Service agents. He was apprehended just a few meters from the ballroom.

Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Andrey Popov, a veteran of the FSB’s elite Alpha Group anti‑terrorism unit, has argued that the Secret Service made a number of blatant “organizational mistakes” and suggested that its repeated failures to prevent attacks on the American leader are “part of the system.”

According to Popov, such an incident would have never happened if the Security Service had followed standard security and anti-terrorism procedures and had done its due diligence ahead of the event, such as properly vetting all the hotel guests, reviewing building plans, sealing doors and ventilation, setting up proper metal detectors, and stationing additional security forces. “In a decent hotel, a person from the budget zone simply cannot physically get into the VIP zone,” he said.

Keep reading

Accused White House Correspondents’ Dinner Shooter Cole Allen Mocked Secret Service ‘Incompetence’ in Manifesto: “If I was an Iranian agent…I could have brought a d*** Ma Deuce in here”

Cole Allen, the 31-year-old alleged gunman who tried to shoot up the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner attended by President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., Saturday night in an attempt to assassinate Trump and Trump officials, mocked the “incompetence” of the Secret Service in a manifesto sent to family members ten minutes before the attack, according to a report by New York Post reporter Steven Nelson. (Allen’s brother notified New London, CT, police last night about the manifesto.)

An addition to President Trump, the Washington Hilton ballroom was filled with many high-ranking figures and officials including First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

In his manifesto, Allen wrote he was targeting the “highest ranking” official (Trump) on down, with an unexplained exception for Patel:“Administration officials (not including Mr. Patel): they are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest”

Trump has expressed support for the handling of the attack by the Secret Service. Other senior administration officials have stated the security plan worked as the shooter did not gain entry to the ballroom where the dinner was being held and no protectees or guests were harmed.

Keep reading

Trump Confirms a Secret Service Agent Was Shot at White House Correspondents’ Dinner

President Donald Trump held an urgent press conference from the White House on Saturday evening, just hours after a gunman opened fire inside the Washington Hilton during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

The president confirmed that a Secret Service agent had been shot, but was saved by his bulletproof vest.

“I just spoke to the officer. He’s in great shape!” Trump told reporters.

Trump said that the vest “did the job” and protected the agent from what could have been a fatal incident.

Trump repeatedly praised the bravery of the Secret Service team, saying they quickly neutralized the threat and prevented a much worse tragedy.

Following the shooting, the event was cut short, and Trump was evacuated along with Melania Trump before being rushed back to the White House.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, the suspected shooter has been identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of California, who is alive and in custody.

Allen worked as a teacher and was named “Teacher of the Month” in December 2024 at C2 Education in Torrance, according to an Instagram post.

Keep reading