Authorities arrested an armed man who was studying security preparations at a golf course two days before President Trump’s visit.
Authorities discovered ammunition in his pocket and a gun in his truck.
Officials say 38-year-old Jeanine John Taele was seen on Sunday taking videos and pictures of the Los Angeles area Trump National Golf Club ahead of the president’s visit there on Tuesday.
Taele told federal agents he was a State Department employee there for a security detail.
Police say Taele had a 16-round magazine with hollow-point bullets in his pocket and that a search of his pickup truck in the parking lot discovered a loaded 9 millimeter pistol, binoculars, and a badge that read “Security Protection Agent.”
They also say a search of his nearby home turned up a rifle and other firearms, magazines and ammunition, body armor and notebooks with “concerning statements.”
Taele is charged with a federal firearm-related offense.
“Mr. Taele’s troubling behavior at the President’s public golf course merely days before the President was expected to arrive raised serious red flags for law enforcement,” Patrick Grandy, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, said in a statement. “There is no room for error, particularly in light of previous attempts on President Trump’s life.”
There have been three attempts on President Trump’s life in just over two years.
Last year, a jury found would-be assassin Ryan Routh guilty of trying to shoot Trump at the president’s Florida country club.
While he was a candidate in 2024, Trump was injured and narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by a shooter on a roof at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
And earlier this year, a gunman managed to breach security at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where President Trump was attending.
