Plot? Sweep Turns Up Gun in Press Van Before It Joined Trump's Motorcade
Could it have been part of a nefarious plot? Or just an innocent oversight?
Those are the questions being asked after a driver of one of the press vans in President Trump’s motorcade was detained for having a personal firearm in his baggage on Monday, Fox News reported.
The Secret Service seems to believe that there’s no threat, however, having reported that the “staff contracted driver” was “in lawful possession of a prohibited item” and was briefly detained and questioned.
According to The Washington Times, the driver’s van was parked across from Mar-a-Lago, the president’s resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
During a routine sweep, the weapon was discovered by Secret Service agents.
The driver, who was not named, was subsequently detained and said that he had forgotten to leave his personal firearm in his vehicle before leaving to operate the press van.
“The incident was investigated by the Secret Service and our partners at the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and resolved,” a Secret Service statement read.
“At no time was any Secret Service protectee in danger or impacted. All Secret Service security measures worked.”
Fox News noted that the van was outside of the secure perimeter area around Mar-a-Lago.
A report said the weapon was found one hour before the press vans were scheduled to join the motorcade. All the drivers were subsequently replaced.
The press van was driven by a White House staffer.
While we can take some comfort in the fact that the Secret Service were able to detect this firearm before the van actually joined the presidential motorcade, it raises some serious questions about outside contractors and the threat they may pose, at the very least.
One assumes, of course, that due diligence was done before the press van driver was released. However, given the number of incidents involving the White House perimeter being breached, a gun almost making it onto the motorcade is still a frightening prospect.
Could it be something darker at play? Only time will tell.
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