Photo by Jim Havard
Secret Service officials arrested two men in separate incidents near the White House on Saturday, which makes three publicly known arrests at the presidential residence in the past two weeks.
Officials arrested a man after jumping over a bike rack on Pennsylvania Avenue “in an apparent attempt to get to the White House fence,” around 12:43 p.m., according to a release from the Secret Service. After jumping the fence into a restricted area, the man began “yelling nonsensical statements,” according to a release from the Metropolitan Police Department. Secret Service arrested the man for unlawful entry and searched his car, which was located on the corner of 15th and I Streets NW. The search of the vehicle “yielded negative results,” according to the police report, and the man was taken to a nearby police station.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer tweeted that the Secret Service had a “great response” to this incident. Criminal charges are pending.
And on Saturday around 11:06 p.m., Secret Service agents detained a man who drove a vehicle up to a checkpoint near the White House at 15th Street and E Street NW, according to an MPD release. Police say the man was driving a 2017 Chevrolet Impala that was reported stolen from Roanoke, Virginia. The man exited the car and said “there’s a bomb in the trunk” while “clasping something in his right hand,” according to the report. And as officials took the man to the ground, he said “this is a test.” He was arrested for false bomb threats and unauthorized use of a vehicle.
President Donald J. Trump was not at the White House this weekend. He was at his Mar a Lago resort for the fifth time in his nascent presidency.
These incidents come eight days after Jonathan Tuan Tran scaled two fences and a security gate to get on the White House grounds, where he was for more than 15 minutes before being arrested by Secret Service, according to a release from the agency.
Tran was carrying two cans of mace and a letter for President Donald Trump that referenced “Russian Hackers,” among other things, according to a court document.
A federal district court judge in Washington D.C. released Tran, ordering that he be monitored by a GPS device, stay away from D.C. unless he’s attending court proceedings or meeting with his lawyer, live with his family in Milpitas, California, and undergo a mental health evaluation, among other conditions.
