Washington, DC – There was an incident when President Donald Trump finally emerged from his two-day hibernation on Monday over this long weekend sojourn in Mar-a-Lago and headed to Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
During a security screening, the US Secret Service detained one of the drivers of the press pool vans for what he said was a personal firearm found in his baggage. The driver said he forgot to leave the firearm inside his personal vehicle before entering the van.
The said screening took place off club grounds in a parking lot across the street, and roughly an hour before press vans joined up with the presidential motorcade, according to the traveling White House journalists pool report.
The driver was not allowed onto club property, so a White House staffer drove the van instead. White House staff told the pool journalists that all drivers were replaced after the incident. When the press loaded back into the vans, the driver was being questioned by an officer.
Commenting on the incident, the Secret Service said, “The Secret Service can confirm that an individual serving as a staff contracted driver was briefly detained by US Secret Service personnel and other law enforcement officials today. The individual was found to be in lawful possession of a prohibited item (firearm) outside the secure area at a Secret Service security screening checkpoint.”
In its statement the USSS noted, “The incident was investigated by the Secret Service and our partners at the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office (PBSO) and resolved. At no time was any Secret Service protectee in danger or impacted. All Secret Service security measures worked.”
In another minor incident, another van grazed a Secret Service vehicle in the parking lot of the club grounds, but damage to vehicles appeared to be very minor and no one was hurt.
The White House didn’t provide any updates on the president’s activities at the golf club. Trump skipped golf the past two days in the wake of last week’s school shooting. Moreover, the traveling pool of White House correspondents didn’t see President Trump since Friday night, when he met with injured victims and first responders from the Parkland shooting.