The U.S. Secret Service told Newsweek that reports about a “security lapse” in former President Barack Obama‘s security detail over the weekend are “inaccurate.”
TMZ reported on Wednesday that its reporters spoke to an armed security guard who was working at an event above a restaurant that the former president attended in Los Angeles on Saturday evening. The guard, who remained nameless, said that he approached the SUV that was transporting Obama without being stopped by Secret Security agents. He reported that two agents were standing away from the vehicle in an alleyway when he approached the former president’s transport.
The guard said he saw Obama in the back of the vehicle using a laptop, according to the TMZ report.
He told the news outlet that the incident appeared to be “a security lapse” by the Secret Service because “there was no one on the backside of SUV.” The guard also shared a photo with the outlet that he said was taken when he first approached the vehicle.
A spokesperson for the Secret Service told Newsweek over email, however, that the report was inaccurate.
“The Secret Service cannot provide the details on our means and methods of protection, but we can confirm that at no time were any Secret Service protectees in the vehicle while the individual was walking down the alleyway,” the spokesperson said on Wednesday. “These claims are inaccurate.”
The Secret Service spokesperson added that the “photo in question was upon departure and not during the alleged incident.”
This is a developing story that will be updated as information becomes available.
Former US President Barack Obama speaks after receiving the 2024 Sylvanus Thayer Award from the US Military Academy at West Point, New York, on September 19, 2024.
Photo by KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images
