Secret Service arrests man who scaled White House fence during Trump-Netanyahu meeting
WASHINGTON, DC: It was anything but a quiet Monday on Pennsylvania Avenue. The US Secret Service nabbed a man for scaling the fence at the White House complex while President Donald Trump was inside.
Photos showed the would-be intruder dressed oddly dapper for a trespasser. He was sporting a blazer and blue-tinted sunglasses as agents escorted him away in cuffs.
A Secret Service spokesperson confirmed that the man was arrested for “unlawful entry.”
The official explained, “An individual scaled the fence on the southeast side of the US Treasury Building and was arrested by US Secret Service Uniformed Division officers for unlawful entry. He was subsequently transported to Metropolitan Police Department’s 2nd District for processing. There was no impact to our protective operations.”
The Daily Mail reported the fence-jumper incident went down just as “a group of protesters in Washington DC railed against the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”
Trump showers praise on Netanyahu
Inside, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu were huddling over the Israel-Hamas war. Their talks ended with Trump rolling out a sweeping 20-point peace plan that would put him at the head of a so-called “board of peace” tasked with shaping Gaza’s future.
At a White House press conference afterwards, Trump gushed it was a “big day, a beautiful day” and even “potentially one of the greatest days ever in civilisation.” The president said he’d already floated the plan to Arab leaders.
The duo showed up late to the presser, explaining they’d been hammering out details of the yet-to-be-finalized deal with Netanyahu, Arab leaders, and Hamas.
“Let’s call it eternal peace in the Middle East,” Trump declared. “This is far more than anybody expected, but the level of support that I have had from the nations in the Middle East and neighbors of Israel has been incredible.”
According to Trump, Netanyahu gave his blessing to the proposal, which demands an immediate ceasefire, disarmament of Hamas, and Israeli withdrawal.
Standing beside him, the Republican leader lavished praise on his Israeli counterpart for “agreeing to the plan,” adding, “This will be your crowning achievement.”
Trump also tipped his hat to his inner circle, including son-in-law Jared Kushner. “I don’t think anybody else could have done it or even come close," he said, before calling Netanyahu a “warrior” and declaring that Israel was “lucky to have him.”
History of breaches at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
It’s still unclear if Monday’s trespasser had any real intention of harming Donald Trump or Benjamin Netanyahu. But fence-jumping at the White House isn’t exactly a new phenomenon.
The most serious breach in recent memory came in 2023 during Joe Biden's time in office, when 19-year-old Sai Varshith Kandula rammed a U-Haul into a security barrier.
Authorities recovered a Nazi flag from the vehicle. Kandula later admitted he planned to kill Biden.
Before that, there was the infamous 2014 Obama-era fiasco. Iraq War vet Omar J Gonzalez, armed with nothing more than a pocket knife, scaled the fence and made it deep inside the executive mansion before agents finally stopped him.
“Witnesses have told the House oversight committee that Omar Gonzalez overpowered an officer at the front door and was not stopped until he reached a separate room toward the back of the White House,” The Guardian reported at the time.
