Federal officials discovered what they called a “suspicious stand” near the area of ​​Palm Beach International Airport used by Air Force One as President Trump travels to Florida, FBI Director Kash Patel said on Sunday in a post on a social network.
The US Secret Service said in a statement it found “items of interest” during a sweep of the area ahead of Trump's arrival on Friday. The agency did not identify the items, but shared a photo of what appeared to be a platform or hunting stand mounted high in a tree.
US Secret Service
“No movements occurred and no individuals were present or involved at the location,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.
Multiple sources told CBS News that the hunting stand had been there for several months. Mr. Trump did not use that part of the airport last year due to construction, so it could not be part of the Secret Service's review of the facility.
As soon as construction was completed, the Secret Service began using that part of the airport, and the stand was immediately discovered during initial inspections, sources said.
It was not immediately clear when construction would end.
The president flew into Palm Beach Airport on Friday and is set to return to Washington on Sunday after spending the weekend at his Mar-A-Lago club.
The airport is located less than a mile north of Trump's golf club in West Palm Beach, which was the site of an assassination attempt on the president last year. Prosecutors say Ryan Routh – who was found guilty in a murder plot last month – pointed the rifle from behind the trees near the golf club, but Secret Service agents spotted him and opened fire.
Mr. Trump survived a separate assassination attempt just two months earlier when a bullet grazed his ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Security breaches have attracted new study to the Secret Service, which suspended several agents earlier this year.
