Armed Man Arrested at Trump Golf Club

Ryan talks with ABC News Law Enforcement Contributor Don Mihalek about what investigators know so far after an armed man was arrested at Trump National Golf Club, including the security response and the ongoing investigation.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Ryan Gorman Show podcast presented by Farah and Farah
Accident Attorney's Tampa.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Joining us now to break down everything we know about
this man who was arrested at President Trump's California golf
course ahead of the President's visit. Were joined by a
retired senior Secret Service agent, Don Mahalik. So done this man,
he was armed, he was scoping out the golf club.
What have we learned since he was arrested?

Speaker 3 (00:27):
So when the Secret Service went to President Trump's golf
course to do their advance because He's going there to
do a fundraising visit. On one of the days they
were there, they noticed this individual acting suspiciously. He appeared
to be taking videos and photos of the golf course,
walking all around a golf course, exhibiting some suspicious concerning behavior.
The next day, when the advanced team was there, they

(00:49):
were notified by the golf course that this individual was
back in the area. And on a second day, he
was wearing an earpiece, he was carrying the Believe a badge,
and he actually walked up to the advanced team and said,
I'm with the State Department. I'm here for Secretary Rubio, which,
of course the Secret Service agents knew was not right,
so they detained him, and then they contacted the La

(01:12):
County sheriffs who came. When the sheriffs showed up, they
identified him and he had a warrant for a robbery
out of Los Angeles, so they arrested it based upon
the warrant, and then they found that he had an
ammunition on him and a gun in the car. And
then when they went to the house his home, they
found more guns, more body armor, radios, and a bunch

(01:37):
of writings that he had done with concerning statements in
and including I think he had the White House switchboard
number written on the wall or something. So all of that,
the sheriffs took him into custody. They charged them locally
with the District Attorney's office for the warrant and firearms violations.
The US Attorney's Office, of course, took an interest because

(02:00):
it's the president. Can they charge him federally for a
whole range of firearms violations because right now they still
have to work the threat part of this to see
if indeed this individual posed a threat. So they're pouring
through all of his writings, his cyber background, probably talking
to people with an orbit to determine did this individual

(02:21):
pose a threat? Who did he pose a threat to,
and how is he going to carry out something? If
he was going to carry out some type of a crime,
and then and then if they do determine that, they'll
charge him for the threats against the public official.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
The initial suspicions that the Secret Service had when they
first saw him taking pictures of the golf club and
walking around when he caught their attention, would that have
been enough in and of itself for them to follow
up or was it really that second day and the
golf club alerting them that he was back, that's what
led them to say, we got to check this sky

(03:00):
I am.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
So it's a public golf club, so you always have
to be cognizant that it's a public member's only golf
club and people are there for various reasons. Of course
it's a high end golf club. So uh So, to
answer your question, could they have interviewed them the first day, Probably,
but I think the second day was the was the
point that really locked in that what is this guy

(03:21):
doing here? And we really need to figure figure this
sat sooner rather than later. And that's what triggered, triggered
the investigation.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
All right, and another incident for the Secret Service to
investigate with US retired Senior Secret Service Agent Don Mahalik
with all the latest done. Really appreciate the breakdown, Thanks
so much.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
Thanks.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
Ryan us in Live to have a Ryan Gorman Show
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