A man was arrested on the White House grounds near the residence while President Donald Trump was in the complex Friday night, the Secret Service said Saturday.
The agency said in a statement that the man scaled the fence on the south part of the White House grounds just after 11.30 p.m.
Nicole Mainor, a Secret Service spokeswoman said he scaled the outer perimeter fence by the Treasury Building and East Executive Avenue. “Secret Service Uniformed Division Officers arrested the individual on the South Grounds without further incident,” she said in the statement.
He was arrested carrying a backpack, but when U.S. Secret Service officials screened the backpack, it didn’t have any dangerous materials, the network said. Agents also searched the White House grounds after the breach.
Trump and John Kelly, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, were briefed on the breach, CNN reported.
During a working lunch with members of his cabinet at Trump National Golf Club in Virginia, the president addressed the incident. “Secret Service did a fantastic job last night,” he said, adding that the man arrested was “troubled.”
The agency said the person arrested had no previous history with the Secret Service nor a criminal record.
CNN’s Jeff Zeleny reported that the man told officers he was a friend of the president.
Last year, the Secret Service announced that it would raise the height of the fence and make it more difficult for people to jump the fence.
This article has been updated with new details including comment from Trump and the Secret Service.
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