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Report: Armed Guard Who Rode Elevator With Obama Was Not A Convicted Felon

Report: Armed Guard Who Rode Elevator With Obama Was Not A Convicted Felon
Igor Bobic
By 

Senior Politics Reporter, HuffPost

A member of the US Secret Service Uniformed Division patrols in front of the White House in Washington on October 25, 2014. For once, the debate gripping Washington is not about party politics. It's about the White House fence. Is it high enough? Should it be electrified? Are tourists allowed to get too close to the building? After a series of security lapses that raised questions about the safety of the US president, do authorities need to change or reconsider the fence surrounding the First Family's residence in the heart of the city? But the spectacular breach that saw an Iraq war veteran sprint across the White House lawn in mid-September and enter the building with a knife in his pocket has rattled the US Secret Service, which is tasked with protecting the president. AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)
A member of the US Secret Service Uniformed Division patrols in front of the White House in Washington on October 25, 2014. For once, the debate gripping Washington is not about party politics. It's about the White House fence. Is it high enough? Should it be electrified? Are tourists allowed to get too close to the building? After a series of security lapses that raised questions about the safety of the US president, do authorities need to change or reconsider the fence surrounding the First Family's residence in the heart of the city? But the spectacular breach that saw an Iraq war veteran sprint across the White House lawn in mid-September and enter the building with a knife in his pocket has rattled the US Secret Service, which is tasked with protecting the president. AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

An armed guard who rode on an elevator with President Barack Obama and his aides at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta was not a convicted felon, as previously reported by the Washington Post.

The Post clarified Saturday, according to two people briefed on the September incident, that the unidentified private security contractor only had a criminal record.

Secret Service agents questioned the man after he drew attention by recording images of the president with a camera in the elevator. Officials then ran a background check that revealed prior arrests in his history.

The change is significant because one day after the Post and the Washington Examiner published reports on the incident on September 30, Secret Service director Julia Pierson resigned. The story was one more embarrassment for the embattled agency, which was already facing the ire of Congress after a man managed to hop a fence and enter the White House.

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