Disturbing new details have emerged about the armed man arrested at President Trump’s California golf club, and the allegations go considerably beyond somebody simply showing up where he did not belong.
Prosecutors revealed Wednesday that Jeanine John Taele, 38, allegedly possessed first lady Melania Trump’s schedule along with sensitive information concerning Secret Service agents assigned to protect President Trump.
According to reports, authorities recovered seven notebooks containing 208 pages of writings, drawings and sketches connected to Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes.
Prosecutors said the material included copies of Melania Trump’s schedule, Secret Service schedules and information about individual security personnel. The notebooks reportedly also contained detailed information about surviving “off the grid.”
That is quite a collection of material to allegedly possess while hanging around a location President Trump was preparing to visit.
Los Angeles County Judge John Lonergan Jr. did not minimize the seriousness of the allegations during Wednesday’s hearing.
“This case itself is alarming in this day and age with the violence that is creeping into our everyday lives, especially with our partisanship in the political environment” ahead of the midterms, Lonergan said, according to The Associated Press.
The case began on Aug. 2, when plainclothes federal agents allegedly observed Taele walking around the golf club grounds. Authorities said he was photographing and recording the property and appeared to be watching security preparations ahead of President Trump’s visit.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies detained Taele and allegedly found a 16-round magazine loaded with hollow-point ammunition in his pants pocket.
Things apparently became even more concerning from there.
Authorities searching his vehicle reportedly discovered a loaded pistol with a round in the chamber, along with another magazine containing hollow-point ammunition.
Taele allegedly told authorities that he worked for the State Department and was at the property as part of a security detail.
Investigators subsequently searched his home in Downey, California. Authorities said they recovered an illegally modified AR-platform rifle, a .45-caliber handgun, body armor, high-capacity magazines, bulk ammunition and radio signal devices. Multiple notebooks containing what investigators previously characterized as “concerning statements” were also seized.
The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, Secret Service and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department are investigating.
The criminal proceedings, however, have now been suspended after a pretrial evaluation found Taele mentally unfit to stand trial. Judge Lonergan transferred the matter to a mental health court. Taele, a Marine veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is expected to remain jailed until a Sept. 9 hearing at Hollywood Mental Health Court.
His public defender, A.J. Bayne, cautioned against drawing conclusions about Taele’s intentions.
“He’s a veteran, he served our country, and I don’t know enough right now, but he has a family that loves him, that has huge support for him,” Bayne told the AP, adding that “people assume too much” about Taele’s motives.
That presumption of innocence matters, particularly because prosecutors have presented allegations rather than a conviction. But authorities also have an obligation to take potential threats involving a president and first lady seriously, especially when firearms, ammunition, security information and presidential schedules allegedly turn up in the same investigation.
The Secret Service previously said it “thoroughly investigates any information or activity that may reasonably be perceived as a protective intelligence concern or indicate a potential threat or directed interest toward any individual under Secret Service protection.”
President Trump addressed the arrest earlier this month with his characteristic mix of humor and defiance.
“Well, the only thing I get a little solace from is, they say only consequential presidents. And I am definitely consequential,” President Trump said during an appearance on “Fox News @ Night.”
Whatever investigators ultimately determine about Taele’s intentions, the alleged possession of detailed information involving Melania Trump and Secret Service personnel raises serious security questions. Protecting presidents and their families is not a partisan luxury. In a political climate already scarred by violence and threats, authorities cannot afford to treat warning signs casually.
Leave a Comment