The US Secret Service on Thursday discovered a suspicious hunting post near Palm Beach International Airport with a direct line of sight to where President Donald Trump exits Air Force One, the agency confirmed to NBC News on Sunday.
The FBI is now leading an investigation into the discovery, Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the US Secret Service, said in a statement.
“The U.S. Secret Service is working closely with the FBI and our law enforcement partners in Palm Beach County. During pre-arrival security preparations in Palm Beach, which included the use of technology and comprehensive physical sweeps, our teams identified items of interest near Palm Beach International Airport,” Guglielmi said.
He added that “there was no impact from any movement and there were no people present or involved at the scene.”
The discovery was first reported by Fox News.
Trump traveled to Florida on Friday and will spend the weekend in West Palm Beach, where he usually stays at his Mar-a-Lago resort to play golf.
The president has faced multiple threats over the past two years, beginning during last year’s election campaign and continuing after he was elected to another term as president.
Last year he faced two assassination attempts: one when he was the target of a shooting during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last July and another while playing golf in Florida last September.
In Pennsylvania, Thomas Crooks, a 20-year-old man from the Butler area, was killed by Secret Service agents after he opened fire on Trump from the rooftop of a building near the rally site.
And in the Florida case, Ryan Routh, now 59, hid in the bushes of a West Palm Beach golf course in what prosecutors described as a plot to kill the then-presidential candidate. But a Secret Service agent spotted Routh before Trump reached that part of the tour, which ultimately led to Routh’s arrest.
Last month, a jury found Routh guilty of attempted murder in Florida. He is scheduled to be sentenced in December.
One man, former Fire Chief Corey Comperatore, 50, was killed in the shooting in Pennsylvania and two others were wounded.
Earlier this year, West Palm Beach police arrested a 46-year-old man for allegedly threatening on social media to kill Trump before his inauguration.
In another case earlier this year, a Wisconsin man was arrested for falsifying threats against Trump while trying to frame and deport another man.
