BS BULLETIN:
- An armed man arrested at Trump’s California golf club allegedly had more than 200 pages of writings about Melania Trump and the Secret Service.
- Investigators say Jeanine John Taele had a loaded pistol, hollow-point ammunition — and later found an illegally modified AR-style rifle, body armor and more ammunition at his home.
- A judge called the case “alarming” Wednesday and suspended criminal proceedings after an evaluation found Taele mentally unfit to stand trial.
The armed man caught prowling around President Trump’s California golf club was already disturbing.
What investigators allegedly found in his notebooks makes the story considerably worse.
Jeanine John Taele, 38, had more than 200 pages of writings containing schedules for First Lady Melania Trump and members of the president’s Secret Service detail, according to information revealed at a court hearing Wednesday.
Prosecutors reportedly described seven notebooks totaling 208 pages, including drawings and sketches of Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles, Secret Service schedules and information about individual security personnel.
Taele was arrested earlier this month after federal agents spotted him taking pictures of the golf course while security preparations were underway for a Trump visit. Authorities say he was wearing an earpiece and claimed he worked for the State Department.
He allegedly had a magazine loaded with hollow-point ammunition in his pocket.
Inside his truck, authorities found a loaded 9mm pistol with a round in the chamber, binoculars and a badge reading “security protection agent.”
And investigators weren’t finished.
A subsequent search of Taele’s home turned up an illegally modified AR-platform rifle, another pistol, body armor, high-capacity magazines, bulk ammunition and radio-signal equipment, according to authorities. The Justice Department charged him federally with possession of an unregistered short-barreled rifle.
The newly revealed notebooks apparently got the judge’s attention.
“This case itself is alarming in this day and age with the violence that is creeping into our everyday lives,” Los Angeles County Judge John Lonergan Jr. said during Wednesday’s hearing, according to the Associated Press.
The writings also reportedly included detailed plans for surviving “off the grid.”
There is, however, an important complication.
Lonergan suspended the criminal proceedings after a pretrial evaluation indicated Taele was not mentally competent to stand trial. He was sent to mental health court and will remain jailed pending a Sept. 9 hearing.
Taele’s public defender A.J. Bayne cautioned against assuming his client’s motive, telling the AP that “people assume too much.” No specific political motive or ideology has been publicly established.
Trump reacted to the original arrest earlier this month with typical Trump understatement.
“Well, the only thing I get a little solace from is, they say only consequential presidents,” Trump said during an appearance on “Fox News @ Night.” “And I am definitely consequential.”
MY QUICK TAKE
A loaded gun. Hollow-point ammunition. Body armor. An illegally modified rifle.
And now we learn there were more than 200 pages containing information about the First Lady and the people responsible for protecting the president.
Whatever investigators ultimately determine about this man’s intentions and mental condition, the judge picked the right word: Alarming.
After everything this country has already watched happen around Donald Trump, nobody should need another reminder that presidential security is deadly serious business.
DBS WIRE SOURCES
- Armed man arrested at Trump golf course allegedly had first lady’s schedule, Secret Service notes — Fox News
- Judge suspends charges against ex-Marine arrested at Trump golf course — Associated Press
- DOJ: Downey man arrested with loaded pistol at Trump golf club charged with firearm crime
