A woman was arrested late Saturday morning for attempting to scale a temporary fence set up outside the White House ahead of next month’s inauguration, according to the U.S. Secret Service.
The federal protective agency stated that the woman was “quickly taken into custody” and arrested for unlawful entry. She was then transported to the DC Metro Police Department’s 2nd District for processing.
The Secret Service reported that while President Biden was at the White House at the time, the woman did not manage to breach the fence, and the incident did not affect the president or any other protectees.
In March 2017, the Secret Service arrested a man who climbed a White House fence and remained on the grounds for 17 minutes before being apprehended, Fox News reported. Jonathan Tuan-Anh Tran, a California man, falsely claimed he had an appointment with then-President Donald Trump.
In September 2014, a knife-wielding man named Omar J. Gonzalez successfully scaled a fence and entered the East Room of the White House while former President Obama was in office, before being apprehended.
In his first sit-down interview since winning the presidential election, Trump told NBC News’ Meet the Press that he remains committed to pardoning individuals convicted for their involvement in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
In addition, the president-elect also stated that members of the Democrat-dominated House committee that claimed to investigate the incident “should go to jail.”
“Honestly, they should go to jail,” Trump told NBC News’ Kristen Welker. “So you think Liz Cheney should go to jail?” Welker asked.
“For what they did,” Trump responded.
However, Trump made it clear that he would not direct his FBI director or attorney general to do so, adding, “they’ll have to look at that, but I’m not going to — I’m going to focus on drill, baby, drill. I’m going to look at everything. We’re going to look at individual cases.”
The incoming commander-in-chief also intimated that he may try and take executive action to end so-called “birthright citizenship” — meaning the children of people in the country illegally automatically become American citizens when they’re born in the U.S., though he’ll likely face a legal challenge that will question the constitutionality of such an order.
Welker also questioned Trump about his plans for mass deportation.
“Well, I think you have to do it, and it’s a hard – it’s a very tough thing to do,” Trump said. “But you have to have rules, regulations, laws. They came in illegally. You know the people that have been treated very unfairly are the people that have been in line for ten years to come into the country. And we’re going to make it very easy for people to come in in terms of they have to pass the test.”
Trump’s comments come as reports said that President Joe Biden is considering preemptive pardons for several people including Cheney, her committee co-chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), and former top immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Trump went on to praise several of his Cabinet nominees, including Kash Patel, whom he will nominate to replace retiring FBI Director Christopher Wray.
That said, the FBI during the Trump and Biden years spied on its likely new director, according to a new Department of Justice inspector general report.
Patel has pledged to “clean house” at the Hoover Building and hold accountable all those who “abused their power” during the Russiagate “witch hunt.”
He may begin by addressing the officials and agents who secretly collected his phone records and emails starting in late 2017. At that time, he was leading a House Intelligence Committee investigation into the FBI’s use of false opposition research from Hillary Clinton to surveil a Trump campaign official, labeling them as a supposed “Russian agent,” RealClearInvestigations correspondent Paul Sperry wrote.