The New York Times reported on Tuesday that former President Donald Trump’s campaign offices were evacuated and searched after personnel found a “security device.”
The Times’ Maggie Haberman said the offices were searched after security personnel suspected that they could be bugged with listening devices.
The story, co-authored with Jonathan Swan, noted a police report that detailed how the incident played out. Haberman surmised that the offices were evacuated out of “paranoia” following the email hack Trump’s campaign revealed earlier this summer.
However, the Times report noted that the devices that were found were likely put there as a prank.
“A plastic prank device that can be purchased on Amazon for $13.97 was the cause of the problem,” The Times reported.
“A police report from the West Palm Beach police department, obtained by The New York Times, detailed the incident. Devices were found on Thursday after people heard beeping under a staff member’s desk at the Trump campaign offices. When Trump officials searched, they found additional devices, for a total of three,” the report continued.
It added:
“FOUND POTENTIAL LISTENING DEVICES // HEARD BEEPING BY DESKS // INTERNAL SECURITY ALSO FOUND DEVICE,” the police report reads. The person making the report, according to the document, “THINKS THEY HAVE FOUND LISTENING DEVICES ‘BUGS; IN THE OFFICE.’”
Despite the police presence, officials determined quickly that the devices were likely a prank. No one has owned up to the prank, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
A Trump spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The police report said that “about fifty employees evacuated the suites.” The security official who works for the offices in the building told the police he believed “the devices were part of a prank. The suites were canvassed for any additional devices and evidence yielding negative results,” according to the document.
Based on the description and price point, the devices appear to have been the “AnnoyingPCB” — billed as “the ultimate gag gift or revenge pranks.”
Meanwhile, a top pollster has revealed that Vice President Kamala Harris’s lead against Trump in the polls is “steadily cutting.”
A recent ActiVote survey, conducted from August 25 to September 2, shows that Harris has a 1.6-point advantage over Trump, with 50.8 percent to his 49.2 percent. This edge is within the poll’s 3.1 percent margin of error.
In the most recent ActiVote poll, which was conducted among 1,000 potential voters between August 15 and 23, she led Trump by five points, but that lead has since shrunk.
“Harris’ poll numbers improved steadily for about three-four weeks after Biden dropped out, followed by a period of two weeks where it hovered around a 5-point lead. In the past five days that 5-point lead has been steadily cut to just under 2 percent,” ActiVote pollster Victor Allis wrote.
Before Harris’s campaign debut, Trump was ahead of Joe Biden both nationally and in each of the seven swing states. But in the days and weeks following Biden’s conclusion of his reelection campaign, surveys indicated that Harris’s candidacy had given the Democratic campaign fresh vitality, surpassing Trump’s advantage nationally and leading in six of the seven swing states.
However, other surveys also suggest that Harris’ lead is eroding.
For the first time since early August, Trump led Harris in the Electoral College on Friday, according to pollster Nate Silver’s forecast model. Trump had an almost 5-point advantage against Harris (47.3%) according to his estimate, which gave him a 52.4 percent chance of winning the Electoral College.
“Although we wouldn’t advise worrying too much about the difference between a 52/48 race one way versus a 48/52 race the other way—it’s not a big difference—this wasn’t a good day for Kamala Harris in our model, as Donald Trump is the slight favorite for the first time since August 3,” Silver wrote in an update.