The FBI has opened an investigation after the Secret Service discovered a hunting stand positioned with a direct line of sight to the area where former President Donald Trump exits Air Force One in Palm Beach.
According to a Fox News Digital report, the structure had been in place for several months before being identified by authorities.
“Prior to the President’s return to West Palm Beach, USSS discovered what appeared to be an elevated hunting stand within sightlineof the Air Force One landing zone,” FBI Director Kash Patel told the outlet.
“No individuals were located at the scene. The FBI has since taken the investigatory lead, flying in resources to collect all evidence from the scene, and deploying our cell phone analytics capabilities,” Patel added.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino appeared on the network Monday morning to discuss the issue, noting that the hunting stand had been “completely dismantled” and the structure flown back to FBI headquarters near Washington, D.C., for further forensic examination.
All available tools “will be applied to try and find out who put this up there and why.”
Trump rapidly boarded Air Force One using a smaller staircase on Sunday due to “increased security measures” at Palm Beach International Airport after the discovery of the hunting position.
USSS Chief of Communications Anthony Guglielmi confirmed to Fox that the agency is “working closely” with the FBI and local law enforcement in Palm Beach County.
He added that agents discovered the alleged hunting stand during their “advance security preparations” prior to Trump’s arrival in Palm Beach.
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“There was no impact to any movements, and no individuals were present or involved at the location,” Guglielmi told Fox. “While we are not able to provide details about the specific items or their intent, this incident underscores the importance of our layered security measures,” he added.
The investigation comes just weeks after Ryan Routh was convicted of attempting to assassinate then-former President Trump on a Palm Beach golf course. Prosecutors said Routh had set up a sniper’s nest in bushes along a fence line overlooking the course before being apprehended by Secret Service agents.
Chilling videos surfaced late last month showing attempted Trump assassin Thomas Crooks dry-firing a handgun in a tactical stance inside his bedroom, according to footage shared online.
The undated clips, reportedly posted online by Crooks before being scrubbed from the internet, were obtained by conservative commentator Candace Owens and played on her podcast on Wednesday.
Crooks, 20, opened fire on Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July, nearly killing the then–Republican presidential nominee before being fatally shot in the head by law enforcement, The New York Post reported.
One video shows Crooks recording a handgun lying across a quilt on his neatly made bed. He flips the camera to reveal himself—thin, pale, and dressed in athletic wear—in a sparsely decorated room with a Marvel superheroes poster on the wall. Crooks then picks up the gun, assumes a tactical stance, and dry-fires at an unseen target off-camera.
In a second clip, Crooks stands motionless before what appears to be a sheet of target paper marked with blue circles. Holding the same handgun, he again takes aim in a practiced stance, his demeanor even more chilling than before.
Owens said the videos reveal a disturbing glimpse into Crooks’ obsession with guns and assassinations, a fixation investigators say extended far beyond his own bedroom.
According to the FBI, Crooks’ laptop showed a July 6, 2024 search for “How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?”—just one week before he attempted to assassinate Trump.