Two Secret Service officers have been fired over their handling of a March 10 incident in which a White House fence jumper made it just steps from a main door to the executive mansion, two law enforcement officials told CNN on Thursday.
The Uniformed Division officers, both with less than a year on the job, were assigned to guard posts located at the Treasury Building and at an entrance to East Executive Avenue, the source said.
Video surveillance shows the alleged intruder, 26-year-old Jonathan Tran of California, first jumping a fence in the Northwest corner of the Treasury Building. He then climbed a five-foot fence, an eight-foot gate and hopped and three-and-a-half-foot fence while Secret Service members struggled to locate him.
Tran set off multiple alarm sensors before being discovered. He had been on the White House grounds undetected for more than 15 minutes, CNN reported in March.
The incident happened just before midnight on March 10, while President Donald Trump was home at the White House.
At the time, Trump was alerted of the intrusion and the White House was placed under the security condition “Orange” — one of the Secret Service’s highest levels of security.
The next day, Trump lauded the Secret Service for its handling of the incident.
“The service did a fantastic job,” the President told reporters during a lunch meeting with Cabinet officials at the Trump National Golf Club in Potomac Falls, Virginia. “It was a troubled person. It was very sad.”
The Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.