Watchdog group demands answers after ‘unbelievable security lapse’ by Trump’s Secret Service team
A lawsuit is demanding the government hand over internal communications relating to an incident where Trump dined faced chants from protesters who appeared to have advance notice he would be there. CODEPINK via Storyful
Concerns are mounting that the U.S. Secret Service has placed President Donald Trump at risk through repeated security lapses, as the government withholds information that could shed light on recent failures. Advocates say those failures were evident during a recent outing to a Washington, D.C., restaurant where Code Pink protesters were able to confront the president at close range.
“I’m just really concerned about the president’s safety,” Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, told The Post.
Fitton said the incident at Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab in September reflected a troubling pattern. “He was almost killed twice supposedly under the protection of the Secret Service, and then they walked him into a potentially dangerous ambush,” he said.
Judicial Watch has spent the past three months seeking records explaining how protesters appeared to have advance notice of Trump’s closely guarded movements. The dinner was intended to highlight improved safety and stability in the nation’s capital following enhanced federal security measures.
“These people were allowed to get within arm’s length of the sitting president, with knives and who knows what else in the restaurant available to them,” Fitton said.
Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker also criticized the security arrangements, calling the episode “an unbelievable security lapse.”
“I can’t believe they would let random people sit in that close proximity,” Swecker said. “That’s crazy. That’s like the days when Abraham Lincoln would ride down Pennsylvania Avenue in a coach and buggy with no protection.”
On Dec. 18, Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., seeking internal Secret Service emails and text messages related to the presence of Code Pink protesters at the restaurant. The group is also requesting communications between Secret Service officials and any email accounts ending in “@codepink.org.”
According to court filings, the government failed to meet a Dec. 9 deadline to produce the records under the Freedom of Information Act.
Trump dined at the restaurant on Sept. 9 with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Although none of the protesters were accused of violence, Fitton said the incident demonstrates the danger posed when individuals obtain advance knowledge of the president’s whereabouts.
Video from the scene shows members of Trump’s security detail speaking into handheld microphones as the disruption began and as Trump approached his table. The president can be seen pointing toward the protesters, signaling that they should be removed. The protesters shouted slogans including, “Free D.C. Free Palestine. Trump is the Hitler of our time!”
Trump survived two assassination attempts during the 2024 campaign—one in July in Butler, Pennsylvania, and another in September at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida. A subsequent House task force found that inexperienced personnel “did not clearly understand the delineation of their responsibilities.”
Judicial Watch is also seeking Secret Service records related to those incidents.
In the Joe’s Seafood case, reports indicated that protesters had more than an hour to make reservations and secured a table next to Trump. They reportedly shouted at the president, left cash on the table, and were then escorted out.
In another recent security failure, Secret Service agents did not detect a guest who brought a Glock handgun in a bag onto Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, while the president was present. Agents were conducting manual searches at the time.
“The U.S. Secret Service takes the safety and security of our sites very seriously, and there are redundant security layers built into every one,” an agency spokesperson said following that incident, adding that the individual was never in close proximity to the president.
The Secret Service said all restaurant guests were screened before Trump arrived and declined to comment on the ongoing lawsuit.
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