On Friday a man jumped the White House security fence and made his way just inside the North Portico of the presidential residence before being arrested. The very next day, the Secret Service arrested a second man for refusing to move away from the White House.
Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan reported that the second man was arrested on Saturday after driving his car into the vehicle screening area of the White House and then refusing to leave. Authorities say the man had briefly demonstrated on foot earlier at another entrance gate before his arrest.
Bomb technicians combed the car with New Jersey plates but apparently found nothing. Streets around the White House were closed during the incident but the residence was not put on lockdown.
This incident came a day after another man was arrested for breaching White House security.
On Friday U.S. Army veteran Omar J. Gonzalez, 42, of Copperas Cove, Texas jumped the White House security fence and made it all the way to the entrance of the North Portico before being tackled and detained by the Secret Service.
Gonzalez reportedly told officers that he was trying to “warn” the president, cryptically saying that he was afraid “the atmosphere was collapsing.”
The complaint notes that Gonzalez had in his pocket a small folding pocket knife with a “serrated blade.”
The man retired from the U.S. Army in 2012 after a 15-year career. He served one tour in Iraq from 2006 to 2008 and in his initial enlistment papers listed his home as Puerto Rico.
During the breach a section of the White House was evacuated as a precaution.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com
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