The Secret Service released a brief statement on Sunday after reporters spotted a protester who appeared to be armed outside President Joe Biden‘s residence in Delaware.
“The individual expressing his constitutional rights had no impact on any of the Secret Service’s protectees’ movements,” said U.S. Secret Service spokesperson Special Agent Steve Kopek.
Earlier in the day, a reporter shared with the public that a “solo” protester who “appeared to have a gun in his holster” was spotted walking down the road toward Biden’s home in Wilmington, where the president had stayed overnight.
The man was “wearing a neon yellow and orange safety vest, khaki cargo shorts, tan boots and socks,” said a report from the press pool corps assigned to cover the president.
An armed demonstrator carries a sign along Barley Mill Road near the residence of U.S. President Joe Biden in Wilmington, Delaware, September 17, 2023. REUTERS/Tom Brenner pic.twitter.com/merUymsM87
— Tom Brenner (@tombrennerphoto) September 17, 2023
He carried a sign that said, “Bidens are criminals, 20 shell companies?! Where’s the laptop? 10% for the big guy” on one side and “Joe has aliases?! Robert L. Peters, Robin Ware, JRN Ware” on the other side, the pool report added.
The sign makes reference to findings that undergird allegations of corruption that led to the announcement of an impeachment inquiry in the GOP-led House last week. Biden has rejected the claims of wrongdoing.
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The pool report on Sunday also said reporters spotted a Secret Service vehicle following the man down the road. It further stated that the pool reporter reached out to the Secret Service for comment and noted that Delaware is an open-carry state.
Protester shows up near the street where @POTUS lives, carrying a gun (in the open carry state of Delaware); Secret Service vehicle follows him down the road. pic.twitter.com/1D9D2g7Bfy
— Andrea Shalal (@andrea_shalal) September 17, 2023
Biden’s motorcade later drove past the protester as the president began his journey back to Washington, D.C., the pool reporter later shared.
The incident in Delaware comes after police said a man armed with a loaded gun and posing as a U.S. Marshal was arrested outside an event in Los Angeles for Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy on Friday. Records show the man, identified as 44-year-old Adrian Paul Aispuro, has since been booked on felony charges.
Kennedy responded by thanking law enforcement and reiterating his call to Biden for Secret Service protection. Both Kennedy’s uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, and his father, Robert F. Kennedy, were assassinated in the 1960s.