Armed man arrested at Trump golf course ahead of president’s LA visit: Police

LOS ANGELES – An armed man was arrested at President Donald Trump’s golf course in Los Angeles two days before the US leader’s expected visit on Aug 4, the local sheriff’s office said.

The suspect, identified as 38-year-old Jeanine John Taele from nearby Downey, California, was arrested in the afternoon on Aug 2 at the golf course in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Plainclothes federal agents spotted him “walking throughout the golf course grounds taking photographs and videos and appearing to monitor security-planning activities”, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

Trump arrived by helicopter at the golf club in the evening of Aug 4 to attend a fundraising dinner hosted by the Republican National Committee.

During the detention, deputies recovered a 16-round magazine containing hollow-point ammunition from the suspect’s pants pocket, according to the statement.

Deputies then searched the suspect’s vehicle and recovered a loaded pistol with a round chambered, along with an additional loaded magazine containing hollow-point ammunition.

Investigators from the sheriff’s department and the FBI’s counterterrorism unit later searched Taele’s home, where they found an assault-style rifle, a pistol, a bulletproof vest, high-capacity magazines, ammunition, two radios as well as “multiple notebooks containing concerning statements”.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office will decide whether to file charges after investigators presented the case in the morning on Aug 4.

Trump has been targeted by multiple assassination attempts since his 2024 campaign. AFP